Max Marx

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Max Marx , real name Max Marcus ( January 23, 1874 in Vienna - November 12, 1939 there ) was an Austrian theater actor and director who appeared as an operetta singer in the bass range and as a comedian . He was a member of the Stuttgart State Theater ensemble for 21 years , where he was appointed state actor and dismissed for racist reasons in 1933, before the so-called law to restore the civil service was introduced .

life and work

Max Marx was the son of a Viennese businessman. His training took place at the Otto Theater School. At the age of 17 he went to the stage. Initially appearing as an actor, his talent for comic roles and his vocal aptitude was noted. From 1891 he was engaged for one season at each of the following theaters: first at the theater in Sarajevo, then in Olomouc, and finally from 1893 at the Salzburg City Theater and at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin. Max Reinhardt was one of his colleagues and friends in Salzburg and Berlin . Max Marx could be seen in Berlin mainly in spoken pieces, for example in the world premiere of Weber by Gerhart Hauptmann .

In 1895 he was engaged as an operetta singer at the City Theater in Breslau , where he stayed for eight years. Then there were a number of shorter engagements: one season at the Carl Theater in Vienna and again at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin and two seasons at the Lustspielhaus in Berlin. Max Marx stayed in Berlin until 1912 and performed alternately in the small theater and in the theater on Schiffbauerdamm , which was then run as the Neues Operettenhaus . In Berlin he also directed. This was followed by a call to the Stuttgart Court Opera as a performer, especially in operettas, and as a director. He remained committed to the Württemberg State Theaters for more than twenty years. In the later years he only took on speaking roles. For his services he was named a state actor . In Stuttgart he also edited and staged numerous operettas and antics, for example Robert and Bertram , a farce with song and dance by Gustav Rader .

The systematic expulsion of people of Jewish origin from the Württemberg state theaters began at the end of March 1933 on the occasion of the boycott of Jews that the National Socialists had proclaimed across the Reich. In addition to other employees of the house, four prominent members of the ensemble were suspended from duty with immediate effect and were no longer allowed to perform - the state actors Max Marx and Fritz Wisten , the chamber singer Hermann Weil and Hermann Horner , a bass baritone. Her membership of Judaism was known to the public and the press, not least because of the anti-Semitic agitation of the Nazi press. The contractually agreed notice periods were adhered to, but only “in order not to offer those affected any legal recourse against their expulsion”. At the end of March 1933, the Swabian Merkur and the Ermstalbote reported that in connection with the political reorganization of the character comedian Max Marx, after more than 20 years at the Schauspielhaus, he had been given leave of absence.

Max Marx left Stuttgart and went back to Vienna, where he appeared at the Kammerspiele in the 1934/35 season . He played there with Luise Rainer and Josef Zechell in Christian Dietrich Grabbe's joke, satire, irony and deeper meaning .

He suffered a stroke during a performance in October 1934 and was paralyzed as a result. Its continued existence was secured by winning 50,000 schillings in the class lottery. He died in Vienna on November 12, 1939.

Repertoire (selection)

The list of the central operetta roles of Max Marx was created on the basis of Kutsch / Riemens.

Leo case :

Gilbert & Sullivan :

Sidney Jones :

Franz Lehár :

Carl Millöcker :

 

Offenbach :

Johann Strauss :

Franz von Suppé :

Audio documents

The voice of Max Marx is through sound recordings by Gramophone & Typewriter Ltd. handed down from 1908, he sang excerpts from operettas by Léhar, Millöcker and Offenbach. Other operetta scenes were recorded by the German record label Odeon . There is also a recording of the street boy song from the operetta Künstlerblut by Edmund Eysler , sung together with the soubrette Fritzi Massary with orchestral accompaniment, conducted by Friedrich Kark .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Commission for historical regional studies in Baden-Württemberg: Biographienindex Baden-Württemberg
  2. ↑ Hannes Heer : Silent voices. The expulsion of the "Jews" from the opera 1933 to 1945. The fight for the Württemberg State Theater in Stuttgart. An exhibition. Metropol Verlag, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-86331-303-6 , p. 84 and p. 108
  3. ↑ Mährisches Tagblatt, January 16, 1893, p. 6 (ANNO ÖNB)
  4. ^ Mährisches Tagblatt, September 16, 1895, p. 6 (ANNO ÖNB)
  5. ↑ Leonhard M. Fiedler: Max Reinhardt in personal testimonials and image documents, 1975, p. 22 ( Google Books snippets )
  6. ^ German digital library : Robert and Bertram. Posse with song and dance by Gustav Rader; edited by Max Marx , accessed April 19, 2019
  7. ↑ Kurt Leipner: Chronicle of the City of Stuttgart, 1933-1945, 1982, p. 10
  8. ↑ Ingrid Bauz, Sigrid Brüggemann, Roland Maier: “You don't need to come any more!” The suppression of artists of Jewish faith and of Jewish descent from the Stuttgart theater and music scene by the National Socialists . Stuttgart 2008, 76 p. (Brochure on the occasion of and in addition to the exhibition “Silent Voices” at the Stuttgart State Opera, 2008. Online excerpt from Hagalil, November 6, 2008 ), accessed on April 20, 2019
  9. ↑ Gerhard Hauser: 50 Years Ago: Takeover of Power in 1933 in the Spiegel der Presse des Ermstal, 1983, p. 169
  10. ↑ Michael Molnar: The seizure of power: from the republican to the brown city; Contemporary history project in the cultural office of the state capital Stuttgart, 1983, p. 369
  11. ^ Incident in the Kammerspiele - actor Marx collapsed unconscious at the end of an act, in: Kleine Volkszeitung, October 21, 1934, p. 6 (ANNO ÖNB)
  12. ^ Actor Marx wins 50,000 Schilling, in: Der Morgen, Vienna, March 18, 1935, p. 6 (ANNO ÖNB)
  13. ↑ Paralyzed actor wins 50,000 schillings, in: Illustrierte Kronenzeitung, March 18, 1935, p. 9 (ANNO ÖNB)
personal data
SURNAME Marx, Max
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Marcus, Max (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian theater actor, director, operetta singer with a bass voice
DATE OF BIRTH January 23, 1874
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH November 12, 1939
Place of death Vienna