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Ludwig Heinrich Christian Geyer (21 January 1779 – 30 September 1821) was a German actor, playwright, and painter.

Life and career

Born in Eisleben, he was the stepfather of composer Richard Wagner, whose biological father had died some six months after his birth. According to Wagner's biographer Glasenapp, Geyer married Wagner's mother Johanna Rosine (née Pätz) after Wagner's birth; for his first few years Richard went under the surname Geyer. However it is possible that Geyer and Johanna did not marry legally, as no record of the marriage has been found.[1]

In his 'Autobiographic Sketch' Wagner describes him as 'a comedian and a painter; he was also the author of a few stage plays, of which one, ... The Slaughter of the Innocents, had a certain success'. On his deathbed, according to Wagner, Geyer asked his mother 'has he perchance a talent for music?'.[2]

Geyer grew up in Artern and attended gymnasium in Eisleben. He started studying jurisprudence at the University of Leipzig but had to quit in 1799 when his father died after an accident. Geyer turned his hobby to his profession and earned the living expenses for his family by selling small portrait paintings.

In 1801 he came back to Leipzig where he met Friedrich Wagner who cared for him like a father. It was at his advice that Geyer went to the stage. He performed in little theaters in towns such as Magdeburg, Braunschweig, Stettin and Breslau. In Magdeburg he became a Freemason.[3] In 1809 Geyer joined the well known Secondasche Gesellschaft in Leipzig, whose members were given the rank of court actors.

Friedrich Wagner died after the Battle of Leipzig of typhus and Geyer married his widow. In 1814 his theatre company became part of the royal ensemble in Dresden where he made a friendship with Carl Maria von Weber. In 1815, Geyer's daughter Augusta Cäcilie was born, who later married the publisher Eduard Avenarius and was the mother of Richard Avenarius and Ferdinand Avenarius.

Later in life, in the course of preparing his autobiography, Mein Leben, Wagner received from his sister Cäcilie a cache of letters written by Geyer that led him to believe that Geyer was his biological father, and possibly (and incorrectly) to believe that Geyer was Jewish;[4] the correspondence was subsequently lost or, some have suggested, destroyed by Wagner.[5][6] Geyer's relation to Wagner was one of several controversies surrounding the composer during his lifetime and afterward.

See also

• List of German painters

Notes

Sources

• Gutman, Robert W. (1990), Richard Wagner: The Man, his Mind and his Music, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Jovanovich ISBN 978-0-15-677615-8

External links

• An article that relates Ludwig Geyer to Richard Wagner
• My life By Richard Wagner, Andrew Gray, Mary Whittall
• Meixner, Elisabeth (1964), "Geyer, Ludwig Heinrich Christian", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 6, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 359–360
• Geyer in Dresden

На других языках

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[de] Ludwig Geyer (Maler)

Ludwig Heinrich Christian Geyer (* 21. Januar 1779 in Eisleben; † 30. September 1821 in Dresden) war ein deutscher Porträtmaler, Schriftsteller und Schauspieler. Er heiratete die verwitwete Mutter von Richard Wagner. Ihre gemeinsame Tochter Cäcilie (* 26. Februar 1815 in Dresden; † 14. Mai 1893 ebenda)[1] war die Halbschwester von Richard Wagner und Mutter von Ferdinand Avenarius.

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- [en] Ludwig Geyer

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[fr] Ludwig Geyer (acteur)

Ludwig Geyer, né le 21 janvier 1779 à Eisleben en comté de Mansfeld et mort le 30 septembre 1821 à Dresde, était le beau-père du compositeur Richard Wagner, dont le père biologique Friedrich Wagner était décédé six mois après sa naissance. Les biographes de Wagner mentionnent que Geyer a probablement épousé la mère de Wagner, Johanna Rosine (née Pätz), peu après, de sorte que le premier nom de famille de Richard a été Geyer jusqu'au décès de son beau-père.

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[it] Ludwig Geyer

Ludwig Geyer (Eisleben, 1779 – Dresda, 30 settembre 1821) è stato un attore, poeta e pittore tedesco.

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