Alexander Hessler

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Friedrich Alexander Heßler , also Friedrich Alexander Hessler (born July 16, 1833 in Torgau , † February 9, 1900 in Strasbourg ) was a German opera singer (baritone), theater actor, director and director.

Life

He was the son of the Torgau jeweler and gold and silver goods worker Johann Friedrich H. and of Johannes Christiane geb. Lochmann from Leipzig .

After attending the local school and high school, Heßler went to Dresden , where he took lessons from the Polish-German actor Bogumil Dawison and from the singer and actress Franziska Berg . He then went to Paris , where he studied at the Conservatoire National .

In 1857 Heßler began his stage career in Leipzig . In the following year he moved to Altenburg , where he stayed until 1859. In that year he accepted an engagement at the city theater in Rostock . Here Heßler joined a Masonic Lodge that was a member of the Great State Lodge of Germany . In the season 1860–1861 he was employed at the Victoriatheater Berlin and in the following 1861–1862 at the Stadttheater in Aachen , which was followed by an engagement until 1863 in Krefeld . For the next theater season, am Heßler has again engaged at the theater in Aachen. This was followed by seasons at the City Theater in Danzig (1864–1865), at the Court Theater in Coburg (1865–1866) and at the Court Theater of Kassel (1866–1868). Here he married Ottilie Caroline geb. Hildemann (* 1843), who had two children.

While Heßler appeared as a baritone for the first few years, since the time in Kassel this was done almost exclusively as an actor. So also in the following stations 1868–1869 at the Stadttheater Bremen , 1869–1870 at the Stadttheater in Düsseldorf and 1870–1871 at the Court Theater in Weimar .

From the following season in 1872, Heßler was hired as director and director for the Strasbourg German-French Theater (which also appeared in Metz , Mulhouse and Colmar ). During these years he regularly visited the Freiburg Lodge Zur noble Aussicht and accompanied Berthold Auerbach to the funeral service of the deceased Jacob Venedey as early as 1871 . From 1882 to 1886 he worked as a director at the Residenztheater in Hanover and at the Tivoli Theater in Bremen, but also as an actor. He also temporarily took over the management of a drama school in Berlin . From 1886 to 1889, Strasbourg saw Hessler again, where he directed the Luther Festival and also the city theater. After conflicts with the theater commission, he resigned as director here in 1889 . In 1894 the conflict was forgotten and he ran the city theater again until his death. But over the years he has also made guest appearances in other places, such as in Nuremberg in 1888 .

In 1894, Heßler first performed a marriage comedy in the local dialect in Strasbourg. This meant that he also made a name for himself in Alsace as a director for amateur performances in dialect.

Hessler repeatedly gave lessons to young actors. So he looked after the actor adept Gerhart Hauptmann in Strasbourg from 1884 to 1885 , but he soon gave up this career again. In memory of this, however, he set a literary monument to Hessler in 1911, in the form of the Strasbourg theater director “Hassenreuther” in his drama Die Ratten .

In addition to his work as a baritone, actor, artistic director, director and teacher, Heßler was also the author of numerous dramatic works and epic poems.

His operatic repertoire included roles such as “Count” in Figaro's wedding , “Don Giovanni”, “Pizarro” in Fidelio , “Zar” in Zar and Zimmermann von Lortzing, “Kühleborn” in Undine , “Wolfram” in Tannhäuser , the "Hans Sachs" in the Meistersinger and the "Alberich" in the Nibelungenring .

Works

  • The Two Mothers (Drama, 1866)
  • In enemy territory (drama, 1869, 1874)
  • In love, engaged, lost (drama, 1874)
  • Annunciata (epic poetry, 1867, 1868)

literature

  • Bernhard von Hülsen: Change of scenery in Alsace - theater and society in Strasbourg…, Leipzig 2003, pp. 73–74.
  • Hans-Joachim Böttcher : "Heßler, Friedrich August", in: Important historical personalities of the Düben Heath, AMF - No. 237, 2012, p. 42.
  • Hugo Ficke: History of the Masonic Lodge for the noble view in Freiburg in Baden. Freiburg i. Br. 1874, p. 124 ( digitized version )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hugo Ficke, 1874, p. 124
personal data
SURNAME Hessler, Alexander
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hessler, Friedrich Alexander (full name); Hessler, Friedrich Alexander
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German opera singer (baritone), theater actor, director and director
DATE OF BIRTH July 16, 1833
PLACE OF BIRTH Torgau
DATE OF DEATH February 9, 1900
Place of death Strasbourg