September 1909 Neher enters the St Anna Humanistisches Gymnasium.
1910 His first attemps at play-writing.
September 1911 Neher moves to the Real-Gymnasium and is put in the same class (IVb) as Bertolt Brecht.
1914 Neher enters the Arts Institute in Munich.
2 August 1914 Germany enters the First World War.
21 June 1915 Neher volunteers for the army and is called up.
24 August 1915 Neher's unit serves in the battle of the Somme.
14 April 1917 Neher is buried alive and evacuated to hospital in Alsaces.
June-July 1917 Neher is in Augsburg and Munich, where he sees the annual art exhibition at the Glaspalast.
4 August 1917 Neher is back to his unit stationed at Verdun. Regular corresponces from Brecht, while Neher also sends drawings to Brecht.
2 February 1918 Neher, now an officer, is awarded the Iron Cross, Second Class.
March 1918 Brecht writes to Neher about the death of Frank Wedekind and about a new project about Villon.
9 November 1918 "November Revolution" in Germany. Abdication of Kaiser William II. Proclamation of Bavarian Soviet Republic.
11 November 1918 Germany signs the armistice on the Western Front. And Neher's unit begins homecoming.
5-11 January 1919 Spartacist Rising in Berlin.
16 January 1919 Neher is admitted at the Munich Academy.
February 1919 Neher is discharged by the army. He also provides drawings for Baal.
20 February 1919 Counter-revolutionary troops take over Augsburg.
2 May 1919 Fall of the Munich Soviet. Gustav Landauer and Levine murdered, Toller jailed.
May 1919 Brecht submits Baal to Musarion-Verlag, with Neher's sketches.
2 August 1919 Neher is godfather to Brecht and Banholzer's son Frank.
February 1920 Lion Feuchtwanger has shown Neher's drawings to Passeti, chief designer to the Bavarian State Theatre, and to Otto Falckenberg, director of the Munich Kammerspiele.
February-March 1921 Neher makes designs for Drums in the Night and collaborates with Brecht on a film story about pirates.
Spring-Summer 1921 Further work on Galgei and another film story, Three in a Tower.
1922 Neher and Erika Tornquist get engaged. Neher decides to concentrate on stage design. Also receives his first contract with the Munich Kammerspiele.
Summer 1922 Neher's design for Drums in the Night is rejected by the Munich Kammerspiele.
1February 1923 Kleist's Kätchen von Heilbronn under Jürgen Fehling opens at the Berlin Staatstheater, with Neher's design.
9 May 1923 Brecht's In the Jungle under Erich Engel opens at the Munich Residenz-Theater, with sets and costume by Neher.
18 August 1923 Neher gets married with Erika Tornquist in Graz, Austria.
September 1923 Work on Life of Edward II, also illustrations for its publication by Kiepenheuer.
18 March 1924 Life of Edward II directed by Brecht opens at the Munich Kammerspiele. Set and costume by Neher.
September 1924 Moves to Berlin. Felix Hollander of the Deutsches Theater engages Neher on a two-year contract, while Brecht also joins as dramaturg.
14 October 1924 Birth of Neher's son Georg.
29 October 1924 In the Jungel, under Engel, opens at the Deutsches Theater, with sets and costume by Neher.
27 February 1925 Erich Engel directs Shakespeare's Coriolanus, with Fritz Kortner in the title role, opens at the Lessing Theater. Sets and costume by Neher. Brecht also attends the rehearsals.
Summer 1925 Neue Sachlichkeit exhibition at Mannheim provides the name for the general trend towards sbriety and functionalism in the arts.
20 October 1925 Klabund's Kreidekreis, under Max Reinhardt's direction, opens at the Deutsches Theater, with Elisabeth Bergner in the lead and sets by Neher.
8 January 1926 The Deutsches Theater's Lysistrata under Erich Engel's direction opens, with Neher's design.
14 February 1926 Baal is staged by Brecht at the Deutsches Theater for a single performance, with Neher's design.
25 September 1926 The premiere of
Man equals Man,
directed by Jacob Geis with sets by Neher at the Darmstadt Landestheater.
[In 1926, Neher also joins the staff of the Staatlichen Schauspielhaus
Berlin and the tenure ends in 1934. Also designs for Erich Engel's Staatsthater
production of Wedekind's two Lulu
plays and Leopold Jesser's Hamlet
with modern dress at the same theatre.]
July 1927 Mahagonny Songspiel at Baden-Baden.
Autumn 1927 Neher joins Essen City Theatres as head of desgin.
15 October 1927 Elsa Lasker-Schüler's Die Wupper directed by Jürgen Fehling opens at the Staatstheater, with Neher's design.
5 January 1928 Man Equals Man is staged by Erich Engel at the Berlin Volksbühne with Neher's design.
12 June 1928 Staatstheater presents Lion Feuchtwanger's Kalkutta 4 Mai directed by Erich Engel and designed by Neher.
Summer 1928 Neher joins Brecht and Elisabeth Hauptmann in preparation of the premiere of The Threepenny Opera.
31 October 1928 The Kroll Oper (headed by Otto Klemperer) stages Carmen, directed by Ernst Legal and designed by Neher.
November 1928 Neher and Kurt Weill are both involved in the premiere of Lion Feuchtwanger's Die Petroleuminseln directed by Jürgen Fehling at the Staatstheater.
Spring 1929 Neher designs for Lampel's Giftgas über Berlin and Marieluise Fleißer's Pioniere in Ingolstadt.
12 April 1929 Rudolf Wagner-Régeny's opera Moschopoulos opens at Essen with sets by Neher.
31 August 1929 Happy End opens at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, with sets by Neher.
September 1929 Neher begins a contract with Volksbühne. He also designs a triple bill of operas by Ravel, Milhaud, and Ibert for the Kroll Oper. Alexander Zemlinsky conducts and Gustav Gründgens directs.
22 January 1930 Man Equals Man opens at Essen Stadttheater.
9 March 1930 Premiere of Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at the Neues Theater in Leipzig. Neher makes the projections.
Summer 1930 Neher designs the costumes for G. W. Pabst's film treatment of The Threepenny Opera.
6 February 1931 Brecht directs Man Equals Man at the Staatstheater, with Neher's set.
29 May 1931 Leos Janacek's From the House of the Dead opens at the Kroll Oper.
21 December 1931 Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny opens at Theater am Kurfürstendamm. Neher and Brecht codirects.
17 January 1932 The Mother opens at the Komödienhaus.
10 March 1932 Premiere of the opera Die Bürgschaft, music by Kurt Weill and libretto by Neher, at Stadtische Oper. The production is conducted by Fritz Stiedry and directed by Carl Ebert with designs by Neher.
28 September 1932 Verdi's Ballo in Maschera opens at the Stadtische Oper, directed by Carl Ebert and designed by Neher.
December 1932 Hans Curjel stages a shortened version of Mahagonny at th Salle Gaveau in Paris, with Neher's sets.
22 December 1932 At the Volksbühne, Heinz Hilpert stages Oliver Cromwell's Sendung by the nationalist playwright Walter Gilbrecht, with Neher's design.
18 February 1933 Kurt Weill's opera (libretto by Georg Kaiser) Silver Lake opens at the Altes Theater in Leipzig. Directed by Sierck and designed by Neher.
27 February 1933 After the Reichstag Fire, Neher drives the Weills to Paris.
13 April 1933 The Threepenny Opera opens at the Empire Theatre in New York. Neher's design is realized by Cleon Thjrockmorton.
7 June 1933 The Seven Deadly Sins opens in Paris. Neher designs the set and the costumes. Afterwards, Neher returens to Germany.
27 November 1933 Neher designs a production for the Volksbühne. Subsequently, Neher begins to work under the Nazi restrictions, mainly in Frankfurt am Main, with directors Oskar Wälterlin and Walter Felsenstein, and Düsseldorf.
Autumn 1934 Neher works on his libretto for Rudolf Wagner-Regény's opera Der Günstling.
20 February 1935 Der Günstling opens at Dresden Opera. Karl Böhm conducts and Josef Gielen directs, with sets by Neher.
1937 Neher designs for the Dresden Opera and the Hamburg Schauspielhaus besides his work at Frankfurt and Düsseldorf.
26 March 1937 Erich Engel directs Coriolanus at the Deutsches Theater, with music by Rudolf Wagner-Regény and sets by Neher.
Autumn 1937 The Intendant of the Deutsches Theater, Heinz Hilpert, engages Neher as a regular designer. (Tenure ends in 1944.)
28 February 1938 Erich Engel directs The Tempest at the Deutsches Theater, with Neher's design.
31 May 1938 Carl Ebert stages Verdi's Macbeth at Glyndebourne in London, with sets by Neher.
28 January 1939 Rudolf Wagner-Regény's opera Die Bürger von Calais (libretto by Neher) is staged at the Berlin Staatsoper. Herbert von Karajan conducts and Neher designs.
6 April 1939 Erich Engel directs Othello at the Deutsches Theater, with Neher's design.
7 October 1939 Erich Engel directs Twelfth Night at the Deutsches Theater, with music by Rudolf Wagner-Regény and sets by Neher.
19 December 1940 Neher collaborates with the director Oskar Fritz Schuh on La Traviata by Verdi at the Vienna Opera.
4 April 1941 Rudolf Wagner-Regény's opera Johanna Balk, under Oskar Fritz Schuh's direction, opens at the Vienna Opera. Leopold Ludwig conducts and Neher designs.
October 1942 Neher designs Carl Orff's Carmina Burana for the Hamburg Opera.
1943 Neher works on the libretto for Der Darmwäscher for Rudolf Wagner-Regény.
25 August 1944 Nazi closes all German theatres.
November 1944 Neher is drafted first to various airfields and then to the Air Ministry film service.
Spring 1945 Neher moves to Hamburg.
19 April 1946 The Zürich Schauspielhuas stages Mother Courage, directed by Leopold Lindtberg with sets by Neher.
Summer 1946 After turning down Hamburg's offer for a long term contract, Neher is now engaged at the Zürich Schauspielhaus, under Oskar Wälterlin.
Autumn 1946 Brecht writes to Neher from California.
14 December 1946 Carl Zuckmayer's The Devil's General premiers at the Zürich Schauspielhaus, directed by Heinz Hilpert with set design by Neher.
6 January 1947 Ernst Ginsberg stages Fear and Miserry of the Third Reich in Basel, with projections by Neher.
January-February 1947 Neher designs Verdi's Rigoletto for the Cambridge Theatre in London. Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes at La Scala, Milan.
6 August 1947 Oskar Fritz Schuh produces the opera Danton's Death by Gottfried von Einem, with Ferenc Fricsay conducting and Neher designing, at the revived Salzburg Festival.
5 November 1947 Brecht arrives in Zürich.
15 February 1948 Antigone opens at the Chur Stadttheater headed by Hans Curjel. Neher and Brecht co-directs.
Spring 1948 Discussion with Brecht on the satirical revue project, Ares' Chariot. Also discussions on Puntila scheduled in June at the Zürich Schauspielhaus.
Summer 1948 Neher adapts the old Felsenretschule for opera productions.
Autumn 1948 Neher is granted Austrian citizenship.
22 April 1949 Harry Buckwitz directs the revised version of The Threepenny Opera at the Munich Kammerspiele, using Neher's designs.
Summer 1949 Works on The Magic Flute and Carl Orff's Antigonae at the Salzburg Festival. Brecht recruits Neher as head of design for the Berliner Ensemble.
8 November 1949 Puntila inaugurates the Berliner Ensemble with Neher's sets.
December 1949 Works on The Tutor.
January 1950 Works on the DEFA film version of Mother Courage. Also designs for The Mother for a Leipzig production.
February 1950 Designs for Puntila for Dresden.
November 1950 Works on the Berliner Ensemble's production of The Mother. The projections are done by John Heartfield and Wieland Herzfeld.
January 1951 Designs for the Paul Dessau opera Lucullus.
End of 1951 Neher attends rehearsals of Puntila at the Berliner Ensemble. Curt Bois has taken over the lead.
Beginning of 1952 Verdi's La Forza del Destino opens in Vienna and Alban Berg's Wozzeck in London. Both with design by Neher. Also works on Urfaust at the Berliner Ensemble (the designer is Hainer Hill).
February 1952 Neher starts working on drawings for Coriolanus for the Berliner Ensemble.
28 March 1952 Neher is appalled by the conservatism of Kremlin Chimes at the Berliner Ensemble with designs by John Heartfield.
November 1952 Neher dissociates himself from working in East Berlin.
Autumn 1953 Oskar Fritz Schuh, now Artistic Director of the West Berlin Volksbühne, engages Neher as a regular designer.
May 1954 Appointed head of design at the Munich Kammerspiele
under Hans Schweikart.
[Berliner Ensemble now moves in Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, with Karl
von Appen as its principal designer.]
June 1955 Works on The Good Person of Setzuan for the Zürich Schauspielhaus.
December 1955 Neher, Brecht and Erich Engel prepares for Life of Galieo.
February 1956 Sam Wanamaker also produces The Threepenny Opera at the Royal Court Theatre in London (besides Strehler in Milan), with designs by Neher.
March 1956 Neher designs for Erwin Piscator's production of Danton's Death (Georg Büchner) for the Schiller Theater.
November 1956 Neher resigns from the Salzbur Festival. Neher's old design for Days of the Commune is used at the Karl-Marx-Stadt (Chemnitz) production without consultation with him.
February 1957 Neher re-signs a contract with the Salzburg Festival.
6 October 1957 Die Bürgschaft is revived by the Berlin Stadtische Oper with Arthur Rother conducting and directed by Carl Ebert.
Spring 1958 Neher becomes Professor of Stage Design at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts.
January-February 1959 Neher designs Wozzeck
and Macbeth for the Metropolitan Opera
in New York.
30 April 1959 Saint Joan of
the Stockyards premieres at the Hamburg Schauspielhaus. Gustav
Gründgens directs and Neher designs.
2 April-22 May 1960 Rolf Badenhausen organizes a comprehensive exhibition of Neher's work at the Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne.
30 June 1962 Neher dies in Vienna.
24 September 1962 Erika Neher dies.
27 March 1963 Der Darmwäscher (now renamed Persische Episode) premieres at Volkstheater Rostock.
return
A
list of collaborations between Caspar Neher and Rudolf Wagner-Régeny.