Christian Thielemann (actor)

Christian Thielemann ( October 9, 1809 in Hessen-Kassel - October 26, 1871 ) was a German-American military man, theater actor , theater founder and director in Cincinnati , USA .

Life

Thielemann first devoted himself to the military career. After training at the war school in Hofgeismar , he went to Paris for a year and then joined the Hessian army as a cavalry lieutenant. In Kassel he met the actress Louise Ehlers , daughter of Wilhelm Ehlers , and married her. Due to this marriage, however, he was forced to give up his military career. He therefore emigrated to the USA. Since he did not know the conditions there, he lost his not insignificant fortune in the first year. He then devoted himself, like his wife, to the theatrical career.

In 1846 he arrived in Cincinnati with his wife and gave German dramatic performances there. At that time there were two English theaters in the city, but their audiences were more like Janhagel than art-savvy viewers. This aroused the desire for their own theater among the Germans living there, and they moved to move to permanent quarters in the Queen of the West . The concert hall of the St. Charles Exchange on Third Street was used as the theater. Things went pretty well in this place and, since it was profitable, he signed a lease with Messrs. Lee and Wilson for the upper floor of their building on Court Strasse, between Main and West. A larger stage was installed there and on January 1, 1847 the "German Theater" was ceremoniously opened with a prologue written by Friedrich Wilhelmi and spoken by Louise Thielemann. However, the Thielemanns weren't very lucky, their star was sinking. Jealousies, quarrels and quarrels were the order of the day and the scandals grew bigger and bigger.

When Carl Wolff erected a second German theater building, it was not Thielemann who became director, but a Mr. Strasser. This accelerated the decline of the Thielemann Theater, which ultimately had to be closed.

Both theaters were combined in 1851, but when Messrs Bollmann and Brüning took over the theater in May 1852, the actors' company had to move.

At the end of May 1852, Thielemann opened a theater cycle in the Lyceum, later the Woods Theater. There he was an entrepreneur and director. However, there the scandals and quarrels went so far that Thielemann was wounded three dagger stabs by Baron Wilhelm von Adlersberg (who was a colleague and actor of Thielemann).

Soon after, the Thielemanns left Cincinnati. He continued his career in Louisville and St. Louis with varying degrees of success.

In 1858 he moved to the "German House" in Chicago as director. With the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, he joined the army to become a colonel in the 16th Regiment Illinois Volunteer Cavalry in no time . In the Battle of Atlanta he suffered a leg book when his horse shied away from a bursting grenade.

He had saved a small fortune during his service, and since he was given the office of "gauger" he hoped to be able to end his days financially independently. The Great Fire of Chicago in October 1871 ruined this wish . He kept his office, but he lost it just a year later for no reason.

With the support of friends he was able to build the National Theater, but this enterprise was not very successful either. Worry and grief made him sick. He died on October 26, 1871.

literature

• Max Burgheim : Cincinnati in words and pictures. Edited and compiled by Max Burgheim from authentic sources ; Cincinnati; O., M. & R. Burgheim, 1888, pages 116-118
• Clifford Neal Smith: Early Nineteenth-Century German Settlers in Ohio , p.41