Antonie "Toni" Adamberger (31 December 1790 – 25 December 1867) was an
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
n
stage actress
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lite ...
.
Biography
Born to the tenor
Valentin Adamberger
Valentin Adamberger, also known by his Italian name Adamonti, (22 February 1740 or 6 July 174324 August 1804) was a German operatic tenor. His voice was universally admired for its pliancy, agility, and precision, and several composers of note, su ...
and the actress
Maria Anna Jacquet, she was raised after the death of her parents by the poet
Heinrich Joseph von Collin
Heinrich Joseph von Collin (1771–1811), Austrian dramatist, was born in Vienna, on 26 December 1771. He received a legal education and entered the Austrian ministry of finance where he found speedy promotion. In 1805 and in 1809, when Austria wa ...
. Debuting at the age of sixteen on
New Year's Day
New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...
1807 at the ''
Burgtheater
The Burgtheater (literally:"Castle Theater" but alternatively translated as "(Imperial) Court Theater"), originally known as '' K.K. Theater an der Burg'', then until 1918 as the ''K.K. Hofburgtheater'', is the national theater of Austria in Vi ...
'', she was immediately engaged as a Court Actress
[Stein, S. 1.] and "straightway found great acclaim as an ''
ingénue
The ''ingénue'' (, , ) is a stock character in literature, film and a role type in the theater, generally a girl or a young woman, who is endearingly innocent. ''Ingénue'' may also refer to a new young actress or one typecast in such role ...
'', in both sentimental and some tragic parts."
[ Antonie Adamberger quickly became the darling of the Viennese public, displaying her abilities as Beatrice in '']The Bride of Messina
''The Bride of Messina'' (german: Die Braut von Messina, ) is a tragedy by Friedrich Schiller; it premiered on 19 March 1803 in Weimar. It is one of the most controversial works by Schiller, due to his use of elements from Greek tragedies (which ...
'' and also as Desdemona
Desdemona () is a character in William Shakespeare's play ''Othello'' (c. 1601–1604). Shakespeare's Desdemona is a Venetian beauty who enrages and disappoints her father, a Venetian senator, when she elopes with Othello, a Moorish Venetian ...
and Emilia Galotti
''Emilia Galotti'' () is a play in five acts by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781), which premiered on 8 March 1772 in Brunswick ("Braunschweig" in German). The work is a classic example of German '' bürgerliches Trauerspiel'' (bourgeois ...
.
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
composed Klärchen's songs "''Die Trommel gerühret''" ("The drum is a-stirring") and "''Freudvoll und leidvoll''" ("Joyful and woeful") (first introduced at the ''Burgtheater'' on June 15, 1810) in his incidental music
Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as t ...
for Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as treat ...
's '' Egmont'' with Adamberger specifically in mind. She would later repeatedly and enthusiastically recall her collaboration with him.[Kopitz, Klaus Martin, and Cadenbach, Rainer (Eds.). ''Beethoven aus der Sicht seiner Zeitgenossen'' ("Beethoven in the View of his Contemporaries"). Munich 2009, Vol. 1, pp. 3–5.]
In 1812 Theodor Körner was employed as a principal author for the ''Burgtheater''. Adamberger saw him for the first time at a rehearsal for his comic piece, ''Der grüne Domino'' ("The Green Domino
Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces, commonly known as dominoes. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ''ends''. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also c ...
").[ In the same year she and the poet were betrothed. In February 1812, Körner write his drama ''Toni'', in which his ''fiancée'' later undertook the leading part. Antonie Adamberger belonged to the circle of the Austrian novelist ]Karoline Pichler
Caroline Pichler, also spelled Karoline, (7 September 1769 – 9 July 1843) was an Austrian historical novelist.
Life
She was born in Vienna to Hofrat Franz Sales von Greiner (1730–1798) and his wife Charlotte, née Hieronymus (1739–1815). ...
, who later wrote of her appearance in ''Toni'':
Until his death in 1813 Körner wrote numerous poems to her, particularly directing to her his tragedy ''Zriny'' after her success in ''Toni''.
In 1817, some years after the poet's untimely death, Adamberger abandoned the stage and married the antiquary
An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...
and numismatist
A numismatist is a specialist in numismatics ("of coins"; from Late Latin ''numismatis'', genitive of ''numisma''). Numismatists include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholars who use coins and other currency in object-based research. Altho ...
Joseph Calasanza von Arneth
Joseph Calasanza, Ritter von Arneth (12 August 1791 – 31 October 1863) was an Austrian numismatist and archæologist, born at Leopoldschlag, Upper Austria. He became custodian of the Cabinet of Coins and Antiquities in Vienna, and director o ...
. Two years later their son Alfred von Arneth
Alfred Ritter von Arneth (10 July 181930 July 1897) was an Austrian historian. His principal scholarly work is a ten-volume biography of the House of Habsburg, Habsburg Empress Maria Theresa, first published in installments from 1863 to 1879 and ...
was born. In 1820 Antonie became Reader to the Empress Caroline Augusta. In 1832 Adamberger was named Directress of the ''Karolinestift'', an institute for the raising of soldiers' daughters.
Antonie Adamberger died in Vienna in 1867. Her body lies in a "distinguished grave" (''Ehrengrab'') in the Vienna Central Cemetery
The Vienna Central Cemetery (german: Wiener Zentralfriedhof) is one of the largest cemeteries in the world by number of interred, and is the most well-known cemetery among Vienna's nearly 50 cemeteries. The cemetery's name is descriptive of its ...
(Group 14 A, Number 49).
''Circa'' 1805 Joseph Hickel painted a portrait of Adamberger, from which Johann Maria Monsomo produced a miniature
A miniature is a small-scale reproduction, or a small version. It may refer to:
* Portrait miniature, a miniature portrait painting
* Miniature art, miniature painting, engraving and sculpture
* Miniature (chess), a masterful chess game or probl ...
of her.
In 1894 a street in Vienna in the Leopoldstadt
Leopoldstadt (; bar, Leopoidstod, "Leopold-Town") is the 2nd municipal district of Vienna (german: 2. Bezirk) in Austria. there are 103,233 inhabitants over . It is situated in the heart of the city and, together with Brigittenau (20th distr ...
district (District 2) was named the ''Adambergergasse'' after her. The ''Arnethgasse'' in the Ottakring
Ottakring () is the 16th District in the city of Vienna, Austria (german: 16. Bezirk, Ottakring). It is located west of the central districts, north of Penzing and south of Hernals. Ottakring has some heavily populated urban areas with many resid ...
district (District 16) was named after her husband.
Bibliography
* Hartl, Gerta: ''Arabesken des Lebens. Die Schauspielerin Toni Adamberger'' ("Arabesques of Life: Toni Adamberger the Actress"). Styria, Graz ''i.a.'' 1963.
* Jaden, Hans K. von. ''Theodor Körner und seine Braut'' ("Theodor Körner and His Bride"). Hauschild, Dresden 1896.
* Stein, Philipp. ''Deutsche Schauspieler: 2. Das XIX. Jahrhundert bis Anfang der vierziger Jahre'' ("German Actors: Vol. 2. The 19th Century to the Beginning of the 1840s"). ''Gesellschaft für Theatergeschichte'' ("Association for the History of the Theater"), Berlin 1908, p. 1.
* Zimmer, Hans. ''Theodor Körners Braut. Ein Lebens- und Charakterbild Antonie Adambergers'' ("Theodor Körner's Bride: A Biographical and Character Portrait of Antonie Adamberger"). Greiner & Pfeiffer, Stuttgart 1918.
Notes
External links
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Adamberger, Antonie
in Constant von Wurzbach
Constantin Wurzbach Ritter von Tannenberg (11 April 1818 – 17 August 1893) was an Austrian biographer, lexicographer and author.
Biography
He was born in Laibach, Carniola (present-day Ljubljana, Slovenia).He later went on to complete a co ...
, ''Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich'', 1. Band, Seite 5, k.k.Hof-und Staatsdruckerei Wien 1856.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adamberger, Antonie
1790 births
1867 deaths
19th-century Austrian actresses
Austrian stage actresses