Bertha Stich Explained

Pauline Sophie Bertha Stich, married name Miehe from 1844 (4 October^[1] 1818 – 18 August 1876), was a German stage actress.

Life

Born in Berlin as the daughter of the acting couple Wilhelm Stich and Auguste Stich, née Düring, who was widowed in 1827 and married the banker's son, Stich was trained for the stage by her mother. Together with her mother and sister Clara, she entered the stage of the Königstädtisches Theater in Berlin for the first time in 1834 as Eucharis in Sappho. This performance led to an immediate engagement in which she, like her sister, took on the Rollenfach of the teenage lover,^[2] and which lasted until 1842. Guest performance tours took mother and daughters to Hamburg and Vienna, among other places.

In the 1940s, Stich moved to the Hamburg Stadttheater as the first lover in mourning, show and comedy. She made her debut there on 9 April 1842 as Julie. In Hamburg, Stich perfected her training at the dramaturgical institute of the writer and theatre practitioner Karl Töpfer.^[3] A guest performance tour took her back to Berlin in September 1843, where her roles included Luise Millerin in Schiller's Intrigue and Love celebrated successes.^[4]

On 29 June 1844, she married the surgeon and (since 1860) chief staff physician^[5] Dr. Adolph Ferdinand Miehe^[6] (1813–1876)^[7] and retired entirely to private life after marriage. Her last role was Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream to incidental music by Mendelssohn first on the Hamburg, then on the Berlin stage.^[8]

Bertha Miehe died after a short illness on 18 August 1876 in Hamburg;^[9] her husband died only eight weeks later on 19 October 1876.^[10]

Further reading

• Ludwig Eisenberg: Großes biographisches Lexikon der Deutschen Bühne im XIX. Jahrhundert. Paul List publisher, Leipzig 1903,, .

Notes and References

1. Date of birth according to Meyer's Konversations-Lexikon vol. 4 (China-Disatz), Verlag des bibliographischen Instituts, Leipzig/Vienna 1888, p. 332 (web resource).
2. [Karl Theodor von Küstner]
3. Correspondenz-Nachrichten. From Hamburg. In Allgemeine Theaterzeitung. Originalblatt für Kunst, Literatur, Musik, Mode und geselliges Leben Jg. 39, No. 176, 24 July 1846, (web resource).
4. Einsiedler's Bericht aus Berlin. In Der Humorist Jg. 7, Nr. 205, 14 October 1843, (Web-Ressource).
5. Cf. No. 81, 4 April 1865, (page=37 web resource).
6. Aufgebot der Michaeliskirche vom 5 May in the No. 137, 10 June 1844, (eu/en/item/9200338/BibliographicResource_3000117639231 Web-Resource)
7. On Miehe cf. Lexikon der hamburgischen Schriftsteller bis zur Gegenwart, prepared by Hans Schröder, continued by, vol. 5 (Maack-Pauli), Hamburg 1870, No. 2602, (web-resource).
8. Nachrichten. Berlin, 1 July 1844. In Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung Jg. 46, Nr. 29, 17 July 1829, Sp. 490 (Web-Ressource).
9. Vgl. die Todesanzeige in Hamburger Nachrichten Nr. 198, 20 August 1878, unpaginierte S. 7 (Web-Ressource); dieses Datum auch in einem Gedenkartikel für Auguste Crelinger von Friedrich Katt, zit. in Neuer Theater-Almanach. Theatergeschichtliches Jahr- und Adressenbuch, volume 8, 1897, (Web-Ressource).
10. Nachweiung der vom 1. April bis ultimo Juni 1877 zur offiziellen Kenntniß gekommenen Todesfälle von pensionirten und ausgeschiedenen Offizieren und Beamten der Königlich preußischen Armee. In Jg. 62, Nr. 59, 25 July 1877, pp. 1047-f.(Web-Ressource).