Franz Egenieff

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Franz Egenieff (around 1903)
Franz Egenieff with his family, 1906. Photo by J. Egers.

Franz Egenieff , actually Marian Eberhard Franz Emil von Kleydorff (born May 31, 1874 in Niederwalluf , Rheingau, † June 11, 1949 in Gmund am Tegernsee ) was a German opera singer ( baritone ) and film actor.

Life

Emil von Kleydorff was the third and youngest son of Prince Emil zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (1824–1878) and his second wife, Camilla von Kleydorff (born Kamila Stefańska, 1838–1902). His mother was a Polish ballet dancer of simple origin and therefore not befitting. Prince Emil must have met her when she danced the Giselle in Saint Petersburg in the spring of 1868 . Grand Duke Ludwig III. von Hessen-Darmstadt therefore raised her to the nobility a week before her marriage as Baroness von Kleydorff in order to enable the prince to marry her. The descendants of the two bore their mother's new name.

Emil von Kleydorff joined a Prussian hussar regiment and advanced to lieutenant there , but took his leave in 1900 to devote himself to his artistic interests. His background from a wealthy family enabled him to study with some of the most renowned singing teachers of his time. He studied with the German opera singer ( soprano ) and singing teacher Lilli Lehmann (1848–1929) and with the Italian music teacher and composer Alfredo Cairati (1875–1960) in Berlin , and later with the French baritone and voice teacher Victor Maurel (1848–1923) ) in Paris .

His stage career began in 1904–1906 under the pseudonym Franz Egenieff on the great North American tour of the Savage Opera Company under its director Walter Savage . From 1907 to 1910 he sang at the Komische Oper in Berlin , where he performed the entire baritone repertoire, from Mozart ( Don Giovanni , Figaro ), to Italian opera ( Gaetano Donizetti , Ruggero Leoncavallo ) and German opera ( Der Wildschütz ) to Heinrich Marschner and Richard Wagner sang and was very successful. He then sang for one season each at the Hofoper Unter den Linden and at the Berlin Elector's Opera. In addition, and especially from 1911 onwards, he gave guest performances and concerts in Dresden , Cologne , Leipzig , Munich and Weimar , and more rarely abroad (so in Sofia and Bucharest ). During these years he was one of the most successful German baritones and a fixture, especially in opera life in Berlin. From 1913 on, he probably no longer had a permanent commitment; this was not mandatory due to his financial situation. He also repeatedly interrupted his artistic career in the years immediately before and after the First World War in order to take part in extensive study trips through Japan, China, Korea and the Balkans. He became a member of the Berlin Freemasons Lodge on Resistance .

After the First World War, his appearances on the opera stage became increasingly rare. Instead, he starred in several German film productions in the 1920s, for the first time in the silent films Das Skelett des Herr Markutius (1920) and The Tarantel (1920). This was followed by Die Rache einer Frau (1921) and The False Dimitry (1922). In 1923 he played the shipowner Arnoldsen in the first film adaptation of Thomas Mann's Die Buddenbrooks , directed by Gerhard Lamprecht . Finally there were roles in Colibri (1924) and becoming a father is not difficult (1926). In 1927 he sang Klingsor in Parsifal at the Bayreuth Festival . 1929–1931 he toured North America again, this time with the German Opera Company; he sang again the Klingsor, the Gunther in the Götterdämmerung and the Kurwenal in Tristan and Isolde .

After this tour he retired to his villa in Gmund am Tegernsee, where he died on June 11, 1949.

Marriage and offspring

In 1898 he married Paula Busch (1877–1962), a niece of the American brewer and multimillionaire Adolphus Busch . There were four children from marriage:

  • Anita von Kleydorff (1899–1987), ⚭ 1927 Walter Warlimont (1894–1976)
  • Camilla von Kleydorff (1903–1905)
  • Lilli-Alexa von Kleydorff (1906–1966), ⚭ 1938 Alfred Kitzig (1902–1964)
  • Ernst-Günther von Kleydorff (1907–1985), ⚭ Anne Foulkrod (1922–1995)

Web links

Commons : Franz Egenieff  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In most sources, the year of birth is incorrectly given as 1840. The correct year can be found in the birth register of the parish Łomża , 1838, no. 29, pp. 7–8, cf. pl: Kamila Stefańska # cite note-1 .
  2. ↑ Yekaterina Vazem: Memoirs of a ballerina of the St. Petersburg Bolshoi Theater , Leningrad, 1937; Translated into English by Nina Dimitrievitch for the journal Dance Research and published in four parts between 1985 and 1988.
  3. ↑ http://www.ofdb.de
  4. ^ Internet Movie Database
  5. ↑ http://www.angelfire.com/in/heinbruins/Sayn.html ( Memento from May 16, 2004 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ^ Obituary notice for the daughter Camilla von Kleydorff in the St. Paul Globe of February 4, 1905 (English), accessed on March 30, 2017.
personal data
SURNAME Egenieff, Franz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kleydorff, Marian Eberhard Franz Emil von (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German opera singer (baritone) and film actor
DATE OF BIRTH May 31, 1874
PLACE OF BIRTH Niederwalluf , Rheingau
DATE OF DEATH June 11, 1949
Place of death Gmund am Tegernsee