Cinema : Germany

In the 1920s and early 1930s, the German cinema enjoyed world fame and acclaim. During these years Fritz Lang, Ernst Lubitsch and Friedrich Wilhelm Mur-nau produced their great films, and Marlene Dietrich became an icon of the film world as a result of her role in “The Blue Angel”. But the National Socialist regime put an end to this spectacular development. Most of the great directors and many actors went into exile; the legendary Ufa film company lost its artistic vitality and was eventually reduced to making National Socialist propaganda films. After the war, German filmmakers had great difficulty catching up with the rest of the world.

The first German film after the Second World War, Wolfgang Staudte’s “The Murderers Are Among Us” (1946), did indeed address the trauma of the immediate past. But at least in the western part of Germany, the cinema in the years of reconstruction and the “economic miracle” by and large offered light entertainment. During the 1950s comedies, sentimental “homeland films” and melodramas enjoyed widespread popularity. Most of the successful films of this era could make no claim to either artistic quality or social criticism.

The Schedule : Germany

. About 5,500 dramatic and music theater works were performed in the 1995/1996 season. There was a continuation of the trend toward breaking down the traditional boundaries between dramatic theater, dance and music. Classic forms of opera and dramatic theater have nevertheless dominated season schedules in recent years. The most popular works continue to be Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s “Faust”, William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “The Magic Flute”. In the case of children’s and young people’s theater, Astrid Lindgren’s “Pippi Longstocking” and Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book” drew the largest audiences. Each year theaters feature more than 300 premieres and first public performances. In addition to established directors, a younger generation is coming to the fore which is attracting attention with fresh ideas and trailblazing productions. It is increasingly women who are chalking up major successes: Karin Beier, for instance, or Amelie Niermeyer.

Theater-Goers : Germany

Year in, year out, approximately 35 million people of all ages attend a total of roughly 100,000 theater
performances and concerts in Germany. These numbers attest to an undiminished interest in theater and music and are visible proof that theater is an indispensable element of an urbane quality of life. A subscription system enables theatergoers to buy tickets in advance for a series of performances. For many people, attending a theater performance is the most important reason for planning a trip; numerous tour operators offer special trips and packages (especially in the case of musicals).

Financing : Germany

Germany’s federal structure delegates responsibility for cultural affairs to the federal states. Theater financing is thus largely borne by the states and municipalities, whereby the latter bear about 63 percent of public expenditure for theaters and orchestras.

All in all, Germany’s theaters and orchestras receive public funds totaling DM4.3 billion every year. This amount represents more than 0.2 percent of all federal, state and municipal expenditure. Germany’s theaters employ approximately 60,000 people and indirectly safeguard jobs in many businesses which work under contract with the theaters.

Today more and more people are demanding that the theater and the theatrical arts be subjected to the standard rules of business administration. Those who do so, however, fail to realize that in the case of the theater, only public financing safeguards the freedom of the arts. The theaters in the Federal Republic of Germany have adjusted to the changing times and have modernized their operations with the aid of professional management. Private patrons bear only five percent of the expenditure for cultural affairs; their support is earmarked almost exclusively for prestigious projects.

Theater : Germany

The theaters. Germany’s theatrical landscape is above all defined by the country’s approximately 160 public theaters. These state and municipal theaters and some 50 attendant orchestras are complemented by roughly 190 private theaters and more than 30 festivals. There are also countless independent groups and amateur theaters. Instead of a single “theater capital” which attracts all the talent and all the attention - like Paris in France, for example - the Federal Republic has a wealth of theaters which are frequently in no way inferior to one other in terms of quality. This great diversity is traditional: In the 1 7th and 18th centuries nearly every regional sovereign took great pride in his own court theater and generally spared no expense to ensure that it was well equipped. In the 19th century, under the increasing influence of a prosperous middle class, many towns and cities made the theater a public institution.

Two factors have played a crucial role in shaping Germany’s theatrical landscape: the multipurpose theater and the repertory system. The multipurpose theater offers a broad range of dramatic arts, dance and music theater (operas, operettas, musicals, ballet) under one roof. These theaters perform a repertoire of 20 to 30 works in a given season. Each year approximately ten newly-staged productions enter the repertoire. The audience thus has an opportunity to become acquainted with many works of drama and music theater. Supplementing this range of offerings are the puppet theater as well as children’s and youth theater, which can be either another branch of the multipurpose theater or an independent operation altogether. The musical theaters, by contrast, perform one and the same piece month after month and year after year in what is termed en suite operations. Much the same is true especially of the smaller private theaters, which usually perform one piece en suite for several weeks and then go on to present a new production.
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Music For Everyone : Germany

More than 300,000 people earn their living as composers, performing artists, music teachers and as specialists in academic and government institu tions, the media and the music industry. They are trained in 23 colleges of music, about 65 universities, 11 conservatories and music academies, nine music schools and four colleges of music operated by the churches, 50 specialized training facilities and 40 further training academies.

There are a variety of competitions to promote talented young musicians. The best-known is the Young Musicians Competition. In 1994 there were more than 1,000 public music schools, roughly 40,000 choral groups, 25,000 amateur and semiprofessional orchestras, and numerous other ensembles in Germany. Music is a compulsory subject at general education schools, and ensemble music is encouraged there as well. About one fourth of Germany’s young people sing in a choral group or play a musical instrument (most frequently choosing piano, flute or guitar). Instrument making is a craft trade with a long tradition in Germany. Violins from Mittenwald, for instance, are world famous. Listening to music is still much more popular with young people than watching television. The music branch is flourishing. Every year about 240 million CDs, cassettes and records produced by German and foreign companies are sold in the Federal Republic.

Pop Music : Germany

Over the past ten years, the German pop music scene has enjoyed a tremendous surge in popularity. Up until then, Anglo-Saxon singers and groups had dominated the hit parade. The catchy German pop song which at one time had been wildly successful had come to appeal to only a very limited audience; homegrown pop stars such as Udo Lindenberg were the exception. But although they never hit the big time, bands such as “Tangerine Dream”, “Can” and “Kraft-werk” became pioneers in the field of electronic music, and the hard rock of “The Scorpions” even made the charts in the United States.

The trombonist Albert Mangelsdorff, the organist Barbara Dennerlein and Klaus Doldinger’s band “Passport” put the German jazz scene on the international map.At the beginning of the 1980s, the “New German Wave” showed that German musicians could indeed achieve success with texts in their native language. Marius Muller-Westernhagen, Herbert Gronemeyer, Peter Maffay and the Cologne group “BAP” established themselves as the country’s top rock musicians. To this day, their fans - like those of the punk rock groups “Die toten Hosen” and “Die Artze” - continue to pack stadiums and concert halls. In the GDR, “Die Puhdys” and “Karat” enjoyed widespread popularity with songs that were moderately critical of the communist regime.
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