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Louis Schneider

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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LOUIS SCHNEIDER (1805-1878), German actor and author, was born at Berlin on the 29th of April 1805, the son of George Abraham Schneider (1770-1839). At an early age he was engaged at the Royal Theatre, Berlin, where he soon rose to play leading comedy parts. His reputation as a comedian grew with his success in such roles as Zierl in the Einfahrt vom Lande, Peter in the Kapellmeister von Venedig, Schikaneder in the Schauspieldirektor and Basileo in Figaro's Hochzeit, and he became the favourite of Berlin. In 1845 he was appointed head of the Royal opera in Berlin. But his bold patriotic couplets and impromptus during the revolutionary year 1848 necessitated his retirement, and thereafter he translated and adapted for the stage Mozart's Cosi fan tutti; published, under the pseudonym "L. W. Both," Das Biihnenrepertoire des Auslandes; and founded, as a result of his experiences as a soldier in the Danish war of 1849, the periodical Der Soldatenfreund. He also wrote Geschichte der Oper and des Opernhauses in Berlin (1845-1852). Soon after his retirement he was appointed reader to King Frederick William IV. of Prussia, and subsequently he received the title of Geheimen Hofrat. He continued to enjoy the favour of the court, and, as correspondent of the Staatsanzeiger, was attached to the headquarters' staff of the Prussian army during the campaign of 1866; and, by special invitation, accompanied the emperor William during the war of 1870. Schneider also wrote a novel, Das bose Gliick, and several volumes of reminiscences: Konig Wilhelm (1869), Kaiser Wilhelm, 1867-1871 (1875). He died at Potsdam on the 6th of December 1878.

See his posthumous memoirs, Aus meinem Leben (Berlin, 1879-1880), and Aus dem Leben Kaiser Wilhelms (1888), which caused some sensation on their publication.