Friedrich Georg Leonhard Miedke, also Miedtke (January 1803 – 16 October 1842) was a German actor, singer, composer,
theatre director, painter and writer
Life
Miedke was a son of the singer and actor couple
Carl Miedke
Carl Gottfried Miedke, also Miedtke, (3 September 1773 – 4 January 1839), was a German actor, director and playwright.
Life
Miedke was born in Potsdam on 3 September 1773. His father was the ''Royal '' Gottfried Miedke at the court of Frederi ...
and
Charlotte Miedke
Charlotte Miedke, ''née'' Pfister (1781 in Mannheim – 27 October or 22 October 1806), also Miedtke, was a German singer and stage actress.
Life
At the age of 15, on 11 December 1796, she was already engaged as a soubrette in Mannheim. Furthe ...
, and was born in Nuremberg between 1 and 31 January 1803.
He was artistically active in Stuttgart, St. Gallen, Augsburg, Ulm, Regensburg, Würzburg and other places. He was considered one of the finest dramatic
baritone
A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...
s of his time, shining among others in the operas Don Juan, Figaro and Vampyr.
[Art. ''Miedke, Friedrich Georg Leonhard''. In ''Encyclopädie der gesammten musikalischen Wissenschaften oder Universal-Lexicon der Tonkunst'', vol. 4: ''Irregular passage to Morin''. Franz Heinrich Röbler publisher, Stuttgart 1837, .] He received his training in Stuttgart and then sang first in the choir until he was given smaller stage roles, which also distinguished him as an actor. In 1822 he received an engagement in Augsburg. In 1825, he took over the direction of the theatre of the city of St. Gallen, which, however, affected his private fortune so much that he secretly left Switzerland. The subsequent trial resulted in him having to spend 12 weeks in the
Hohenasperg in Württemberg. After his release, he immediately turned to the city of Würzburg in 1829, where he was given the directorship of the opera on a fixed salary, which he held until the end of 1836.
On 6 March 1834, a performance of the opera ''Faust'' by
Louis Spohr took place in Würzburg "for the benefit" of Miedke.
From 1837, he retired from the stage and settled first in
Bad Kissingen to devote himself entirely to painting;
he also ran a gallery and was active as a writer. He died in Regensburg at the age of 39.
Work
* ''Jean Dupuis und Simon Meisinger'', Faschingsposse in 2 Abtheilungen von Friedrich Miedtke. Erstaufführung am 23. Februar 1841 in Regensburg.
References
Further reading
* Artikel ''Miedke, Friedrich Georg Leonhard''. In
Gustav Schilling,
Gottfried Wilhelm Fink
Gottfried Wilhelm Fink (8 March 1783 – 27 August 1846) was a German composer, music theorist, poet, and a Protestant clergyman.
Life
From 1804 until 1808 Fink studied theology at the University of Leipzig where he joined the Corps Lusatia ...
,
Ferdinand Simon Gaßner (publisher and collaborator): ''Encyclopädie der gesammten musikalischen Wissenschaften oder Universal-Lexicon der Tonkunst'', vol. 4: ''Irregulärer Durchgang bis Morin''. Franz Heinrich Röbler publisher, Stuttgart 1837,
Numerizedat the Bayerischer Staatsbibliothek).
External links Friedrich Georg Leonhard Miedke
on ''Lexikon des Kaisertums Österreich''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miedke, Friedrich Georg Leonhard
German operatic baritones
German composers
German male stage actors
German theatre directors
1803 births
1842 deaths
Actors from Nuremberg
Male actors from Bavaria