Karl von Holtei

Karl von Holtei (born Jan. 24, 1798, Breslau, Silesia—died Feb. 12, 1880, Breslau) was an author who achieved success by his “vaudevilles,” or ballad operas, and by his recitations.

Holtei led a varied and unsettled life, travelling between Hamburg, Paris, and Graz as a playwright, actor, and theatre manager, a life vividly described in his autobiography, Vierzig Jahre (1843–50; “Forty Years”). Two of his best plays, Der Alte Freiherr (1825; “The Old Baron”) and Lenore (1829), a dramatization of Gottfried August Bürger’s poem, achieved great popularity. Also successful were his Schlesische Gedichte (1830; “Silesian Poems”), written in his native dialect. He also wrote novels, including Die Vagabunden (1851; “The Vagabonds”) and Der letzte Komödiant (1863; “The Last Comedian”), that are interesting when they draw on his own experience but suffer from loose construction and superficial characterization. As a reciter he was unequalled, especially in his interpretation of speeches from Shakespeare. After 1850 he grew tired of his wandering and settled in Graz until 1864, when he moved to Breslau; he entered a monastery in 1876.