Gustav Friedrich Grossmann

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gustav Friedrich Grossmann

Gustav Friedrich Wilhelm Großmann (born November 30, 1746 in Berlin , † May 20, 1796 in Hanover ) was a German actor , writer and theater director during the Enlightenment .

biography

The son of Johann Gottlob Großmann and his wife Catharina Barbara Baumann came from a humble background. After finishing school he was able to study law with a small scholarship. In 1767 he successfully completed his studies and in the same year got a job as legation secretary at the royal. prussia. Residents in Gdansk von Jung. Großmann held this office until 1772.

He returned to Berlin that year and graduated there a. a. Acquaintance with the reconnaissance men Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and Friedrich Nicolai . On the occasion of an evening party, Lessing made the claim that "... it takes a year for a good drama". Großmann, on the other hand, held "... in a good mood and with good ideas to accomplish the same in three days!" He won the bet with his play "The Conflagration", which he was able to present three days later. Karl Theophil Döbbelin staged the world premiere of this play on the occasion of the birthday of the Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg Karl I with great success.

On the occasion of a trip, Großmann met Abel Seyler in Gotha , who hired him as a temporary worker, and on July 1, 1774 he made his debut as "Riccaut de la Marlinière". The success of this performance prompted Großmann to earn his living as an actor in the future.

On November 17 of the same year he married in Gotha Carolina Sophia Augusta Flittner, the widow of the Saxon government councilor Jacques Flittner . He had eleven children with her, including the later actor Hans Wolfgang Großmann ; the actress Friederike Bethmann-Unzelmann was his stepdaughter.

In 1778 he left his wife and together with Karl Hellmuth took over the management of the court theater in Bonn . On November 26, 1778, it was reopened with the play "Wilhelmine von Blondheim"; the main role was played by Battori . When Elector Maximilian Friedrich von Königsegg-Rothenfels died in April 1784, Großmann's career as theater director came to an end because the court theater in Bonn was closed. He founded his own ensemble with which he a. a. played at the theaters in Frankfurt / M., Cologne and Münster . In Frankfurt he was able to record great successes again, as a small correspondence with Mrs. Catharina Elisabeth Goethe attests.

In 1786 he joined forces with Christian Wilhelm Klos in Cologne for a theater company. This business relationship was not a good star, as Großmann soon u. a. was charged with fraud. After the lost trial, Großmann settled in Hanover and also worked there as an actor. However, Grossmann's attempt to justify himself by means of a pamphlet in 1787, despite a final conviction, turned into a scandal .

His wife died on March 28, 1784, and after the obligatory year of mourning, Großmann married the actress Margarethe Victoria Schroth in March 1785 . He had ten children with her, including the later actresses Doris and Leopoldine Großmann .

In 1788 Großmann was appointed director of the Hanoverian court theater , but reprimanded several times for the performance of plays critical of the rule. However, after criticizing the exploitation of the peasants and the incompetence of the rulers in a play, Großmann was admitted to Clevertor prison in 1794 - and was banned from working in the Hanoverian lands.

Meanwhile, Grossmann had in 1792 Bremen on mediation of the later theater directors Daniel Schutte a Playhouse on and with the financial support of wealthy citizens Junker Bastion Am Wall erected - the first Bremen Town Theater - and came here to 1796 again with his troupe on.

On February 3, 1795, Großmann gave the cantor Ferbius in his play "Who will get them?" At the Hoftheater in Hanover. He got into his role in such a way that his expressions of sympathy for the French Revolution turned a large part of the audience against him, including Augusta von Hannover and her daughter Caroline von Braunschweig . Two days later, Großmann was asked in writing to apologize and justify himself. He refused and wrote another defense (3–4 sheets), which the court found offensive.

This was followed by his immediate arrest and conviction for libel and blasphemy . When he was diagnosed with consumption six months later , he was released and banned from the profession for life. Bitter and sick, he withdrew and died at the age of 49 on May 20, 1796 in Hanover.

As an actor or as a principal, Großmann influenced a large number of actors, such as B. Joseph Karl Ambrosch , Friederike Bethmann-Unzelmann , Johann Heinrich Bösenberg , Denner, Fanny Fiala , Dorothea Keilholz , Johann Karl Liebich , Charlotte Amalie Neuhaus , Anton Steiger , Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand Unzelmann and others. a.

His piece “Not more than six bowls” was translated into several languages ​​and is still considered to be the first socially critical piece of time in Germany. The literary historian Karl Heinrich Jördens already described this piece as a model for the more recent family paintings . Many of his pieces are original by him, some of which he redesigned well-known pieces to suit his taste.

Roles (selection)

Works

Plays

Daniel Chodowiecki : Scenes Adelheid von Veltheim
  • Adelheid von Veltheim. Comedy with singing in 4 acts . Dyck, Leipzig 1780. (Music by Christian Gottlob Neefe )
  • The Barber of Seville , 1776. (after Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais )
  • The marriage candidates. Comedy . Stiller, Rostock 1806.
  • Stubbornness or whims of love. Singspiel in 3 acts . Hermann, Frankfurt / M. 1783.
  • The conflagration or good friends in need is the greatest happiness . Crusius, Leipzig 1781.
  • Harlequin . Heroic drama in 5 acts . 1791.
  • Henriette or she is already married. Comedy in 5 acts . Vogel, Leipzig 1784.
  • The mistakes. Comedy . Fleischer, Frankfurt / M. 1779. (after William Shakespeare )
  • Repentance for the deed. Singspiel.
  • No more than six bowls. A family painting in 5 elevators . Hermann, Frankfurt / M. 1786.
  • Pygmalion . Comedy 1776. (after Jean-Jacques Rousseau )
  • The black brothers. Acting . Stiller, Rostock 1806.
  • The paperback or banknotes . Petersen, Altenburg 1806.
  • The devil in the file room . Petersen, Altenburg 1806.
  • What is right for one is cheap for the other. Singspiel . Hermann, Frankfurt / M. 1783.
  • What can a girl not do? Singspiel in 4 acts . School bookshop, Braunschweig 1789.
  • Who should get it? Singspiel.
  • Wilhelmine von Blondheim.

Other

  • To the public who loves justice . 1787.
  • Letters to Mr. K. in L. concerning the Seilerische Bühne in Dresden. Revonnah-Verlag, Hannover 1996, ISBN 3-927715-72-7 .
  • Letters on various objects on the stage . Röhrig, St. Ingbert 1996, ISBN 3-86110-104-1 .
  • Lessing's monument. A patriotic story . Hahn, Hanover 1791.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Carl-Hans Hauptmeyer : Cultural bloom , in Klaus Mlynek , Waldemar R. Röhrbein (ed.): History of the City of Hanover , Vol. 1: From the beginnings to the beginning of the 19th century , 1992, Hanover: Schlütersche Verlagsgesellschaft, 1992 , ISBN 3-87706-351-9 , here: p. 246; online through google books

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Großmann, Gustav Friedrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Großmann, Gustav Friedrich Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German actor and drama poet
DATE OF BIRTH November 30, 1746
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH May 20, 1796
Place of death Hanover