Caspar Neher

Caspar Neher (born Rudolf Ludwig Caspar Neher; 11 April 1897 – 30 June 1962) was an Austrian-German scenographer and librettist, known principally for his career-long working relationship with Bertolt Brecht. Neher was born in Augsburg. He and Brecht were school friends who were separated for a time by the First World War, during which Neher was awarded the Iron Cross, Second Class (on 2 February 1918). In 1919, he studied under Angelo Jank at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich. He was first engaged professionally by the Munich Kammerspiele in 1922, although his designs for its production of Brecht's Drums in the Night were rejected. On 18 August 1923, Neher married Erika Tornquist in Graz. Their son, Georg, was born on 14 October 1924. In autumn of 1926, Neher became the staff designer at the Berlin Staatstheater. A year later, he became head of design at the Grillo-Theater in Essen, Germany, where he designed 8 operas and 11 plays. He died in Vienna.

1923. Das Käthchen von Heilbronn by Heinrich von Kleist at the Berlin Staatstheater; dir. Jürgen Fehling 1923. In the Jungle at the Residenztheater in Munich 1924. The Life of Edward II of England at the Munich Kammerspiele; dir. Brecht 1924. Jungle: Decline of a Family at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin; dir. Erich Engel 1925. Coriolanus by William Shakespeare at the Lessing-Theater in Berlin; dir. Erich Engel 1925. Circle of Chalk in a version by Klabund at the Deutsches Theater; dir. Max Reinhardt 1926. Lysistrata by Aristophanes at the Deutsches Theater; dir. Erich Engel 1926. Baal at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin 1926. Man Equals Man at the Landestheater Darmstadt; dir. Jacob Geis 1926. Earth Spirit and Pandora's Box by Frank Wedekind at the Berlin Staatstheater; dir. Erich Engel 1927. The Little Mahagonny at the Deutsche Kammermusik Festival at Baden-Baden; dir. Brecht 1927. Die Wupper by Else Lasker-Schüler at the Berlin Staatstheater; dir. Carl Ebert 1928. Man Equals Man at the Berlin Volksbühne; dir. Erich Engel 1928. Kalkutta, 4. Mai by Lion Feuchtwanger at the Berlin Staatstheater; dir. Erich Engel 1928. The Threepenny Opera at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm in Berlin, music by Kurt Weill 1928. Carmen by Georges Bizet at the Kroll Opera House in Berlin 1929. Pioneers in Ingolstadt by Marieluise Fleißer at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm in Berlin; dir. Brecht and Jacob Geis 1929. Moritat, Moschopoulos, and Sganarelle by Rudolf Wagner-Régeny at the Grillo-Theater, Essen 1929. Wozzeck by Alban Berg 1930. Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at the Neues Theater in Leipzig; music by Kurt Weill; dir. Walter Brugmann 1931. Man Equals Man at the Berlin Staatstheater; dir. Brecht 1931. The Threepenny Opera, costume design for the cinematic adaptation directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst 1931. From the House of the Dead by Leoš Janáček at the Kroll Opera House in Berlin 1932. Die Bürgschaft, libretto and design by Neher, music by Kurt Weill, at the Deutsche Oper Berlin; dir. Ebert 1932. Un ballo in maschera by Giuseppe Verdi at the Deutsche Oper Berlin; dir. Ebert 1932. Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at the Salle Gaveau in Paris; dir. Hans Curjel 1932. Oliver Cromwells Sendung by Walter Gilbricht at the Volksbühne; dir. Hilpert 1938. Macbeth by Giuseppe Verdi at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera; dir. Ebert 1949. Un ballo in maschera by Giuseppe Verdi for the Glyndebourne Festival Opera at the Edinburgh Festival; dir. Ebert 1949. Mr Puntila and his Man Matti at the Berliner Ensemble in East Berlin.

== Sources == Sacks, Glendyr. 1994. "A Brecht Calendar." In The Cambridge Companion to Brecht. Ed. Peter Thomson and Glendyr Sacks. Cambridge Companions to Literature Ser. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-41446-6. p. xvii–xxvii. Willett, John. 1967. The Theatre of Bertolt Brecht: A Study from Eight Aspects. Third rev. ed. London: Methuen, 1977. ISBN 0-413-34360-X. Willett, John. 1986. Caspar Neher: Brecht's Designer. London and New York: Methuen. ISBN 0-413-41240-7.