Friedrich Tietz Explained

Friedrich Tietz[1] (24 September 1803 – 6 July 1879)[2] sometimes incorrectly called Friedrich von Tietz, was a German theatre director, publicist and writer.

Life and career

Born in Königsberg, Tietz first studied law and worked as a legal trainee in the Prussian judicial service in Berlin.[3] He was to give detailed accounts of these youthful years in several of his later books of memoirs. In 1829, however, he gave up his legal career and moved to Dresden to devote himself entirely to writing. He had already emerged in Berlin as an author of locally related comedy plays (1828: Die Theatralische Landparthie, 1829: Die Comödie in Zehlendorf).[4] [5] Already on 3 December 1827, his Englischer Spleen, oder: Die Geliebte in der Einbildung, a one-act play, was performed in Berlin, and further performances then followed until September 1828. [6] During the same period, Tietz also published several stories and a volume of poetry.[7]

1829–1842: Writing, travels and scandals

In 1830, Tietz was appointed Legation Councillor by Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and in the following years he spent time in Russia in this capacity (1832–33). A little later he also undertook a journey to the eastern Mediterranean (Turkey, Aegean, Greece), by land via Bucharest (December 1833). At the beginning of 1834 he then stayed in Constantinople, then in Nafplio; in the eastern Aegean he had visited several islands. But Russia remained his most important experience for Tietz. During his stay there, he had improved his knowledge of the Russian language to such an extent that he now also ventured into literary translations, which appeared in 1838. Already after the suppression of the Uprising in Poland (1830–31) by Russia, which brought the Poles much sympathy among German national liberals, Tietz had positioned himself entirely pro-Russian. In 1830, under the pseudonym "Fedor Ivanowitsch", he wrote the pro-Russian pamphlet – actually a poem – Worte eines Russen an die Deutschen.[8]

There are numerous files from the unstable 1830s in Tietz's life, which were created due to various activities on his part; it is not always possible to give precise details, as no one has yet analysed the material. The Saxon State Archives, for example, has records of an "investigation against the Coburg Legation Councillor Johann Friedrich Tietz for involvement in the riots",[9] specifically in the riots in Dresden in April 1831. What had occurred and what emerged from this investigation will have to be revealed by a future inspection of the files, especially as there are still other documents available.[10] In any case, Tietz continued to work as a legation councillor for several years thereafter, although he now seems to have lived in Munich rather than Dresden. In 1835, incidentally, Tietz had obtained employment "on a trial basis" at the herzogliches Hoftheater in Coburg, but had been dismissed again after a short time "because of unsuitable behaviour in business".[11]

The Gloria affair

Tietz was again on record in 1836, and the Coburg State Archives preserve a report on the "blackmail attempt by the journalist Friedrich Tietz against the Coburg government in connection with the marriage between Queen Gloria II and Prince Ferdinand". We know quite a lot about this incident because contemporary newspapers took notice and reported on it in detail.

The following had happened: After the unexpectedly early death of her first husband Auguste de Beauharnais, the Portuguese Queen Maria II of Portugal, daughter of the Emperor of Brazil, had married a 19-year-old prince from the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Ferdinand, on 9 April 1836. The Augsburg Allgemeine Zeitung then published in its extraordinary supplement No. 453-54 (of 28 September) a private letter from Lisbon dated mid-July, in which not only the Portuguese and their queen, but also in particular the Coburg prince Ferdinand, were portrayed in a very bad light, even made fun of. [12] Now, as is reported, Tietz had knowledge of the letter long before it was published and sent the contents from Munich to a state official in Gotha as early as June, adding that the contents would be "brought to the public's attention after the expiration of 14 days by one of the most excellent newspapers", if the ducal government did not show any gratitude towards him. He was presumably referring to his dismissal from the court theatre (1835), and in this way attempted to secure his reinstatement. However, nothing came of it. The ducal government denounced him, and Ernst I withdrew "the predicate of a ducal councillor of legation issued on 2 October 1830". It was generally assumed that the "private letter from Lisbon" published in the Augsburger Zeitung had actually been written by Tietz himself for the purpose of blackmail. Without a doubt, Tietz possessed sufficient information about the conditions in Portugal, especially since three years later he also published a study on the contemporary Brazil – at that time an independent empire, but still closely connected to the Portuguese ruling house.

1842–1853: Theatre director

At the beginning of the 1840s, Tietz initially lived in Rostock, but on 1 February 1842 he took over as director of the Stadttheater Königsberg,[13] and did so "on his own account".[14] The theatre was financially and artistically run down when Tietz took over. Tietz managed to bring some stars of the time to Königsberg, such as the famous opera singer Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient, and concerts by Franz Liszt were also sold out. However, this was apparently not enough to put the ailing house on a firm financial footing. There was not, as elsewhere, a sovereign in Königsberg to act as a patron, and sometimes plays that were on the programme could not be performed "for lack of audience".[15] In September 1844, Tietz therefore gave up the post again, although he remained on friendly terms with the Königsberg theatre.

From 1844 to 1852 he worked as director at other theatres, first in Reval (from where he also co-directed the theatre in Helsinki, 1845–46), then in Altonaer Theater. During this period he also resumed his activity as an author of comedy plays and jokes, which he continued until the 1870s. Almost all of his plays were taken from older, mostly French originals or adapted from them. In addition, he paid special attention to ballet, "which had in him an exact connoisseur and an almost rapturous admirer".[16]

From 1853: The Berlin Years

In 1853, Tietz finally settled in Berlin and began a 25-year career as a publicist, playwright and author; at times he also wrote for the Berlin Vossische Zeitung. From 1853 onwards, Tietz also bore the official title of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Court Commission Councillor. Apparently, by this time the Gloria Affair of 1836 had been sufficiently forgotten so that Tietz could now once again enjoy a ducal title, especially since the old Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Ernst I, had meanwhile been deceased for almost ten years.

From autumn 1853 to 1854, however, Tietz was on the road again, and for the last time in the Orient. From Trieste, he went via Izmir to Constantinople to report on the Crimean War. Unlike his earlier travels in the Ottoman Empire, however, he did not write a book about this journey. It seems that after his return, his activities as a publicist and playwright in New Berlin kept him too busy to find time to publish his experiences in book form, and his Colourful Memoirs, which made him a minor celebrity in Berlin, appeared as early as 1854. In them, he tells mainly of his early Berlin days, with a few memories from Russia in the 1830s sprinkled in.

In the years between 1854 and 1874, Tietz published numerous other stage plays or adaptations or translations of older comedy plays, but also repeatedly biographies and "memory books" of various kinds, whether of his own experiences or of acquaintances with third parties. Because of his productivity as an author, a Berlin feature writer in 1866 called him "a personality well known as a literary industrialist."[17] Five years later, another correspondent reported on the festive performances and declamations given in Berlin for the birthday of Kaiserin that they were "mostly by Friedrich Tietz", "an enduring old gentleman who exploits with skill for such patriotic outpourings all the old musenal manache from this and the previous century."[18]

Tietz was married to Anna Brandstaedter. His son was the theatre actor (1830–1906). Tietz died at the age of 75 in his flat at Luisenstraße 51 in Berlin.

Work

Travel narratives, memoirs and related literature

Books

Articles in magazines

Literary and political writings

Translations

Stage works

References

Source

External links

Notes and References

  1. Whether his full name was Johann Friedrich Tietz, which some evidence suggests, remains to be determined; in his writings he always appears as Fr./Friedr./Friedrich Tietz.
  2. Book: Standesamt Berlin XII . Todesurkunde Friedrich Tietz . 1768/1979.
  3. Web site: Tietz, Friedrich . Deutsche Biographie . de . 7 September 2021.
  4. Kurt Wernicke: Einleitende biografische Notiz. In Berlinische Monatsschrift . Fascicule 1, 1999,,, here
  5. Schäffer/Hartmann,
  6. Schäffer/Hartmann,
  7. See the details in Goedeke, .
  8. Peter Jahn: Russophilie und Konservatismus: Die russophile Literatur in der deutschen Öffentlichkeit 1831–1852, Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta 1980, .
  9. Web site: Sächsisches Staatsarchiv . Investigation against the Coburg Legation Councillor Johann Friedrich Tietz for involvement in the riots . en . 7 September 2021.
  10. Web site: Heimatverhältnisse und andere Angelegenheiten des ehemaligen Legationsrats von Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha Friedrich Tietz . 7 September 2021.
  11. Oesterreichischer Beobachter, no. 300 from 26 October 1836, ; Wiener Zeitung, no. 246 from 26 October 1836, (both with a quote from Gothaische Zeitung, 12 October).
  12. Book: Dona Maria und die Portugiesen / Auszug aus einem Privatbriefe, Lissabon, Mitte Julius . Allgemeine Zeitung . Extraordinary Supplement no. 453 and 454 . Augsburg . 28 September 1836.
  13. Here Documentation (PDF) Portal "Kultur in Ostpreußen"
  14. Almanach für Freunde der Schauspielkunst auf das Jahr 1842 (edited by L. Wolff), 7th volume (Berlin 1843), .
  15. Herbert Meinhard Mühlpfordt: "Im Königsberger Stadttheater", Part IV, in Ostpreussen-Warte (mit Königsberger Neue Zeitung), No. 5, May 1955, ; preussische-allgemeine.de (PDF).
  16. Aus dem Nachruf, in Signale für die Musikalische Welt, Nr. 43 (September 1879), .
  17. "Berliner Briefe", Die Debatte und Wiener Lloyd, No. 103, 17 April 1866, (not paginated).
  18. Schreiben aus Berlin vom 2. Oktober, Blätter für Theater, Musik u. Kunst (Vienna), Nr. 80 from 6 October 1871, .
  19. Tietz had actually been in Russia since 1832, which is also described in his book.
  20. A. Hagen (ed.): Der neuen Preußischen Provinzial-Blätter andere Folge, Band VIII (Königsberg 1855), pp 429 ff.
  21. The play was performed three times between 23 May and 20 October 1857 (Schäffer/Hartmann,).
  22. This is one of Tietz's most successful stage plays. It was performed under the title Der Herr Inspektor, oder: Ein politischer Wächter as late as March 1862 in Klagenfurt, see Klagenfurter Zeitung, Nr. 64, 18 March 1862, .
  23. The play was performed three times in Berlin between 14 and 20 May 1860.(Schäffer/Hartmann,).
  24. The play was later also performed in Berlin, three times between 20 and 24 February 1874. (Schäffer/Hartmann,).

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