11 April 1897
Rudolf Ludwig Caspar Neher was born to Karl Wilhelm, a school teacher, and Maria
Wilhelmine Neher in Augsburg.
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 Galgeiand 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'sIn 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 Summer 1930 6 February 1931 29 May 1931 21 December 1931 17 January 1932 10 March 1932 28 September 1932 December 1932 22 December 1932 18 February 1933 27 February 1933 13 April 1933 7 June 1933 27 November 1933 Autumn 1934 20 February 1935 1937 26 March 1937 Autumn 1937 28 February 1938 31 May 1938 28 January 1939 6 April 1939 7 October 1939 19 December 1940 4 April 1941 October 1942 1943 25 August 1944 November 1944 Spring 1945 19 April 1946 Summer 1946 Autumn 1946 14 December 1946 6 January 1947 January-February 1947 6 August 1947 5 November 1947 15 February 1948 Spring 1948 Summer 1948 Autumn 1948 22 April 1949 Summer 1949 8 November 1949 December 1949 January 1950 February 1950 November 1950 January 1951 End of 1951 Beginning of 1952 February 1952 28 March 1952 November 1952 Autumn 1953 May 1954 June 1955 December 1955 February 1956 March 1956 November 1956 February 1957 6 October 1957 Spring 1958 January-February 1959 30 April 1959 2 April-22 May 1960 30 June 1962 24 September 1962 27 March 1963
Premiere of Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at the Neues Theater in Leipzig.
Neher makes the projections.
Neher designs the costumes for G. W. Pabst's film treatment of The Threepenny Opera.
Brecht directs Man Equals Man at the Staatstheater, with Neher's set.
Leos Janácek's From the House of the Dead opens at the Kroll Oper.
Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny opens at Theater am Kurfürstendamm. Neher
and Brecht codirects.
The Mother opens at the Komödienhaus.
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.
Verdi's Ballo in Maschera opens at the Stadtische Oper, directed by Carl Ebert and
designed by Neher.
Hans Curjel stages a shortened version of Mahagonny at th Salle Gaveau in Paris,
with Neher's sets.
At the Volksbühne, Heinz Hilpert stages Oliver Cromwell's Sendung by the
nationalist playwright Walter Gilbrecht, with Neher's design.
Kurt Weill's opera (libretto by Georg Kaiser) Silver Lake opens at the Altes
Theater in Leipzig. Directed by Sierck and designed by Neher.
After the Reichstag Fire, Neher drives the Weills to Paris.
The Threepenny Opera opens at the Empire Theatre in New York. Neher's design is
realized by Cleon Thjrockmorton.
The Seven Deadly Sins opens in
Paris. Neher designs the set and the costumes.
Afterwards, Neher returens to Germany.
**
The Seven Deadly Sins by Nils Grosch.
deutsch.
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.
Neher works on his libretto for Rudolf Wagner-Regény's opera Der Günstling.
Der Günstling opens at Dresden Opera. Karl Böhm conducts and Josef Gielen
directs, with sets by Neher.
Neher designs for the Dresden Opera and the Hamburg Schauspielhaus besides his work at
Frankfurt and Düsseldorf.
Erich Engel directs Coriolanus at the Deutsches Theater, with music by Rudolf
Wagner-Regény and sets by Neher.
The Intendant of the Deutsches Theater, Heinz Hilpert, engages Neher as a regular
designer. (Tenure ends in 1944.)
Erich Engel directs The Tempest at the Deutsches Theater, with Neher's design.
Carl Ebert stages Verdi's Macbeth at Glyndebourne in London, with sets by Neher.
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.
Erich Engel directs Othello at the Deutsches Theater, with Neher's design.
Erich Engel directsTwelfth Night at the Deutsches Theater, with music by Rudolf
Wagner-Regény and sets by Neher.
Neher collaborates with the director Oskar Fritz Schuh on La Traviata by Verdi at
the Vienna Opera.
Rudolf Wagner-Regény's opera Johanna Balk, under Oskar Fritz Schuh's direction,
opens at the Vienna Opera. Leopold Ludwig conducts and Neher designs.
Neher designs Carl Orff's Carmina Burana for the Hamburg Opera.
Neher works on the libretto for Der Darmwäscher for Rudolf Wagner-Regény.
Nazi closes all German theatres.
Neher is drafted first to various airfields and then to the Air Ministry film
service.
Neher moves to Hamburg.
The Zürich Schauspielhuas stages Mother Courage, directed by Leopold Lindtberg with sets
by Neher.
After turning down Hamburg's offer for a long term contract, Neher is now engaged at the
Zürich Schauspielhaus, under Oskar Wälterlin.
Brecht writes to Neher from California.
Carl Zuckmayer's The Devil's General premiers at the Zürich Schauspielhaus,
directed by Heinz Hilpert with set design by Neher.
Ernst Ginsberg stages Fear and Miserry of the Third Reich in Basel, with
projections by Neher.
Neher designs Verdi's Rigoletto for the Cambridge Theatre in London. Benjamin
Britten's Peter Grimes at La Scala, Milan.
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.
Brecht arrives in Zürich.
Antigone opens at the Chur Stadttheater headed by Hans Curjel. Neher and Brecht
co-directs.
Discussion with Brecht on the satirical revue project, Ares' Chariot. Also
discussions on Mr. Puntila and His Man Matti scheduled in June at the Zürich
Schauspielhaus.
Neher adapts the old Felsenretschule for opera productions.
Neher is granted Austrian citizenship.
Harry Buckwitz directs the revised version of The Threepenny Opera at
the Munich Kammerspiele, using Neher's designs.
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.
Mr. Puntila and His Man Matti inaugurates the Berliner Ensemble with Neher's sets.
Works on The Tutor.
Works on the DEFA film version of Mother Courage. Also designs for The Mother
for a Leipzig production.
Designs for Puntila for Dresden.
Works on the Berliner Ensemble's production of The Mother. The projections
are done by John Heartfield and Wieland Herzfeld.
Designs for the Paul Dessau opera Lucullus.
Neher attends rehearsals of Puntila at the Berliner Ensemble. Curt Bois has taken
over the lead.
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).
Neher starts working on drawings for Coriolanus for the Berliner Ensemble.
Neher is appalled by the conservatism of Kremlin Chimes at the Berliner Ensemble
with designs by John Heartfield.
Neher dissociates himself from working in East Berlin.
Oskar Fritz Schuh, now Artistic Director of the West Berlin Volksbühne, engages Neher as
a regular designer.
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.]
Works on The Good Person of Setzuan for the Zürich Schauspielhaus.
Neher, Brecht and Erich Engel prepares for Life of Galieo.
Sam Wanamaker also produces The Threepenny Opera at the Royal Court Theatre in
London (besides Strehler in Milan), with designs by Neher.
Neher designs for Erwin Piscator's production of Danton's Death (Georg Büchner)
for the Schiller Theater.
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.
Neher re-signs a contract with the Salzburg Festival.
Die Bürgschaft is revived by the Berlin Stadtische Oper with Arthur Rother
conducting and directed by Carl Ebert.
Neher becomes Professor of Stage Design at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts.
Neher designs Wozzeck and Macbeth for the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Saint Joan of the Stockyards premieres at the Hamburg Schauspielhaus. Gustav
Gründgens directs and Neher designs.
Rolf Badenhausen organizes a comprehensive exhibition of Neher's work at the
Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne.
Neher dies in Vienna.
Erika Neher dies.
Der Darmwäscher (now renamed Persische Episode) premieres at Volkstheater
Rostock.
Selected Bibliography:
Tretow, Christine and Gier, Helmut, ed. Caspar Neher: der grosste Buhnenbauer unserer
Zeit. Opladen / Wiesbaden: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1997. 
