Heinrich Gottfried Koch

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Heinrich Gottlieb Koch
His wife Christiane Henriette Koch

Heinrich Gottfried Koch , also Gottfried Heinrich Koch , (* 1703 in Gera ; † January 3, 1775 in Berlin ) was a German actor and theater entrepreneur.

Life

Cook for several years studied law at the University of Leipzig . When he met Friederike Caroline Neuber there in 1728 together with her theater troupe, he joined them. Over time he not only shone as an actor, but also as a decorative painter and theater poet; as the latter, he was also highly valued by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing .

In 1748 Koch left the Neubersche troupe and went to Vienna . When he was back in Leipzig the following year , he founded his own theater troupe, the so-called Kochsche Troupe . The changes in the theater - as well as the preferences of the audience - meant that Koch was able to perform the first comic operetta in Leipzig in 1752 , The Metamorphosed Women or The Devil Is Losing by Christian Felix Weisse in front of an enthusiastic audience. To Gottsched's chagrin, as he saw this as a betrayal of his ideals.

In 1756, at the beginning of the Seven Years' War , Koch dissolved his theater troupe and settled in Hamburg . Through the mediation of the actor Conrad Ekhof , Koch was soon able to take over a theater company there and head it for almost ten years. Koch's troupe was the last to play in the ailing opera house on Gänsemarkt after a makeshift renovation from 1758 to 1763 before it was demolished around 1764.

In 1765 he translated in rhyme verses , Voltaire's Oedipe (1717) for German stages.

In 1766 Koch returned to Leipzig and was able to open the newly built theater there with the tragedy Hermann by Johann Elias Schlegel . After two years, the Duchess Amalie invited him to Weimar and recruited him for almost two years.

In 1770 Koch returned to Leipzig for a short time, but after a short time resigned all of his offices and retired into private life. He settled in Berlin , where he took over the management of the Schuchisches Comödienhaus . Here he staged the world premiere of Goethe's Götz von Berlichingen in April 1774 with great success before he died on January 3, 1775 at the age of 72.

Koch was married twice. First from 1737 until her death in 1741 with Anna Büchner , a sister of the wife of the copperplate engraver Martin Bernigeroth and in second marriage with Christiane Henriette Merlek . Both were also stage actresses.

reception

With his work, Koch wanted to elevate the German theater to a “real” art establishment. On the one hand, he saw the cultural competition from abroad which he wanted to face; on the other hand, the level of the German pieces should also be raised. That is why Koch replaced previously popular burlesques and little taunts with interludes , short musical-dramatic presentations, with which he soon won the audience's favor.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Johann Friedrich Schütze: Hamburg Theater History. Treder, Hamburg 1794, pp. 302ff.

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personal data
SURNAME Koch, Heinrich Gottfried
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German actor and theater entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH 1703
PLACE OF BIRTH Gera
DATE OF DEATH January 3, 1775
Place of death Berlin