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Kotzebue, August Friedrich Ferdinand Von
Kotzebue, August Friedrich Ferdinand Von (1761–1819), German dramatist, who in his day was more popular than his contemporary Schiller with the new audiences of the Revolutionary period, not only in Germany but all over Europe. He wrote over 200 melodramas, the most successful being Menschenhaβ und Reue (1789), in which an erring wife obtains forgiveness from her husband by a life of atonement. As The Stranger it was produced at Drury Lane in 1798, the heroine, Mrs Haller, providing an excellent part for Mrs Siddons, playing opposite her brother, John Philip Kemble. It was frequently revived up to the end of the 19th century. Equally successful in the following year, with the same leading players, was Pizarro, an adaptation by R. B. Sheridan of Die Spanier in Peru. In America Kotzebue's plays, in adaptations by Dunlap, led to a vogue for melodrama which tended to eclipse more serious works and pandered to a craving for sensationalism. The best of Kotzebue's comedies is Die deutschen Kleinstadten (1803), an entertaining skit on provincialism.
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PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Kotzebue, August Friedrich Ferdinand Von." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Kotzebue, August Friedrich Ferdinand Von." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-KotzebuegstFrdrchFrdnndVn.html PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Kotzebue, August Friedrich Ferdinand Von." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-KotzebuegstFrdrchFrdnndVn.html |
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Kotzebue, August Friedrich Ferdinand Von
Kotzebue, August Friedrich Ferdinand Von (1761–1819), playwright. Hailed briefly by some of his contemporaries as the German Shakespeare, he burst upon the American scene in Dunlap's translation of his Menschenhass und Reue, here called The Stranger. The play's tremendous success not only saved Dunlap's faltering fortunes at the new Park Theatre but also initiated the vogue of theatrical romanticism. The play retained its popularity for decades, as did his Pizarro. Before Dunlap's retirement in 1805, more than a dozen of Kotzebue's plays were premiered in New York and elsewhere, their increasing sensationalism precipitating the deluge of melodrama, much as The Stranger helped open the gates to romanticism. The American titles were Lover's Vows, False Shame, The Wild Goose Chase, The Force of Calumny and The Virgin of the Sun.
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Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Kotzebue, August Friedrich Ferdinand Von." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Kotzebue, August Friedrich Ferdinand Von." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-KotzebuegstFrdrchFrdnndVn.html Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Kotzebue, August Friedrich Ferdinand Von." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-KotzebuegstFrdrchFrdnndVn.html |
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August von Kotzebue
August von Kotzebue , 1761–1819, German dramatist and politician. He wrote some 200 plays, including Menschenhass und Reue (1789, tr. The Stranger, 1798), Die Spanier in Peru; oder, Rollas Tod (1795, tr. Rolla, 1797), and Die beiden Klingsberg (1801, tr. Father and Son, 1914). His comedies and operatic librettos remained popular throughout the 19th cent. Among those who set his librettos to music were Beethoven, Schubert, and C. M. von Weber. After a stay in Russia, Kotzebue returned to Germany as an agent of Czar Alexander I. He was detested for his reactionary propaganda; his assassination at Mannheim by a student led to the suppression of German student organizations through the Carlsbad Decrees. |
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Cite this article
"August von Kotzebue." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "August von Kotzebue." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-KotzebuA.html "August von Kotzebue." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-KotzebuA.html |
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