(Ger. Aussig).
City in north Bohemia with a Czech-German cultural history. The neo-Baroque Stadttheater was built in 1907–8 by the architect Alexander Graf, with decoration by Eduard Veit; it was repaired in 1947 and reconstructed in 1987–93 with 524 seats. Primarily German, it was first run by the actress Maria Pospischil (Pospíšilová, 1909–13). A later prosperous managing director, Alfred Huttig (1920–29), engaged the conductor Adolf Kienzl (1921–2), a pupil of Zemlinsky, and organized the Maifestspiele with celebrated guest singers, giving such works as Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde. Subsequent conductors during Huttig's regime included Josef Kribs (1924–5), Bruno Zilzer (1925–7), who presented Zemlinsky's Es war einmal, and Viktor Ullman (1927–8), whose repertory included Tristan (in its Ústí premičre), Ariadne auf Naxos, The Kiss and Jonny spielt auf. There was also, from the time of Czech independence in 1918, a two-month Czech season alongside the eight-month German one, with visiting opera troupes from Olomouc and České Budějovice.
In 1945 the Divadlo Severu (Northern Theatre) brought Czech opera from Teplice. Then came the Ústecko-Karlovarská Zpěvohra (Musical Theatre of Ústí and Karlovy Vary), which played in those two cities, followed in 1952 by the Divadlo Zdeňka Nejedlého (Zdeněk Nejedlý Theatre) in Ústí. It toured regularly to Most, Teplice and elsewhere, and formed links with the opera in nearby Dresden. In 1990 it came under the jurisdiction of the municipality and was renamed the Městské Divadlo Ústí nad Labem (Ústí Town Theatre). Its repertory ranges from Baroque to contemporary works, and has included works on the grand scale, such as Boris Godunov (1952 and 1967), Der fliegende Holländer (1954) and Tristan (1972, the first Czech performance since 1945). The theatre orchestra also gives regular concerts, and played Verdi's Requiem at the neighbouring site of the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Conductors who worked in Ústí included Josef Bartl (1946–52) and František Vajnar (1974–80), and among singers in the company were Vladimír Bauer (1952–6), Naděžda Kniplová (1957–9), Vilém Přibyl (1960–61) and Václav Zítek (1960–69).
Musical education takes place in three music schools, two piano schools and two zither schools. There is also a great tradition of choral singing, led by the Ústecký Pěvecký Sbor (Ústí Singing Choir, founded 1956), the Chorea Academica of the Pedagogical Faculty (1959) and the Ústecký Dětský Sbor (Ústí Children's Choir). The State Scientific Library includes a music department, and there is a regional station of Czech Radio.
GroveO (E. Herrmannová)
F. Kuttin: 20 Jahre Stadttheater Aussig, iii (Ústí nad Labem, 1929), 241–7
EVA HERRMANNOVÁ