Botho von Hülsen
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Botho von Hülsen (10 December 1815 – 30 September 1886) was theater manager of the Royal Prussian plays and president of the Deutscher Bühnenverein.
Contents
Life
Born in Berlin, Hülsen received his education from 1825 in the Cadet Corps in Potsdam. From there he was transferred to the 1st (Emperor Alexander) Guards Grenadiers of the Prussian Army on 5 August 1833 as fähnrich holder and advanced to second Lieutenant in February 1834. Between 1841 and 1843 he was stationed in Königsberg and got to know the actress Sophie Schröder-Devrient there among others via the theater. From 1844 he was entrusted with the performance of smaller plays for troop support in Berlin.
In March 1848, Hülsen took part in the barricade fights in Berlin and became oberleutnant and regimental adjutant at the beginning of April. In this position he was deployed during the First Schleswig War and 1849 during the suppression of the May Uprising in Dresden. In this politically difficult time (Revolution 1848/49), King Frederick William IV of Prussia appointed him Generalintendant of the court music. On 12 April 1851 Hülsen was granted his farewell with the title of Hauptmann and permission to wear the regiment uniform.
With his farewell in May 1851 he was appointed Kammerherr and successor of Karl Theodor von Küstner at king Friedrich Wilhelm IV's request Generalintendanten der Königlichen Schauspiele zu Berlin (Konzerthaus Berlin, Staatsoper Unter den Linden) and took up this office on 1st June. In 1866 Hülsen was commanded as Major and Aide-de-camp for the duration of the Austro-Prussian War to the Berlin governorate. In the same year, by royal decree, the court theatres in Kassel, Hannover and Wiesbaden were also ordered under his direction.
In 1883, Hülsen founded the "Hülsen Foundation" to support members of the ensemble in need or dire straits. During this time he also served for some time as president of the Deutscher Bühnenverein. As such he enforced the usual theatre holidays of today and was decisively involved in the abolition of interlude music.
Six weeks before his 71st birthday Hülsen died on 30 September 1886 in Berlin and was buried there.
Reception
Von Hülsen did not bring with him any prerequisites for his artistic profession. In order not to upset the court and its rather conservative attitude, he relied more on traditional classics and mostly rejected modern staging. Although as artistic director he provided again and again for splendid performances, he could often not use actors like Paula Conrad, Ludwig Dessoir, Theodor Döring, Friedrich Haase, Hermann Hendrichs or Arthur Vollmer according to their performance. Great competition arose from the regular guest performances of the Meiningen Ensemble and also against the Deutsches Theater Berlin he could hardly get along.
He reluctantly put Richard Wagner on the repertoire, to whom he added his participation in the 1848 Revolution in Dresden, which he had fought militarily; the premiere of his The Ring of the Nibelung in Berlin therefore had to be organized by Wagner himself outside the court opera. Even Verdi was hardly cared for.
Literature
- Karl Frenzel: Berliner Dramaturgie. 2 volumes. Rümpler, Hannover 1877.
- Friedrich Haase: Was ich erlebte. Bong, Berlin 1899.
- Helene von Hülsen: Unter zwei Königen. Erinnerungen an Botho von Hülsen, General-Intendant der königlichen Schauspiele; 1851-1886. Eckstein, Berlin 1889.
- Charlotte Klinger: Das königliche Schauspielhaus in Berlin unter Botho von Hülsen. 1869-1886. DThesis. Freie Universität Berlin 1954.
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- Claus von Lettow-Vorbeck: Gedenkblätter zur Rang-Liste des Kaiser Alexander Garde-Grenadier-Regiments No. 1. W. Moeser, Berlin 1899, p. 73–74.
- Max Martersteig: Das deutsche Theater im 19. Jahrhundert. Eine kulturgeschichtliche Darstellung. 2nd edition. Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig 1924.
- Paul Schlenther: Botho von Hülsen und seine Leute. Eine Jubiläumskritik über das Berliner Hofschauspiel. Gerstmann, Berlin 1883.
- Botho von Hülsen. article in: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, 4. Aufl. 1888–1890, Bd. 8, S. 783 f.
- Gothaisches genealogisches Taschenbuch der adeligen Häuser. 1901, Erster Jahrgang, [http://digital.ub.uni-duesseldorf.de/ihd/periodical/pageview/8279989 p. 438
