Johann Josef Spitzeder (–1832) was a German actor and singer. A popular artist in his own right, he is today mostly remembered for being the father of confidence trickster and actress

Adele Spitzeder Adelheid Luise "Adele" Spitzeder (; 9 February 1832 – 27 or 28 October 1895), also known by her stage name Adele Vio, was a German actress, folk singer, and con artist. Initially a promising young actress, Spitzeder became a well-known privat ...

. Spitzeder's year of birth is unclear. According to the '' Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950'', Spitzeder was born on 2 September 1794 in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

. His entry in the '' Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' quotes a contemporary source as saying that he was born in 1795, similarly in Bonn, while the ''Directory of German Biography'' gives his birth year as 1796 and his place of birth as

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2 ...

. He was educated by

Joseph Weigl Joseph Weigl (28 March 1766 – 3 February 1846) was an Austrian composer and conductor, born in Eisenstadt, Hungary, Austrian Empire. The son of Joseph Franz Weigl (1740–1820), the principal cellist in the orchestra of the Esterházy f ...

in Vienna where he got his start as an opera singer in 1816. Also in 1816, he married Henriette Spitzeder (née Schüler), a talented soprano. Both were hired together in 1819 to play at the

Theater an der Wien The is a historic theatre in Vienna located on the Left Wienzeile in the Mariahilf district. Completed in 1801, the theatre has hosted the premieres of many celebrated works of theatre, opera, and symphonic music. Since 2006, it has served pri ...

where Spitzeder excelled in

buffo ''Opera buffa'' (; "comic opera", plural: ''opere buffe'') is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as ''commedia in musica'', ''commedia per musica'', ''dramm ...

roles. The couple was engaged by the

Königsstädtisches Theater Königsstädtisches Theater was the name of different theater buildings in Berlin in the 19th and 20th century. The first Königsstädtisches Theater was built by Carl Theodor Ottmer in , a former settlement neighboring Berlin that is today par ...

in Berlin in 1824. After the death of his first wife during childbirth in 1828, he married the opera singer

Betty Vio Elisabeth "Betty" Spitzeder-Vio (1806 or 1808–1872), also known as Betty Maurer, was an Italian-German opera singer (soubrette / soprano) and actress. She was the mother of Adele Spitzeder (1832–1895) from her first husband, Josef Spitzeder ( ...

. Spitzeder died on 13 December 1832 in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

, shortly after being called to work at the

Bavarian State Opera The Bayerische Staatsoper is a German opera company based in Munich. Its main venue is the Nationaltheater München, and its orchestra the Bayerische Staatsorchester. History The parent ensemble of the company was founded in 1653, under Ele ...

Notes

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Spitzeder, Josef 1790s births Year of birth uncertain 1832 deaths 19th-century German male actors 19th-century German male opera singers