When the Wiesbaden Imperial Festival opened in 1896 "By His Majesty's Highest Command" in the newly built Theater am Warmen Damm, the aim was to lend the emperor's secondary residence a capital city glamour. The court, diplomatic corps, aristocracy and upper middle classes were looking for places to represent themselves: the art of the stage offered them occasions to show themselves in grand evening dress, which, however, required the observance of courtly dress etiquette. Strict standards stipulated that gentlemen had to be "tuxedoed", and only the correct observance of a minimum décolleté - a quirk of the emperor - supposedly allowed the ladies to enter: it was even reported, with ironic exaggeration, that the wardrobe ladies had centimetre measures and scissors to hand in order to enlarge the necklines of clothing that did not comply with the regulations. Eyewitnesses were still raving about the glitter of pearls and diamonds, medals and tiaras decades later. In short: the social elite of the Wilhelmine era celebrated their party.

There were grand operas on stage and pompous classical performances in the theater. Enrico Caruso, who incidentally received an evening fee of 10,000 gold marks (today this would correspond to the proud sum of more than 100,000 euros), appeared in his world-famous role as the Duke of Mantua in Verdi's "Rigoletto", for example. Wilhelm II's penchant for overflowing theatricality and scenic luxury shaped the entire Wiesbaden theater style of the time, which - whatever one might think of it today - was very popular because it met the need for luxury and pleasure.