Abel Seyler

Abel Seyler
A silhouette of Abel Seyler
A silhouette of Abel Seyler
Born(1730-08-23)23 August 1730
Liestal, Switzerland
Died25 April 1800(1800-04-25) (aged 69)
Rellingen, Duchy of Holstein, Holy Roman Empire
NationalitySwiss
EraAge of Enlightenment
Known forBanker (Seyler & Tillemann) and theatre principal (Hamburg National Theatre and Seyler Theatre Company)
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Abel Seyler (23 August 1730, Liestal – 25 April 1800, Rellingen) was a Swiss-born theatre director and former merchant banker, who was regarded as one of the great theatre principals of 18th century Europe. He played a pivotal role in the development of German theatre and opera, and was considered "the leading patron of German theatre" in his lifetime.[1] He supported the development of new works and experimental productions, helping to establish Hamburg as a center of theatrical innovation and to establish a publicly funded theater system in Germany. Working with some of Germany's foremost actors and playwrights of his era, he is credited with pioneering a new more realist style of acting,[2] introducing Shakespeare to a German language audience, and with promoting the concept of a national theatre in the tradition of Ludvig Holberg, the Sturm und Drang playwrights, and serious German opera, becoming the "primary agent for change in the German opera scene" in the late 18th century.[3] Already in his lifetime, he was described as "one of German art's most meritorious men."[4]

The son of a Basel Reformed priest, Seyler moved to London and then to Hamburg as a young adult, and established himself as a merchant banker in the 1750s. During the Seven Years' War and its immediate aftermath his bank Seyler & Tillemann engaged in an ever-increasing and complex, "malicious" speculation with financial instruments and went spectacularly bankrupt with enormous debts in the wake of the Amsterdam banking crisis of 1763, resulting in a decade of expansive litigation.[5] Although they were wealthy bankers, Seyler and his business partner were "in no way representatives of the Hamburg bourgeoisie."[6] A flamboyant bon vivant who was regarded with suspicion in Hamburg, Seyler symbolized a new and more aggressive form of capitalism.

Seyler's admiration for the tragic actress Sophie Hensel (Seyler), who later became his second wife, led him to devote himself entirely to theatre from 1767 onwards. He used his remaining funds to become the main shareholder, benefactor and effective leader of the idealistic Hamburg National Theatre, that became a leading cultural institution in Germany. His theatre employed Lessing as the world's first dramaturg, culminating in the work Hamburg Dramaturgy that defined the field and gave it its name. In 1769, Seyler founded the travelling Seyler Theatre Company, which became one of the most famous theatre companies of Europe during the period 1769–79 and regarded as "the best theatre company in Germany at that time."[7] The company was to a large degree centered around his would-be wife and his close collaborator Konrad Ekhof, Germany's most famous actress and actor at the time, respectively. He initially held the Hanoverian privilege as theatre director and his company later stayed for three years at the court of Duchess Anna Amalia in Weimar and for a year at the ducal court in Gotha. His company's arrival in Weimar is regarded as the earliest starting point of Weimar Classicism. From 1779 to 1781 he was the founding artistic director of the Mannheim National Theatre. He commissioned works such as Sturm und Drang by Klinger (which gave its name to the era), Ariadne auf Naxos by Benda and Alceste by Schweitzer, considered "the first serious German opera."[8] Seyler mostly focused on the artistic, economic and administrative management of his theatrical company; his own lack of a background as an actor and his former profession as a merchant banker, made him stand out among the theatre principals of his era in a profession that was just starting to gain respectability. His wife's 1789 Singspiel Huon and Amanda (or Oberon) was a major influence on The Magic Flute. The principal founder of biochemistry and molecular biology, Felix Hoppe-Seyler, was an adopted son of his grandson.

  1. ^ Wilhelm Kosch, "Seyler, Abel", in Dictionary of German Biography, eds. Walther Killy and Rudolf Vierhaus, Vol. 9, Walter de Gruyter, 2005, ISBN 3110966298, p. 308
  2. ^ Bettine Menke, Wolfgang Struck (2022), Theatermaschinen – Maschinentheater: Von Mechaniken, Machinationen und Spektakeln (pp. 96–97), transcript Verlag
  3. ^ Anna Albrektson, Fiona Macintosh (2023), Mapping Medea: Revolutions and Transfers 1750-1800 (p. 27), Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Reichard, Heinrich Aug. Ottok., ed. (1794). Theater-Calender auf das Jahr 1794. Gotha. p. 241.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Lindemann was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Rüppel was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "Herzogin Anna Amalie von Weimar und ihr Theater," in Robert Keil (ed.), Goethe's Tagebuch aus den Jahren 1776–1782, Veit, 1875, p. 69
  8. ^ Francien Markx, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Cosmopolitanism, and the Struggle for German Opera, p. 32, BRILL, 2015, ISBN 9004309578