Elise Stephanie Kreuzer

Elise Stephanie Kreuzer (born September 8, 1845 in Mannheim ; † September 3, 1936 in Huntlosen near Oldenburg iO) was a German actress and singer with a soprano / coloratura soprano voice .

family

Kreuzer came from a well-known Austrian family of artists. Her mother Friederike Amalie Kreuzer , née Fischer (born August 15, 1814 in Prague) was the daughter of the Hanoverian court musician Leberecht Fischer and Friederike Stegmann from Hamburg. She was baptized Protestant.

Her father Heinrich Kreuzer (born August 29, 1817 in Vienna), the son of a Jewish oil dealer, was a choirboy in a Viennese synagogue at a young age, then an apprentice in the choir of the Vienna Court Opera. He then attended the Vienna Conservatory . At the age of 19 he started as a solo tenor at theaters in the Austro-Hungarian Empire (e.g. in Laibach, Salzburg , Brno , Vienna ) and Germany (e.g. in Frankfurt a. M., Cologne , Mannheim).

Her parents married on May 27, 1846 in Strasbourg under the Civil Code . Both declared their five children to be their own and to be legitimate. Kreuzer had three brothers and a sister: Rudolph (born February 6, 1836 in Laibach), Caesar (born July 9, 1854 in Cologne), Sebastian (born November 26, 1842 in Mannheim) and Marie Kreuzer (born May 11, 1839 in Salzburg; † January 7th in Ulm).

Elise Stephanie Kreuzer's first marriage was to Paul von Fels . She met him in the spring of 1866 during her engagement at the Munich “ Actien-Volkstheater ” (today “ Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz ”) as “Prince of Thurn und Taxis” and entered into a love affair with him. Despite her pregnancy, which occurred in April / May, she was able to continue her stage work. Their son, Heinrich Rudolphi , was born in Bern on January 31, 1867 .

Life

Childhood, youth, training and first steps in your career

At the time of her birth, Elise Stephanie Kreuzer's father Heinrich was a tenor at the National Theater Mannheim . Her parents recognized and probably encouraged their daughter's talent at an early age. As a child and adolescent, she must have already been on stage. She performed as an actress and singer for years until she finally decided to study music. At that time, the stage career was one of the few opportunities for women to exercise a profession, to be independent and to become known.

If you follow her artistic path according to the information in the German stage almanac , the following stations arise: 1860 Pesth-Ofen (Austrian Empire) “United German Theater”, 1861 Brno “Royal City Theater” (operas, dramas), 1863 Graz “Agricultural Theater “(operas, antics); 1864 “ Stadttheater Mainz ” (1st dramatic singing role) and “Stadttheater Krakau ” (operetta singer); 1865 “Thalia-Theater” Graz (operetta, posse); 1865/1866 "Städtisches Theater Olomouc" (opera, 1st local and operetta singing part).

From spring 1866 she was initially a guest at the “Aktien-Volkstheater” ( Munich ), then a permanent “performing member”. On April 24th she made her debut in the operetta Fortunio's Liebeslied by Jacques Offenbach in the trouser role of "Valentin". Until her last appearance in January 1867, she took on speaking and singing roles in 24 different pieces, especially in operettas by Jacques Offenbach and Franz von Suppè and in popular pieces such as singspiele, antics and comedies.

Together with his friend and aide-de Paul of Thurn and Taxis visited the young Bavarian King Ludwig II . several times the "Aktien-Volkstheater", z. B. on July 4, 1866. That evening the operetta Flotte Bursche was performed by Franz von Suppè with “Miss. Kreuzer ”in the role of the student Brand. In disguise scenes, Ludwig did not know that she was his friend's secret lover, and could show off her comedic talent.

Relationship to Paul von Thurn und Taxis / Paul von Fels

In connection with Kreuzer's first stage appearances in the “Aktien-Volkstheater” in spring 1866 she met Paul von Thurn und Taxis. He came from one of the most famous and richest German royal houses, at that time he was a friend and already a wing adjutant of the Bavarian King Ludwig II. He belonged to the closest circle of Wagnerians in Munich and associated with members of the German and European nobility. At first the talented young Soubrette cruiser was his mistress. However, when he announced his intention to marry her and was not dissuaded from this decision, both entered a social minefield because they violated the conventions of the time in several ways:

• Kreuzer was of bourgeois origin - Paul came from the high nobility. A marital union contradicted the then generally recognized class thinking, which prescribed the social separation of the nobility and citizens. Marriages between relatives from both classes were only possible in exceptional cases. According to the house law of the Thurn and Taxis, the family members were obliged to marry equally.
• She also belonged to a profession that was not widely accepted by the bourgeoisie, the “traveling people”. Young stage artists who i. d. As a rule, those who were badly paid were in the reputation of prostitution.
• Although she was baptized as a Protestant, she was considered a Jew in society because her father was of Jewish faith.

When Paul von Thurn und Taxis and Elise Stephanie Kreuzer decided in favor of each other, they defied the anti-Jewish prejudices of the time and accepted their social ostracism. The Munich Tages-Anzeiger reported on February 20, 1867: "The marriage [...] has not yet taken place, since the beloved [cruiser] of Prince [Paul] is Jewish and will only be baptized." Ludwig II, who was generally friendly towards Jews, marked her as Jewish when he wrote in a letter to the anti-Semite Cosima von Bülow on September 23, 1867 , about his disgraced friend Paul von Thurn und Taxis: "[ ...] how can one give up a brilliant position [as the king's wing adjutant], so spoil an old name with a good reputation [the Princely House of Thurn und Taxis] in order to chase after a reckless, ugly Jewess. O sancta simplicitas! ”Not only in Munich, also in other cities Kreuzer was considered a Jew despite her Christian baptism. B. ten years later in Freiburg, where the English travel writer Sabine Baring-Gould saw her on stage in 1877 : Acting in the theater as a primadonna was a Frau von Fels. She was a handsome Jewess.

Since Paul von Thurn und Taxis stuck to his intention to marry, he was expelled from the princely Thurn und Taxis family on the basis of a non-revocable contract; he lost his title of prince and had to adopt a new family name ("von Fels") so that no connection with the princely house was recognizable by name. Furthermore, he left the princely succession, lost his share of the princely estate and his legal entitlement to an " appanage ", which would have ensured him a high standard of living. Instead, he was granted voluntary and temporary support (" sustentation ") of 6,000 florins a year from the Princely House . Under these conditions, his father Maximilian Karl consented to the inappropriate marriage. The marriage took place on June 7, 1868 in the Catholic Church " St. Peter in Chains " in Astheim.

Even with this valid marriage, concluded with the consent of the Princely House, Kreuzer, now “Frau von Fels”, was denied access to the princely family and aristocratic circles. The social gap to the Princely House was deepened by the fact that Paul von Fels intended to work in the theater sector and he supported his wife in continuing her artistic career, two decisions that were diametrically opposed to the conventions of the time.

Artistic career

Other stages of Elise von Fels were z. B. the "Stadttheater Aachen" (season 1867/1888) and the "United City Theaters of Rostock and Stralsund" (season 1871/1872, as "1st coloratura singer"). On February 27, 1872 she sang there in Undine by Albert Lortzing. It was a performance "for the benefit of Frau von Fels", ie she received all the income from that evening, a special proof of her performance and appreciation as a stage artist. On March 8, 1872, she sang the leading role of Gilda in Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto . This was followed by engagements in Augsburg, Bernburg, Lübeck (1873 with "1st coloratura and dramatic singing parts"), Salzburg and Freiburg (from 1874). Her husband always accompanied her to the places of her engagement as a "privateer" or "rentier", as he was called in the respective municipal registration documents.

The fact that she was engaged as prima donna at the “Stadttheater Freiburg” for almost five years indicated her skill and continued success with the audience. Here she reached her artistic climax as a presumably well-paid coloratura soprano. Numerous articles appeared in the press about their consistently outstanding achievements:

"With regard to the achievements of the individual opera members, we must first and foremost note the really glamorous singing of Frau von Fels as Margarethe von Valois, who aroused the just admiration of the house through her equally confident playing as brilliant colors." (Review of the opera The Huguenots by Giacomo Meyerbeer. In: Freiburger Zeitung of October 14, 1874)

“The last performance brought us the ' Barber of Seville '. Frau von Fels is one of the best actresses of 'Rosina' that we heard here, who brought out both the solo number of the opening aria and the interludes in the second act with a very excellent voice. The lady possesses a rare throat and artistry in the coloring subject, she has a bright, pure, quite extensive and well-balanced voice. Their playing was also carried by natural grace, testified to artistic understanding and refined taste. ”( Freiburger Zeitung of November 10, 1876)

Her engagement in Freiburg ended with the theater season 1877/1878, presumably because her husband's health had deteriorated dramatically. Paul von Fels went to the French Mediterranean coast in September 1878 to alleviate the symptoms of his open tuberculosis ; He died in Cannes of the then incurable disease on March 10, 1879.

In Freiburg, Elise von Fels probably met Arno Cabisius (born September 15, 1845 in Magdeburg) as a colleague during the 1877/1888 season , who could look back on a remarkable career as a baritone and opera director. Both were engaged in the season 1879/1880 at the "Stadttheater Düsseldorf" and 1880/1881 at the "Stadttheater Lübeck". Here they married in 1881. From then on she called herself "von Fels-Cabisius". She was no longer on stage because her voice may have passed its zenith, but she supported her husband in all matters relating to the theater business.

In 1890, after several engagements as a baritone in Danzig, Prague, Colberg and Stettin (1886 to 1889), Arno Cabisius took over the management of the “Magdeburg City Theater”. He died unexpectedly of a heart attack on March 3, 1907 after sixteen artistically and financially very successful years. She was 61 years old at the time.

In an obituary in the Magdeburger Generalanzeiger dated March 8, 1907, it was said that Arno Cabisius had in his wife a “creative and art-loving colleague” whose “advice and support had always given him new artistic suggestions”. Both would have "had a happy artist marriage ... which was founded on the firm foundation of the most intimate agreement and the same artistic endeavor". In recognition of this, she was called the "Cabisia" in Magdeburg. Due to her professional competence, the city's magistrate commissioned her to continue as artistic director on behalf of her deceased husband until the end of the contract term in 1908.

Further life

After the death of her husband, she stayed in Magdeburg. Her son Heinrich von Fels , who was employed as a representative of the “Magdeburg Hagelversicherungs-Gesellschaft”, also lived there. As chief inspector, he had been given the task of maintaining contact with the estates of the East Elbe nobility in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Elise Stephanie von Fels-Cabisius, her son Heinrich and his adopted daughter moved in July 1931 to the " Gut Huntlosen " near Oldenburg iO. She died on September 3, 1936 and was buried in the Protestant cemetery there.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See Ludwig Eisenberg: Large Biographical Lexicon of the stages in the 19th century. Leipzig 1903, p. 547 f .; S. Wininger: Great Jewish National Biography. Vol. 3 (reprint). Nendeln / Lichtentein 1979, p. 537 f .; KJ Kusch and Leo Riemers: Large singer lexicon. 4th ed. Vol. 4. Munich 2003.
2. ↑ See on the life of Kreuzers and their origins Sylvia Alphéus, Lothar Jegensdorf: Prince Paul von Thurn and Taxis. A stubborn life. Munich 2017. Integrated in this biography of her first husband, her life is also presented, e.g. BS 209ff, 254ff, 288ff.
3. ↑ City Archives of the Canton of Bern: Birth notification and baptism certificate Heinrich Kreuzer, Sign. K Bern 91, p. 170 f.
4. ^ Deutscher Bühnenalmanach 1854 to 1893. Edited by A Heinrich, later by Th. Decision. New edition Berlin 2005/2006.
5. ↑ Cf. Rasmus Cromme: Thaliens Legacy at Gärtnerplatz. Munich 2013. The same: From Actien-Volks-Theater to “Bourgeois-Amüsieranstalt” 1865–1899. In: Stefan Frey (Ed.): For the people to lust and prosper. 150 years of the Gärtnerplatztheater. Leipzig 2015, pp. 9–35.
6. ↑ More detailed description of the unexpected encounter “Ludwig - Elise” in S. Alphéus, L. Jegensdorf, pp. 213–216; with an imprint of an original theater ticket.
7. ↑ Cf. Anton Lohner: History and legal relationships of the Princely House of Thurn and Taxis. Regensburg 1895.
8. ↑ On this subject, see S. Alphéus, L. Jegensdorf, Chapter 9.6 “Elise Kreuzer - a Jewess?” Pp. 227–230.
9. ^ Cosima Wagner and Ludwig II of Bavaria: Letters. An amazing correspondence. Bergisch Gladbach 1996, p. 428.
10. ^ Sabine Baring-Gould: Further Reminiscences 1864-1894. London 1925, p. 87.