Christiane Becker ( Christiane Luise Amalie Neumann; 15 December 1778 – 22 September 1797) was a German actress.

Life

She was born in Crossen-an-der-Oder, in the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

(now

Krosno Odrzańskie Krosno Odrzańskie () is a town in Lubusz Voivodeship in western Poland, on the east bank of Oder River, at the confluence with the Bóbr. With 11,319 inhabitants (2019) it is the capital of Krosno County, Lubusz Voivodeship, Krosno County. His ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

), daughter of a theatrical manager and dramatic poet, Johann Christian Neumann. She made her first stage appearance in 1787 at

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...

. Here, she received some training from

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

and from

Corona Schröter Corona Elisabeth Wilhelmine Schröter (14 January 1751 – 23 August 1802) was a Germans, German actress and musician best known as a singer. She also composed songs, setting texts by Friedrich Schiller and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to music.Gr ...

, the singer, and her beauty and charm made her the favourite both of court and public. She married actor Heinrich Becker in 1793. Her last part was that of Euphrosyne in the opera ''Das Petermännchen'', and it is under this name that Goethe immortalized her in a poem which first appeared in

Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. He was born i ...

's ''Musen Almanach'' of 1799. She died of tuberculosis in 1797. The ''Euphrosyne-Denkmal'' (''Euphrosyne Memorial''), erected in Rosenberg (now

Olesno Olesno is a town in Opole Voivodeship, Opole Voivodship, in southern Poland, about north-east of the city of Opole. It is the capital of Olesno County and seat of the Gmina Olesno, Opole Voivodeship, Gmina Olesno. History The area near the anci ...

) and moved to Weimar in 1950, was built in her honour.

References

Attribution: * 1778 births 1797 deaths People from Krosno Odrzańskie Actresses from the Kingdom of Prussia Actresses from Lubusz Voivodeship Actresses from Brandenburg German stage actresses 18th-century German actresses 18th-century German people 18th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in the Holy Roman Empire Tuberculosis deaths in Germany {{Germany-bio-stub