Count Franz Graf von Pocci (7 March 1807 – 7 May 1876) was a significant official in the

court A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and Administration of justice, administer justice in Civil law (common law), civil, Criminal law, criminal, an ...

of King Ludwig the First of Bavaria, best known as the founding

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

of the Munich Marionette Theatre where he was a

shadow puppet Shadow play, also known as shadow puppetry, is an ancient form of storytelling and entertainment which uses flat articulated cut-out figures (shadow puppets) which are held between a source of light and a translucent screen or scrim. The cut-o ...

eer and wrote countless puppet plays and children's stories. Pocci, in collaboration with Josef Schmid, founded the Munich Marionette Theatre in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, Bavaria, Germany in 1855. He hired the premises, drew stage curtains and designs, and wrote pieces for the hero of Schmid's shows, Kasperl Larifari, a descendant of Hans Wurst and all the classical comic figures in traditional European puppetry. This collaboration was highly influential and is credited with inspiring the formation of other theaters, most notably the Salzburg Marionettes under Anton Aicher in 1913 in

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

, Bavaria, and the Toelz Marionette Theater.

Work

A German dramatist, poet, painter, and composer, Pocci is credited by the Munich Marionette Theatre with inventing the Punch and Judy Show, and contributing a remarkable 45 original works to the theatre's library. Some were based on traditional classical plots, and some were his own inventions. Among his most prominent fairy‐tale plays are ''Blaubart'' (''

Bluebeard "Bluebeard" ( ) is a French Folklore, folktale, the most famous surviving version of which was written by Charles Perrault and first published by Barbin in Paris in 1697 in . The tale is about a wealthy man in the habit of murdering his wives an ...

'', 1845), ''Schattenspiel'' (''Shadow Play'', 1847), ''Hänsel und Gretel'' (''

Hansel and Gretel "Hansel and Gretel" (; ) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 as part of ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' (KHM 15). Hansel and Gretel are siblings who are abandoned in a forest and fall into the hands of a witch ...

'', 1861), ''Zaubergeige'' (''The Magic Violin'', 1868), ''Eulenschloss'' (''The Castle of Owls'', 1869), ''Kasperl wird reich'' (''Punch Becomes Rich'', 1872). Pocci combined comic features of the Punch and Judy shows with fantastic elements of the traditional fairy tales to create social farces aimed at enlightening and amusing children. In addition to his literary work, his role as director saw him provide political and financial support to the organisation, acting as patron, landlord, and backer, and supporting the dreams of Schmid, his collaborator. He was also responsible for drawing illustrations for collections of fairy tales by

Charles Perrault Charles Perrault ( , , ; 12 January 162816 May 1703) was a French author and member of the Académie Française. He laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from earlier folk tales, published in his ...

, the

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob Grimm, Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Grimm, Wilhelm (1786–1859), were Germans, German academics who together collected and published folklore. The brothers are among the best-known storytellers of Oral tradit ...

, and

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogue (literature), travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fai ...

. Figures from his productions of ''The Fat Gentleman'' and ''The Serenade'' are still in existence today, and his best known stories ''The Stranger Child: A Legend'' and ''The Nutcracker Dwarf'' are still in wide circulation. Pocci's art and poetry were also published in his own books, including ''Rhymes and Pictures for Children'' and ''Viola Tricolor: In Picture and Rhyme''. His images from the latter are printed in

chromolithography Chromolithography is a method for making multi-colour printmaking, prints in lithography, and in theory includes all types of lithography that are printed in colour. However, in modern usage it is normally restricted to 19th-century works, and ...

. He is responsible for both the art and the verse in the book, and both are noteworthy. FranzPocciVoilaTricolor1

Pocci, Franz, ''Viola Tricolor'', p. 6

Notes

Bibliography

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pocci, Franz 1807 births 1876 deaths 19th-century German dramatists and playwrights 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists German puppeteers German male painters 19th-century German designers Performing arts presenters Theatre people from Munich Counts in Germany German male writers Writers from Munich Shadow play