Francesco Sioli

Francesco Sioli (born March 31, 1878 in Halle (Saale) , † June 15, 1958 in Plön ) was a German theater director of Italian descent.

Live and act

The son of a pharmacist from Italy studied musicology and then decided on a career in theater. He first became an actor and appeared at the theaters in Flensburg, Metz, Görlitz, Würzburg, Frankfurt am Main and Breslau. Finally, in 1908, Sioli was given the opportunity to take over the artistic direction and direction of the city theater in Tilsit , which he held until 1913. Like his predecessor Ludmilla Hannemann, Sioli preferred drama and under his direction operettas and operas were only performed occasionally, the latter being performed as so-called monthly operas in April from 1909 to 1912. For this purpose, Sioli also hired artists from abroad, since the theater in Tilsit was not staffed even for such larger performances. At that time, one of his main concerns was already working with young talent, and so the artistic activity under the direction of Sioli was a decisive step in their future careers for the still young actors Curt Elwenspoek , Fritz Rasp and the writer Alfred Brust .

From 1913 until the beginning of the First World War , Sioli took over the management of the city theater in Halberstadt , although one year later he had to do his military service at the front until 1918, but after his return he was again employed as director in Halberstadt. In 1921 he moved to Aachen for the first time , where he took over the management of the Theater Aachen , which had previously only been occupied on a temporary basis. He stayed here until 1924 and then accepted a call to the Mannheim National Theater , having previously refused a corresponding position at the Oldenburg State Theater in favor of Richard Gsell. In Mannheim, Sioli again campaigned primarily for the promotion of young talent and for the rejuvenation of his employees, among whom were the hopefuls Gustav Rudolf Sellner , Ernst Langheinz and Willy Birgel, who had brought with him from Aachen . He also appointed Hermann Wlach as the new senior director and Heinz Dietrich Kenter , who was also a companion from Aachen, as director, to his management team. With these new staff, Sioli managed to modernize the repertoire, from which a large number of world premieres and premieres of contemporary musical works and dramas of contemporary literature such as those by Carl Zuckmayer , Georg Kaiser , Klabund and Wolfgang Goetz developed. The musicalization of spoken theater also underwent a decisive change under his leadership. In contrast to this, Sioli continues the tradition of Shakespeare productions and the performance of selected operas.

In 1933 Sioli followed another call to the theater in Aachen, where he took over the management for a second time as the successor to Heinrich Karl Strohm, who had moved to Hamburg . A year later he ended his engagement because he came into conflict with Goebbels because of his socially critical and progressive performances. Only after the Second World War did he reappear as a director and then until 1949 as a lecturer for music and drama in his old hometown of Halle an der Saale.

Literature and Sources

• Christian Wolf: Gustav Rudolf Sellner's theater work before 1948 , inaugural dissertation, Berlin, 2011 pdf
• Klaus Schulte & Peter Sardoc: From Ringelhardt to Mundorf , artists and personalities of the Aachen City Theater , Verlag Josef Stippak, Aachen, 1977

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Sioli's life data at rambow.de (PDF; 798 kB)
2. ↑ City Theater Tilsit 1904–1933