Max Friedrich was evidently pleased with the company, for the “Nachrichten” has the following in the catalogue of performances: “On the 8th (of April) His Electoral Grace was pleased to give a splendid breakfast to the entire company in the theatre.... The company will occupy itself until the return of His Electoral Grace from Münster, which will be in the middle of November, with learning the newest and best pieces, among which are ‘Hamlet,’ ‘King Lear’ and ‘Macbeth,’ which are to be given also with much splendor of costume according to the designs of famous artists.”
It may be remarked here that the “Bonn Comedy House” (for painting the interior of which Clemens August paid 468 thalers in 1751, a date which seems to fix the time at which that end of the palace was completed), occupied that portion of the present University Archæological Museum room next the Coblenz Gate, with large doors opening from the stage into the passageway so that this space could be used as an extension of the stage in pieces requiring it for the production of grand scenic effects. Above the theatre was the “Redouten-Saal” of Max Franz’s time. The Elector had, of course, an entrance from the passages of the palace into his box. The door for the public, in an angle of the wall now built up, opened out upon the grove of horse-chestnuts. The auditorium was necessarily low, but spacious enough for several hundred spectators. Though much criticized by travellers as being unworthy so elegant a court, not to say shabby, it seems to have been a nice and snug little theatre.
Meanwhile affairs with Seyler were drawing to a crisis. He had returned with his company from Mannheim and reopened at Frankfort, August 3, 1779. On the evening of the 17th, to escape imprisonment as a bankrupt, whether through his own fault or that of another—the Theatre Lexicon affirms the latter case—he took his wife and fled to Mayence. The company was allowed by the magistrates to play a few weeks with a view of earning at least the means of leaving the city; but on October 4, its members began to separate; Benda and his wife went to Berlin, but C. G. Neefe, the music director, and Opitz, descended the Rhine to Bonn and joined the company there—Neefe assuming temporarily the direction of the music in the theatre—of which more in another place.
No record has been found of the repertory of the Bonn theatre for the season 1779-1780, except that the opening piece on December 3, on the evening after the Elector’s return from Münster, was a prologue, “Wir haben Ihn wieder!” text by Baron vom Hagen, with airs, recitatives and choruses composed by Neefe; that the “Déserteur” was in the list, and finally Hiller’s “Jagd.” In June, 1781, the season being over, the company migrated to Pyrmont, from Pyrmont to Cassel, and thence, in October, back to Bonn.
Another Busy Season at Bonn
The season of 1781-’82 was a busy one; of musical dramas alone 17 are reported as newly rehearsed from September, 1781, to the same time in 1782, viz:
| “Die Liebe unter den Handwerkern (“L’Amore Artigiano”) | Music | by | Gassmann |
| “Robert und Calliste” | „ | „ | Guglielmi |
| “Der Alchymist” | „ | „ | Schuster. |
| “Das tartarische Gesetz” | „ | „ | d’Antoine (of Bonn) |
| “Der eifersüchtige Liebhaber” (“L’Amant jaloux”) | „ | „ | Grétry |
| “Der Hausfreund” | |||
| (“L’Ami de la Maison”) | „ | „ | Grétry |
| “Die Freundschaft auf der Probe (“L’Amitié à l’Épreuve”) | „ | „ | Grétry |
| “Heinrich und Lyda” | „ | „ | Neefe |
| “Die Apotheke” | „ | „ | Neefe |
| “Eigensinn und Launen der Liebe” | „ | „ | Deler (Teller, Deller?) |
| “Romeo und Julie” | „ | „ | Benda |
| “Sophonisba” (Deklamation mit Musik) | „ | „ | Neefe |
| “Lucille” | „ | „ | Grétry |
| “Milton und Elmire” | „ | „ | Mihl (or Mühle) |
| “Die Samnitische Vermählungsfeier (“Le Marriage des Samnites”) | „ | „ | Grétry |
| “Ernst und Lucinde” | „ | „ | Grétry |
| “Günther von Schwarzburg” | „ | „ | Holzbauer |
It does not follow, however, that all these operas, operettas and plays with music were produced during the season in Bonn. The company followed the Elector to Münster in June, 1782, and removed thence to Frankfort-on-the-Main for its regular series of performances at Michaelmas. It came back to Bonn in the Autumn.
The season 1782-’83 was as active as the preceding. Some of the newly rehearsed spoken dramas were “Sir John Falstaff,” from the English, translations of Sheridan’s “School for Scandal,” Shakespeare’s “Lear,” and “Richard III,” Mrs. Cowley’s “Who’s the Dupe?” and, of original German plays, Schiller’s “Fiesco” and “Die Räuber,” Lessing’s “Miss Sara Sampson,” Schroeder’s “Testament,” etc., etc. The number of newly rehearsed musical dramas—in which class are included such ballad operas as General Burgoyne’s “Maid of the Oaks”—reached twenty, viz:
| “Das Rosenfest” | Music | by | Wolf (of Weimar) |
| “Azalia” | „ | „ | Johann Küchler (Bassoonist in the Bonn chapel) |
| “Die Sklavin” (La Schiava) | „ | „ | Piccini |
| “Zémire et Azor” | „ | „ | Grétry |
| “Das Mädchen im Eichthale” (“Maid of the Oaks”) | „ | „ | d’Antoine (Captain in the army of the Elector of Cologne) |
| “Der Kaufmann von Smyrna” | „ | „ | J. A. Juste (Court Musician in The Hague) |
| “Die seidenen Schuhe” | „ | „ | Alexander Frizer (or Fridzeri) |
| “Die Reue vor der That” | „ | „ | Desaides |
| “Der Aerndtetanz” | „ | „ | J. A. Hiller |
| “Die Olympischen Spiele” (Olympiade) | „ | „ | Sacchini |
| “Die Lügnerin aus Liebe” | „ | „ | Salieri |
| “Die Italienerin zu London” | „ | „ | Cimarosa |
| “Das gute Mädchen” (La buona figliuola) | „ | „ | Piccini |
| “Der Antiquitäten-Sammler” | „ | „ | André |
| “Die Entführung aus dem Serail” | „ | „ | Mozart |
| “Die Eifersucht auf der Probe” (Il Geloso in Cimento) | „ | „ | Anfossi |
| “Rangstreit und Eifersucht auf dem Lande” (Le Gelosie villane) | „ | „ | Sarti |
| “Unverhofft kommt oft” (Les Évènements imprévus) | „ | „ | Grétry |
| “Felix, oder der Findling” (Félix ou l’Enfant trouvé) | „ | „ | Monsigny |
| “Die Pilgrimme von Mekka” | „ | „ | Gluck |