Willi Schmidt (director)
Willi Erwin Georg Schmidt (born January 19, 1910 in Dresden ; † February 20, 1994 in Berlin ) was a German set designer and director .
Life
Born in Dresden, Willi Schmidt studied philosophy , theater studies , German and art history at the University of Berlin from 1929 to 1933 after completing his Abitur at König-Georg-Gymnasium . Schmidt wrote a dissertation on Nicolai Hartmann , a doctorate is not. In 1931, Willi Schmidt received an assistant position at the well-known set designer Rochus Gliese , and in 1933 he moved to Jürgen Fehling and Heinz Hilpert , for whom he received his first independent commission, namely the design of the stage set for The Light Person , a Berlin posse with the famous actors Grete Mosheim and Max Adalbert stated. Willi Schmidt subsequently stayed with Hilpert at the Volksbühne and the Deutsches Theater , in 1938 he moved to the Prussian State Theater under the direction of Gustaf Gründgens , where he was responsible for the stage design until 1944.
After the Second World War , Willi Schmidt was entrusted with the design of the sets at the Berlin theaters, such as the Hebbeltheater , Deutsche Theater, Schloßparktheater . He also worked as a director at all major theaters in Berlin, at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg and at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus . In 1952 Schmidt accepted a professorship for stage design at the University of the Arts in Berlin, which he held until 1975. Willi Schmidt, who created architecturally understood stage sets, died in 1994 in Berlin, one month after he had turned 84. His grave is in the St.-Annen-Kirchhof in Berlin-Dahlem .
literature
- Walther Killy and Rudolf Vierhaus (eds.): German Biographical Encyclopedia . Volume 9, KG Saur Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Munich, 1996 ISBN 3-598-23163-6 . Page 21.
- Brockhaus Enzyklopädie, 21st Edition , Volume 24, September 2006; ISBN 3765341452 . Page 364.
- Willi Schmidt: The children's rattle. Letters, speeches and essays on German theater between 1953 and 1974 . Edited by Hanno Lunin . <Orpheus and Sons>, Hamburg 2005.
- Jörg W. Gronius , Franz Wille: Willi Schmidt. The stage work . Edition Hentrich, Berlin 1990. ISBN 3-926175-75-3 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Willi Schmidt in the catalog of the German National Library
- Willi Schmidt in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)
- Willi Schmidt archive in the archive of the Academy of Arts, Berlin
- Wolfgang Mielke: The theater concept of the director and set designer Willi Schmidt - the other reality . Diss. FU Berlin, 2009 ( diss.fu-berlin; 5.69 MB ).
Individual evidence
- ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende: Lexicon of Berlin burial places . Pharus-Plan, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-86514-206-1 , p. 564.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Schmidt, Willi |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Schmidt, Willi Erwin Georg (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German set designer and director |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 19, 1910 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Dresden |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 20, 1994 |
| Place of death | Berlin |