Ludwig Devrient by Wilhelm Christoph Wohlien

Ludwig Devrient (15 December 178430 December 1832) was a German actor, noted for his playing in the works of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

and

Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friends ...

. Devrient, who was born in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

, left a commercial career for the stage in 1804. He joined a travelling theatrical company, and made his first appearance on the stage at

Gera Gera is a city in the German state of Thuringia. With around 93,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in Thuringia after Erfurt and Jena as well as the easternmost city of the ''Thüringer Städtekette'', an almost straight string of cit ...

as the messenger in

's '' Braut von Messina''. By the interest of Count Brühl, he appeared at

Rudolstadt Rudolstadt is a town in the German federal state Thuringia, with the Thuringian Forest to the southwest, and to Jena and Weimar to the north. The former capital of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, the town is built along the River Saale inside a wide ...

as Franz Moor in Schiller's ''

Die Räuber ''The Robbers'' (', ) is the first drama by German playwright Friedrich Schiller. The play was published in 1781 and premiered on 13 January 1782 in Mannheim, Germany, and was inspired by Leisewitz' earlier play ''Julius of Taranto''. It was w ...

'', so successfully that he obtained a permanent engagement at the ducal theatre in

Dessau Dessau is a town and former municipality in Germany at the confluence of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the '' Bundesland'' (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it has been part of the newly created municipality of Dessau-Ro� ...

, where he played until 1809. He then received a call to Breslau, where he remained for six years. Such was his success in the title-parts of several of

Shakespeare's William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

plays, that the leading actor

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 ...

began to fear for his own reputation; yet that artist was generous enough to recommend the young actor as his only possible successor. On Iffland's death, Devrient was summoned to Berlin, where he was for fifteen years the popular idol. He died there in December 1832. Ludwig Devrient was equally adept in comedy and tragedy.

Falstaff Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare and is eulogised in a fourth. His significance as a fully developed character is primarily formed in the plays '' Henry IV, Part 1'' and ''Part 2'', wh ...

, Franz Moor (in ''Die Räuber''), Shylock,

King Lear ''King Lear'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between two of his daughters. He becomes destitute and insane a ...

and

Richard II Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan, Countess of Kent. Richard's father d ...

were among his best parts.

Karl von Holtei Karl Eduard von Holtei (24 January 1798 – 12 February 1880) was a German poet and actor. Life and career Karl Eduard von Holtei was born at Breslau, the son of an officer of Hussars. Having served in the Prussian army as a volunteer in 1815, ...

in his ''Reminiscences'' gave a graphic picture of him and the "demoniac fascination" of his acting. He also wrote several plays and a history of the German stage (1848–74) in five volumes. With his son,

Otto Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', '' Odo'', '' Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorde ...

, he published translations of Shakespeare's plays. Devrient was a member of a notable theatrical family, his three nephews all being actors. Karl August Devrient (1797–1872) was popular in heroic and character roles such as Lear, Shylock, and Faust. Another nephew,

Eduard Devrient (Philipp) Eduard Devrient (11 August 18014 October 1877) was a German baritone, libretto, librettist, playwright, actor, theatre director, and theatre reformer and historian. Devrient came from a theatrical family. His uncle was Ludwig Devrient a ...

(1801–1877), directed the Court Theatre,

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 ...

(1844–46), and the

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 ...

Theatre (1852–70). Gustav Emil Devrient (1803–1872), was the youngest and most gifted of all three nephews of Ludwig Devrient.

Notes

References

* Endnotes: * Z. Funck, ''Aus dem Leben zweier Schauspieler, Ifflands und Devrients'' (Leipzig, 1838) * H. Smidt in ''Devrient-Novellen'' (3rd ed., Berlin, 1882) * R. Springer in the novel ''Devrient und Hoffmann'' (Berlin, 1873) * Eduard Devrient's ''Geschichte der deutschen Schauspielkunst'' (Leipzig, 1861)

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Further reading