The Music Room, Schloss Sanssouci, Potsdam. Design and ornament by Johann Michael Hoppenhaupt (1685–1751), Johann Michael Hoppenhaupt II (1709–1755), Johann Christian Hoppenhaupt (1719–1785), and Johann August Nahl (1710–1781); Completed 1747; Materials: wood, plaster, glass
The Music Room of Sanssouci is one of the finest interiors of the Prussian Rococo, conceived for Frederick the Great in 1747. Its decoration demonstrates the virtuosity of the Berlin school of ornament, shaped by the Hoppenhaupt family of carvers and designers together with Johann August Nahl.
Johann Michael Hoppenhaupt, the elder (1685–1751), trained in Dresden and Vienna before settling in Berlin, where in 1746 he succeeded Nahl as Directeur des Ornements. His sons continued the family’s pre-eminence in court design. Johann Michael Hoppenhaupt II (1709–1755), whose woodcarving skill was especially celebrated, oversaw the execution of the Music Room’s ornament and gave the ensemble its distinctive unity. Johann Christian Hoppenhaupt (1719–1785) later contributed to Sanssouci’s Voltaire Room, a celebrated example of Prussian Rococo fantasy with exuberant motifs of birds, monkeys, fruit, and foliage.
The Music Room’s surfaces—gilded carvings in wood and plaster set against mirrored panels—create an interplay of light and movement ideally suited to the performance of chamber music. The restrained elegance of its Rococo idiom distinguishes Sanssouci from the more theatrical interiors of Dresden or Munich, while still testifying to the cosmopolitan training and refined craftsmanship of its designers.