History

The Aicher family – three generations for the marionettes

For almost 100 years the Aicher family was the defining force behind the Salzburg Marionette Theatre, and a pillar of the town's cultural life. Three generations directed the theatre with loving care and artistic skill, well aware of their responsibility to maintain this highly specialised art in Central Europe.

Anton Aicher: a sculptor dreams of a puppet theatre

Anton Aicher (1859–1930), born in Styria, had a dream. After graduating from the Vienna Academy of Art and taking a teaching post for sculpture at the state vocational college in Salzburg, he dreamed of establishing a puppet theatre in Salzburg, like the famous Munich marionette theatre of "Papa" Leonard Schmid. In 1885 he married Rosina Deutsch, daughter of a landowner near Graz. They had three children – Notburga, Karl and Hermann (1902–1977). Anton had meanwhile made contact with "Papa" Schmid – now aged almost 80 – who allowed him to look around the world of the Munich marionettes. But he imagined a theatre with technical facilities and an artistic language all its own, a theatre which could maintain its position within the tradition of the Salzburg "Kasperl-Theater" [roughly equivalent to the "Punch & Judy" show].

The first steps of the Salzburg marionettes

Anton Aicher persuaded some of his students to help on a freelance basis with the construction of the first small stage, in his studio in the Salzburg Künstlerhaus. As a sculptor, he himself was the motivating force; today, his small marionettes (only 20–30 cm tall) still provide the artistic basis for the Salzburg Marionette Theatre. It was largely their fine detail and unsurpassed expressive force that made it possible for the theatre to play a major role in illusionist puppetry, where the puppeteer is not visible and the puppet moves in a lifelike way. Anton Aicher's innovation was not limited to shaping the figures, however; he also improved the technical operation of the marionettes, developing a new kind of operating cross, a perfected form of which is still in use in the Marionette Theatre.

The birth of the Salzburg Marionette Theatre

27 February 1913 saw the first public performance, with Mozart's Singspiel Bastien und Bastienne. This was a huge success, and further small operas followed in the ensuing years. The main focus, however, was still on Franz von Pocci's "Kasperl-Theater". In contrast to the more earthy "Larifari" in Munich, Aicher's main figure, the Salzburg Kasperl, was a far more sensitive, gentle, sometimes even melancholy character, who for many years personified the Marionette Theatre. Actor friends performed the live spoken roles, and a musical accompaniment was provided by piano or string quartet. Anton's daughter Notburga looked after the business side of things. Aged only 11 at the first performance, his son Hermann continued to be an enthusiastic puppeteer; he also attended sculpture courses in Vienna, but then returned to Salzburg. On his marriage in 1926 to the young singer Elfriede Eschenlohr, his father handed over the Marionette Theatre (which had by that time moved to the Old Borromäum) to him as a wedding present.

Hermann Aicher: investment in expansion and renovation

Hermann Aicher set about renovating the theatre, keeping up with technical innovations for the stage while taking into account the wish for fantasy in the repertoire, with utopian plays including Die Raumrakete [The space rocket], Das Weihnachtswunder [The Christmas Miracle], and Der Frühlingszauber [Spring Magic]. His young wife took over the costume department and directed the singers and actors under the stage. Their daughters Friedl and Gertl were born in 1926 and 1928 respectively, and during the 1930s the young family made extensive trips abroad to publicise the theatre. They toured to Hamburg, Vienna, Holland, and an extensive tout in the Balkans took the marionettes to Sofia, Athens and even Istanbul. In 1936 they visited Moscow and Leningrad, where they played to audiences of up to 2,500. For this they had to make new, larger marionettes. A particular attraction was the "dying swan", with a marionette modelled on the legendary ballerina Anna Pavlova. The following year, in a puppet-theatre competition at the Paris Exposition, they were awarded the gold medal.

The Nazi period: the Marionette Theatre as an instrument of propaganda

After the Anschluss, the Marionette Theatre became an instrument for propaganda, undertaking many tours through Germany; during the latter war years it was used as a "front theatre" for the entertainment of the soldiers in Norway. Hermann Aicher was conscripted in 1944. In September 1944, all theatres were closed; only at Christmas were a few performances permitted.

The post-War years: a period of rationalisation

Immediately after the War, the Salzburg marionettes at first played exclusively for the Allied forces, in return for urgently needed provisions. In 1947, the Salzburg Marionette Theatre gave the first German-language guest performance in Paris, in the famous Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. Hermann Aicher still had at his disposal a sizeable ensemble, which allowed him to perform in Salzburg all year round, while at the same time undertaking tours. However, the Borromäum was in a state of serious disrepair, and when the authorities closed it down in 1950, the theatre was forced to abandon hundreds of stage-sets adapted to the premises. A period of rationalisation set in. Hermann Aicher seized the opportunity offered by new recording techniques and commercial recordings; at last it was possible to produce major plays and operas – and in different languages. The Marionette Theatre started touring again – first in 1951/52 in America, then Asia, establishing their reputation as ambassador for the art of puppetry.

The "little opera house" finds a big home

Under Hermann Aicher, Mozart's operas became the Theatre's core repertoire, with the support of the young stage-set designer Günther Schneider-Siemssen, who started his career with the Salzburg marionettes, and from 1952 until 1991 was solely responsible for designing all productions. He often insisted on technical innovations for the stage, and encouraged the puppet-makers to further refine the mechanics of their marionettes. A major highlight of Hermann Aicher's era was surely when, after ten years in temporary premises in the Kapitelsaal, 1971, the Theatre was at last able to move into its permanent home in the Schwarzstrasse, where it is today.

Gretl Aicher: a director with vision

Hermann died suddenly in 1977, and his daughter Gretl, who had trained and performed in the theatre since her youth, took over the artistic direction. Under her ægis, further generations of puppeteers were trained, and with her precise technique and expressive force, she achieved prominence for the marionettes. One of her chief concerns was to present marionette performance as an art, and to have it recognised as such. She persuaded internationally distinguished stage directors such as Götz Friedrich and Wolf-Dieter Ludwig to work for the Marionette Theatre. The repertoire was expanded in the field of music theatre to include The Nutcracker and The Tales of Hoffmann, and the trio of Mozart's Da Ponte operas was completed, with The Marriage of Figaro and Così fan tutte. There followed co-productions with the Salzburg Festival (Oberon, Peter and the Wolf, Bastien und Bastienne) and the Salzburg Landestheater (Josa with his Magic Fiddle, The Little Prince, The Ring of the Nibelung). The new millennium started with further international successes: Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, and the musical The Sound of Music.

Gretl Aicher's sudden death in March 2012 ended the 100-year Aicher family history, and thus the history of the founding of the Salzburg Marionette Theatre.