Friederike Margarethe Vohs, ''née'' Friederike Margarethe Porth (1777 – 10 June 1860) was a German actress and operatic

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

Life

Born in

Halberstadt Halberstadt ( Eastphalian: ''Halverstidde'') is a town in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, the capital of Harz district. Located north of the Harz mountain range, it is known for its old town center that was greatly destroyed by Allied bombi ...

, Porth came with her parents to the theater in

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

in 1793 where she married the actor

Heinrich Vohs Johann Heinrich Andreas Vohs (probably 16 March 1763 in Kleve – 16 July 1804 in Stuttgart) was a German actor and singer. Life From 1787 Vohs belonged to the touring troupe of Christian Wilhelm Klos, who played in the Rhineland, and from 1789 ...

on 29 June 1793. With him she had five children. Vohs was the first actress to impersonate the title role in Schiller's drama ''Maria Stuart'' in the world

premiere A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition. A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its first ...

on 14 June 1800 at the

Deutsches Nationaltheater and Staatskapelle Weimar The (DNT) is a German theatre and musical organisation based in Weimar. It is a twin institution, consisting of the theatrical (German National Theatre, now solely based in Weimar) and the symphony orchestra known as the . It has a total of s ...

. She was also the first Thekla in Schiller's ''Wallenstein'' in

Bad Lauchstädt (until 1925 ''Lauchstädt''), officially Goethestadt Bad Lauchstädt, is a town in the district Saalekreis, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, 13 km southwest of Halle. Population 8,781 (2020). Lauchstädt was a popular watering-place in the 18th ce ...

. Further roles she created were Kreusa in ''Ion'' by

August Wilhelm Schlegel August Wilhelm (after 1812: von) Schlegel (; 8 September 176712 May 1845), usually cited as August Schlegel, was a German poet, translator and critic, and with his brother Friedrich Schlegel the leading influence within Jena Romanticism. His trans ...

in 1801, Turandot in the eponymous drama by Schiller as well as Iphigenie in Goethe's drama ''

Iphigenia in Tauris ''Iphigenia in Tauris'' ( grc, Ἰφιγένεια ἐν Ταύροις, ''Iphigeneia en Taurois'') is a drama by the playwright Euripides, written between 414 BC and 412 BC. It has much in common with another of Euripides's plays, ''Helen'', as w ...

'', namely in the new production of 1802. Thanks to her singing talent she also found recognition in opera roles, but went with her husband to

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

in 1802. As his widow she became the mother of an illegitimate daughter of the

Prince Paul of Württemberg Prince Paul of Württemberg (Paul Heinrich Karl Friedrich August; 19 January 1785 – 16 April 1852) was the fourth child and second son of King Frederick I and his wife, Duchess Augusta of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Early life Paul was born in St ...

in 1805. Through this daughter, Karoline, Vohs is an ancestor of British Prime Minister

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

. She became a member of the Vienna Hoftheater in 1808, was engaged in Frankfurt from 1805 to 1817 and at the Morettisches Opernhaus from 1818 to 1839. In 1818 she married in second marriage the Dresden court actor Friedrich August Werdy (1770–1847). A portrait previously thought to be of Goethe's wife

Christiane Vulpius Johanna Christiana Sophie Vulpius von Goethe (1 June 1765 – 6 June 1816) was the longtime lover and later wife of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Biography Vulpius spent her childhood in ''Luthergasse'', one of the oldest parts of Weimar. Her pat ...

, a chalk drawing by

Friedrich Bury Friedrich (Fritz) Bury (12 March 1763 – 18 May 1823) was a German artist born in Hanau. He studied first under his father Jean Jacques Bury, who was a goldsmith and professor in the Academy of Design in Hanau, and then with Johann Heinrich W ...

from the year 1800, in fact shows Friederike Vohs. Vohs died in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Vohs, Friederike German stage actresses German operatic sopranos 1777 births 1860 deaths People from Halberstadt

Life

Further reading

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