Karl Friedrich Cerf (27 February 1771, Unter-Eisenheim-on-the-

Main Main may refer to: Geography * Main River (disambiguation) **Most commonly the Main (river) in Germany * Main, Iran, a village in Fars Province *"Spanish Main", the Caribbean coasts of mainland Spanish territories in the 16th and 17th centuries ...

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Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

- 6 November 1845,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

) was a

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theatrical manager. Cerf was born

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

but embraced Christianity when very young. He had to support his father's family when only 17 years old. After having been engaged for many years in the

horse trade Horse trade may refer to: *Horse Trade Theater Group *Horse trading Horse trading, in its literal sense, is the buying and selling of horses, also called "horse dealing". Due to the difficulties in evaluating the merits of a horse offered for s ...

Dessau Dessau is a town and former municipality in Germany at the confluence of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the '' Bundesland'' (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it has been part of the newly created municipality of Dessau-Roßlau ...

, he rose to the post of chief military agent, and in this capacity took part in the campaign of 1813-15, under Count

Peter Wittgenstein , title = 1st Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Ludwigsburg-Berleburg , image = Pjotr-christianowitsch-wittgenstein.jpg , image_size = , caption = Portrait by George Dawe , birth_date = , birth_place = Pereias ...

, general of the

Imperial Russian army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...

. The courage and fidelity displayed by Cerf won for him the favor of Emperor

Alexander I Alexander I may refer to: * Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon 495–454 BC * Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus * Pope Alexander I (died 115), early bishop of Rome * Pope Alexander I of Alexandria (died 320s), patriarch of ...

, who conferred on him a gold medal. Cerf then settled at Berlin, and in 1822 obtained from

Friedrich Wilhelm III Frederick William III (german: Friedrich Wilhelm III.; 3 August 1770 – 7 June 1840) was King of Prussia from 16 November 1797 until his death in 1840. He was concurrently Elector of Brandenburg in the Holy Roman Empire until 6 August 1806, wh ...

a perpetual grant for the erection of the ''

Königsstädtisches Theater Königsstädtisches Theater was the name of different theater buildings in Berlin in the 19th and 20th century. The first Königsstädtisches Theater was built by Carl Theodor Ottmer in , a former settlement neighboring Berlin that is today par ...

''. The theater opened on 4 August 1824 in the street ''Alexanderstraße''. It was devoted to French comedy and

Italian opera Italian opera is both the art of opera in Italy and opera in the Italian language. Opera was born in Italy around the year 1600 and Italian opera has continued to play a dominant role in the history of the form until the present day. Many famous ...

. Cerf managed it until his death. His son Rudolf Cerf was also a Berlin theater owner and manager, inheriting the theater concession from his father. On 12 October 1852 he opened the '' Neues Königstädtisches Theater''. In 1855 he also opened the '' Königstädtisches Vaudeville-Theater''."Berlin im Jahre 1855"
/ref>

References

Bibliography

* ''

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB, german: Universal German Biography) is one of the most important and comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language. It was published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Aca ...

'', iv. 89 * J. F. A. de Le Roi, ''Geschichte der Evangelischen Juden-Mission'', p. 249

External links

* The Königsstädtisches Theater at the German Wikipedia
The Neues Königstädtisches Theater
with a photo
Karl Friedrich Cerf
o
Messianic Judaism Wiki
German theatre managers and producers Businesspeople from the Holy Roman Empire People from Würzburg (district) Converts to Christianity from Judaism 18th-century German Jews 1771 births 1845 deaths {{theat-bio-stub