Charlotte von Hagn

* 23.03.1809 in Munich; ✝ 23.04.1891 in Munich

Actress

Biography

Of civil service stock, Charlotte von Hagn made her first appearance in 1828 at the Munich Court Theatre, and continued to perform there until she moved to the Berlin Court Theatre in 1833. After her marriage in 1846 she withdrew from the stage altogether. As we can deduce from contemporary sources, she was loved above all for lighter roles, for example that of ‘Drawing Room Lady’; but this did not prevent her from playing a series of classical parts for women.

Thus, in her repertoire we also find Shakespeare’s Juliette, Desdemona, Ophelia and Cordelia. Really remarkable, however, is that she was the first to play Puck on a German stage in Ludwig Tieck’s unprecedented 1843 production of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. Tieck, though, complained that her understanding of the role had been too passive, and that she had really been counting on the effect her costume would make. All the same, the convention of casting Puck as a woman was to have a long theatrical life. 

Shakespeare Roles

• Ophelia (Hamlet)
• Cordelia (King Lear)
• Desdemona (Othello)
• Julia (Romeo and Juliet)
• Puck (A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
• Ariel (The Tempest)

Literature

Secondary Literature

• Bobbert, Gerda: Charlotte von Hagn. Eine Schauspielerin der Biedermeierzeit (1809-1891) (= Theatergeschichtliche Forschungen, 45). Leipzig, 1936.
• Hoeft, Bernhard: Charlotte von Hagn. Familiengeschichte und Jugendzeit. Berlin, 1926.

Album pages with this person

Back to overview