Eduard Philipp Devrient

* 11.08.1801 in Berlin; ✝ 04.10.1871 in Karlsruhe

Actor, Artistic Director, Theatre Historian

Biography

Eduard Devrient, brother of Emil Devrient, began his artistic career in 1819 as a bass at the Royal Opera in Berlin, but had to give up singing in 1831 on account of vocal problems. Instead he began acting and directing, and continued to do so for another twenty years or thereabouts, mostly in Dresden and Berlin, where he was active as the successor to Ludwig Tieck between 1844 and 1852. Until 1870 he was then steward at the Karlsruhe Court Theatre, where he introduced cycles of classic theatre – in the 1864/5 season alone twenty Shakespeare plays.

From today’s perspective, it is the reforms he initiated in the theatrical profession which are most important – whether it be in the matter of actor training (‘Über Theaterschule’, 1840), or in that of the introduction of historical costume, or that of the importance of proper rehearsal. For more than anything else, though, he is famous for his ‘Geschichte der deutschen Schauspielkunst’ (1848-1874), still referred to today, despite its occasional deficiencies. Together with his son he published an edition of Shakespeare’s plays in five volumes with the programmatic title Deutscher Bühnen- und Familien-Shakespeare (1873-1875).

Shakespeare Roles

• Hamlet (Hamlet)
• Othello (Othello)
• Clarence (Richard III)
• Bellarius (Cymbeline)
• Lorenzo (Romeo and Juliet)
• Duncan/Malcolm (Macbeth)
• Mark Anthony (Julius Caesar)
• Sir Andrew Aguecheek (As You Like It)
• Fool (King Lear)
• Richard II (Richard II)

Ausgaben

• Deutscher Bühnen- und Familien-Shakespeare. Leipzig, 1873-1875

Literature

Primary Literature

• “Über Theaterschule”. Berlin, 1840.
• Dramatische und dramaturgische Schriften. Leipzig, 1846-1869.
• Geschichte der deutschen Schauspielkunst [1848-1874]. Ed. in two volumes by Rolf Kabel and Christoph Trilse. Munich and Wien, 1967.
• Das Nationaltheater des neuen Deutschlands. Leipzig, 1849.

Secondary Literature

• Bab, Julius: Die Devrients. Berlin, 1932.
• Goldschmit-Jentner, Rudolf K.:  Eduard Devrients Bühnenreform am Karlsruher Hoftheater. Leipzig, 1921.
• Haass, Günther: Geschichte des ehemaligen Grossherzoglich-Badischen Hoftheaters Karlsruhe von seiner Gründung bis zur Berufung seines Reformators Eduard Devrient 1806-1852. Karlsruhe, 1934.
• Kabel, Rolf (ed.): Eduard Devrient. Aus seinen Tagebüchern. 2 Bde. Weimar, 1964.
• Kilian, Eugen: Beiträge zur Geschichte des Karlsruher Hoftheaters unter Eduard Devrient. Statistics of repertoire and extracts from Devrient’s hand-written notes. Karlsruhe, 1893.
• Rein, Ferdinand: Eduard Devrient als Oberregisseur. In Dresden von 1844 - 1846. Altenburg, 1931.

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