Leon Schiller or Leon Schiller de Schildenfeld (14 March 1887 – 25 March 1954) was a Polish theatre and film director, as well as critic and theatre theoretician. He also wrote theatre and radio screenplays and composed music. He was born in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula, Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland un ...

(then Krakau) under the Austrian rule during the foreign

Partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place toward the end of the 18th century and ended the existence of the state, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland and Lithuania for 12 ...

, to a family of

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n origin that had been ennobled by Empress

Maria Theresa Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (german: Maria Theresia; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position '' suo jure'' (in her own right) ...

. Schiller became famous for his 1934 staging of Adam Mickiewicz's '' Dziady'' at

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

's '' Teatr Polski'' (Polish Theatre). This was also presented in Lwów (now

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in Western Ukraine, western Ukraine, and the List of cities in Ukraine, seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is o ...

; 1932), Wilno (now

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urba ...

; 1933) as well as in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

in Bulgaria (1937).

Career

Schiller graduated from

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University ( Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in ...

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...

and

Polish literature Polish literature is the literary tradition of Poland. Most Polish literature has been written in the Polish language, though other languages used in Poland over the centuries have also contributed to Polish literary traditions, including Lati ...

. He also studied at the Sorbonne in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

. He debuted as a singer in

's ''

Zielony Balonik Zielony Balonik (literally, ''the Green Balloon'') was a popular literary cabaret founded in Kraków by the local poets, writers and artists during the final years of the Partitions of Poland. The venue was a gourmet restaurant of Apolinary J. Mic ...

'' (Green Balloon)

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dinin ...

(1906) and as theater director in

Polish Theatre In common with other European countries, the most frequent and most popular form of theatre in Poland is dramatic theatre, based on the existence of relatively stable artistic companies. It is above all a theatre of directors, who decide on the ...

(''Teatr Polski'', 1917). He served as

artistic director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since th ...

of the Ateneum Theatre (1932–34), raising its reputation as one of the leading voices for Poland's new

intelligentsia The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the i ...

in the interwar period. Schiller collaborated with the following

theatres: * ''Teatr Wielki'' (Great Theater) * ''Teatr Rozmaitości'' (

Variety Theater in Warsaw TR Warszawa (also Teatr Rozmaitości w Warszawie, i.e., Variety Theatre in Warsaw) is a theatre in Warsaw, Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces c ...

) * ''Teatr Mały'' (Little Theater) * ''Teatr Polski'' (Polish Theater) * ''Teatr Reduta'' (Redoubt Theater) * ''Teatr Ateneum'' ( Ateneum Theatre). He also collaborated with theaters in

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of ca ...

and

Lwów Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in Western Ukraine, western Ukraine, and the List of cities in Ukraine, seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is o ...

(now Lviv). From 1930 to 1932, he was artistic and drama director of Warsaw's ''Wielki'' (Great), ''Rozmaitości'' (Variety), and ''Mały'' (Little) Theaters. In

he developed his own concept of "monumental theatre," pertaining to the production of great Romantic works: '' Kordian'' (1930), '' Dziady'' (Forefathers' Eve, 1932) and '' Sen Srebrny Salomei'' (Salomea's Silver Dream, 1932). Schiller's connection with Lwów lasted sporadically until 1939. His directorial work included 29 dramas and some dozen

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

and

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its ...

productions. In 1933 he headed the directorial department at the National Theater Arts Institute. On 29 June 1908 Schiller initiated a correspondence with the English

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lit ...

, theater director,

scenic designer Scenic may refer to: * Scenic design * Scenic painting * Scenic overlook * Scenic railroad (disambiguation) * Scenic route * Scenic, South Dakota, United States * Scenic (horse), a Thoroughbred racehorse Aviation * Airwave Scenic, an Austria ...

, and theoretician of drama, Edward Gordon Craig. Together with his letter Schiller sent Craig, in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

, his essay, ''"Dwa teatry"'' ("Two Theaters"), translated into English by Madeline Meager. Craig responded immediately, accepting the essay for his international theater magazine, ''The Mask''. This was the beginning of a productive collaboration between the two prominent theater directors, who introduced each other's theoretical writings to foreign readers. Pomnik Leona Schillera w Warszawie 2019

World War II

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, as part of German repressive measures after the '' Volksdeutsch'' German-collaborator actor

Igo Sym Karol Juliusz "Igo" Sym (3 July 1896 – 7 March 1941) was a actor and collaborator with Nazi Germany. He was killed in Warsaw by members of the Polish resistance movement. Early career Sym was born in Innsbruck, the son of Anton Sym, a Pole ...

had been shot dead by the Polish underground (7 March 1941), Schiller was imprisoned at the

Pawiak Pawiak () was a prison built in 1835 in Warsaw, Congress Poland. During the January 1863 Uprising, it served as a transfer camp for Poles sentenced by Imperial Russia to deportation to Siberia. During the World War II German occupation o ...

prison and at

Auschwitz-Birkenau Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed int ...

. In May 1941 he was

ransom Ransom is the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release, or the sum of money involved in such a practice. When ransom means "payment", the word comes via Old French ''rançon'' from Latin ''re ...

ed by his sister, Anna Jackowska, with 12,000 złotys that she received for her jewelry. After

, in 1946-49, Schiller was president of the National Drama School in Łódź (''Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Teatralna w Łodzi''). In 1952 he founded the publication, ''Pamiętnik Teatralny'' (The Theater Memoir). He died in 1954, aged 66, in

.Leon Schiller in: Internet Movie Database.
Retrieved 25 February 2014.

Works

Essays: *''Teatr Ogromny'' (Monumental Theater), 1961 *''U progu nowego teatru'' (On the Threshold of the New Theater), 1978 Performance scripts: *''Pastorałka'' (Pastorale), 1931 *''Kram z piosenkami'' (A Market Booth of Songs), 1977 "Monumental" productions: *''Samuel Zborowski'', 1927 *''Kordian'', 1934 *'' Dziady'', 1934 *''

Nie-Boska Komedia ''The Undivine Comedy'' or ''The Un-divine Comedy'' ( pl, Nie Boska komedia or ''Nie-boska komedia''), is a play written by Polish Romantic poet Zygmunt Krasiński in 1833, published anonymously in 1835. Its main theme is sociopolitical confl ...

'' (The Un-Divine Comedy), 1938 ''Zeittheater'' - productions on current social issues: *''Opera za trzy grosze'' ( The Three-Penny Opera), 1929 *''Krzyczcie Chiny'' (Cry, China!), 1938 *''Kapitan z Koepenick'' (The Captain from Koepenick), 1932 Musicals: *''Dawne Czasy w Piosence, Poezji i Zwyczajach'' (Old Times in Song, Poetry and Custom), 1924 *''Bandurka'' (Bandora), 1925 *''Kulig'' (Sleigh Ride), 1929

Notes

References

* Leon Schiller, ''U progu nowego teatru, 1908-1924'' (On the Threshold of the New Theater, 1908-1924), edited by Jerzy Timoszewicz, Warsaw, Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1978. {{DEFAULTSORT:Schiller, Leon 1887 births 1954 deaths Writers from Kraków Nobility from Kraków Polish theatre directors Polish male writers Polish theatre critics Polish Workers' Party politicians Auschwitz concentration camp survivors Polish Austro-Hungarians Polish United Workers' Party members Members of the Polish Sejm 1947–1952 Recipients of the Order of the Banner of Work Commanders with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta Burials at Powązki Military Cemetery

Career

World War II

Works

See also

Notes

References