This high standard of excellence spread from architecture to applied art - furniture, furnishings and porcelain - though these rarely surpassed those of France. Nothing in 18th-century France, Italy or England rivals the sheer excess of such architectural masterpieces as Melk or the Dresden Zwinger, and in the number of first-rate churches and palaces alone, Germany easily outstrips the others. This may stem from the fact that what we now call Germany, was, in the eighteenth century, divided into several different principalities, kingdoms anq bishoprics, so that a certain rivalry must have determined the creation of buildings of major importance - unlike France or England where the really important commissions were invariably confined to a small number of patrons.
German rococo can be seen to trace its origins to Roman churches of the baroque period such as Bernini's Sant' Andrea al Quirinale, where colour, light and elaborate sculpture are all combined. This is apparent for the first time in Germany in the Abbey Church of Weltenburg, built after 1714, with its oval dome cut away internally to reveal a frescoed vision of the heavens above.
Colour was the main string to the bow of German rococo - pink, lilac, lemon, blue - all were combined or used individually to telling effect, as in the Amalienburg, near Munich. The heavier, curving forms of the Baroque are turned into more staccato rhythms in German rococo, and one finds the influence of a major baroque monument such as Bernini's baldacchino in St. Peter's Rome, transformed by Balthasar Neumann (1687-1753), into a confection of the order of the high altar at Vierzehnheiligen, perhaps the most complex and satisfying of German churches.
While room shapes in France during the eighteenth century did not change a great deal, and the plan of ecclesiastical buildings hardly at all, German rococo architects explored every possibility. Walls not only seem to sway despite their huge scale, but whole sections appear to have been cut away, with the effect that the enormous frescoed ceilings, which entirely dominate most of these churches, seem to float above the worshipper.
One of the most exciting features of German rococo architecture is the highly dramatic siting of some of the most important examples, such as the Abbey of Melk by J. Prandtauer, begun in 1702. Deliberately placed in a commanding position high above the Danube, the two great towers dominate a courtyard in front opened to the outside world by a great Palladian-type arch. Such a feeling for drama, and for the total involvement of the faithful both externally and internally, is also found at Ettal, in a reversed role, with the monastery dominated by surrounding mountains.
Secular building also reached a high level of perfection. Perhaps the most sophisticated examples are to be found in and around Munich where, as court dwarf and architect, Francois Cuvillies (1695-1768) was involved in many buildings, perhaps the finest being the Amalienburg. This small pavilion, built between 1734 and 1739 and named after the Elector's wife, has, in Hugh Honour's words, 'an easy elegance and gossamer delicacy'. Its gently swaying front, shallow rustication and unusual pediments herald one of the loveliest rooms in Europe - the famous Hall of Mirrors with its silver rocaille against powder-blue background and glittering glass. At the opposite end of the scale, Cuvillies Residenz-theater in Munich (1751-53) uses richly gilded figures and musical instruments to frame the entire auditorium, contrasting vividly with the red damask and velvet of the walls and seats.
Potsdam and Dresden never produced a rococo style as refined as that of Munich, but buildings such as the Zwinger (1709-19) by Poppelmann in Dresden overwhelm by their scale and superabundance of decorative detail. The effect of this type of architecture is also felt in the little Palace of Sans Souci at Potsdam (1745-51), which was built for Frederick the Great.
For sheer scale, opulence and overpowering grandeur of detail, the Rococo of Germany is foremost in Europe.
For more information about Rococo interiors in Russia, see the work of Bartolomeo Rastrelli (1700-71).