(Philipp) Eduard Devrient (11 August 18014 October 1877) was a German baritone,

librettist A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major ...

, playwright, actor, theatre director, and theatre reformer and historian. Devrient came from a theatrical family. His uncle was

Ludwig Devrient Ludwig Devrient (15 December 178430 December 1832) was a German actor, noted for his playing in the works of Shakespeare and Schiller. Devrient, who was born in Berlin, left a commercial career for the stage in 1804. He joined a travelling theatr ...

and his brother

Karl Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer * Karl of Austria, last Austri ...

was the first husband of

Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient, born Wilhelmine Schröder (6 December 180426 January 1860), was a German operatic soprano. As a singer, she combined a rare quality of tone with dramatic intensity of expression, which was as remarkable on the conc ...

. He was born and studied in Berlin and performed in a number of German opera houses between 1819 and 1834, when he lost his singing voice and turned his attention to writing and acting. From 1844-6 he worked in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

as actor/director, and he directed the Hoftheater in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the German States of Germany, state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital o ...

from 1852 until his retirement in 1870. As a singer, he performed in works by

Gluck Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the Holy Roman Empire, he ga ...

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

and Weber, among others, and sang in the première of

Marschner Heinrich August Marschner (16 August 1795 – 14 December 1861) was the most important composer of German opera between Weber and Wagner.

's ''

Hans Heiling ''Hans Heiling'' is a German Romantic opera in 3 acts with prologue by Heinrich Marschner with a libretto by Eduard Devrient, who also sang the title role at the première at the Königliche Hofoper (now Berlin State Opera), Berlin, on 24 May ...

'' (in the title-role; Devrient also wrote its libretto). He also sang in the 1831 Berlin premiere of '' Der Templer und die Jüdin'' (as Bois-Guilbert). He also took the part of Christ in the 1829 revival by his friend Felix Mendelssohn of

J. S. Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

's ''

St Matthew Passion The ''St Matthew Passion'' (german: Matthäus-Passion, links=-no), BWV 244, is a '' Passion'', a sacred oratorio written by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1727 for solo voices, double choir and double orchestra, with libretto by Picander. It sets ...

'', having previously sung the role of Carrasco in Mendelssohn's only publicly performed opera, ''

Die Hochzeit des Camacho ''Die Hochzeit des Camacho'' (''Camacho's Wedding'') is a Singspiel in two acts by Felix Mendelssohn, to a libretto probably written largely by , based on an episode in '' Don Quixote'' by Cervantes. The opera is listed as Mendelssohn's op. 10. It ...

'' (1827). He wrote a number of plays and two other opera librettos, ''Die Kirmes'' and ''Der Zigeuner'', both set by

Wilhelm Taubert Carl Gottfried Wilhelm Taubert (23 March 1811 – 7 January 1891) was a German pianist, composer, and conductor, and the father of philologist and writer Emil Taubert. Life Born in Berlin, Taubert studied under Ludwig Berger (piano) and Bernhard ...

. In Karlsruhe, in the course of seventeen years, he not only raised it to a high position, but enriched its repertory by many noteworthy librettos. But his chief work is his history of the German stage, ''Geschichte der deutschen Schauspielkunst'' (Leipzig, 1848-1874). Eduard Devrient died in Karlsruhe. His son Otto Devrient also worked in the theatre.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Devrient, Eduard 1801 births 1877 deaths Male actors from Berlin People from the Margraviate of Brandenburg Operatic baritones German male stage actors German opera librettists German theatre directors German male dramatists and playwrights 19th-century German dramatists and playwrights 19th-century German male actors 19th-century German male opera singers 19th-century German male writers