August Förster (actor)

August Förster, lithograph by Josef Kriehuber , 1863

August Förster (second from right) playing Skat with Adolph L'Arronge (Dt. Theater Berlin), Paul Lindau (Hoftheater Meiningen) and Gustav Kadelburg (author), 1887. Drawing by CW Allers

August Förster (born June 3, 1828 in Lauchstädt , Province of Saxony , † December 22, 1889 in Semmering ) was an actor and director .

Life

In 1838 Förster attended the cathedral grammar school in Merseburg , the monastery school in Donndorf and, from 1841, the boarding school Schulpforte , where he was taught by Karl August Koberstein . Koberstein made him his famulus . Förster studied theology in Halle , but soon turned to philosophical and historical studies. During his studies in 1848 he became a member of the Fürstenthal Halle fraternity . He joined the Bredow drama troupe, with whom he first appeared in Naumburg in 1851 . Also in 1851 he received his doctorate in Halle with a treatise on the influence of Lessing's dramaturgy on the introduction of Shakespeare in Germany. Then from 1853 to 1855 he was with Franz Wallner at the City Theater in Posen , then temporarily with Adolph L'Arronge in Danzig . In 1858 Heinrich Laube appointed him to the Burgtheater in Vienna , where he stayed until 1876, from 1866 as sub-director, from 1870 as director.

From 1876 to 1882 he took over the management of the Leipzig City Theater. Here he had to struggle with great difficulties because the local "Verein der Theaterfreunde" fought him and his opera director Angelo Neumann fiercely for years, which culminated in a tumult on February 24, 1879, August Förster, who on this That evening Nathan played, but survived unharmed by letting the piece play to the end. With Siegwart Friedmann , Ludwig Barnay and Friedrich Haase , he founded the German Theater in Berlin , which opened on September 29, 1883. Here he worked primarily as a director and dramaturge. As the successor to Adolf von Wilbrandt , he was appointed director of the Vienna Burgtheater on October 25, 1888. Here it was no longer able to develop its full effect because he died in December 1889.

Förster translated numerous French pieces into German. Galotti in Lessing's drama " Emilia Galotti " or old Miller in Friedrich Schiller's " Kabale und Liebe " were among the main roles . His grave is at the Matzleinsdorf Evangelical Cemetery (Group 21, No. 154) in Vienna.

family

His two sons Hans Förster and Heinrich Förster also became actors. Emmy Mauthner , married to the former, was also an actress and thus his daughter-in-law.

August Förster grave

Works (selection)

• Fire in the girls' school . Comedy in one act based on the French. Michaelson, Berlin 1860
• That's the way to do it . Comedy in one act based on the French. Michaelson, Berlin 1861
• Necessity from abundance . Comedy in one act freely based on the French. Michaelson, Berlin 1861
• The friend of women . Comedy in one act based on the French. Michaelson, Berlin 1861
• From the comic opera . Comedy in one act based on the French. Michaelson, Berlin 1861
• A poor count . Comedy in 2 acts based on the French. Michaelson, Berlin 1861
• Bad weather . Comedy in one act based on the French. Michaelson, Berlin 1862
• Two young widows . Comedy in one act based on the French. Michaelson, Berlin 1862
• A black human brother . Burlesque in one act freely based on the French. Michaelson, Berlin 1862
• The last ball guest . Comedy in one act after the French. Michaelson, Berlin 1862
• Go out alone . Comedy in three acts freely based on the French. Kolbe, Berlin 1863
• Jean Baudry . Play in 4 acts. Hayn, Berlin 1864
• Just don't joke . Comedy in one act freely based on the French. Michaelson, Berlin 1865
• The curious . Comedy in one act based on the French. Hayn, Berlin 1865
• He's got a bug . Comedy in one act based on the French. Hayn, Berlin 1865
• Don't curse . Dramatic trifle in one act according to the French. Michaelson, Berlin 1866
• Spürna's brother-in-law . Swings in one act according to the French. Michaelson, Berlin 1866

literature

• Vienna City and State Archives: Personal files
• Constantin von Wurzbach : Förster, August . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 28th part. Imperial and Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1874, p. 333 ( digitized version ).
• Ludwig Eisenberg : Large biographical lexicon of the German stage in the XIX. Century . Verlag von Paul List , Leipzig 1903, p. 268 f., ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
• Hermann Arthur Lier:  Förster, August (actor) . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 48, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1904, pp. 652-655.
• Gertrud Doublier:  Förster, Johann August. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1961, ISBN 3-428-00186-9 , p. 271 ( digitized version ).
• Helge Dvorak: Biographical Lexicon of the German Burschenschaft. Volume II: Artists. Winter, Heidelberg 2018, ISBN 978-3-8253-6813-5 , pp. 205-206.

Web links

• Holdings in the catalogs of the Austrian National Library Vienna

Wikisource: August Förster  - Sources and full texts