Hermann Wedekind

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Hermann Wedekind (1958)

Hermann Wedekind (* 18th November 1910 in Coesfeld , † 16th January 1998 in Wadern ) was a German actor, opera singer, director and theater intendant .

Life

Hermann Wedekind, born in Westphalia, spent his youth in Witten an der Ruhr . In 1932 he was committed to the city ​​theater in Hagen as an autodidact . He then played youthful character roles at the Bielefelder Theater until Heinz Hilpert brought him to the German Theater in Berlin in 1935 . After a conflict with Hilpert, whom he admired, Wedekind went to the Schauspielhaus in Königsberg , but returned to the Deutsches Theater after a season in Berlin, where he worked as Hilpert's personal assistant until 1943. Then followed a short time as a singer: at the opera in Danzig he earned his first laurels as a youthful hero tenor , and for the season 1943/44 he received a contract at the Dresden State Opera , which ended six months later, since September 1944 all German theaters were closed.

Hermann Wedekind experienced the Dresden firestorm in February 1945 directly. He left a deep impression on him that had a decisive influence on all of his later work. The mystery play Katharina von Georgien by the baroque poet Andreas Gryphius , which he later arranged, contains an opening sequence that can be traced back to Wedekind's own experience: The description of the bombing of Dresden with phosphorus bombs, the experience of a woman who has gone mad (“I lost my hat”) and his “awakening experience” through the song of a blackbird the morning after.

In the post-war years from 1946 to 1950 Wedekind was initially senior director of the theater in Bonn , and at the same time director of the drama school there, which was highly regarded in those years. Afterwards, from 1950 to 1954, he headed the theater in Münster , which he rebuilt after the war, and then went to Basel as artistic director (director) before taking over the directorship of the then Saarbrücker Stadttheater, now Saarland State Theater , in 1960 . With the engagement of the conductor Siegfried Köhler as general music director in 1964, an artistic collaboration began that made the Saarbrücken music theater known far beyond the German borders. In 1970 the Saarland Prime Minister awarded him the title of General Director . In 1975 his activity as head of theater in Saarbrücken ended, but not his engagement as a director and initiator of cross-border activities, especially in contact with Eastern European countries and especially with Georgia .

Wedekind's grave in Wadern

Building on Wedekind's cultural contacts with this country in the Caucasus, the first city partnership between a city in the NATO area ( Saarbrücken ) and a city was established in 1975 on the initiative of his personal friend, the then mayor (from 1976 mayor) of the state capital of Saarland , Oskar Lafontaine City in the area of ​​the Warsaw Pact ( Tbilisi , the capital of Georgia ), and that "in the middle of the Cold War".

After the Second World War, Wedekind saw himself as an ambassador for art and peace. His personal motto was "Art knows no borders". Many young artists such as the singer Montserrat Caballé were discovered and promoted by him. But the work with theater amateurs, from whom he required professional performance, was recognized and supported by many sides. It fell on fertile ground in Balve. And again and again he has put his work in the service of global understanding between nations.

Hermann Wedekind died at the age of 88 in his long-term residence in Wadern in the Saarland. He was buried in the local cemetery.

Festival Balver Höhle

The old tradition of amateur play in the huge, completely covered natural stage in the Balver cave in the Sauerland was resumed in 1947 with the establishment of the community of Balver cave games. In 1949 Hermann Wedekind took over the artistic direction of the theater company for three years.

After a break of 25 years, motivated by a player in the 'Great World Theater' of Calderon from 1950, the Balver citizen Agatha Allhoff-Cramer, he took over the re-establishment of the Balver Cave Games. Wedekind was artistic director of the Festival Balver Höhle association from 1983 to 1996 .

Hermann Wedekind, who was brought up as a Catholic, had an intimate and at the same time critical relationship with the small town of Balve in the Sauerland region . Herrmann Wedekind used his international connections to introduce actors from all over Europe to the fascination of the Balver Cave as a stage space. His production of what he adapted the play Catherine of Georgia by Andreas Gryphius in the first year of the festival, he combined with a guest appearance of Polyansky Choir from Moscow. This commitment, which was supported by many Balvern by accommodating singers, documented his central peace policy concern, which he expressed in his motto "Art knows no borders, art brings peoples together". In the same tradition stood the performance of the Rustavi Ensemble from Tbilisi , whose engagement after Balve he succeeded through his close ties to Georgia and to the then Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze . At about the same time he organized readings for the Russian Writers' Union in Balve. In order to make these performances and engagements possible, he also used private funds. In an interview with the Westfalenpost in 1984 he said: "Exactly where the shooting club traditionally shoots the bird year after year, I raise a dove of peace with Katharina."

Hermann Wedekind proved that his commitment spanned generations with the performance of the mystery play The Great World Theater with actors from the Hermann Wedekind Youth Theater from Kutaisi in 1995 as part of the festival.

As Honorary President , Hermann Wedekind remained closely associated with the Balver Festival afterwards.

Awards

Hermann Wedekind has received several awards for his efforts to unite people. He received the Great Cross of Merit of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany , in 1986 the Order of Merit of the Saarland , the Order of Merit of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Albert Schweitzer Peace Medal.

He became an honorary citizen of Kutaisi and Georgia. In 1995, President Eduard Shevardnadze named him First Honorary Citizen of the Republic of Georgia.

Private

Hermann Wedekind lived in a family of actors. He was married to the actress Grete Schaun-Wedekind (* 1911 in Berlin; † 2007). His younger brother Werner Wedekind († 1999) founded the theater "die insel" in Karlsruhe in 1950 and was director of it until 1999. One of his sons is the director Michael Wedekind. His daughter Claudia Wedekind -Felmy was married to Hansjörg Felmy († 2007) since 1986 . Another son is the doctor Andreas Trötschel (son of the singer Elfride Trötschel ).

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Basler Stadtbuch: September 2, 1954
  2. ↑ Saarland Cultural Journal (June 1995)
  3. ^ Announcement of awards of the Saarland Order of Merit . In: Head of the State Chancellery (Ed.): Official Gazette of the Saarland . No. 15 . Saarbrücker Zeitung Verlag und Druckerei GmbH, Saarbrücken April 17, 1986, p. 321–322 ( uni-saarland.de [PDF; 208 kB ; accessed on June 14, 2017]).
  4. ^ German-Georgian Center Gelsenkirchen
  5. ↑ Claudia Wedekind , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 39/1987 of September 14, 1987, in the Munzinger Archive ( beginning of article freely available)
  6. ^ Saarland biographies: Hermann Wedekind ( Memento from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Wedekind, Hermann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German tenor, actor and theater director
DATE OF BIRTH November 18, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Coesfeld
DATE OF DEATH January 16, 1998
Place of death Waders