Vienna probably offers London the most instructive example of the
national or municipal theatre. The three leading Viennese
playhouses--the Burg-Theater, the Stadt-Theater, and the
Volks-Theater--illustrate the three modes in which public credit may
be pledged to theatrical enterprise. The palatial Burg-Theater is
wholly an institution of the State. The site of the Stadt-Theater, and
to a large extent the building, were provided by the municipality,
which thereupon leased them out to a private syndicate, under a
manager of the syndicate's choosing. The municipality assumes no more
direct responsibility for the due devotion of the Stadt-Theater to
dramatic art than is implied in its retention of reversionary rights
of ownership. The third theatre, the Volks-Theater, illustrates the
minimum share that a municipality may take in promoting theatrical
enterprise, while guaranteeing the welfare of artistic drama.
The success of the Volks-Theater is due to the co-operation of a
public body with a voluntary society of private citizens who regard
the maintenance of the literary drama as a civic duty. The site of the
Volks-Theater, which was formerly public property and estimated to be
worth L80,000, is in the best part of the city of Vienna.
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