Mannheim National Theatre

When Charles Theodore also became the Duke of Bavaria in 1777, he moved to Munich and brought the theatre company of Theobald Marchand with him from Mannheim.

At first Dalberg contracted Abel Seyler's theatre company with performing in Mannheim on an occasional basis from 1778 to 1779.

The Mannheim National Theatre opened in October 1779 with Seyler as its first artistic director (Direktor) and Dalberg as its general administrator (Intendant).

Thus it reflects the tradition of many of the major names of the German arts such as Friedrich Schiller and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

In terms of the history of the company, Friedrich Schiller's first major drama, The Robbers (Die Räuber) was given its inaugural performance in 1782 in presence of the playwright at the National Theatre.

The response was overwhelming: "the theatre resembled a lunatic asylum, rolling eyes, clenched fists, ramming feet, hoarse proclamations in the auditorium!

Johann Stamitz and his pupil and successor Christian Cannabich made the Mannheim Court Orchestra one of the best in the world.

From September 2000, Ádám Fischer was General Music Director of National Theater Mannheim and he completed his term in July 2005 with a performance of Götterdämmerung.