The Jugendstiltheater - Neue Oper Wien

Neue Oper Wien goes Back to the Roots: The Art Nouveau theatre in the Otto Wagner Complex

What is now the Otto Wagner Complex was once the most modern psychiatric hospital of its time. Known as the ‘Lower Austrian State Sanatorium and Care Home for the Mentally and Neurologically Ill at Am Steinhof, Vienna’, it was like a self-contained town with its own butcher’s, laundry, and vegetable and fruit gardens – a ‘town outside the city’ which, for recreational and therapeutic purposes, also housed an events venue, now known as the Art Nouveau Theatre. Carlo von Boog designed the complex; Otto Wagner later revised the site plan, applying the principle of ‘the finest for the poorest’ particularly in the design of the theatre. The centrepiece of the complex is the central axis comprising the administration building, theatre, kitchen and church, whilst the sanatorium area was situated to the west: women on the left, men on the right. Eight types of pavilion, all reminiscent of middle-class villas, offered bespoke accommodation – ranging from open-plan structures to enclosed buildings for restless patients. The luxurious sanatorium section for affluent guests financed the hospital’s general operations.

During the First World War, the site was used as a military hospital; in the later Nazi era, it was the scene of unspeakable crimes committed under the guise of medicine: as part of the Nazi ‘Aktion T4’, a total of 3,200 patients were deported in 1940 and 1941 and murdered at the Hartheim Castle killing centre near Linz. This systematic extermination targeted people who, due to mental illness, physical disabilities or social deviance from Nazi ideology, were declared ‘unworthy of life’. Furthermore, between 1940 and 1945, part of the extensive grounds, known as ‘Am Spiegelgrund’, functioned as a so-called ‘special children’s ward’ – a perverse euphemism for a facility in which 772 children and young people fell victim to the systematic murder carried out under the Nazi ‘racial hygiene’ programme. Here, doctors – under the direction of Heinrich Gross – decided matters of life and death with bureaucratic coldness, justifying the murder of the children on the grounds of scientific progress. Even after the end of the war, these crimes continued in a grim manner: between 1954 and 1978, Gross and his colleagues used more than 400 preserved specimens of the brains and heads of the murdered children for publications. The cruel exploitation of human life in the service of so-called research bears witness to a science that was entirely dehumanised. As a symbol against forgetting, a memorial to the Spiegelgrund victims was erected in front of the Art Nouveau Theatre. Each of the 772 illuminated stelae represents a life destroyed. The design was conceived in 1999 by a student at the Höhere Graphische Bundeslehr- und Versuchsanstalt and features a strict, immovable arrangement of light sources that are activated at nightfall – a metaphor for the reality of life for the ‘children of Spiegelgrund’, whose fates were determined by an inhumane system.

A hidden gem with an eventful history

The Gesellschaftshaus am Steinhof, now known as the Art Nouveau Theatre, was built between 1904 and 1907 by Franz Berger and Carlo von Boog in the Baroque Art Nouveau style. With its magnificent open staircase, set slightly higher than the ground, the building exudes elegance and is almost reminiscent of an Italian country house. Cast-iron lanterns line the ramps, and the spacious terrace offers a sweeping view over the adjoining park. The entrance is adorned with charming Wienerberger tiles, and even the radiators are little works of art. If one did not know that the building stands on the site of a former hospital, one might imagine that it was used for numerous festive occasions in the 1910s and 20s: with its charm and understated grandeur, it could well have been the setting for lavish parties, elegant balls and intellectual salons. Laughter, champagne and candlelight included. Perhaps such celebrations did take place, but in reality it was a multi-purpose building which, situated between the church and the administration block, embodied the link between the ‘power of the spirit’ and the ‘rationality of administration’ at that time. The large ballroom, with its small stage – complemented by a balcony for the medical management – could accommodate around 600 guests, whilst the adjoining side rooms were used for a variety of purposes. It is worth noting the widely held belief at the beginning of the 20th century that art and culture could have a healing influence on patients. A perspective that had long been forgotten, but is now increasingly gaining attention again in the field of medicine.

For almost half a century, the theatre remained hidden behind the hospital walls until it was rediscovered as the ‘Art Nouveau Theatre’. Its history reflects the social, political and medical upheavals in Vienna: During the First World War, the ballroom – like the entire site – served as a reserve military hospital, whilst during the Second World War it was mainly used to store medical records. Later, a theatre group made up of hospital staff performed on the stage, and in the 1980s a novel music therapy programme was trialled here.

In 1989, whilst searching for a rehearsal space for a production of Mozart’s Bastien und Bastienne, Olivier Tambosi discovered the disused theatre at Steinhof. At that time, the venue was run by Alois Hofinger, a music-loving nurse who, with an annual budget of around 2,100 euros, organised a range of events for the patients. Tambosi took a fancy to this unique venue and decided not only to rehearse there, but also to take to the stage. Together with the pianist and conductor Matthias Fletzberger, the singer Wolfgang Gratschmaier and Hofinger – who had since risen to the position of opera director – they renamed the Theater am Steinhof the Jugendstiltheater – as one might say today, for marketing purposes.

The following year, a certain Walter Kobéra entered the scene, armed with a genuine Mozart hit: Idomeneo. They met, hatched plans, discarded them and yet brought them to fruition – a fascinating interplay of creative minds that gave birth to the Viennese opera scene and the Neue Oper Wien. To mark the 30th anniversary of the Neue Oper Wien, the book Begegnungen by Peter Silvester Lehner and Walter Kobéra was published, providing a rich account of the encounters that shaped the Neue Oper. At the beginning of the book is an impressive contribution by Olivier Tambosi, who reflects on these exciting early days with all their highs, lows and bizarre moments. He describes the colourful circumstances surrounding a performance of the aforementioned Idomeneo as follows: “The patients at the psychiatric hospital were granted free admission to all performances and had access to our rehearsals at any time. Many patients made use of this; they clearly enjoyed watching the rehearsals or found the atmosphere and the music stimulating. Some began to re-enact rehearsal situations in their conversations or adopted expressions and behaviours typical of the theatre. At the bus stop or at the snack bar in front of the hospital’s main entrance, one could hear patients talking about ‘not having a rehearsal today’, ‘wanting to approach a scene differently’ or ‘being in good voice’. During the second performance of Idomeneo, shortly after the overture began, an elderly gentleman in the front row of the audience, diagonally behind Walter’s conductor’s podium, stood up, pulled a baton from his jacket and, from that moment on, conducted the performance right through to the end. With expressive gestures and intense eye contact, he would demand the orchestra’s undivided attention whenever he felt the musicians were paying more attention to Walter than to him. At the end, he took his bow at the same time as Walter and thanked the audience for their applause.”

This anecdote, entitled ‘The Shadow Conductor’, and other stories about the early days of the Neue Oper Wien can be read in the book in question (more information here). A total of 14 opera productions were staged at the Jugendstil Theatre: Mozart’s Idomeneo (1990), Cherubini’s Medea (1991), Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (1991), Verdi’s Macbeth(1992), Hartmann’s Simplicius Simplicissimus (1992), Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine and Davies’ Das Medium (1992), Donizetti’s Don Pasquale (1993), Krenek’s What Price Confidence? (1993), Süss’s Sphinx & Strohmann (1995), Weill’s Der Silbersee (1995), Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (1998), Eisler’s Die Maßnahme (1998), Berg’s Wozzeck(2002), Schwertsik’s Katzelmacher and Weill’s Die sieben Todsünden (2005).

After decades of change and uncertainty, the Jugendstil Theatre now faces a new future. Whilst the last official performances took place in 2008, the building remained unused for a long time. Plans for a residential development on the Otto Wagner site triggered public protests, and years of debate about the future use of the site followed. In the meantime, the theatre formed part of the Vienna Festival, but a permanent cultural use was a long time coming. It was not until 2018 that new prospects seemed to open up with the planned relocation of the Central European University (CEU) – a project that ultimately fell through in 2022. Today, the pavilions are being renovated, and with the planned introduction of art and culture, as well as various other events, a new phase in the site’s history is taking shape.

For the Neue Oper Wien, however, the return to this venue means far more than a nostalgic reunion. It was here, over 30 years ago, that the first major productions were staged; it was here that artists and audiences alike found an extraordinary space for musical theatre beyond the confines of traditional opera houses. The fact that the curtain is now rising once more is a special sign – not only for the Neue Oper Wien, but for the living history of this unique venue. The Neue Oper Wien is delighted to be performing in the Art Nouveau theatre once again: Back to the Roots!