Ernst Heinrich von Possart

* 11.05.1841 in Berlin; ✝ 08.04.1921 in Charlottenburg

Actor, Director, Theatre Artistic Director

Biography

Possart debuted in Breslau in 1861, and engagements in Bern and Hamburg followed soon afterwards. In 1864 he gave his first performance at the Munich Court Theatre, where he was active from 1872 as director and also, from 1878 onwards, as artistic director. After interruptions to fulfill a contract at the Lessingtheater in Berlin and to go on numerous tours as a guest star, he returned in 1893 to Munich, taking up the position of artistic director at the Royal Court Theatre in Munich, a post he retained until 1905. This latter period coincided not only with the construction and opening of the Prinzregententheater (1900-1901), but also with a resurgence of his interest in opera, particularly with Mozart and Wagner.

As an author, Possart composed numerous dramas, opera libretti and treatises on acting and directing. He furthermore published several stage adaptations of Shakespeare plays, usually drawing on the translations by Schlegel and Tieck. As an actor, Possart was chiefly known for his character roles, among them a multiplicity of Shakespeare characters.

Shakespeare Roles

• Menenius (Coriolanus)
• Polonius / Fortinbras/Hamlet (Hamlet)
• Worcester / Scroop (Henry lV)
• Exeter (Henry V)
• Winchester / Gloucester (Henry VI)
• Caesar / Cassius / Casca (Julius Caesar)
• Shylock (The Merchant of Venice)
• König John (King John)
• Lear (King Lear)
• Duncan (Macbeth)
• Richard II. (Richard II)
• Richard III. (Richard III)
• Capulet / Mercutio / Brother Lorenzo (Romeo and Juliet)
• Iago (Othello)
• Fool (As You Like It)
• Touchstone (As You Like It)

Treatises

• 'Welches System der Scenerie ist am besten geeignet für die Darstellung verwandlungsreicher klassischer Dramen, insbesondere der Shakespeareschen?'. Festvortrag, gehalten auf der General-Versammlung der Deutschen Shakespeare-Gesellschaft am 23. April 1901. In: Shakespeare-Jahrbuch, 37 (1901). Pp. 18-36.

Editions

• Köng Lear. Munich, 1875.
• Der Kaufmann von Venedig. Munich, 1880.
• Perikles, Fürst von Tyrus. Munich, 1883.
• Coriolanus. Munich, 1884.

Literature

Primary Literature

• Der Lehrgang des Schauspielers. Berlin und Stuttgart, 1901.
• Die Kunst des Sprechens. Berlin, 1909.
• Erstrebtes und Erlebtes. Berlin, 1916.

Secondary Literature

• Crodel, Richard: Der Schauspieler Ernst Possart. Mönchengladbach, 1927.
• Frahm, Hans: Ernst Possart als Schauspiel-Regisseur. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Klassiker-Inszenierungen im neunzehnten Jahrhundert. Munich, 1932.
• Raven, Leo von (ed.): Possart Album in Wort und Bild. New York, 1887.
• Zumpe, Hermann: Ernst von Possart. Persönliche Erinnerungen nebst Mitteilungen aus seinen Tagebuchblättern und Briefen. Munich, 1905.

Album pages with this person

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