Marie Seebach (24 February 1829 – 3 August 1897) was a German actress.

Biography

She was born in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

Livonia Livonia, known in earlier records as Livland, is a historical region on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the Livonians, who lived on the shores of present-day Latvia. By the end of the 13th century, the name was extende ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

as the daughter of an actor, Wilhelm Friedrich Seebach (1798–1863). After appearing first at

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

as Julie in '' Kean'', she played soubrette parts at

Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...

, Danzig and Cassel. In 1852 she achieved her first great success at the Thaliatheater in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

as Gretchen in Goethe's ''Faust'', and she remained there until 1854, when she appeared 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. ...

. She then played in

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 ...

, establishing her reputation as a tragic actress with the lead roles in ''Jane Eyre'' and ''

Adriana Lecouvreur ''Adriana Lecouvreur'' () is an opera in four acts by Francesco Cilea to an Italian libretto by Arturo Colautti, based on the 1849 play '' Adrienne Lecouvreur'' by Eugène Scribe and Ernest Legouvé. It was first performed on 6 November 1902 ...

''. From 1855 to 1866 she was engaged at the court theatre at

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

. In Hanover, in 1859, she married the tenor Albert Niemann. In 1866 she followed her husband to Berlin, but separated from him after two years. In 1870–1871 she visited the United States, and gave in seventeen cities no less than 160 performances mostly of ''Faust''; and in 1886 she accepted a permanent engagement at the Schauspielhaus in Berlin. In 1895 she endowed a home for poor actors and actresses 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 ...

, called the Marie Seebach Stiftung. She retired from the stage in 1897, and died on 3 August of that year.

References

* This work in turn cites: ** Gensichen, ''Aus Marie Seebachs Leben'' (Berlin, 1900) {{DEFAULTSORT:Seebach, Marie 1829 births 1897 deaths Actresses from Riga People from Riga county Baltic-German people from the Russian Empire Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Germany 19th-century German actresses German stage actresses