Adalbert Matkowsky

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Helene Wickmann and Adalbert Matkowsky

Adalbert Matkowsky (born December 6, 1857 in Königsberg i. Pr. , † March 16, 1909 in Berlin ) was a German actor.

Life

Born the son of a seamstress, he attended secondary school in Berlin. At the age of seven he met a family of artists from the Circus Carré and left home to join them. However, after three days, his mother caught him again and took him back home. After attending the royal secondary school, he began an apprenticeship at an import house, which he soon broke off and took acting lessons from Heinrich Oberländer . Then he had his first appearances in the Urania society theater in Berlin. Shortly afterwards he was hired at the Dresden Court Theater, where he made his actual debut in 1877 at the age of twenty. At first he won his audience as a young lover. He hit the hearts of his audience, but expanded his repertoire to include hero and character roles: Franz Moor , Fiesco , Tasso . In 1886 he went to the Stadttheater in Hamburg, already known beyond the borders.

In 1889 he made his most important career leap: He played at the Königliches Schauspielhaus on Gendarmenmarkt , today's Konzerthaus Berlin. Acclaimed by his Berlin audience, he was able to develop the boisterous, comedic power of his acting. Karl Mauch wrote on the 50th anniversary of his death: “The audience was thrilled when the huge, very manly man put down his Götz or Othello. His voice, which he was able to muffle down to a barely audible whisper, made the house tremble during outbursts ”. The contemporary, age-wise Theodor Fontane , on the other hand, was of a critical opinion: “I am Anti-Matkowsky, consider his whole way of playing to be an aberration and find this alternation of stent screaming and whispering whispers […] predominantly comical, uneducated, based on the principle of high and low tide and not permitted for a Berlin audience. Mr. Matkowsky's ideal of art is not mine, and with unreserved appreciation of his eminent gifts, I have always had to emphasize anew that he is too "theatrical" in the use of his gifts. " Alfred Kerr , the great theater critic, puts it in a nutshell for his readers: “A backdrop tear […] - A Wagner singer without a voice.” Nevertheless, beyond this criticism, Adalbert Matkowsky and his antipode Josef Kainz were decisive in Berlin's theater life at the turn of the century to the 20th century. Matkowsky was considered one of the most important Shakespeare interpreters of his time. Engagements in St. Petersburg and New York as well as his numerous appearances on German stages confirm his importance. He was loved by the theater people and in 1900 was appointed "Royal Prussian Court Actor".

tomb

Matkowsky also went into decline because of his excessive lifestyle. However, the death of his only son in the Valais Alps hit him hard and ultimately let his vitality burn up. He died of a heart attack at the age of 52 and was buried in the Luisenfriedhof II in Berlin-Charlottenburg ( Westend ) . Fifty years later, his last great love, Helene Wickmann, found her final resting place there. His grave was dedicated to the city of Berlin from 1956 to 2014 .

Afterlife

Adalbert Matkowsky left behind a considerable art collection, which was called up for auction at Rudolph Lepke 's Kunst-Auctions-Haus in 1910 and was announced in the exhibition catalog with a tribute from Arthur Eloesser : “Matkowsky lived beyond and above his time; he thought Faust's thoughts, laughed like Siegfried, fought like Macbeth and suffered like Oedipus from the dubious wisdom of the gods ”. The collection, in addition to furniture, mainly stoneware, majolica , faience, glass, silver, textiles and weapons, is characterized by Eloesser as follows: “Seen from the outside, it was a rented apartment, like a thousand others, which evenly evokes modern needs, but was inside it is a palace, a chapel, a drinking room, an armory, with all the wealth of the individual, rare and precious, something thoroughly uniform, shaped by the desire of a personality who is great to the point of savagery for ostentatious power ”. He lived (1905) in Berlin-Charlottenburg, Joachimsthaler Strasse 44.

Today, little reminds of the great Berlin actor Adalbert Matkowsky. In addition to his books 'Eigenes, Fremdes' (1896), 'Exotisches' (1896), the drama 'Besides my king - none', there are Matkowskystraße in Berlin-Friedrichshain named after him in 1912 and the magnificent tomb in the Westend cemetery .

literature

personal data
SURNAME Matkowsky, Adalbert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German actor
DATE OF BIRTH December 6, 1857
PLACE OF BIRTH Koenigsberg i. Pr.
DATE OF DEATH March 16, 1909
Place of death Berlin