Joseph Anton Christ

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Joseph Anton Christ , also Josef Anton Christ , (born June 7, 1744 in Vienna , † March 25, 1823 in Dresden ) was an Austrian singer and actor.

Life

At the Collegium academicum ( Jesuit college ) in his hometown, Christ spent a few years of his school days until he dropped out without a degree and joined the hussars who fought on the side of Austria in the Seven Years' War . When the status quo ante bellum was restored after the peace treaty , it was not until the spring of 1765 that he was hired by principal Peter Florenz Ilgener and his company in Salzburg .

Christ then made a successful debut in Salzburg. In 1777 Pasquale Bondini brought him to Berlin , where he a. a. next to Karl Theophil Döbbelin mostly portrayed amateur roles and young heroes. In the following year he went to Hamburg as the successor to Johann Franz Brockmann and in 1779 he played under the direction of Pasquale Bondini in Dresden .

In 1783 Christ accepted an engagement at the Deutsches Theater in Saint Petersburg and moved to Riga in 1784, where he stayed until the winter of 1790. That year he returned to Germany and was signed to the Stadttheater in Mainz. In 1794 he made the acquaintance of Joseph Seconda , who immediately accepted him into his ensemble. With this troupe, Christ undertook an extensive tour to Prague , Dresden and Leipzig .

Christ married the Portuguese actress Isabella Maria Peixote de Costa and had four children with her: Friederike (* 1785), Margarethe, Caroline (* 1779) and Josepha.

In Leipzig he celebrated his fiftieth stage anniversary on September 14, 1815; On this day Christ was seen as "War Councilor Dallner" in Iffland's Die Dienstpflicht .

At almost 79 years of age, Christ died in Dresden on March 25, 1823, where he found his final resting place.

Roles (selection)

reception

Christ was an artist in the fullest sense of the word, who seemed powerful with the apparently simplest means and in this respect even surpassed August Wilhelm Iffland . Nature was his model in everything.

obituary

Z. Funk wrote an obituary for Joseph A. Christ in a Dresden newspaper:

“In Christ, an artist like few has gone to the grave, who, with the most perfect home on stage, with the most graceful decency, with the apparently simplest means, worked mightily. In this regard, Christ himself stands above Iffland , who in his best self-esteem liked to call him his teacher. "
“Young actors were able to learn from Christ, and luckily they also learned how the expression of passion does not need any convulsive means when it moves and emerges within their nature, that is nature, and therefore only looks into the mirror of the beautiful. Despite the simplicity and the most prudent facial expression, it produced effects that were surprising and shed light on the character to be represented; as the most elaborate word could not produce. "

literature

personal data
SURNAME Christ, Joseph Anton
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Christ, Josef Anton
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian singer and actor
DATE OF BIRTH June 7, 1744
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH March 25, 1823
Place of death Dresden