Julius Roderich Benedix (21 January 1811 – 26 September 1873) was a German dramatist and librettist, born in
Leipzig, where he was educated there at
Thomasschule
St. Thomas School, Leipzig (german: Thomasschule zu Leipzig; la, Schola Thomana Lipsiensis) is a co-educational and public boarding school in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany. It was founded by the Augustinians in 1212 and is one of the oldest scho ...
.
He joined the stage in 1831, his first engagement being with the travelling company of H. E. Bethmann 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-Roßlau ...
,
Köthen,
Bernburg and
Meiningen
Meiningen () is a town in the southern part of the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in the region of Franconia and has a population of around 25,000 (2021). . Subsequently he was
tenor in several theatres in
Westphalia and on the
Rhine, and became manager of the theatre at
Wesel, where he produced a comedy, ''Das bemooste Haupt'' (1841), which met with great success.
After an engagement in
Cologne, he managed the new theatre at
Elberfeld (1844-1845) and in 1849 was appointed teacher on the staff of the Rhenish school of music in Cologne. In 1855 he was appointed intendant of the municipal theatre in
Frankfurt-on-Main, but retired in 1861, and died in Leipzig in 1873.
Benedix's comedies, the scenes of which are mostly laid in upper middle-class life, still enjoy some popularity; the best-known are: ''Dr. Wespe; Die Hochzeitsreise; Der Vetter; Das Lügen; Ein Lustspiel; Das Gefängnis; Der Störenfried; Die Dienstboten; Aschenbrödel''; and ''Die zärtlichen Verwandten''. The chief characteristics of his farces are a clear plot and bright, easy and natural dialogue. Among his more serious works are: ''Bilder aus dem Schauspielerleben'' (Leipzig, 1847); ''Der mündliche Vortrag'' (Leipzig, 1859-1860); ''Das Wesen des deutschen Rhythmus'' (Leipzig, 1862) and, posthumously, ''Die Shakespearomanie'' (1873), in which he attacks the extreme adoration of the British poet.
Benedix's ''Gesammelte dramatische Werke'' ("Collected Dramatic Works") appeared in 27 vols. (Leipzig, 1846-1875); a selection under the title ''Volkstheater'' in 20 vols. (Leipzig, 1882); and a collection of smaller comedies as ''Haustheater'' in 2 vols. (l0th ed., Leipzig, 1891); see Benedix's autobiography in the ''Gartenlaube'' for 1871.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Benedix, Roderich
1811 births
1873 deaths
People educated at the St. Thomas School, Leipzig
Writers from Leipzig
People from the Kingdom of Saxony
German male dramatists and playwrights
19th-century German dramatists and playwrights
19th-century German male writers