You are bidding on onehandwritten, signed letter the end Pyrmont from AugustPichler (* 1771 in Vienna; † 1856 in Berlin), theater actor and prince. Lippe theater director; Builder of the Pyrmont Kurtheater (opened in 1818); first honorary citizen of the city Pyrmont, 1812 in the lodge "Zum goldenen Hirsch" i. or Oldenburg included.

Addressed to the wing adjutant by Duke Wilhelm of Brunswick.

Dated Pyrmont, 24. August 1842.

August Pichler asks the bearer of the letter, his "son, a most gracious audience with Sr. Your Highness to kindly prepare the Duke of Brunswick and grant Hochdero much wealthy protection."

It's about hoped-for guest roles for the son, which is why the recipient also "a gracious pronoun to Sr. Highborn would like to appeal to the Intendant von Münchhausen."

Signed "A. Pichler, Acting Director."

It is unclear which son it is, since several of his sons were theater actors: Franz Pichler (* 1804 in Ulm; † 1873 in Osnabrück), August Pichler (* 1817 in Hanover; † 1888 in Pyrmont) and Anton Pichler (1812-1886).

addressed to Anton Reinhold Wilhelm Liebig nobles of Lübeck (born 17. July 1783 in Koenigsberg, died. 24. June 1863 in Braunschweig), Brunswick military and Hofmann. 1813 adjutant to Duke Friedrich Wilhelm, 1830 chamberlain, 1829/30 director of the court theatre, 1837 adjutant to Duke Wilhelm, 1847 major general, court marshal and chamberlain, 1854 chief court marshal. -- From a bundle of letters to v. Lübeck (I offer others in parallel).

Scope: one written on two pages (27 x 21.7 cm).

Written on fine thin paper.

Condition: Paper somewhat stained and creased, with small corner creases. Bplease note pie also the pictures!

Internal note: MM folder 2-1

About the Braunschweig Court Theater and Duke Wilhelm von Braunschweig (source: wikipedia):

The opera house at Hagenmarkt in Braunschweig existed from 1690 until its closure in 1861. It was the third opera house in Germany open to the public, after Munich (Salvatorplatz) and the Hamburg Opera at Gänsemarkt, and was in its heyday during the 18th century. Century of national importance. Lessing's Emilia Galotti was premiered there in 1772 and Goethe's Faust I in 1829.

story

From the town hall to the ducal opera house: the construction of the opera house on Braunschweig's Hagenmarkt goes back to the initiative of the art-loving Duke Anton Ulrich, who wrote and composed poetry himself. Since 1687, operas have been performed for visitors to the fairs that have been held twice a year in Braunschweig since 1681 in the spatially limited festival hall of the old town hall. Due to the great public interest, the Duke, who was limited in his financial means, saw a potential source of income in the construction of a large opera house. Other motives may have been the representational need of an absolutist ruler and the domestic Welsh competition with the Hanoverian cousin Ernst August, who had the new opera house built in the Leineschloss in 1689.

The medieval town hall in the Weichbild district of Hagen was chosen as the new venue. After the town was conquered in 1671 by the Welf Duke Rudolf August, it had lost its function and was finally used for tobacco production. Anton Ulrich had part of the town hall demolished for 27,000 thalers and rebuilt together with the neighboring Gewandhaus between June 1689 and February 1690 into a representative and technically modern theater with around 1000 seats. The design by the master builder Johann Balthasar Lauterbach was carried out by Bauvogt Hermann Korb.

First heyday until 1735: The new opera house was opened on 4th February 1690 opened with Johann Sigismund Kusser's opera Cleopatra, the text of which came from court poet Friedrich Christian Bressand. The stage design was created by Johann Oswald Harms, who contributed to the supra-regional reputation of the Braunschweig Opera with the stage decorations he produced up to 1698. The first Court Kapellmeister JS Kusser was followed in 1694 by Reinhard Keiser, who, like Kusser before him, also moved to the Hamburg Opera at Gänsemarkt in 1697. His successor was the singer and composer Georg Caspar Schürmann, who continued his studies in Venice on a ducal scholarship from 1701 to 1702 and, after a stay at the Meiningen court orchestra, was appointed court music director in 1707. In addition to well-known Italian operas, he increasingly performed German operas, of which he contributed around 30 works himself, but only three have survived in their entirety. His best-known work is still the Mummellied "Brunsewyk, du leiwe Stadt" from the opera "Heinrich der Vogler", which premiered in 1718, with the text by Johann Ulrich von König. Schürmann had great skill in engaging outstanding musicians such as Johann Adolph Hasse and Carl Heinrich Graun. At Schürmann's time, the court orchestra had 51 members, which was a lot for the time.

The period from 1735 to 1818: During the first decades, only operas were performed at Hagenmarkt. The actress Friederike Caroline Neuber, promoted by the reigning Duke Ludwig Rudolf, performed Gottsched's tragedy Dying Cato with her acting group in 1735. Further plays were only shown again in 1740 by the "Schoenemannsche Gesellschaft".

The Italian theater entrepreneur Filippo Nicolini came to Braunschweig in 1749 with his children's ballet and pantomime company. In contrast to Lessing, who noted the impression of "trained little monkeys", the performances found the favor of the audience and Duke Charles I. He appointed Nicolini "directeur des spectacles", which gave him the general directorship for the ducal theater system. For his performances, a small comedy house was built on Burgplatz, on the site of today's Vieweg House. Ignazio Fiorillo, who belonged to Nicolini's theater company, became court conductor in 1751. In 1762 he went to Kassel as Kapellmeister.

With the relocation of the ducal residence from Wolfenbüttel to Braunschweig in 1753, the opera house gained in importance. Nicolini had it restored at great expense and the antiquated theater machinery renewed. A travel note by the Scottish writer James Boswell from 1764 shows the high quality of the venue: Then I went to the opera, which is quite impressive. The Braunschweig Opera House is much more magnificent than the one in London. Outstanding artists perform... However, the hereditary prince Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand, who had been co-ruling since 1770, decreed massive austerity measures to reduce the national debt, which also claimed the position of Nicolini, who had fallen out of favor. He then left Braunschweig in 1771. The court orchestra was also dismissed. From 1762 to 1802, Johann Gottfried Schwanberger, who was born in Wolfenbüttel, was court music director. The pupil of Ignazio Fiorillo composed 12 Italian operas for the court theatre.

Premiere of "Emilia Galotti": On 13. Lessing's Emilia Galotti premiered on March 17, 1772 under the theater director Carl Theophil Doebbelin. Lessing could not take part in this performance, as he told his fiancée Eva König on 15 April. March 1772 writes: It was performed in Brunswick on the 13th of this (Emilia Galotti), the day before yesterday, on the birthday of the reigning Duchess (Philippine Charlotte). But I didn't go to the performance; because I've had such a raging toothache for the last eight days that I didn't dare to come over when it was cold. The rumor that Lessing used the relationship between Hereditary Prince Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand and his mistress Maria Antonia von Branconi in his play was not confirmed. The presumed scandal of the sold-out premiere did not materialize and nine repetitions followed.

Klingemann's National Theater 1818 to 1826: After the comedy house on Burgplatz was demolished in 1799, touring theater companies performing in Braunschweig continued to perform in the opera house on Hagenmarkt. From 1810, Friedrich Walther's acting troupe also showed plays by the Braunschweig writer August Klingemann. Under him, on 29 May 1818 the new "National Theater auf Aktien" opened with Schiller's bride of Messina, which operated under this name until May 19. March 1826 existed.

The composer Gottlob Wiedebein, who had been the director of the Ducal Court Orchestra since 1816, first performed Rossini's Barbier von Sevilla in 1820, Weber's Freischütz in 1822 and Beethoven's Fidelio in 1826. Wiedebein was appointed court music director in 1824 and retired in 1832 for health reasons.

Ducal Court Theater until 1861: As early as 1827, the National Theater, which had been closed in 1826, was reopened as the "Ducal Court Theater" with Klingemann as general director (1827-1831). He created a theatrical version of Goethe's Faust I, which was shown on September 19. It premiered in January 1829. The theatre-loving young Duke Karl II. However, increasingly interfered in the schedule and even in the casting of the roles, so that Klingemann only had the right to propose. After Charles II. fled Brunswick after a civil uprising in September 1830, Klingemann was effectively theater director again under the new Duke Wilhelm, but he died in 1831.

In 1832 the composer Albert Methfessel became court music director. Above all, he promoted new opera performances, but had to give up his position in 1842 due to a hearing problem. His successor was the violinist and composer Georg Müller, who was in office until 1852. After a visit to Braunschweig in 1843, the French composer Hector Berlioz had this to say about the Müller brothers and the Braunschweig orchestra musicians: I have to say at this point that up to this day I have never been to France, Belgium or otherwise in Germany I have seen outstanding artists gathered who would have been so dedicated, attentive and enthusiastic about their task .... The last court conductor in the old opera house, which was now suffering severe structural damage, was Franz Abbot.

The last performance was Mozart's Magic Flute on January 1st. September 1861. on the 1st The new venue on Steinweg was inaugurated on October 10th of that year, where the large house of the Braunschweig State Theater still stands today. The opera house on Hagenmarkt was demolished in 1864 and the former location was not built on again.

building description

Exterior: After the demolition of the medieval Gothic arcades of the Hägen town hall, the south wing was provided with an extension to the west, which was executed in a cost-saving half-timbered construction, as was typical for the princely palace of Salzdahlum, which was built at the same time. The main front of the two-and-a-half-storey building was the south side, which was structured by a central avant-corps with a gable above it. The buildings on both sides of the central avant-corps had the same number of windows, but due to the medieval building structure they were of different widths, which made the overall view asymmetrical. In 1723, under Duke August Wilhelm, a conversion was carried out by Hermann Korb. Further conversions took place between 1743 and 1745. The triangular gable of the central building was provided with a stucco relief by the painter Joseph Gregor Winck in 1747/48. Under the court architect Peter Joseph Krahe, further conversions were carried out. The former baroque southern front was redesigned in a classical style.

Interiors: The main entrance, located on the west side, led to a rectangular vestibule, from which one entered the auditorium with a bell-shaped floor plan. There were 20 boxes on the ground floor. The boxes in the first tier were accessible via two flights of stairs from the vestibule and through separate entrances on the north and south sides. This gave the regent unseen access to his ducal box in the first tier, which was twice as high as the other relatively low ones. In the northern risalit there was a staircase to the second to fifth tier. In 1826 the auditorium was remodeled, including redesigning the ducal box.

Stage area: The stage had a greater depth than the auditorium and was divided into the proscenium surrounded by a portal, the front stage, the middle stage and the back stage. The floor rising to the rear created a perspective effect, as used for the first time in modern times by Palladio in the Teatro Olimpico. Extensive theatrical machinery located in the loft and in the cellar vaults enabled a variety of effects.

Redoutensaal: Above the vestibule was the Redoutensaal, which was described by the Frankfurt councilor Zacharias Konrad von Uffenbach in his travelogue in 1709 as follows: Some time ago, a building was erected at the back of the opera house, which has nothing above it but a has a large redoubt hall, in which the gentlemen gather before the opera begins, and after the meal they also hold ballets and other amusements here, if not downstairs on the ground floor. This room is quite large, has a stove and fireplace, and in the middle hangs a very large chandelier with many arms: In the middle, however, is (according to the coat of arms of Brunswick-Lüneburg) a large horse's head made of wood, in which a clockwork goes, the dial of which is in front of the forehead, and the eyes move constantly like the unrest in the clock. The Redoutensaal was supplemented as part of the renovation work in 1723 with a games and dining room and in 1737 with a stucco ceiling.

Wilhelm August Ludwig Maximilian Friedrich (* 25. April 1806 in Brunswick; † 18 October 1884 in Sibyllenort), Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg, and Oels was Duke of Brunswick from 1830 until his death.

Life and work: Wilhelm was the second son of Friedrich Wilhelm, Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg and Maria von Baden (1782-1808), daughter of Karl Ludwig von Baden (1755-1801).

He grew up in London after the death of his mother. When his father fell in Quatre-Bras shortly after his return to Brunswick in 1815, he and his brother Karl came under the guardianship of their uncle George, King of Hanover and Prince Regent of Great Britain. De facto Braunschweig statesmen exercised their guardianship or they were in the care of educators.

The brothers stayed in Lausanne from 1820 to 1822, after which Wilhelm went to Göttingen to study until the autumn of 1823. Finally, he did the Prussian military service, which he himself described as the happiest time of his life.

He and his brother Karl inherited the Silesian Duchy of Oels from his father, which they jointly owned until 1824. When Karl was able to take over the government in Brunswick after he had come of age, he left the Duchy of Oels to Wilhelm. Wilhelm spent a lot of time in Oels until the end of his life and also died there.

Military career: On 30. On October 18, 1821 Wilhelm was first appointed Rittmeister in the Hanoverian Guard Hussar Regiment and on 17. February 1826 also in the Prussian 2. Gardelandwehr Cavalry Regiment. He was promoted to major on April 22. October 1828.[2] At 6. On March 1, 1843, he became Major General in charge of the Magdeburg Hussar Regiment No. 10 and a little later appointed Lieutenant General. From 30. March 1844 he was general of the cavalry and finally on 27. June 1848 Royal Hanoverian field marshal. He was the owner of the Hanoverian Guard Cuirassier Regiment and the Bohemian Dragoon Regiment No. 7.[3]

On the Brunswick throne 1830–1884: In September 1830 there was a popular uprising in Brunswick against Duke Karl II, Wilhelm's older brother. Karl had infuriated the population with his style of government, which was reminiscent of absolutist times. The conflict culminated in the residential palace going up in flames and Karl fleeing town and country. At the request of the Braunschweig magistrate, Wilhelm took over the regency for his brother just two days later. With the beginning of the regency, the Duchy of Brunswick also got a new constitution, the Landschafts-Ordnung, which guaranteed the citizens important basic rights. The aim was to get the country back on calm waters as quickly as possible. However, the question of the throne remained unresolved for some time.

In May 1831, the German Confederation declared the fled Duke Karl II. finally found to be incapable of governing, and Wilhelm was thus the legitimate successor, which Austria later recognized. However, the incapacity to govern referred only to Karl as a person, not to his possible heirs. The succession to the throne thus remained explicitly open.[4] As a result, Wilhelm had to reckon with the fact that he would not be able to enforce a claim to the throne for his own heirs. How significant this uncertainty was for him is unclear. The fact is, however, that he refrained from marrying and remained without legitimate heirs - just like his brother Karl. With Wilhelm's death in 1884, the "New House of Brunswick", which had ruled in the Welf ancestral lands since 1533 and which represented the older Welf line alongside the "New House of Lüneburg" (later the House of Hanover), became extinct.

Succession: After Wilhelm's death, a regency council took over the affairs of state in Braunschweig. Since Prussia and the House of Hanover had been enemies since the annexation of the Hanoverian kingdom in 1866, the actual heir to the throne, Ernst August of Hanover, Duke of Cumberland, was denied the right to govern the Brunswick lands. From 1885 to 1913, members of other royal houses took over the regency. It was only in 1913 that reconciliation between the Guelphs and Hohenzollerns took place, when Ernst August, the son of the Duke of Cumberland, married Victoria Luise of Prussia, the only daughter of Kaiser Wilhelm II. As a result, Ernst August, the last Guelph, returned to Braunschweig as the reigning duke.

Miscellaneous: In 1875, 100,000 gold coins of the German Empire with a nominal value of 20 marks were minted. The gold pieces showed a relief portrait of Wilhelm on the head side. These imperial gold coins were minted in the Berlin (A) mint.[5]

In 1902 the Braunschweiggasse in the 13th district was named Vienna district Hietzing after him, since he was an honorary citizen of Hietzing from 1861 and owner of the Palais Cumberland from 1878. In 1909 a memorial was erected in Rühle.