The Schumann Dynasty - Revision history

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‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* THE SCANDINAVIAN LINE: MAX SCHUMANN AND SONS */

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‎THE SCANDINAVIAN LINE: MAX SCHUMANN AND SONS

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‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* The Final Years */

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‎The Final Years

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‎The Fall of Renz's Kingdom

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‎Circus Albert Schumann

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‎Circus Albert Schumann

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‎THE GERMAN LINE: ALBERT SCHUMANN

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‎Willy, Ernst and Oscar Schumann: Cirkus Bröderna Schumann

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‎Willy, Ernst and Oscar Schumann: Cirkus Bröderna Schumann

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 File:Schumann_Cavalerie.jpg|Schumann Horses arrive in Stockholm (1931)
 File:Oscar_Cecilie_Ernst_Schumann.jpg|Ernst, Cecilie and Oscar Schumann (c.1935)
 File:Schumann_Oslo.jpg|Cirkus Schumann at Oslo's Cirkus Verdenteater (1935)
 File:Cirkus_Verdensteater.jpg|Cirkus Schumann at Oslo's Cirkus Verdenteater (1935)

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 ==THE SCANDINAVIAN LINE: MAX SCHUMANN AND SONS==
 [[File:Max_Schumann_Senior.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Max Schumann (c.1905)]]
-For all Albert Schumann’s accomplishments, the Schumann dynasty didn’t actually flourish in its native Germany: Thanks to Gotthold Schumann’s elder son, Max, it would become mostly known as a Scandinavian dynasty whose home base was in Denmark. Born in 1853, Max was five years older than Albert, but he left the family circus at the same time as his brother (in 1876) to pursue an independent career as an equestrian acrobat and trainer.
+For all Albert Schumann’s accomplishments, the Schumann dynasty didn’t actually flourish in its native Germany: Thanks to Gotthold Schumann’s elder son, Max, it would become known as a Scandinavian dynasty whose home base was in Denmark. Born in 1853, Max was five years older than Albert, but he left the family circus at the same time as his brother (in 1876) to pursue an independent career as an equestrian acrobat and trainer.
 For several years, Max toured India (then the "crown jewel" of the British Empire) with the English circus Wilson. It is during this time that he met and married [[The Cooke Family|Victoria Cooke]], who belonged to the old (and prolific) Scottish circus dynasty. Together they had three sons: Willy (1880-1936) and Ernst (1884-1960), both born in India, and Oscar (1886-1954), who was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, during an engagement at [[Circus Ciniselli]]&mdash;where Max had rejoined his father, Gotthold, who was performing there in the winter of 1886-1987.

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 File:Schumann_Poster_45.jpg|Cirkus Schumann Poster (1945)
 File:Albert_Schumann_Wedding.jpg|Albert and Paulina'a Wedding (1946)
 File:SchumannPoster_1947.jpg|Cirkus Schumann Poster (1947)
 File:Ernst_Schumann.png|Ernst Schumann (1948)

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 ===The Final Years===
-[[File:Dora_Schumann_Poster.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Poster featuring Dora Schumann (1902)]]The Reinhardt experiences had been good business opportunities for Albert Schumann: His huge circus was expensive to run, and difficult to fill as a traditional circus, even with shows that were always of the highest quality: He had to fend off the increasingly strong competition of the very successful Paul Busch&mdash;who, thanks in part to his wife, Constance, and daughter Paula was probably better attuned to the audiences’ changing tastes than the more traditionalist Schumann. Nonetheless, in spite of all these difficulties, Circus Albert Schumann remained Berlin’s grand old circus, the true conservatory of German equestrian circus tradition.
+[[File:Dora_Schumann_Poster.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Poster featuring Dora Schumann (1902)]]The Reinhardt experiences had been good business opportunities for Albert Schumann: His huge circus was expensive to run, and difficult to fill as a traditional circus, even with shows that were always of the highest quality: He had to fend off the increasingly strong competition of the very successful Paul Busch&mdash;who, thanks in part to his wife, Constance, and daughter Paula, was probably better attuned to the audiences’ changing tastes than the more traditionalist Schumann. Nonetheless, in spite of all these difficulties, Circus Albert Schumann remained Berlin’s grand old circus, the true conservatory of German equestrian circus tradition.
 His Frankfurt circus-theater, of which the greater part of the season was devoted to varieties, was much more profitable, as was his circus in Vienna, whose season was also split between circus and varieties. In 1914, Albert Schumann was contemplating retirement and tried to sell his Berlin circus to Max Reinhardt: it had proved to have the right size to accommodate Reinhardt’s elaborate productions, and Reinhardt had done very good business there in 1910 and 1911. Reinhardt was indeed interested, but the advent of the First World War stalled the negotiations for some time.

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 Albert Schumann was not the only empire builder, though, and Franz Renz faced now a huge competition: On his way to becoming Ernst Renz’s true successor as Germany’s "Circus King," [[Paul Busch]] (1850-1927) had built a circus in Hamburg-Altona in 1891, competing with Ernst Renz’s (and then Franz’s) well-established circus in Hamburg. One year later, Busch purchased the old panorama on Vienna’s Prater and transformed it into a 2,600-seat circus that opened on July 30, 1992&mdash;competing with Renz’s equally well-established circus in Vienna, on Zirkusgasse&mdash;as well as with Albert Schumann’s new Viennese circus.
-[[File:Circus_Schumann_Berlin.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Circus Schumann (formerly Circus Renz) in Berlin (c.1900)]]The final blow came when Paul Busch built a 3,500-seat, state-of-the-art circus behind the Börse train station (today’s Hackescher Markt S-Bahn station), which opened its doors on October 24, 1895. Not only was Berlin’s Circus Busch equipped with all modern conveniences&mdash;including a water basin as in Paris’s [[Nouveau Cirque (Paris)|Nouveau Cirque]]&mdash;and had the lure of novelty, but its programs were also particularly brilliant, thanks in part to the talent of Busch’s wife, Constance (1849-1898), who was the artistic force behind her husband, a talented equestrienne and a gifted actress in the circus pantomimes she staged&mdash;qualities that her daughter [[Circus Busch|Paula]] will demonstrate later with even greater flair!
+[[File:Circus_Schumann_Berlin.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Circus Schumann (formerly Circus Renz) in Berlin (c.1900)]]The final blow came when Paul Busch built a 3,500-seat, state-of-the-art circus behind the Börse train station (today’s Hackescher Markt S-Bahn station), which opened its doors on October 24, 1895. Not only was Berlin’s Circus Busch equipped with all modern conveniences&mdash;including a water basin like in Paris’s [[Nouveau Cirque (Paris)|Nouveau Cirque]]&mdash;and had the lure of novelty, but its programs were also particularly brilliant, thanks in part to the talent of Busch’s wife, Constance (1849-1898), who was the artistic force behind her husband, a talented equestrienne and a gifted actress in the circus pantomimes she staged&mdash;qualities that her daughter [[Circus Busch|Paula]] will demonstrate later with even greater flair!
 Franz Renz had a hard time keeping up with the new competition: Although he offered circus programs of good quality, he didn’t have his father’s combative spirit nor his creative talent: Berlin’s fabled Circus Renz in the Karlstrasse’s old Markthalle gave its last circus performance on July 31, 1897. Franz Renz rented out the building to the famous Hungarian showman Bolossy Kiralfy (1848-1932), great international purveyor of spectacular extravaganzas, whose brother Imre (1845-1919) had created lavish spectacles in the United States on Broadway and for the [[Barnum & Bailey Circus]] in the late 1880s and early 1890s. Kiralfy’s tenure on Karlstrasse was not a success however, and Franz Renz had to find another tenant. Albert Schumann, who had done well in Berlin, took over the lease in October 1899; Berlin’s old Circus Renz acquired a new identity in the operation and was renamed ''Circus Albert Schumann''.

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 For the time being, Schumann was building his own circus empire. In 1890, he made his first visit to Vienna with his big top. Then, in the winter of 1890-91, he had a wooden construction erected on Märzstrasse, which was enlarged in 1892 by a carpenter named Otte to accommodate 3,500 spectators (or so proclaimed the advertising), and then rebuilt again in 1903&mdash;this time as a brick and mortar structure designed by the architects Heinrich and Franz Stagl, at a cost of 800,000 Crowns (approximately 308,900 Euros today). This new circus opened on April 9, 1904; it would remain active, alternating circus performances and variety shows, until its demolition in 1922.
-In 1898, he had another circus built in Löbtau, southwest of Dresden, on Ebertplatz. It was a large building that seems to have had quite a significant success, although the massive bombing of Dresden at the end WWII destroyed whatever documentation that may have existed about its construction, its existence and its programs. It was active until 1903, when Lötbau was incorporated in the city of Dresden&mdash;which ordered its demolition because the building didn’t comply with the city’s strict fire regulations. (Albert’s brother Max tried a few years later to re-establish the Schumann name in Dresden, but lost his bid to [[Hans Stosch-Sarrasani]].)
+In 1898, he had another circus built in Löbtau, southwest of Dresden, on Ebertplatz. It was a large building that seems to have had quite a significant success, although the massive bombing of Dresden at the end of WWII destroyed whatever documentation that may have existed about its construction, its existence and its programs. It was active until 1903, when Lötbau was incorporated in the city of Dresden&mdash;which ordered its demolition because the building didn’t comply with the city’s strict fire regulations. (Albert’s brother Max tried a few years later to re-establish the Schumann name in Dresden, but lost his bid to [[Hans Stosch-Sarrasani]].)
 ===The Fall of Renz's Kingdom===

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 Signor Saltarino (Valdemar Otto) described Albert Schumann in his book ''Artisten Lexikon'' (1895) as "a pleasant person in private life, free from vulgar self-admiration, and at the same time possessed by a real competitive spirit, which is unmistakably apparent in the management of his company." Indeed, Schumann had a strong personality with a fighting determination that would eventually drive his circus to the top in spite of the inevitable ups and downs of its beginnings. He married Clara Happe (1856-1929), with whom he had a daughter, Dorothea, known as Dora (?-1945), who became an accomplished high-school rider.
-Albert Schumann didn’t hesitate to travel far and wide. For this purpose, he purchased a large big top (still uncommon at the time and referred to as an "American tent"), so that his itinerary wouldn’t be contingent upon the presence or availability of a circus building in the places he chosed to visit. Warsaw, which was then within the Russian empire, had become a good market for him, but during a stand there, his tent was blown down by a tornado that destroyed practically all of his traveling equipment. Undeterred, Schumann hit the road again, and went to perform with great success in the circus buildings of Kiev and Odessa, where he was able to recoup much of his financial loss.
+Albert Schumann didn’t hesitate to travel far and wide. For this purpose, he purchased a large big top (still uncommon at the time and referred to as an "American tent"), so that his itinerary wouldn’t be contingent upon the presence or availability of a circus building in the places he chose to visit. Warsaw, which was then within the Russian empire, had become a good market for him, but during a stand there, his tent was blown down by a tornado that destroyed practically all of his traveling equipment. Undeterred, Schumann hit the road again, and went to perform with great success in the circus buildings of Kiev and Odessa, where he was able to recoup much of his financial loss.
 [[File:Schumann_Circus_Lotbau.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Circus Schumann in Löbtau (c.1900)]]He made his first visit to Berlin in 1893, where he was in competition with Europe’s premier circus, Berlin’s own [[Circus Renz]]. However, his old mentor, Ernst Renz, the German "Circus King," had died on April 3, 1892, and his son, [[Ernst Renz|Franz]] (1841-1901), had succeeded him at the helm of his circus empire&mdash;which included, besides his Berlin flagship, circuses in Hamburg, Breslau (today’s Wrocław) and Vienna. Unfortunately, Franz Renz didn’t have the business acumen or the talent of his illustrious father and by the end of the decade, Albert Schumann would take over (and eventually purchase) the huge Circus Renz that Ernst had established in the former Markthalle on Karlstrasse, in Berlin-Mitte (Berlin Center).

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 Albert, whose act became quickly one of the finest of its genre, was ambitious and well aware of his talent; in 1876, he left Circus Schumann and went to work on his own, followed in this statement of independence by his brother Max, who also went his own way. Ernst Renz, who had known Albert since childhood, hired him at a good salary&mdash;reported as 1,000 Francs a month, the equivalent of today’s 3,250 Euros, a comfortable sum then. Albert also performed with [[James Washington Myers]] in England, and then at Paris’s [[Cirque Medrano (Paris)|Cirque Fernando]], where he revealed his outstanding abilities as a horse trainer when he presented for the first time a high-school act: He had put it together in just two weeks!
-Soon after, Ernst Renz secured the lease of Brussel’s brand-new [[Cirque Royal (Brussels)|Cirque Royal]], on the rue de l’Université, for the 1878 season. The circus was slated to open January 12, 1878, and Renz (who was already sixty-three then, an advanced age at the time) asked Albert Schumann to procure him and train a complete ''cavalerie'' for the occasion. Schumann not only proved that he was up to the task, but also confirmed that he was quite an exceptional horse trainer: Within twenty-two days, he got ready for the ring twenty-six horses, including a trio of horses that he had prepared for a high-school act.
+Soon after, Ernst Renz secured the lease of Brussel’s brand-new [[Cirque Royal (Brussels)|Cirque Royal]], on the rue de l’Université, for the 1878 season. The circus was slated to open January 12, 1878, and Renz (who was already sixty-three then, an advanced age at the time) asked Albert Schumann to procure him and train a complete ''cavalerie'' for the occasion. Schumann not only proved that he was up to the task, but also confirmed that he was quite an exceptional horse trainer: Within twenty-two days, he had twenty-six horses ready for the ring, including a trio of horses that he had prepared for a high-school act.
 Albert Schumann returned to the family fold in 1882 and put together his first liberty act for his father’s show. He was still working as a jockey at the same time&mdash;but not for long: He had a bad fall while performing with a partner a new bareback riding act titled "Athletes on Horse." He suffered internal injuries, which doctors diagnosed as a rupture of the diaphragm. They left him incapacitated for a few months&mdash;after which he was unable to resume his jockey career. From then on, he would specialize as a high-school rider and in the training of remarkable liberty acts, for which he became famous all over Europe.

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 The company reorganized under the name of ''Cirkus Broderna Schumann'' (Schumann Brothers Circus), a title it will keep until its closing in 1969. Thus, Copenhagen became the Schumann brothers’ base of operations. Willy Schumann, the oldest brother (born October 15, 1880) took charge of the administrative management while Ernst and Oscar were in charge of the performances, and of the training and presentation of their horses. Obviously, the brothers felt comfortable in Denmark: The country was not at war, circuses were welcome, and since they already spoke Swedish, Max and his sons had no trouble learning Danish, which is also a Scandinavian language.
-In 1921, they expanded their activities to Göteborg and Stockholm in Sweden. In Göteborg, they rented the circus building of Lorensberg, in the city’s center, and in Stockholm, they took quarters at the Royal Circus building in the Djurgården. They also rented, in 1935, Oslo's [[Cirkus Verdensteater (Oslo)|Cirkus Verdensteater]] in Norway&mdash;a circus Gothold had inaugurated in 1893, and was to be demolished that same year. There were many circus buildings in Europe at the time, and the Schumanns toured exclusively from one building to another. They had neither a big top, nor transport wagons and caravans; they had only their horses and the equipment needed for their presentation, and they all traveled by rail.[[File:Goteborg_Cirkus.jpg|thumb|400px|right|The Lorensburg Cirkus in Göteborg (1969)]]
+In 1921, they expanded their activities to Göteborg and Stockholm in Sweden. In Göteborg, they rented the circus building of Lorensberg, in the city’s center, and in Stockholm, they took quarters at the Royal Circus building in the Djurgården. They also rented, in 1935, Oslo's [[Cirkus Verdensteater (Oslo)|Cirkus Verdensteater]] in Norway&mdash;a circus Gothold had inaugurated in 1893, and which was to be demolished that same year. There were many circus buildings in Europe at the time, and the Schumanns toured exclusively from one building to another. They had neither a big top, nor transport wagons and caravans; they had only their horses and the equipment needed for their presentation, and they all traveled by rail.[[File:Goteborg_Cirkus.jpg|thumb|400px|right|The Lorensburg Cirkus in Göteborg (1969)]]
 Since the Schumanns returned every year to the same places (Copenhagen, Stockholm and Göteborg) for long periods of time, they couldn’t present the same equestrian acts from one season to the next. In Copenhagen, where they stayed five months each year, their equestrian presentations changed every month, as well as the rest of the program (the artists were generally contracted for one month, like in most of Europe’s resident circuses). This tradition was respected until 1967. In this context, the great diversity of their uncle Albert Schumann’s equestrian presentations became a source for inspiration. Ernst and Oscar also developed a gentle training system free of pressure, which they will pass on to the following generations.