Carl Miedke Explained

Carl Gottfried Miedke, also Miedtke,^[1] (3 September 1773^[2] – 4 January 1839), was a German actor, director and playwright.

Life

Miedke was born in Potsdam on 3 September 1773. His father was the Royal Gottfried Miedke at the court of Frederick the Great,^[3] the mother was Albertina Charlotta Kaebelizzen or Kaebelitz. He was active on the stage from the age of 18 and was married in his first marriage to the actress and singer Charlotte Miedke, née Pfister (1781 in Mannheim - 22 October 1806 in Stuttgart).^[4] There were three children from this marriage:

• Karl August Krebs (16 January 1804 in Nuremberg - 16 May 1880 in Dresden), who, after his mother's early death from scarlet fever in 1806, was adopted in the child's place by the court singer Johann Baptist Krebs there, with his father's consent, after the couple moved to Stuttgart, and consequently took the name of his foster father Krebs; he was active as a pianist, composer, and latterly in Dresden as court conductor;
• Friedrich Georg Leonhard Miedke (between 31 December 1802 and 31 January 1803 in Nuremberg - 16 October 1842 in Regensburg), who was active as a singer (baritone or bass), actor and director in Stuttgart, Augsburg, Ulm among others,^[5] after retiring from the theatre as a painter, gallery owner and writer in Regensburg;
• Anna Fischer-Maraffa (1802-1866),^[6] who was also adopted after the death of her mother. Under the name of her adoptive father, the opera singer Joseph Fischer, and that of her husband Maraffa, she performed throughout Europe as an opera singer.

In his second marriage, he was married from 3 March 1810 to Wilhelmine Aschenbrenner (1791 - after 1834), who was active as an actress in Stuttgart, Leipzig, Darmstadt among others and who was portrayed in 1834 by the painter Otto Stotz (1805-1873).

Miedke died in 1839 as a retired court actor in Stuttgart at the age of 65.^[7]

Professional career

Together with his first wife Charlotte, who among others also gave guest performances in Erlangen, he was engaged by the Augsburg Fuggersche Gesellschaft under Ferdinand Kindler in Nuremberg in 1798 and at the Nuremberg Theatre from 1798 to 1801.^{[8] [9]} In 1805, he moved with his wife from Nuremberg to the Court Theatre in Stuttgart, where he appeared among others in Schiller's Don Carlos as Posa^[10] and on 16 March 1823 appeared as Samiel in der Freischütz.^[11] Guest appearances at the Würzburg theatre are documented for 1834.

Wilhelm Waiblinger, with whom he was a friend, took declamation lessons from him and praised Miedke's acting and his high level of knowledge. However, Miedke's acquaintance with the Stuttgart court singer Krebs caused Waiblinger to distance himself from Miedke (according to the diary entry of 18 September 1822); however, further contacts are documented until 1826.^[12]

Dramas by Carl Miedke in Auswahl

• Manuel der falsche Freund : Ein Trauerspiel in fünf Aufzügen,^[13] Mannheim, Loeffler 1798.
• Adolph der Kühne Raugraf von Dassel, or Die Zerstörung von Northeim: Ein Gemälde der Vorzeit in fünf Aufzügen (Performed at the Bremen Theatre on 25 February 1813)^[14]

Notes and References

1. The spelling "Miedke" can be found in the following sources of information: WBIS Online; Paul S. Ulrich: Biographisches Verzeichnis für Theater, Tanz und Musik. 2nd edition. Berlin 1997 (Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag); http://www.weber-gesamtausgabe.de/de/A009041 – see http://d-nb.info/gnd/117027049. The spelling "Miedtke" is found in numerous contemporary society papers as well as in Carl-Josef Burkart: Die Bühnenbearbeitungen des Don Carlos. Bruchsal 1933, and in Anton Pichler: Chronik des Grossh. Hof- und National-Theaters in Mannheim: Zur Feier seines hundertjährigen Bestehens am 7. October 1879, Verlag J. Bensheimer, 1879, (books.google.de)
2. https://www.ancestry.de/: Potsdam, Evangelische Kirche, Garnisongemeinde Potsdam (StKr. Potsdam), Filmnummer: 72388
3. https://web.archive.org/web/20170416125723/http://quellen.perspectivia.net/bestaende/spsg-schatullrechnungen/personen/p1766 web.archive.org
4. https://www.weber-gesamtausgabe.de/de/A009337.html Miedke, Charlotte
5. https://www.weber-gesamtausgabe.de/de/A008464.html Miedke, Friedrich
6. https://www.bmlo.uni-muenchen.de/f0321 Anna Fischer-Maraffa
7. Wilhelm Friedrich Waiblinger: Tagebücher, 1821–1826: Textkritische und Kommentierte Ausgabe in zwei Bänden. Edited by Hans Königer. Cotta 1993, .
8. Jahrbuch für fränkische Landesforschung, edited by the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg among others, vols. 24-25, Degener 1964, .
9. Degener: Jahrbuch für fränkische Landesforschung. Degener, 1964 .
10. Burkart, Carl-Josef: Die Bühnenbearbeitungen des Don Carlos. Bruchsal 1933 (Inaugural Dissertation), .
11. https://books.google.com/books?id=L0XoeUNWRf0C&dq=Miedtke-Aschenbrenner&pg=PA963 Tagebücher, 1821-1826: Akademische Jahre
12. Wilhelm Waiblinger: Sämtliche Briefe, Textkritik und Kommentar. Lebenschronik, vol. 2. Klett-Cotta, 1981, .
13. https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/49948847 Manuel der falsche Freund : Ein Trauerspiel in fünf Aufzügen
14. http://brema.suub.uni-bremen.de/suubtheater/periodical/pageview/1688200 brema.suub.uni-bremen.de