August Friedrich Oger von Loën

* 27.01.1828 in Dessau; ✝ 28.04.1887 in Jena

Theatre Artistic Director, President of the German Shakespeare Society

Biography

Having left grammar school, Loën, who was born into a respected and noble officer family, chose the career of military officer and became adjutant to the Baron of Anhalt (as he would later become). In 1867 he was appointed, as successor to Dinglestedt, General Artistic Director of the Weimar Court Theatre. His reputation rests on his productions of Wagner’s operas and Schiller’s plays.

It was under his direction that Shakespeare acquired a secure place in the repertoire. Loën himself devised a stage edition of King John and – using adaptations of his own – put on the stage both Romeo and Juliet and The Winter’s Tale. Loën was a member of the Governing Board of the German Shakespeare Society, becoming its president in 1884.

Treatises

• ‘Shakespeare über die Liebe’, Shakespeare-Jahrbuch, 19 (1884). Pp. 1-15.

Literature

Primary Literature

• Bühne und Leben. Leipzig, 1864.
• Verloren und nie besessen. Hannover, 1876.
• Kampf um Liebe. Zwei Erzählungen. Breslau, 1884.

Secondary Literature

• Mirus, Adolf: Freiherr August von Loën: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Hoftheaters zu Weimar. Weimar, 1889.
• Oechelhäuser, Wilhelm, ‘August Freiherr von Loën, Nekrolog’, Shakespeare-Jahrbuch, 23 (1888). Pp. 333-341.

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