Charlotte Wolter

* 01.03.1831 in Cologne; ✝ 14.06.1897 in Hietzing (Vienna)

Actress

Biography

Born in humble circumstances to a theatrical dresser, Charlotte Wolter was working as an extra, and earning money by street-singing, while still a child.  After her stage début in Cologne in 1849 there followed a string of engagements in, among other places, Vienna, Brünn, Berlin, and Hamburg, where she had her breakthrough role with Hermione in A Winter’s Tale. In 1862 Heinrich Laube secured her services for the Vienna Burgtheater, to which she was loyal for the rest of her life. Her fame as the greatest tragic actress of the German stage was founded on her interpretation of classical heroines and the tragic female roles of nineteenth-century social and historical dramas. Of the Shakespeare roles she performed at the Burgtheater, the most successful were those of Lady Macbeth and Cleopatra.

Shakespeare Roles

• Cleopatra (Anthony and Cleopatra)
• Volumnia (Coriolanus)
• Margarethe of Anjou (Henry VI/Richard III)
• Constance (King John)
• Lady Macbeth (Macbeth)
• Julia (Romeo and Julia)
• Hermione (A Winter's Tale)

Literature

Secondary Literature

• Ehrenfeld, Moritz: Charlotte Wolter. Eine Künstlerlaufbahn. Vienna, 1887.
• Engel, Emil M. (ed.): Charlotte Wolter in ihren Glanzrollen. Dargestellt in vierzig Bildern nach Photographien von Dr. Székely. Vienna, 1897.
• Hirschfeld, Leo: Charlotte Wolter. Ein Erinnerungsblatt. Vienna, 1897.
• Niederle, Bertha: Charlotte Wolter. Leben, Werden und Briefe der großen Tragödin. Vienna, 1948.

Album pages with this person

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