Karl Helmerding

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Karl Helmerding

Karl Heinrich Helmerding (born October 29, 1822 in Berlin ; † December 20, 1899 there ) was a German folk actor and was considered the most popular comedian in Berlin of all time.

Life

Helmerding was born the son of a master locksmith, whose trade he also learned. He also made successful studies in drawing under Johann Gottfried Schadow and activated his theatrical drive on several small stages in his hometown.

He made his debut as a professional actor in Meißen in 1847 and then worked for four years at the Hennig Brothers' summer theater in Berlin under director Carli Callenbach , who introduced the beginner, who had previously played intrigues and character roles, in the comic subject. After being engaged in Sondershausen in the winter of 1850 and in Erfurt in 1851 , Helmerding became a member of the Königsstadt Theater in 1852 and, after a winter engagement in Cologne in 1854, a member of the Kroll Theater in Berlin.

In 1855 he was engaged by Franz Wallner in Poznan and soon afterwards returned with him to Berlin, where for two decades he was an adornment and support of the Königsstädtischer Theater, soon popularly known as the Wallner Theater, and the Berliner Lokalposse . In 1878 he retired from the stage.

Gotthilf Weisstein describes in an article on the 70th birthday of the artist Helmerding's acting characteristics as follows:

“Karl Helmerding's art is very peculiar. There is hardly an actor - perhaps only with the exception of Friedrich Haase - who has been imitated as much as our Berlin comedian, whose manner and character dominated the German stage for a decade and a half. At that time every provincial theater had a comedian who tried to imitate Helmerding's specifically Berlin style of speaking with the nasal timbre, his original sharp, hasty, somewhat angular movements, his peculiar parlando in the couplet lecture - nobody reached him in his peculiarity: as the Berliners say - "she the researchers couldn't find out. ”Helmerding is far from what is called a comedian in ordinary theater jargon, he is rather a born character actor, an artist who gives a type in every role, a figure that is firmly seen, captured and just as firmly reproduced . Two very separate tones prevail in his artistic temperament: one is the absolutely faithful representation of the real, the other is the humorous exaggeration - so he masters the portrait and the caricature at the same time - two types of representation that have never mixed with him . "

Helmerding was very well acquainted with Otto von Bismarck , who liked to use Helmerding's stage fame and popularity.

Karl Helmerding's grave

Long terminally ill, Karl Helmerding died on December 20, 1899 at the age of 77 in his apartment on Tempelhofer Ufer in Berlin. His grave is in Cemetery II of the Jerusalem and New Churches in Berlin-Kreuzberg . An obelisk made of black granite serves as the gravestone, on the front of which a bronze relief tondo with the portrait of the deceased is embedded.

His son Fritz Helmerding (1859–1947) was also a theater actor.

reception

Helmerding actually turned every role into a brilliant role and was preferred to play the disillusioned, skeptical, petty bourgeoisie of the Berlin suburbs, who raved about big city life. In addition to his wonderful versatility, it was mainly the caustic (Berlin) humor, the cutting style of speech, the strictly closed character drawing and the peculiar, almost spoken lecture, the couplets , which usually only move in the tightest rhythms , which made even his garishest batches acceptable.

Publications

Helmerding has also been successful in original dramatic works (the best known: "Eine Weinprobe"), in translations and adaptations, and in writing for journals; u. a. in Berlin also for a theater newspaper that bore his name: "Helmerding - Humoristic-Satyrisches Theaterblatt".

Roles (selection)

Karl Helmerding in his leading roles (1868).
  • Doucet - House blessing or Berlin becomes a cosmopolitan city ( David Kalisch )
  • Steglitz - Otto Bellmann (David Kalisch)
  • Elsterwitz - The Art of Being Loved ( Ferdinand Gumbert )
  • Nitschke - The educated house servant (David Kalisch)
  • Klumpatsch - Nimrod ( Hermann Salingré and Rudolf Bial )
  • Petz - Aurora in Oil (David Kalisch)
  • Weigelt - My Leopold ( Adolph L'Arronge )

Honors

In 1912 in Berlin-Friedrichshain the Helmerding street named after him.

literature

Web links

Commons : Karl Helmerding  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gotthilf Weisstein: A favorite of Berliners. For Karl Helmerding's seventieth birthday. In: Schorers Familienblatt , Volume 13 (1892), pp. 714–715
  2. ↑ Carl Helmerding † [29. October 1822 - December 20, 1899] . In: Berliner Tageblatt , December 20, 1899, evening edition, pp. 1–2.
  3. ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende : Lexicon of Berlin burial places . Pharus-Plan, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-86514-206-1 , p. 232.
personal data
SURNAME Helmerding, Karl
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Helmerding, Karl Heinrich (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Berlin folk actor and was considered the most popular comedian in Berlin of all time
DATE OF BIRTH October 29, 1822
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH December 20, 1899
Place of death Berlin