Deutsch- tschechische kulturelle Kontakte unter einem Dach. Ein Beispiel des Kulturtransfers im Ständetheater um die Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts
German-Czech Cultural Contacts under One Roof. An Example of a Cultural Transfer at the Estates Theatre around the Middle of the 19th Century

Summary/Abstract: The Estates Theatre provides an excellent example of the cultural transfer theory. There were two ensembles acting on one stage, under one roof, one Czech and one German, which provides an evidence that the cultural contacts existed. There are two ways to interpret how it happened. Firstly the cultural transfer happened via actors. Actors were people, at the centre of cultural events and thanks to their role or social status, they could influence the transfer process. An excellent example is the chief opera conductor at the Estates Theatre – František ŠKROUP, who worked for both the Czech and German ensembles. Thanks to his vast area of influence, he could put forward his own cultural liking, his ideas and opinions in the theatre performances, present them to the public and transport them to the general awareness outside the theatre. The personal level includes not only the leaders, but also the artists, because it was them who presented the theatre piece on stage. Very important was their background, bringing in various stereotypes and typical behaviour from different social milieu, which they, often not deliberately, put into their performance. Secondly, the cultural transfer happened through intertextual transfer and a reflection of external influences on the repertoire and dramatic texts focused on similarities between German and Czech repertoires and dramatic texts, which were a means of transforming signs from one culture to another and vice versa. It is also interesting to note the changes of the text under political pressure, what was abridged or “adapted” by censorship.

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