Max Staegemann

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Max Staegemann (1843–1905)
Max Staegemann as Hans Sachs;
Photography by Julius Giere

Max Staegemann (born May 10, 1843 in Freienwalde , † January 29, 1905 in Leipzig ) was a German actor , opera singer (baritone) and theater director .

Life

Actors and singers

Max Staegemann came from the Berlin merchant family Staegemann. His mother was Mathilde Leontine, née Devrient (born June 28, 1809 in Berlin, † October 25, 1884 in Leipzig), the sister of the actors Karl , Emil and Eduard Devrient, famous for her beauty .

Max Staegemann attended the Kreuzschule in Dresden , where the family had moved. Above all, his uncle Emil encouraged his nephew's acting talent, who, according to his father's wishes, should attend university. Instead, Max Staegemann chose the Dresden Conservatory , where the actor Heine gave him lessons in the art of drama. As early as 1862, the talented student received an engagement at the Bremen city theater . Here Staegemann perfected his acting techniques under director Heinrich Behr. At the same time he trained his singing voice , a naturally melodious, powerful baritone .

In May 1863 he made his debut as a singer at the Hoftheater in Hanover under the conductor Carl Ludwig Fischer , who had engaged him as the second baritone. In 1864 he took further singing lessons with François Delsarte in Paris and later with the Swedish singer Oscar Lindhudt in Hanover.

After the departure of the first baritone Ludwig Zottmayr, Max Staegemann took his place in 1865. "The artist quickly won over his sympathetic, sonorous voice and his lively presentation, just as he won the sympathies of the theater audience no less through his ingenious, deeply thought-out play." Staegemann was part of the Hanoverian stage for twelve years and during this time he developed into one of the first singer in his field. He was particularly in demand as Marschner - and Wagner - Artist . Numerous guest appearances have taken him to all major German opera stages. He celebrated particular success in the title role of the opera Hans Heiling , as Lord Ruthwen in the opera Der Vampyr , as Guilbert in Der Templer und die Jüdin , as Hans Sachs in the Meistersinger von Nürnberg and as the title hero in the operas Der Fliegende Holländer and Wilhelm Tell . His star role as a singer, however, was that of Don Giovanni in Mozart 's opera of the same name , "a true masterpiece in song and performance."

Intendant

In 1876 Staegemann moved to Königsberg , where he took over the directorate at the local theater , which under his direction experienced an unexpected boom in a very short time. There he became a member of the Königsberg Freemason Lodge Immanuel . The productions of Heinrich Hoffmann's Armin and The Taming of the Shrew by Hermann Goetz attracted a lot of attention . The German premiere of Carmen by Georges Bizet took place on October 26, 1879 under Staegemann's direction and under the conductor Emil Paur . He himself sang Escamillo . Louis Köhler and Alexander Wyneken wrote brilliant reviews that ushered in the worldwide triumph of the opera, which failed in Paris.

From 1879 Max Staegemann lived in Berlin , where he worked as a concert singer and singing teacher.

In 1882 Staegemann , who had been appointed royal Prussian chamber singer the year before , received the offer to take over the lease of the Leipzig city theaters as general director . Since 1868 these have consisted of two theaters, the Old Theater , which was mainly used as a drama stage, and the New Theater , which functioned as an opera house. Staegemann began with bold artistic élan, which helped both stages to great success. He engaged excellent actors like Clara Salbach and Fanny Moran-Olden and worked with excellent directors for opera and drama.

In May 1883 he staged Goethe's entire Faust in a spectacular arrangement by Otto Devrient . His Goethe cycle in the same year and the ten evenings Wagner cycle in 1887 received great attention. He engaged the young Gustav Mahler and stuck to him, despite his rivalries with his first conductor Arthur Nikisch .

In 1903 Eisenberg judged Staegemann's work in Leipzig: “He succeeded in giving this theater a very first place among the art institutes in Germany. His successes as a director are well known in the stage world, and his productions are among the best that modern directing is capable of. St. is generally considered to be one of the most outstanding stage managers in Germany. "

The old leasing system that prevailed in Leipzig at that time, as elsewhere, and which completely transferred both artistic and economic responsibility to the theater director, put Staegemann under increasing pressure. In order to keep the financial risk as low as possible, he pursued a program policy that was fixed on the classical repertoire and fundamentally refused to perform contemporary literature. He used the stage of the Carolatheater , leased from 1887 , as a pure vaudeville theater . When he had to give up this theater at the instigation of the city council in 1899 in order to concentrate his energies on the city stages , the theater, now renamed the Leipziger Schauspielhaus , opened up to modern drama under the management of Anton Hartmann and developed into a competitor for Staegemann the audience favor.

At the Leipzig Opera, under the direction of Max Staegemann, excellent productions were made, most of which were conducted by Arthur Nikisch. Particular highlights were the performances of the complete Ring , Tannhauser and Walküre .

In his twenty-year directorate, Staegmann contributed a great deal to establishing Leipzig's reputation as an important metropolis of musical culture in Europe.

Max Staegemann was married to the violinist Hildegard Kirchner († June 16, 1913 in Dresden), a student of Ferdinand Laub . Her six children include the actor and baritone Waldemar Staegemann , the soprano Helene Staegemann (1877–1923), who was married to the composer Count Botho Sigwart zu Eulenburg since 1909 , and the coloratura soprano Erna Staegemann . His brother was the actor Eugen Staegemann and his cousin Julie Meister .

Reviews

  • Musical weekly newspaper from August 19, 1870:

“Stägemann's appearance, the fine head with the noble features, surrounded by raven-black hair, the nature of his voice especially enable him to represent demonic figures. "Hans Heiling", "Vampyr" and "The Flying Dutchman" are, in our opinion, his brilliant achievements. The voice is full-bodied and large, but not wide enough to not have to shy away from rivalries. Much more mediocre baritones could compete with him in this regard. But the organ is extraordinarily capable of modulation, and all kinds of uses are easily available to its owner. The fine tact, with the Stägemann, knows how to use this timbre here, that there, how it is structured in every little sentence and the means with all clarity depending on the meaning of what is to be presented, according to the situation, in harmony with the gesture and attitude, who everywhere betray an actor of the first rank, knows how to increase, the plan in the whole arrangement, as well as in the execution of the smallest parts, makes him the great artist, whom he will be even more certain as soon as one becomes quiet now and then over the years has lost appearing youthful haste in lectures and appearance. "

Student (selection)

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ludwig Eisenberg : Staegemann, Max . In: Large biographical lexicon of the German stage in the XIX. Century. Paul List, Leipzig 1903, p.  985 ( daten.digitale-sammlungen.de ).
  2. ^ A b Ludwig Eisenberg : Staegemann, Max . In: Large biographical lexicon of the German stage in the XIX. Century. Paul List, Leipzig 1903, p.  986 ( daten.digitale-sammlungen.de ).
  3. ↑ Max Stägemann. In: Musikalisches Wochenblatt. Organ for Tonkünstler and Musikfreunde, 1st year, No. 34 from August 19, 1870, EW Fritzsch, Leipzig 1870, p. 534.
personal data
SURNAME Staegemann, Max
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German actor, opera singer (baritone) and theater director
DATE OF BIRTH May 10, 1843
PLACE OF BIRTH Freienwalde
DATE OF DEATH January 29, 1905
Place of death Leipzig