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 The grave of Anton Genast at the Friedhof vor dem Frauenturm, Weimar. Picture by Androom (05 Feb 2005) |
Genast, Anton |
| ACTOR, SINGER, COMPOSER (GERMANY) |
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BORN 1763, Trachtenberg, Silesia (now: Zmigród) - DIED 4 Mar 1831, Weimar, Thüringen BIRTH NAME Kynast, Anton GRAVE LOCATION Weimar, Thüringen: Historischer Friedhof, Poseckscher Garten (eastern wall) |
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Against his will, Anton Kynast was sent to the Jesuit school in Cracow to become a priest. When he was twenty years old he returned to his native Trachtenberg. This made his father furious and he fled to Breslau to become an actor. After the theatre turned him down he joined a group of travelling actors, starting to use the name Genast. In 1786 he came to the attention of Karl Friedrich Wahr, the director of the German theatre in Prague. Wahr gave him acting lessons and he was also in contact with the singers of the Italian Opera in Prague. At some point the singer Bassi introduced him to Mozart. His good resulted in tenor parts in Prague. In 1791 he was engaged in Weimar. After a few years in Weimar he became a director at the Hoftheater that was managed by Goethe at the time. Both Goethe and Schiller was impressed with his work. He continued working at the Hoftheater until his retirement in 1817. His own son Eduard Genast became a successful actor as well. Family • Son: Genast, Eduard Events |
| 12/1/1798 | Premiere of Friedrich Schiller's "Wallensteins Lager" at the Hoftheater in Weimar. It was the first part of the Wallenstein trilogy and it was performed on the occation of the opening of the converted Court Theatre in Weimar. Goethe was the director. Anton Genast played the Kapuziner. [Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von][Schiller, Friedrich von] |
| Images |
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The grave of Anton Genast at the Friedhof vor dem Frauenturm, Weimar. Picture by Androom (05 Feb 2005) |
Sources • Dressler, Roland & Jochen Klauss, Weimarer Friedhöfe, Böhlau Verlag, Weimar, 1996 • Anton Genast – Wikipedia • Wallenstein (Schiller) – Wikipedia |
