Nicht nur Sardanapal!
Der Alte Orient im Bühnenbild (1850–1930)
By (author) Ellen Rehm
Hardback (Published)
(December 2025)
ISBN: 9783963273346
24.02 x 17.01 inches
Price: $157.00
In stock
Examines how 19th- and early 20th-century European stage design drew on ancient Near Eastern art and archaeology, tracing the influence of Assyrian discoveries on theatre, visual culture, and historicist performance practices.
This book is written from the perspective of ancient oriental studies and focuses on researching the models for stage designs, which illustrate how extensively the ancient Orient was received in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Numerous new stages were built, especially from the mid-19th century onwards. At the same time, excavations within and outside of Europe had collected a wealth of archaeological material, which was now to be brought to the attention of the general public not only in museums and encyclopedias, but also in theater performances. The growing educated middle class was the ideal audience. The discoveries of the Assyrian cities of Nimrud, Nineveh, and Khorsabad in the mid-19th century were disseminated not only through scientific excavation reports, but also through newspapers and exhibitions. How did this inspire stage designers? What publications did they have access to? What could they learn from visits to museums? Related to this: To what extent were the archaeological finds known to the general population, as this was a prerequisite for using them in stage decorations?
Following the discoveries of the Assyrian royal cities, “Sardanapalus” in London in 1853 was the first performance with stage sets based on Assyrian models. It was now believed that Lord Byron’s play could only be done justice by setting it in an Assyrian setting. In the following years, it was mainly operas and plays with biblical themes that used Assyrian motifs in their stage designs, often paired with Achaemenid columns – even if the plays were set neither in Assyria nor in Persia. However, not all theaters could afford their own workshops for costumes and stage sets, which is why private studios independent of the theaters were increasingly founded during this period. At the same time, the “Ausstattungstheater” (decorative theater) emerged, which attempted to bring the “original” atmosphere of the plays to the stage in a completely historicist sense. The performances presented here range from conventional operas to contemporary, critical plays and Passion plays. These performances were inevitably strongly influenced by the zeitgeist, with the result that many once popular plays are no longer staged today.
EINFÜHRUNG
Entwicklung der Bühnendekore
Bühnenbilder mit altorientalischen Motiven in der 1. Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts
Bühnenbilder mit altorientalischen Motiven von 1850 bis 1930
Quellen (Sammlungen / Publikationen / Theaterzettel / Papiertheater / Zeitungen und Zeitschriften / Listungen von Aufführungen in Publikationen)
BÜHNENBILDER
Esther (1875 Meininger / 1900 Hamburg / 1921 Eeklo)
Herodes und Mariamne (1899 Berlin)
Judit(h) (1911 Helsinki / 1914 Freiburg / 1916 Stockholm)
Königin von Saba (1875 Wien / 1875(?) Wien / 1886 Prag / 1894(?) Hamburg / 1901 Wien / 1902 Düsseldorf / 1906 Wien / 1910 Köln / 1916 Darmstadt / 1925 Köln)
Myrrha (1886 Prag)
Passionsspiele (1890 Oberammergau / 1900 Oberammergau / 1922 Oberammergau)
Salammbô (1890 Brüssel / 1903 Lyon / 1912 Antwerpen)
Salome (1903 Berlin / 1903 Bonn / 1905 Dresden / 1906 Berlin / 1906 Bremen / 1907 Kassel / 1910 Wuppertal / 1920 Berlin / 1922 Koblenz / 1924 Lübeck)
Samson und Delila (1893 Antwerpen / 1895 Hannover / 1900 Dresden / 1902 Mannheim / 1903 Darmstadt / 1903 Stockholm / 1907 Wien / 1911 Kassel / 1921 Stockholm)
Sardanapal(us) (1853 London / 1865 Berlin / 1869 Wien / 1875 Liverpool / 1877 London / 1882 München / 1890 München / 1908 Berlin)
Semiramis (1860 Paris / 1904 Nimes / 1905 Champigny-sur-Marne / 1928 Hagen)
Tanzmärchen (1890 Wien)
Einzelne Bilder (unbekanntes Jahr (1824/1875) („Palais assyrien“) Paris / unbekanntes Jahr (um 1930) (Assyrischer Saal) Berlin)
BÜHNENBILDNER UND THEATERATELIERS
AUSWERTUNG
Auswahl der Aufführungen
Vorgaben in den Bühnenstücken
Beliebte Motive
Kompositionen (Rekonstruktion der Eingänge in Khorsabad / Farbige Motive aus dem Buch Layard 1849a / Assyrische Reliefs und Skulpturen mit achämenidischen Säulen)
Einzelne Motive (Lamassu / Schreitende Tiere aus Khorsabad / Baldachin mit Sakralbaum / Säulen aus Persepolis / Assurnasirpal-II.-zeitliche Reliefs / Der „Sechslockige Held“ aus Khorsabad / Halbrunde Thronrückwand / Fenster mit Säulen / Dach mit Palmetten / Altäre)
Einflüsse und Verbindungen zwischen den Bühnenbildern
Ähnlichkeiten zu Bühnenausstattungen anderer Themen
Thema „Assyrien“ in der Allgemeinheit
Länder mit Kolonien im Vorderen Orient versus Länder ohne Kolonien im Vorderen Orient
Die Bühne als Ort für archäologische Experimente
Vorbilder (Buchillustrationen / Objekte und ornamentale Dekorationen in den Museen / Inszenierungen jenseits der Bühne: „Nineveh Court“ und „Nineveh Porch“ / Farbigkeit)
Inspiration oder zeitgleiches Phänomen? (Gemälde / Postkarten / Reklame)
Weitere Ausstattung (Kostüme / Bühnenmöbel)
Verwendung von Keilschrift
Die Weiterentwicklung im 20. und 21. Jahrhundert
RESÜMEE
KATALOG DER VORBILDER (MESOPOTAMIEN / PERSIEN)
AUFBEWAHRUNGSORTE
AUFFÜHRUNGSORTE
CHRONOLOGISCHE ABFOLGE
BIBLIOGRAFIE
KONKORDANZ: ABBILDUNGSNUMMERN MIT SEITENZAHLEN
TAFELN 1–143
- By (author) Ellen Rehm
Other Titles in this Series
Getting Rid of the Interface
East Aegean / Western Anatolia and the Role of Seha River Land and Arzawa/Mira in Late Bronze Age Cultural Interaction
Volume 16
Die Kunst des Findens
Beitrage zur Altertumskunde des ostlichen Mittelmeerraumes und Westasiens. Festschrift zum 65. Geburtstag von Peter Pfalzner
Volume 17
Ivories, Rock Reliefs and Merv
Studies on the Ancient Near East in Honour of Georgina Herrmann
Volume 15
Final Reports of the Syrian-German Excavations at Tell el-‘Abd, Volume III
Small Objects and Environmental Studies
Volume 5.2
Pearls of the Past
Studies on Near Eastern Art and Archaeology in Honour of Frances Pinnock
Volume 8
Ubergangszeiten
Altorientalische Studien fur Reinhard Dittmann anlasslich seines 65. Geburtstags
Volume 1
Pottery Traditions and Material Culture in Second Millennium BC Northern Mesopotamia
Contacts and New Horizons in the Land between the Tigris and the Zagros. Proceedings of a Workshop Held at the 12th ICAANE, University of Bologna, 7 April 2021
Volume 19
Zwischen Ausgrabung und Ausstellung
Eitrage zur Archaologie Vorderasiens. Festschrift fur Lutz Martin
Volume 9
Von Syrien bis Georgien – durch die Steppen Vorderasiens
Festschrift fur Felix Blocher anlasslich seines 65. Geburtstages
Volume 13
Similar Books
A Collaborative Tapestry in Honour of Shirley Ann Brown / Une fresque brodée en l’honneur de Shirley Ann Brown
The Bayeux Tapestry Seen by her Colleagues and Friends / La Tapisserie de Bayeux vue par ses collègues et amis
Balthasar Caymox of Nuremberg
Early Modern German Print Publishers: Popular Prints of the Seventeenth Century
Boğazköy Tablets in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations (Bo 9032–Bo 9097)
Anadolu Medeniyetleri Müzesinde Bulunan Boğazköy Tabletleri (Bo 9032–Bo 9097)
Volume 4
Connecting the Dots: Counting, Writing, and the Beginnings of Civilization
The Secret Lives of Clay Tokens: A Memoir
Curating the Prehistoric Past
Studies on West Asian Archaeology and Beyond in Honour of Yoshihiro Nishiaki
ENTANGLED AFRICA
Intra-African Relations Between Rain Forest and Mediterranean from Around 4,000 BCE to 1,500 CE
Exploring Gender Dynamics across the Ancient Near East
Collected Essays of Gender and Methodology in the Ancient Near East (GeMANE) 4 and 5
Volume 7
Gold, Silver and Glass: Power Networks, Cultural Identities, Technology Transfers and Agency across the Old World (7th Century BC – 1st Century AD)
Proceedings of a Conference Held at the British Museum, 16–18 June 2023
Ḫattušaš utnē išḫameški
Hittite and Other Ancient Near Eastern Studies Presented to Piotr Taracha on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday
