The Iffland-Ring is a
diamond
Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...
-studded
ring
(The) Ring(s) may refer to:
* Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry
* To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell
Arts, entertainment, and media Film and TV
* ''The Ring'' (franchise), a ...
with a picture of
August Wilhelm Iffland
August Wilhelm Iffland (19 April 175922 September 1814) was a German actor and dramatic author.
Life
Born in Hanover, his father intended him to be a clergyman, but Iffland preferred the stage, and at eighteen ran away to Gotha in order to pre ...
, a prominent German actor, dramatist and theatre director of the late 18th and early 19th century, who played in works of contemporary writers Goethe and Schiller, starting in 1782. The holder of the Iffland-Ring is considered to be the "most significant and most worthy actor of the German-speaking theatre", in the opinion of the previous holder who has passed it to him by
will
Will may refer to:
Common meanings
* Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death
* Will (philosophy), or willpower
* Will (sociology)
* Will, volition (psychology)
* Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will
...
.
One exception to this rule came in 1954, when
Werner Krauß was determined not by the previous holder
Albert Bassermann
Albert Bassermann (7 September 1867 – 15 May 1952) was a German stage and screen actor. He was considered to be one of the greatest German-speaking actors of his generation and received the famous Iffland-Ring. He was married to Elsa Schiff w ...
(1867–1952) but by a committee of German-speaking actors. Bassermann had chosen a successor three times, but on each occasion his nominee had died shortly thereafter. Bassermann considered the ring cursed, and in 1935 declined to choose a fourth successor.
[''Time'' online](_blank)
published: 26 May 1952, accessed: 10 February 2009 Since his death, the Iffland-Ring has been earmarked as the state property of the
Republic of Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
, although the holder retains it until their death.
The origins of the ring are shrouded in some mystery. The
apocrypha
Apocrypha () are biblical or related writings not forming part of the accepted canon of scripture, some of which might be of doubtful authorship or authenticity. In Christianity, the word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to ...
l story is that it was indeed worn by Iffland, but its established history only begins a century later with its supposed fifth holder,
Friedrich Haase
Friedrich Haase (1 November 1827 – 17 March 1911) was a prominent German actor and theatre director. He was born in Berlin, the son of a valet to King Frederick William IV, who was his godfather.
__NOTOC__ Career
Haase trained under Ludwig ...
, who has been suspected of commissioning it for himself and inventing the story.
The current holder of the ring is
Jens Harzer
Jens Harzer (born 14 March 1972) is a German stage, film, and television actor. He began his career at the Munich Kammerspiele, and has been a member of the Thalia Theater (Hamburg), Thalia Theatre in Hamburg since 2009. He has appeared at the S ...
, having been named by
Bruno Ganz
Bruno Ganz (; 22 March 1941 – 16 February 2019) was a Swiss actor whose career in German stage, television and film productions spanned nearly 60 years. He was known for his collaborations with the directors Werner Herzog, Éric Rohmer, Franc ...
as his successor. By tradition, the ring is only passed from one male actor to another. Since 1977, it has had a counterpart for female actors in the
Alma-Seidler-Ring, named after the actress
Alma Seidler
Alma Seidler (1 June 1899 – 8 December 1977) was an Austrian actress. She was member of the Burgtheater for over 50 years.
Biography
Alma Seidler was born in Leoben, the daughter of Ernst Seidler von Feuchtenegg. The later Burgtheater dire ...
. She had been considered as a successor for the Iffland-Ring by Krauß, who held it from 1954 to 1959.
History
Origins
The origins of the Iffland-Ring are shrouded in some mystery, and the current ring is said to have been the most precious of a set of seven, of which only two appear to have survived: the Iffland-Ring itself and a less valuable similar ring which in the 1950s was in the private possession of Wilhelm Burckhardsberg, but that may now also be lost.
Iffland, a leading actor in his time in Germany, was inspired by
Romanticism
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...
and is claimed to have commissioned the ring, to be carried by the leading German-speaking actor of his time.
If so, Iffland's inspiration was most likely the play ''
Nathan the Wise
''Nathan the Wise'' (original German title: , ) is a play by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing from 1779. It is a fervent plea for religious tolerance. It was never performed during Lessing's lifetime and was first performed in 1783 at the Döbbelinsches ...
'' by
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (; ; 22 January 1729 – 15 February 1781) was a German philosopher, dramatist, publicist and art critic, and a representative of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the dev ...
.
Ludwig Devrient
The circumstances of where and when Iffland passed on the ring to
Ludwig Devrient are uncertain; according to
Albert Bassermann
Albert Bassermann (7 September 1867 – 15 May 1952) was a German stage and screen actor. He was considered to be one of the greatest German-speaking actors of his generation and received the famous Iffland-Ring. He was married to Elsa Schiff w ...
, Iffland handed the ring to Devrient in 1814, after his last performance in
Breslau. Shortly after, in September 1814, Iffland died in
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
.
Devrient, a close friend of
E. T. A. Hoffmann
Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (born Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann; 24 January 1776 – 25 June 1822) was a German Romantic author of fantasy and Gothic horror, a jurist, composer, music critic and artist.Penrith Goff, "E.T.A. Hoffmann" in ...
, whose death in 1822 he never got over, was one of the most gifted actors Germany ever produced, but also a drunkard. He collapsed while performing ''
King Lear
''The Tragedy of King Lear'', often shortened to ''King Lear'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is loosely based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his ...
'' and died on 29 December 1832. His choice as his successor to the ring fell on his nephew
Emil Devrient
Gustav Emil Devrient (4 September 1803, Berlin – 7 August 1872, Dresden) was a German actor and an occasional operatic bass.
Life
Gustav Emil Devrient was the youngest son of the six children of the silk merchant Tobias Philipp Devrient and his ...
.
Emil Devrient and Theodor Döring
Much of the history of the ring during this period remains lost. Emil Devrient, and after him
Theodor Döring, were gifted but not outstanding actors in Berlin.
Friedrich Haase
From
Friedrich Haase
Friedrich Haase (1 November 1827 – 17 March 1911) was a prominent German actor and theatre director. He was born in Berlin, the son of a valet to King Frederick William IV, who was his godfather.
__NOTOC__ Career
Haase trained under Ludwig ...
onwards, the history of the ring is much better known.
Haase was born in Berlin, as the son of the
personal servant of the then crown prince of
Prussia
Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
,
Friedrich Wilhelm IV
Frederick William IV (; 15 October 1795 – 2 January 1861), the eldest son and successor of Frederick William III of Prussia, was King of Prussia from 7 June 1840 until his death on 2 January 1861. Also referred to as the " romanticist on the ...
. Rumor had it that he was the illegitimate son of a member of the house of
Hohenzollern
The House of Hohenzollern (, ; , ; ) is a formerly royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) German dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenburg, Prussia, the German Empire, and Romania. ...
, something Haase used to his advantage.
After early performances in
Potsdam
Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
and
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 ...
, Haase moved to
Prague
Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
, where he had considerable success. His career took him to
Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...
,
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 ...
,
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
,
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...
and
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
, and he became one of the most successful German actors.
Neither Haase nor Döring were ever actually seen with the ring, despite both being known to have been rather vain, and one theory concerning the ring's origins has it that Haase himself had the ring made and invented its history. The now-known history of the ring in any case begins with Haase. Certain discrepancies in the wording of a note, found in the case in which the ring was kept, point in this direction, but they can also be quite easily explained otherwise. In particular, the date Haase gives for his receipt of the ring from Döring's widow, 1875, appears wrong as Döring died in 1878.
He left the ring to Albert Bassermann upon his death in 1911.
Together with the ring, Haase left a note for Bassermann, dated Berlin, Christmas 1908, in which he declares his regret at their not having known each other much better. He also gives the history of the ring, and that letter became the prime source for future research into its history.
Albert Bassermann
Bassermann never wore the ring himself and named three successors during his lifetime, all of whom he survived.
He outlived his first two choices,
Alexander Girardi
Alexander Girardi (pronounced ) (5 December 1850 – 20 April 1918) was an Austrian actor and tenor singer in operettas.
Career
Girardi was born in Graz; his father was the Locksmithing, locksmith Andreas Girardi who had migrated to Graz from C ...
and
Max Pallenberg
Max Pallenberg (born 18 December 1877 in Vienna as ''Max Pollack'' – 26 June 1934 in Karlovy Vary) was an Austrian singer, actor and comedian.
Although Pallenberg's career started in 1904 it wasn't until 1909 that he joined Theater an der Wien ...
and upon the death of his third choice,
Alexander Moissi
Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are A ...
in 1935, Bassermann placed the ring on top of Moissi's coffin, to cremate the ring alongside his last choice. The director of the
Burgtheater
The Burgtheater (; literally: "Castle Theater" but alternatively translated as "(Imperial) Court Theater", originally known as '' K.K. Theater an der Burg'', then until 1918 as the ''K.K. Hofburgtheater'', is the national theater of Austria in ...
, , saved the ring by taking it off the coffin, declaring that it belonged to a living actor, not a dead one. Bassermann considered the ring cursed after all three actors died shortly after he named them as his successors.
After this incident, Bassermann gave the ring to the
Austrian National Library
The Austrian National Library (, ) is the largest library in Austria, with more than 12 million items in its various collections. The library is located in the Hofburg#Neue Burg, Neue Burg Wing of the Hofburg in Innere Stadt, center of Vienna. Sin ...
in
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
, where it remained almost forgotten. In 1946, when Bassermann visited Vienna,
Egon Hilbert, director of the Austrian theatre administration, had two meetings with the actor. Bassermann refused to take the ring back and, at the second meeting, declared that Hilbert could do with the ring as he pleased.
Hilbert asked
Werner Krauss
Werner Johannes Krauss (''Krauß'' in German; 23 June 1884 – 20 October 1959) was a German stage and film actor. Krauss dominated the German stage of the early 20th century. However, his participation in the antisemitic propaganda film '' Jud ...
to take the ring after Bassermann died in 1952 but Krauss refused.
Werner Krauss
In October 1954, after an extraordinary meeting of the actors' guild, the ring was awarded to Werner Krauss and this time he accepted. Despite protests, especially from the Swiss actors' guild and the fact that the ring was now in private possession of Egon Hilbert, Krauss eventually received the ring. To prevent a repeat of the
interregnum
An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of revolutionary breach of legal continuity, discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one m ...
, laws were passed, requiring the ring bearer to always nominate a successor.
Krauss received the ring on 28 November 1954 and handed a sealed envelope to the Austrian theatre administration on 12 December, stating his choice of succession.
Like Ludwig Devrient, Krauss collapsed while performing ''King Lear'' and died on 20 October 1959, passing the ring to
Josef Meinrad
Josef Meinrad (; 21 April 1913 – 18 February 1996) was an Austrian actor. From 1959 until his death in 1996, Meinrad held the Republic of Austria's Iffland-Ring, which passes from actor to actor — each bequeathing the ring to the next holder, j ...
, his original choice in 1954. However, his widow later declared that Krauss would have liked to leave the ring to
Alma Seidler
Alma Seidler (1 June 1899 – 8 December 1977) was an Austrian actress. She was member of the Burgtheater for over 50 years.
Biography
Alma Seidler was born in Leoben, the daughter of Ernst Seidler von Feuchtenegg. The later Burgtheater dire ...
, but was prevented from doing so by the fact that the ring could only be passed to a male. A female equivalent of the Iffland-Ring, the
Alma-Seidler-Ring, was created upon Seidler's death in 1977.
Josef Meinrad
Meinrad's original choice of successor is not known, but in 1984, he changed his will. Upon his death in 1996, rumors were rife as to which Austrian actor would receive the ring. To the disappointment of many actors at the Burgtheater, the ring was awarded to
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
; Meinrad had chosen
Bruno Ganz
Bruno Ganz (; 22 March 1941 – 16 February 2019) was a Swiss actor whose career in German stage, television and film productions spanned nearly 60 years. He was known for his collaborations with the directors Werner Herzog, Éric Rohmer, Franc ...
.
Bruno Ganz
The next holder of the Iffland-Ring was Swiss actor Bruno Ganz, who died 16 February 2019, aged 77.
Ganz's original choice of successor was
Gert Voss
Gert Voss (10 October 1941 – 13 July 2014) was a German actor. He was known for his roles in '' Labyrinth of Lies'' (2014), '' Sometime in August'' (2009) and ' (1987). He was member of the ensemble of the Burgtheater, and a ''Kammerschausp ...
, who died 13 July 2014 from leukemia, aged 72.
Jens Harzer
The current holder of the ring is German actor
Jens Harzer
Jens Harzer (born 14 March 1972) is a German stage, film, and television actor. He began his career at the Munich Kammerspiele, and has been a member of the Thalia Theater (Hamburg), Thalia Theatre in Hamburg since 2009. He has appeared at the S ...
, having been named by Bruno Ganz as his successor.
"Jens Harzer bekommt den Iffland-Ring"
by Simon Strauss, ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
The (; ''FAZ''; "Frankfurt General Newspaper") is a German newspaper founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt and is considered a newspaper of record for Germany. Its Sunday edition is the ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung'' ( ...
'', 22 March 2019
Bearers of the Iffland-Ring
* Note: until 1871, Germany did not exist as a country but instead was subdivided into a number of countries; citizenship before 1871 is shown as applicable.
Laws governing the ring
In 1954, three basic laws were enacted concerning the possession of the ring:
* The holder of the ring has to determine a successor within three months of receiving the ring.
* Should no successor have been appointed or the documents regarding succession be lost, the federal Austrian theatre administration will form a committee to decide on a successor.
* The ring is the property of the Republic of Austria, but its future holder is determined by personal decision of the current holder.
See also
* Prince des poètes
Prince des poètes (French: ''Prince of poets'') is an honorific and unofficial title given in France to French-speaking poets of various nationalities.
Poets who have held the title include Pierre de Ronsard (16th century), Charles Marie René ...
References
Sources
*
*
Further reading
* Viktor Reimann Viktor Riemann (25 January 1915 – 7 October 1996) was an Austrian author, commentator, journalist and politician (Federation of Independents, VdU). He sat as a member of the National Council (Austria), "Nationalrat" (''"National Parliament"'') bet ...
, ''Der Iffland-Ring – Legende und Geschichte eines Künstleridols''
External links
The Iffland-Ring
Short abstract on the history of the ring
{{Iffland-Ring
German awards