Theater Association Baroque Theater Lambach

Under Abbot Amandus Schickmayr (1746–1794), the Bendictine theater tradition was revived. In 1770, out of personal passion (“excessivus amator musicae”), he had the monastery theater “restyled”. His brother P. Maurus Lindemayr (1723-1783), known as the founder of Upper Austrian dialect poetry, wrote several opera libretti in the course of his rich literary oeuvre.

The music for this was mostly written by Joseph Langthaller (1722-1790), whose family roots e.g. to Traunkirchen and who enjoyed his education at Kremsmünster Abbey.

Contacts with the Mozarts

From 1768 Leopold and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart were also guests in Lambach on several occasions, because Leopold and Abbot Amandus were friends for many years. He dedicated 15 symphonies to him (almost all lost). The so-called New Lambach Symphony (G major, today the Augsburg City Archive) has been preserved. Son Wolfgang also awaited the hospitable abbot with a symphony from his youthful pen (known as the Alte Lambacher Symphonie, KV 45a, composed in 1766 in The Hague, reworked in 1768 for the Lambach dedication). In addition to the Mozarts, Johann Michael Haydn maintained close contact with Lambach; he also dedicated a number of works to Abbot Amandus (including the Missa St. Amandi), and his wife sang in the Abbey Theater. In the Lindemayr commemoration year 1983, the baroque theater was completely restored. It is the only surviving monastery theater in Austria. In 2003, at the suggestion of Mr. Günther Morgen, it was brought out of its slumber and has been played regularly ever since.

In January 2012, the association "Barocktheater Lambach" took over the management of the theatre.