Devrient, Ludwig |
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BORN 15 Dec 1784, Berlin - DIED 20 Dec 1832, Berlin GRAVE LOCATION Berlin: Französischer Friedhof, Chausseestrasse (Ehemaliges Ehrengrab) |
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Son of a silk merchant. His mother died when he was four years old. Against his wishes he was educated for commerce, but in 1804 he joined a travelling theatre company. After a while he obtained a permanent engagement in Dessau. Devrient was drinking heavily and after only a year of marriage his wife (a daughter of the composer Neefe) died. He was in deep financial debt and fled to Breslau where he was very successful. in 1809 he married the actress Friederike Schaffner. They had a son, but a divorce followed in 1819. Iffland helped him to an engagement in Berlin in 1815. He became very popular in Berlin and used to drink and philosophize with E.T.A. Hoffmann at the Weinhaus von Lutter und Wegner at the Carlottenstrasse 49 in Berlin (near the Gendarmemarkt). In 1825 ballet dancer Auguste Brandes became his third wife. His drinking habits and his nightly adventures resulted in his early death in 1832. Related persons • is uncle/aunt of Devrient, Karl August • knew Hoffmann, Ernst Theodor Amadeus • knew Iffland, August Wilhelm |
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 The grave of Ludwig Devrient at the Französischer Friedhof, Chausseestrasse, Berlin. Picture by Androom (21 Jan 2004) |
Sources • Baedeker Berlin, Baedeker Verlag, Stuttgart, 1994 • Schöne, Günter, Bühnenstars, Florian Noetzel, Wilhelmshaven, 1998 • Winkler Prins Encyclopedie (editie 1909), 1909 |
