Christian Demmer

Christian Joseph Demmer (* baptized August 6, 1772 in Cologne , † September 22, 1835 in Prague ) was a German-Austrian singer ( tenor ) and actor.

Life

Demmer was baptized on August 6, 1772 in the Cologne parish of St. Maria im Pesch under the name Christian Joseph. He was a brother of Joseph and Carl Demmer and began his artistic career on December 13, 1780 as "Chorale" (chorus singer) at Cologne Cathedral . He was released on May 23, 1789 and went to the theater in Mainz in 1790 .

In spring 1795 he made a guest appearance with the company of Friedrich Wilhelm Hunnius in Wetzlar and appeared there on May 16 and 26 as Tamino in Mozart's Magic Flute . He then followed Hunnius to Mainz, who united there with the traveling group of Simon Friedrich Koberwein (1733 – after 1803). At this company too, “Mr. Demmer, the youngest of the three brothers “acts as the first tenor. He then worked until 1798 in the company of Johann Ludwig Büchner, which played mainly in Cologne and Mainz. August Burgmüller was music director of both companies . Around 1800 Demmer was engaged at the theater in Aachen . At that time he was already with the actress Sophie Demmer geb. Seriously married. Shortly afterwards he switched to the theater in Hamburg . In 1803, a report about the Hamburg theater reads: "Christian Demmer, a former singer at the local theater, left without saying goodbye to his friends, relatives and his wife." It is still unclear where he stayed in the following years .

Arrived on March 30, 1809 from Regensburg in Vienna, where he moved into an apartment in the Theater an der Wien , from April 28, 1809 to April 23, 1824, he finally belonged to the ensemble of the Viennese court theaters . He celebrated his greatest successes in the role of senior seneschal in the singspiel Johann von Paris by François-Adrien Boieldieu , which was performed for the first time on August 28, 1812 in the Theater am Kärntnertor . His brother Carl Demmer played the same role - at the same time - in a production by the Theater an der Wien. Ignaz Franz Castelli writes in his memoir:

“Two Demmer brothers were employed as singers, one in the court opera theater, the other in the Theater an der Wien; they all played chevaliers, they looked so alike in face and had such alike manners and language that one could hardly tell them apart. They played and sang at the same time, each in his theater the Seneschal in 'John of Paris.' "

According to Franz Heinrich Böckh's Vienna artist directory , “Demmer Christ., K. k. Court Opera Singer ”1821“ An der Wien Nr. 38. ”In autumn 1824 he went to the theater in Graz . Most recently he worked in Prague.

family

A daughter from Christian Demmer's marriage to Sophie Ernst was the actress and singer Jeanette (actually Johanna) Ziegler born. Demmer (* 1800 in Aachen ; † July 2, 1878 in Pest ), who as Jeanette Demmer or (re) married Jeannette Schmidt-Demmer was a member of the Vienna Court Opera from 1808 to around 1815 and then worked at the Theater in der Josefstadt . Among other things, she played at the Theater an der Wien at the side of her uncle, Carl Demmer, in the eponymous role in Pius Alexander Wolff's Preciosa .

His brothers were the singers and actors Carl Demmer and Joseph Demmer . His son Friedrich Demmer was also a singer and actor.

literature

• Andrea Harrandt: Demmer, family. In: Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon . Online edition, Vienna 2002 ff., ISBN 3-7001-3077-5 ; Print edition: Volume 1, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-7001-3043-0 .
• Oscar Teuber: History of the Prague Theater. From the beginnings of acting to the very latest . Volume 3: From the death of Liebich, Prague's greatest stage manager, to our days (1817–1887) . Haase, Prague 1888, OBV .
• Catalog of the portrait collection of the kuk General-Intendanz of the kk Hoftheater. At the same time a biographical guide in the field of theater and music . Department 2, Group IV: Vienna Court Theater . Künast, Vienna 1892, OBV , p. 351.
• Yearbook of the Society for Vienna Theater Research , Volume 11, 1959, p. 88, books.google.de
• Klaus Wolfgang Niemöller : Church music and imperial city music maintenance in Cologne in the 18th century . Series: Contributions to Rhenish Music History , Issue 39, ISSN  0522-7046 . Volk, Cologne 1960, OBV .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cologne, St. Maria im Pesch, baptisms, weddings and deaths 1700–1798, p. 64
2. ↑ Rheinische Musen , Volume 5, Mannheim 1795, pp. 132-136
3. ↑ Heinrich August Ottokar Reichard (Ed.): Theater calendar for the year 1796 , Gotha 1796, pp. 298–303, here p. 298
4. ^ Hamburg and Altona. A magazine on the history of time, manners and taste , vol. 2, volume 2, Hamburg 1803, p. 117
5. ^ Those who arrived in Vienna: March 30th. (...) Christian Demmer (...). In:  Vaterländische Blätter for the Austrian Imperial State , No. XVI – XVII / 1809, April 11, 1809, p. 200, bottom left. (Online at ANNO ). .
6. ↑ Ignaz Franz Castelli: Memoirs of my life. Found and felt, experienced and strived for , Vienna 1861, Volume 1, p. 243f.
7. ^ Franz Heinrich Böckh, Vienna's living writers, artists and amateurs in the arts , Vienna 1821, p. 366
8. ^ Wiener Musikalische Zeitung with special regard to the Austrian imperial state , vol. 8, no. 98 of December 8, 1824, p. 392
9. ^ Wilhelm Kosch: Deutsches Theater-Lexikon , 38./39. Delivery. Berlin 2011, p. 3776
10. ↑ Memories from Old Austria . Volume 9: Ignaz Franz Castelli: Memoirs of my life . Müller, Munich 1913, ZDB -ID 553996-1 . P. 250.
11. ↑ theater. Theater an der Wien. Preciosa (...) but unfortunately this was with Dlle. J. Demmer not the case (...). In:  Oesterreichischer Beobachter , No. 307/1812, November 2, 1812, p. 1388, center left. (Online at ANNO ). .