Ludwig Devrient

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Ludwig Devrient (painting by Christoph Wilhelm Wohlien , 1831)
Devrient as Franz Moor (sketch by Wilhelm Hensel )
Devrient as Dr. fist
Devrient as Shylock (sketch by Wilhelm Hensel)
Devrients tombstone

Ludwig Devrient , origin. David Louis De Vrient , (born December 15, 1784 in Berlin , †  December 30, 1832 there ) was a German actor and wearer of the Iffland Ring . He was the uncle of the actors Eduard , Karl August and Gustav Emil Devrient .

Life

Devrient was the son of the businessman Philipp De Vrient and his second wife Marie Wall. Devrient received his first education from French governesses . According to his father's will, he should also learn a commercial profession in order to later take over his father's business. Devrient broke off the first two apprenticeships with distant relatives just as quickly as his third with a trimmers in Potsdam .

As Devrient during a visit to the theater in Leipzig where Ferdinand Ochsenheimer could experience, he also wanted to be an actor. In the summer of 1803 he joined the acting company of Friedrich Wilhelm Lange, where he received his first acting lessons from the actor Julius Weidner . Devrient was on stage for the first time in May 1804 in Gera ; He made his debut as Herzberg (a messenger) on September 1, 1805 in Dessau under the direction of Friedrich Wilhelm Bossann .

After a tour a . a. through Naumburg , Jena and Zeitz , Devrient became a permanent member of the ensemble in Dessau . It was there that “the theater genius Devrient” was born. In Dessau he married Margarete in 1807, a daughter of the conductor Christian Gottlob Neefe . With her he had a daughter, Emilie (1808-1857), who later became the wife of the actor Wilhelm David Höffert. Devrient's wife died shortly after giving birth.

Although enthusiastically celebrated, Devrient, plagued by self-doubt, broke his contract in 1808 and left Dessau. He went to Berlin, where he appeared under August Wilhelm Iffland on July 18, 1808 at the Royal Opera . He soon became friends with E. T. A. Hoffmann , who supported him as well as Iffland.

Devrient had his first sensational success in Berlin on February 9, 1809 in the role of Franz Moor , and he was able to increase the enthusiasm of his audience and critics with Shylock (1810) and King Lear (1814). His critics soon spoke only of the "theater genius". In addition to his major tragic roles, he also had an innate, poetic sense of humor , which also came into its own in smaller roles.

After the obligatory year of mourning, Devrient married the actress Friederike Schaffner in Berlin , with whom he had a son. Ludwig and Friederike Devrient got divorced in 1819; Friederike later married Eduard Komitsch. Friederike's great-grandson, composer Hans Stieber , honored his great-grandmother with the stage play Madame Devrient from 1942.

The royal family and many high officials were among Devrient's supporters from the start. Including Prince Karl August von Hardenberg , who supported Iffland in his proposal to designate Devrient as his successor at the Royal Opera .

Devrient married the dancer Auguste Brandes for the third time in 1825. Long drunk, Devrient collapsed unconscious during an open stage performance of King Lear . He died two weeks after his 48th birthday on December 30, 1832 in Berlin. He found his final resting place in the French cemetery .

Anecdotal

It is said that Devrient and some colleagues went to the Lutter & Wegner wine bar after the performance in 1825 . Since he had previously given the Falstaff , Devrient quoted from this role “A cup of sack!” In Shakespeare's case, this meant a sherry or Madeira . Devrient was served - as usual - his favorite drink, a sparkling wine presumably of French origin; the first German sparkling wine was not produced until 1826 by Georg Christian Kessler in Esslingen . The press picked up on this slip of the tongue and a new term, sparkling wine , initially in the form of “Seck”, was born. After the founding of the empire in 1870/71, the Berlin trendy word “Sect” quickly spread throughout Germany and served to differentiate German sparkling wines from French products, especially champagne .

See also

Roles (selection)

Literary-fictional portrayals of life

  • Heinrich Smidt : Devrient novels . A. Duncker, Berlin 1852
  • Robert Springer: Devrient and Hoffmann or actors and brothers in serapion. Artist novel and romantic time image . Janke, Berlin 1873 (3 volumes)

literature

  • Jacob Achilles Mähly, Rochus von Liliencron:  Devrient, Ludwig . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, pp. 94-100.
  • Richter, Karl:  Devrient, Ludwig. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 3, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1957, ISBN 3-428-00184-2 , p. 627 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Z. Funk [d. i. Carl Friedrich Kunz]: From the life of two actors: August Wilhelm Iffland's and Ludwig Devrient’s . Brockhaus, Leipzig 1838
  • Berlin Chronicle (Berlin 1876, Issue 13)
  • Georg Kruse: Ludwig Devrient. His life and his acting skills . Dissertation, University of Munich 1923
  • Georg Altmann: Ludwig Devrient. Life and work of an actor . Ullstein, Berlin 1926
  • Robert Bürkner : Das eheimlichen Feuer, 1947 Nölke Verlag, dedicated to the memory of the greatest German actor Danile Louis Devrient
  • Theo Piana: blazing flame. The rise and fall of the actor Ludwig Devrient . New Berlin publishing house, Berlin 1957
  • Rainer Theobald: Ludwig Devrient as "Eternal Jew" . In: Association for the history of Berlin , communications , 3/1970

Web links

Commons : Ludwig Devrient  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Anna Löhn-Siegel : A picture from the life of an actor . In: The Gazebo . Volume 6, 1885, pp. 102-103 ( full text [ Wikisource ]).
  2. ↑ See the term Spanish Sack ; the word comes from French [vin] sec , which means dry wine.
personal data
SURNAME Devrient, Ludwig
ALTERNATIVE NAMES De Vrient, David Louis (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German actor
DATE OF BIRTH December 15, 1784
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH December 30, 1832
Place of death Berlin