Bernhard Wildenhain

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Bernhard Wildenhain as a young actor

Bernhard Wildenhain (born January 1, 1873 in Werdau ; † May 15, 1957 in Leipzig ) was a German actor and director .

Life

Born as the son of a craftsman in the small Saxon town of Werdau, he spent his childhood and youth in Leipzig-Gohlis , where his father founded a slate roofing company. After completing his primary school education, at the request of his father, he began training as a machine technician and later as an engraver . He broke off both training courses to devote himself to theater and acting, which were his main interests. From 1891 he received free lessons in declamation and acting from Anton Hartmann . He earned his living playing the violin and taking lessons.

After 37 rehearsed roles in the hero and lover subject, he received his first engagement as a youthful and shy lover at the Theater im Kristallpalast Apolda for the fall season of 1892 . His debut was the role of upholsterer in the play Die Großstadtluft by Oscar Blumenthal and Gustav Kadelburg , directed by the theater director Drescher. This was followed by engagements on small provincial theaters, for example in Landsberg an der Warthe under Okonowsky, in Gumbinnen and Elberfeld , where he also made guest appearances under Emil Meßthaler in Halle an der Saale and Munich . In 1898 he played in Nordhausen and in the Silesian Bad Salzbrunn , Waldenburg and Brieg , before he was hired by his teacher and friend Anton Hartmann to the Görlitz City Theater in the same year . Here he also played modern repertoire for the first time - for example the title role in Sudermann's Fritzchen from the Morituri trilogy  - and at the same time made his debut in the comic subject as a librarian in the play of the same name by Gustav von Moser , which would later become his real domain. This was followed by further engagements in Krefeld , on whose stage mainly Shakespeare plays based on the classic Meininger model were performed, at the Weinbergtheater in Prague under August Kurz and in Bad Kreuznach , where Wildenhain played the roles as Beppo in Fra Diavolo and as Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus also proven in opera and operetta.

From September 1, 1902, Bernhard Wildenhain belonged to the ensemble of the Leipziger Schauspielhaus in Sophienstrasse (today: Shakespearestrasse). He was to remain loyal to this stage for forty years. The private theater was founded by the Leipzig Literary Society as a counterweight to the conventional theater style of the municipal theaters under Max Staegemann . Schneider Zwirn in Nestroy's The Evil Spirit Lumpazivagabundus was his first major role under the directorate of Anton Hartmann and the senior management of Arthur Eggeling . In 1902/03 he played the servant Perin in Moreto's Donna Diana at the side of the adored Dresden court actress Clara Salbach . Together with Josef Kainz he appeared in Grillparzer's Die Jüdin von Toledo , in Shakespeare's Hamlet and in Cyrano de Bergerac . A highlight of Kainz's guest roles was the performance of Hauptmann's Die versunkene Glocke , in which Wildenhain had taken on the part of Nickelmann. The premiere took place in the presence of the author. In 1917 Wildenhain directed Gerhart Hauptmann's Fuhrmann Henschel with Eduard von Winterstein and Else Lehmann in the lead roles. Together with Albert Bassermann he played the role of Struve in Sudermann's Stein unter Steinen in 1925 , the spoonbill in Hauptmann's comedy colleague Crampton , Hilmar Tönnesen in Ibsen's pillars of society , in 1927 old Ekdal in Die Wildente and in 1928 Isolani in Wallenstein's death .

Grave of the actor Bernhard Wildenhain (1873–1957)

Wildenhain's star role, however, was the director Striese in the comedy The Robbery of the Sabine Women . He was on stage 1,500 times as the Saxon director of a smear theater. His great comedic talent, with which he mastered this role, he also demonstrated in the famous film adaptation in 1936, directed by Robert A. Stemmle .

Wildenhain also became popular with its annual summer swings, which filled the house and the theater box office every evening. In it, he played innumerable times the husband with the infidelity at the side of various partners, who repeatedly gets into strange and tricky situations and is ultimately guided back into the marital port with all sorts of tricks and tricks.

Wildenhain also became known to a large audience, including countless children, for its annual Christmas fairy tales. The most popular role was that of King Kakadu in Görner's Cinderella .

“I gave up my fairy tale uncle all my life with great love and certainly made countless children's hearts happy. When I think back, a lute song comes to mind that I have heard many times. (...) It's about the minstrel in front of the heavenly door. Peter asks if he should let the minstrel in. The old men are against it, including the women, but the children cheer and beg: 'Saint Peter, let the minstrel in.' So I think that the many children will ask for me too, if I knock on the gate upstairs very modestly. "

- Bernhard Wildenhain in: Being an actor ...

As the senior actor in Leipzig, Bernhard Wildenhain had to experience the decline of his famous venue, on whose stage works by Walter Hasenclever , Georg Kaiser , Stefan Zweig , Leonhard Frank , Bertolt Brecht and Friedrich Wolf were performed until 1933 . Initially, this took place in artistic and human terms with the co-ordination of all theaters through the omnipotent Reich dramaturgy of the National Socialists , but ultimately through the destruction of the entire house during the bombing of December 4, 1943.

After the war, at the age of 75, Wildenhain once again stepped onto the stage of the union theater led by Ferdinand May in the White Hall of the Leipzig Zoo and played his star role as the traveling theater director Striese in the Robbery of the Sabine Women in 80 acclaimed performances .

Shortly before his death, Bernhard Wildenhain was able to complete his memoirs, which were edited by Ferdinand and Käte May in 1958 in the Berlin Henschel Verlag. His simple grave is in the XIX century. Department of the Leipziger Südfriedhof .

His daughters were the actresses Hilli and Edith Wildenhain and the author and editor Maria-Viola Wildenhain-Gorski.

Works

  • Bernhard Wildenhain: Being an actor ... edited and edited by Ferdinand and Käte May. Henschelverlag, Berlin 1958, DNB 455530904 .

Audio documents

Bernhard Wildenhain, Saxon Lectures.

  • Vox 5192 (mx.?-B); Women praise. Humorous lecture (T.:?) Bernhard Wildenhain, Saxon lectures.
  • Vox 5192 back: Arthur Preil, Saxon Lectures a) Schade teacher, b) The spittoon, c) The lion (Preil, Arthur)

Filmography

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Bernhard Wildenhain: To be an actor… Henschelverlag, Berlin 1958, p. 41.
  2. ↑ Ferdinand May: The bad and the good things. A life told. Verlag Neues Leben, Berlin 1978, DNB 780439678 , p. 283 f.
  3. ↑ See: Vox 5192 on discmarc.org
  4. ↑ Vox 5191 on discmarc.org
personal data
SURNAME Wildenhain, Bernhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German actor and director
DATE OF BIRTH January 1, 1873
PLACE OF BIRTH Werdau
DATE OF DEATH May 15, 1957
Place of death Leipzig