Caspar Neher Explained

Caspar Neher (born Rudolf Ludwig Caspar Neher; 11 April 1897  - 30 June 1962) was an Austrian-German scenographer and librettist, known principally for his career-long working relationship with Bertolt Brecht.

Neher was born in Augsburg. He and Brecht were school friends who were separated for a time by the First World War, during which Neher was awarded the Iron Cross, Second Class (on 2 February 1918). In 1919, he studied under Angelo Jank at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich.^[1] He was first engaged professionally by the Munich Kammerspiele in 1922, although his designs for its production of Brecht's Drums in the Night were rejected.^[2] On 18 August 1923, Neher married Erika Tornquist in Graz. Their son, Georg, was born on 14 October 1924.^[3] In autumn of 1926, Neher became the staff designer at the Berlin Staatstheater. A year later, he became head of design at the Grillo-Theater in Essen, Germany, where he designed 8 operas and 11 plays. He died in Vienna.

Scenographic work

(All plays by Bertolt Brecht unless otherwise stated.)

• 1923. Das Käthchen von Heilbronn by Heinrich von Kleist at the Berlin Staatstheater; dir. Jürgen Fehling
• 1923. In the Jungle at the Residenztheater in Munich
• 1924. The Life of Edward II of England at the Munich Kammerspiele; dir. Brecht
• 1924. Jungle: Decline of a Family at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin; dir. Erich Engel
• 1925. Coriolanus by William Shakespeare at the Lessing-Theater in Berlin; dir. Erich Engel^[4]
• 1925. Circle of Chalk in a version by Klabund at the Deutsches Theater; dir. Max Reinhardt
• 1926. Lysistrata by Aristophanes at the Deutsches Theater; dir. Erich Engel
• 1926. Baal at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin
• 1926. Man Equals Man at the Landestheater Darmstadt; dir. Jacob Geis
• 1926. Earth Spirit and Pandora's Box by Frank Wedekind at the Berlin Staatstheater; dir. Erich Engel
• 1927. The Little Mahagonny at the Deutsche Kammermusik Festival at Baden-Baden; dir. Brecht
• 1927. Die Wupper by Else Lasker-Schüler at the Berlin Staatstheater; dir. Carl Ebert
• 1928. Man Equals Man at the Berlin Volksbühne; dir. Erich Engel
• 1928. Kalkutta, 4. Mai by Lion Feuchtwanger at the Berlin Staatstheater; dir. Erich Engel
• 1928. The Threepenny Opera at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm in Berlin, music by Kurt Weill
• 1928. Carmen by Georges Bizet at the Kroll Opera House in Berlin
• 1929. Pioneers in Ingolstadt by Marieluise Fleißer at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm in Berlin; dir. Brecht and Jacob Geis
• 1929. Moritat, Moschopoulos, and Sganarelle by Rudolf Wagner-Régeny at the Grillo-Theater, Essen
• 1929. Wozzeck by Alban Berg
• 1930. Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at the in Leipzig; music by Kurt Weill; dir. Walter Brugmann
• 1931. Man Equals Man at the Berlin Staatstheater; dir. Brecht
• 1931. The Threepenny Opera, costume design for the cinematic adaptation directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst
• 1931. From the House of the Dead by Leoš Janáček at the Kroll Opera House in Berlin
• 1932. Die Bürgschaft, libretto and design by Neher, music by Kurt Weill, at the Deutsche Oper Berlin; dir. Ebert
• 1932. Un ballo in maschera by Giuseppe Verdi at the Deutsche Oper Berlin; dir. Ebert
• 1932. Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at the Salle Gaveau in Paris; dir. Hans Curjel
• 1932. Oliver Cromwells Sendung by Walter Gilbricht at the Volksbühne; dir. Hilpert
• 1938. Macbeth by Giuseppe Verdi at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera; dir. Ebert
• 1949. Un ballo in maschera by Giuseppe Verdi for the Glyndebourne Festival Opera at the Edinburgh Festival; dir. Ebert
• 1949. Mr Puntila and his Man Matti at the Berliner Ensemble in East Berlin.

Sources

• Sacks, Glendyr. 1994. "A Brecht Calendar." In The Cambridge Companion to Brecht. Ed. Peter Thomson and Glendyr Sacks. Cambridge Companions to Literature Ser. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. . p. xvii–xxvii.
• Willett, John. 1967. The Theatre of Bertolt Brecht: A Study from Eight Aspects. Third rev. ed. London: Methuen, 1977. .
• Willett, John. 1986. Caspar Neher: Brecht's Designer. London and New York: Methuen. .

Notes and References

1. Willett (1986, 118).
2. Willett (1986, 119).
3. Willett (1986, 120).
4. Willett (1967, 145–146).