Friederike Bethmann-Unzelmann

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Friederike Unzelmann

Christiana Friederike Augustine Conradine Bethmann-Unzelmann, b. Flittner (born January 24, 1760 in Gotha , † August 16, 1815 in Berlin ) was a German actress and singer.

Life

Friederike Bethmann-Unzelmann was the daughter of the ducal Saxon government registrar Jacques Flittner and his wife Carolina Sophia Augusta Hartmann. She received her vocal training from her stepfather, the actor and singer Gustav Friedrich Großmann , and made her debut at the Stadttheater in Mainz in 1777 . There she also joined Abel Seyler's ensemble , but later switched to her stepfather's troupe. In her first engagements she sang almost exclusively in operas, where she had great successes as an interpreter of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart .

At the age of 25, Friederike Flittner married the actor and singer Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand Unzelmann in Mainz in 1786, with whom she was engaged in Mainz until 1788. With him she had three children, the xylograph Friedrich Unzelmann , the actor Karl Wolfgang Unzelmann and a daughter Wilhelmine, who later married the actor Friedrich Josef Korntheuer .

In 1788 she went to Berlin with her husband and, like him, became a member of the ensemble at the Court Theater. Until she divorced her husband in 1803, she was very successful there. In 1805 Friederike Unzelmann married the actor Heinrich Bethmann for the second time .

Due to her success in Berlin, Bethmann-Unzelmann received many offers, which she then accepted. Smaller tours took her to the theaters of Hamburg , Leipzig and Vienna . She gave guest performances on the stages of Braunschweig , Frankfurt am Main , Munich and Prague, which were enthusiastically received by critics and the public . In 1804, at the request of Friedrich Heinrich Himmel , she sang the title role in the premiere of his opera Fanchon, the lyre girl . Other brilliant roles were “Konstanze” in The Abduction from the Seraglio , “The Countess” in Figaro's Wedding and “Fiordiligi” in Così fan tutte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart . But she was also able to convince in the works of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and William Shakespeare .

The Unzelmann family grave in Berlin-Kreuzberg

In 1810, Friederike Bethmann-Unzelmann experienced a scandal in the Berlin theater: during a performance of the opera Sargines ( Ferdinando Paër ), her daughter was whistled on stage by the audience. Thereupon Friederike Bethmann-Unzelmann stormed the stage, took her daughter with her out of indignation and swore she would never perform again. Through the mediation of August Wilhelm Iffland , however, she reversed her decision.

At the age of 55, Friederike Bethmann-Unzelmann died suddenly and unexpectedly on August 16, 1815 in Berlin. Her final resting place is the Unzelmann family grave in Cemetery II of the Jerusalem and New Churches in Berlin-Kreuzberg . She lies there next to her son Friedrich Unzelmann (1797–1854) and his wife Johanna geb. Schilling (1797-1873). On the plastered wall of the grave there are three marble tablets with the names of the dead. A marble cross on a pedestal stands in front of it. The system is limited at the front by a grille.

Student (selection)

literature

Web links

Commons : Friederike Bethmann-Unzelmann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ See Augsburgische Ordinari Postzeitung, Nro. 3, Wednesday, January 3, Anno 1810, p. 3 and Nro. 24, Saturday, Jan. 27, Anno 1810, p. 2.
  2. ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende : Lexicon of Berlin burial places . Pharus-Plan, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-86514-206-1 , pp. 231, 236.
personal data
SURNAME Bethmann-Unzelmann, Friederike
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bethmann-Unzelmann, Christiana Friederike Augustine Conradine (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German actress and singer
DATE OF BIRTH January 24, 1760
PLACE OF BIRTH Gotha
DATE OF DEATH August 16, 1815
Place of death Berlin