Wilhelm Knaack

Knaack and Nestroy in Orpheus in the Underworld , lithograph by Adolf Dauthage , 1860.

Wilhelm Knaack (born February 13, 1829 in Rostock , † October 29, 1894 in Vienna ) was a German-Austrian actor.

Life

Wilhelm Knaack was discovered as a comedian in 1846 at the age of seventeen . After engagements at several North German theaters, he came to Prague in 1856 with the support of Heinrich Laube . Just one year later, in 1857, gave him Johann Nepomuk Nestroy to Vienna to the Carl Theater . Here Knaack soon took over the roles of Nestroy. Karl Blasel and Josef Matras were together with Wilhelm Knaack an extremely successful comedian trio. In Graz , Knaack received acting lessons from Karl von Holtei . From 1860 Knaack also gave regular guest appearances in Budapest . In 1882 he completed a remarkable and successful tour through the USA and Canada .

In 1854 Wilhelm Knaack was admitted to the Freemasonry League ; his mother lodge was the United Lodge in his native Rostock .

Wilhelm Knaack died in Vienna on October 29, 1894 at the age of 65. It was placed in the Matzleinsdorf Evangelical Cemetery in Vienna and exhumed to Wörlau on December 11, 1894 .

In 1936, the Knaackgasse in Vienna- Floridsdorf (21st district) was named after him.

literature

Knaack Wilhelm. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 3, Publishing House of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1965, p. 428 f. (Direct links on p. 428 , p. 429 ).
Ludwig Eisenberg : Large biographical lexicon of the German stage in the XIX. Century . Verlag von Paul List , Leipzig 1903, p. 515, ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
Eugen Lennhoff, Oskar Posner, Dieter A. Binder: Internationales Freemaurerlexikon , revised and expanded new edition of the edition from 1932, Munich 2003, 951 pages, ISBN 3-7766-2161-3
Hermann Arthur Lier : Knaack, Wilhelm . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 51, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1906, p. 247 f.

Individual evidence

↑ Michael Sachs: 'Prince Bishop and Vagabond'. The story of a friendship between the Prince-Bishop of Breslau Heinrich Förster (1799–1881) and the writer and actor Karl von Holtei (1798–1880). Edited textually based on the original Holteis manuscript. In: Medical historical messages. Journal for the history of science and specialist prose research. Volume 35, 2016 (2018), pp. 223–291, here: p. 283.

personal data
SURNAME	Knaack, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German-Austrian actor
DATE OF BIRTH	February 13, 1829
PLACE OF BIRTH	Rostock
DATE OF DEATH	October 29, 1894
Place of death	Vienna

[1] Michael Sachs: 'Prince Bishop and Vagabond'. The story of a friendship between the Prince-Bishop of Breslau Heinrich Förster (1799–1881) and the writer and actor Karl von Holtei (1798–1880). Edited textually based on the original Holteis manuscript. In: Medical historical messages. Journal for the history of science and specialist prose research. Volume 35, 2016 (2018), pp. 223–291, here: p. 283.