From Schröder to Gotter

Considerations on the Practice of the German Stage during the Sturm und Drang Period

Abstract

Between 1777 and 1778, the great German actor Friedrich Ludwig Schröder is at the end of his first direction of the Amburg-Theatre, which began in 1771. During that period, the actor shared correspondence with Friedrich Gotter, a playwright that was at the time the main representative of the French taste; a taste that Schröder as stürmer wanted to overcome. Reading the letters is clear that the great actor wanted at all costs to persuade the author to join his theatre productions; apparently to build a repertoire that could be a medium between the need of a renewal and the due respect for the French tradition still loved by the audience of the time. The analysis of the letters that Schröder wrote to Gotter sheds light on a less known but not at all minor episode of the German theatre history, while Germany itself is in the process to achieve the cultural leadership in Europe.