THE WEIMAR HEATHEATER UNDER THE JOHANN WOLFGANG OF GOETHE
Already before the construction of the first comedy house theater was played in Weimar: Komödiantentruppen regularly on the invitation of the dukes at the Weimar court. In 1696, Duke Wilhelm Ernst erected an opera hall in the Ilm wing of the castle, but in 1774 it fell victim to a fire. The art-loving duchess Anna Amalia, wife of the Duke of Weimar-Saxony-Eisenach, founded a love theater, which gathered a circle of aristocratic and middle-class laity: played in various locations, in the Redoutenhaus, in the castle and nature stages of Ettersburg and Tiefurt , The 26-year-old Goethe, who had lived in Weimar since 1775, also joined this lover community as an actor, poet and playmate. In 1791 Duke Carl August decided to found a court theater in the 1779-built comedian house opposite the Wittumspalais. At this point the DNT still stands today.

Goethe was given the direction of the court theater, and he opened it in 1791 with the play "The Hunters". Goethe ensured that a drama ensemble could be formed, which according to his "Rules for Actors" (1803) corresponded to the requirements of classical dramas. The formerly disreputable reputation of the art of acting gave way to a high appreciation and social recognition of the actors as artist personalities.

In 1798 the court theater was transformed into a representative theater with galleries, columns and balconies, and enlarged to 1,000 seats. From 1799 to 1805, the year of Schiller's death, Goethe and Schiller, who had meanwhile moved from Jena to Weimar, worked together on the Weimar stage. Schiller staged his plays himself. The premieres of the three parts of the "Wallenstein" (1798/99) established Schiller's fame as a dramatist. Except for the "Virgin of Orleans," all the late dramas of Schiller were premiered in Weimar. The monument of Ernst Rietschel, inaugurated in 1857, symbolizes the fruitful cooperation of Goethe and Schiller in Weimar and has become the landmark of the city.

In March, 1825, the court theater burnt down, but the doors of a new theater building opened in September.