Engelbert Karl

Engelbert Karl (born May 5, 1841 in Munich , † October 11, 1891 in Dresden ) was a German actor, playwright, theater director and director .

Life

Engelbert Karl was born into a musical family and began his theater career in 1859 at the Volkstheater Max Schweiger in Munich . Initially engaged as a teenage lover, his comic talent was soon discovered. The character comedian participated in the war in part in 1866, from which he returned unharmed. He then got an engagement at the Actien-Volkstheater on Munich's Gärtnerplatz. In 1869 he made the leap to Vienna as a soloist and playwright at the Theater in der Josefstadt .

In 1870 he was signed up as a sergeant in the Bavarian Infantry Body Regiment and had to take part in the Franco-German War between August and December 1870. a. at the battles of Sedan , Wörth and Orléans . During breaks in combat he studied antics and operetta excerpts with his comrades in order to cheer them up. He was badly wounded in the Battle of Beaugency . He was never able to overcome these experiences completely and throughout his life donated significant sums to war invalids and other needy people.

Engagements in Graz and Brno followed. In 1873 he was engaged at the Dresden Residenz Theater , where he was to appear as a director of antics and singing games as well as an actor in comic singing roles. Until the end of the management of Hugo Müller, he stood on stage with luminaries such as Marie Geistinger , Josefine Gallmeyer , Albin Swoboda and Felix Schweighofer , who made guest appearances at the Residenz-Theater. This was followed by trips to Breslau and the Dresden Court Theater.

Since Müller gave up the theater management due to financial difficulties in 1877 and his successor Ferdinand Dessoir did not have a successful hand either, Engelbert Karl decided to take over the management of the Residenz Theater himself from 1879. Carl Pleininger was at his side. The era of the artist dynasty Karl / Witt began at the Residenz-Theater with the Dresden premiere of the operetta Jeanne, Jeannette et Jeanneton by Paul Lacôme . Within a short period of time, he succeeded in forming an outstanding ensemble of artists that made the Residenz Theater into the outstanding people's theater in Dresden.

For his 25th anniversary on the stage, his favorite piece, Der Verschwender, was performed by Ferdinand Raimund , and he and five of his six children, up until then, were on stage at this festive performance. In the same year Girardi was again on the stage of the Residenz Theater.

On August 7, 1884, Karl left the Residenz Theater for health reasons and passed the management to the brothers Franz and Gabor Steiner ; the former was in a relationship with Angelika Dittrich, the second wife of Johann Strauss (son) . However, the three said goodbye the following year and took over the Walhalla Theater in Berlin. Karl, who meanwhile worked for the Thalia Theater in Chemnitz, decided to return and opened his new management on September 19, 1885 with The Field Preacher by Carl Millöcker .

Engelbert Karl died in Dresden on October 11th, 1891, because of his severe suffering as a result of his injury in 1870.

Playwright (selection)

• The Lord's Prayer on Christmas Eve , Premiere 1869, Theater in der Josefstadt, Vienna
• Journey through Dresden in 80 minutes , premiered in 1880, Residenz Theater, Dresden

personality

Engelbert Karl is portrayed as a warm personality, with integrity and generosity. In his obituary by Ferdinand Gleich he was recognized as a "good person and excellent artist". Karl finally established the music theater with the operetta in Dresden. Through his work, the Residenz Theater can be regarded as the oldest predecessor of today's Dresden State Operetta .

family

At the beginning of 1871 he met the 23-year-old actress Magdelena Kindermann, daughter of the opera singer August Kindermann (1848-1924), in the Munich military hospital , and married her that same year. She was an irreplaceable advisor and "comrade-in-arms" (cited in Black) for him and managed to continue running the Residenz Theater until 1906 after his death, when she handed it over to her son-in-law Carl Witt as sole director .

The twenty-year marriage resulted in nine children. Of these, the following can be named:

• Julie, married Carl Witt (1862–1930) in 1896/97, later successor to Engelbert Karl as director of the Residenz Theater
• Willy (1878–1930), actor
• Helene (1880), died after ten months
• Felix (* 1882)
• Paula (9th child) (1890–1946), the wife of Carl Sukfüll , later director of the Residenz and Albert Theaters in Dresden

literature

• Andreas Schwarze: Metropolis of Pleasure - Musical People's Theater in Dresden from 1844 to the present day Dresden: SAXO'Phon 2016. ISBN 978-3-943444-59-9 . Pp. 39-43.