La Redoute in Godesberg, Electorate of Cologne in Beethoven’s time.
By Miriam Allemand
When the spring water in Godesberg was found to be of spa quality, Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria developed the town as a spa. The Redoute was built in Neoclassical style from 1790, designed by Martin Leydel. It was planned to be used for balls and other entertainment of the court and spa visitors. It was opened in 1792, and was a venue for balls, games, performances of plays, opera, ballet and concerts of the court orchestra, with Ludwig van Beethoven as a violinist and violist. In 1792, Beethoven played for Joseph Haydn, and they planned there that Beethoven would visit Vienna again to become a master student of Haydn. In 1793, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte was performed for the first time in Germany, only two years after the premiere in Vienna. The building was completed in 1820.
When Bonn was under French government, entertainment stopped, and the building was used as an art gallery, and a school for girls. In 1856, the property was bought by Victor Wendelstadt (1819–1884), a banker from Cologne. The adjacent park was expanded and laid out as an English landscape garden. A gate was taken from the garden that had to give way to the building of the Cologne Main station. The family arranged concerts by Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms, among others.
On 22 January 1920, the town of Godesberg bought the building and the park to restore it to use it again as a spa with cultural events. The Redoute, its park and adjacent buildings are listed as historic buildings.