Joseph Ferdinand Müller

Joseph Ferdinand Müller (* around 1700; † 1761 in Vienna ) was a German theater principal and comedian.

Live and act

Joseph Ferdinand Müller is best known as a German harlequin actor and for his rivalry with the actress and theater reformer Friederike Caroline Neuber . Referred to as "afterkomedian" and "Pöpelprinzipal", Müller was a bitter opponent of Neubers, who tried in the course of the Enlightenment theater reform with all means at its disposal to expel the Hanswurst and its Italian counterpart the Harlequin from the German stages.

Müller himself and Caroline Neuber were part of the Haack Theater Society. There he took over the role of harlequin in 1722 after the original principal and harlequin of the group, Caspar Haack , died. Müller was very popular as a comedian at the Electoral Saxon court, not least because Hanswurst figures and harlequins were very popular with the contemporary theater audience.

In 1725, however, Sophie Elenson , the principal of the Haack Theater Society, died, after which the management of the troupe fell to her third husband, Carl Ludwig Hoffmann . However, he fled to Hamburg a short time later in order to escape creditors. As a result, part of the group re-formed around Joseph Ferdinand Müller in 1726, also because he married Susanne Katherine Elenson in 1722, the daughter of the former principal.

The first disputes between Neuber and Müller arose in 1727, as the latter left the Haacksche Theatergesellschaft and Müller spun off three important main actors. Furthermore, Neuber used the chaos over the fragmentation of the group in order to appropriate the electoral privileges of the Haack theater company.

In addition, Müller had to accept a few more severe setbacks when he lost various special rights and the marketplace as a venue to the Neubers group in both Hamburg and Braunschweig. However, in 1733 he was able to achieve one of the last victories for the characters Hanswurst and Harlequin over the Enlightenment theater reform, when the elector Friedrich August II. Awarded Müller the privilege of Electoral Saxony instead of Neuber. Nevertheless, he had to find out that Caroline Neuber and her troupe had already secured the performance rights and lease in the Leipzig meat shop.

Due to the strategic importance of the meat shop for Müller's drama troupe, the latter then wrote a multi-page indictment letter in 1733, which he sent to the sovereigns. In the letter he attacked Neuber most violently and accused her of kidnapping Sophie Haack's children. His strategy was crowned with success and in 1734 Neuber's rights for the meat shop were transferred to him.

literature

• Katy Schlegel: Müller, Joseph Ferdinand . In: Institute for Saxon History and Folklore (Ed.): Saxon Biography .
• MA Katritzky: Women, Medicine and Theater. 1500-1750. Literary Mountebanks and Performing Quacks. Ashgate Publishing, Aldershot et al. 2007, ISBN 978-0-7546-5084-3 .
• Ulrich Rosseaux: Freedom . Entertainment, pleasure and relaxation in Dresden 1694–1830 (= norm and structure. Studies on social change in the Middle Ages and early modern times. 27). Böhlau, Cologne et al. 2007, ISBN 978-3-412-00506-1 .