Josefine Gallmeyer

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Josefine Gallmeyer, photo by Friedrich Wendling
Bust of Josefine Gallmeyer on her tombstone
Josefine Gallmeyer's grave

Josefine Gallmeyer (27 February 1838 in Leipzig – 3 February 1884 in Vienna) was an Austrian actress and theatre director of German origin.

Life[]

Josefine Gallmeyer was the illegitimate daughter of the actress  [de]; her father was the opera singer Michael Greiner. In 1842 she took the name of her stepfather, Christian Gallmeyer.

At the age of 15, Gallmeyer made her debut at the City Theatre in Brno in 1853. From there she was engaged at the United German Theatres in Budapest. This contract was terminated without notice after only a short time because of insubordination and insubordination.

Back in Brno, she increasingly appeared as a parodist and was discovered by Johann Nepomuk Nestroy in 1856. He brought her to the Theater in der Josefstadt in Vienna in 1856. The collaboration turned out to be very unpleasant and Gallmeyer went back to Brno.

In addition to performances in Brno, she also made guest appearances in Hermannstadt and Temesvár. The director there, Friedrich Strampfer, engaged her for his house and also got her a tour to Germany. She gave a guest performance at the Victoria Theatre in Berlin and at the Court Theatre in Dresden, but because of her choleric behaviour it remained only one performance.

When took over the Theater an der Wien in 1862, he brought Gallmeyer to Vienna. Gallmeyer finally achieved her breakthrough with the farces of and .

In 1865, she moved to the Carltheater. Jacques Offenbach, from whom she expected a role, refused to write even one line for her. From 1875, she directed the Strampfer-Theater together with the writer Julius Rosen, but it had to close in 1884 because of insolvency.

From 1882 to 1883, she managed to rehabilitate herself with a tour of the US. She then performed alternately at the Theater an der Wien, Carltheater, Hamburg, Berlin and Graz.

Characteristic and almost proverbial were her countless affairs and her extravagance. At times Gallmeyer was considered very wealthy, but due to her immense charity she was impoverished when she died in Vienna on 3 February 1884 at the age of 46.

Her grave of honour is in the Vienna Central Cemetery (group 32 A, number 17). In 1928, Gallmeyergasse was named after her in Vienna-Döbling (19th district).

Some roles[]

Josefine Gallmeyer
Josefine Gallmeyer

Bibliography[]

  • Constantin von Wurzbach: Gallmeyer, Josephine. In Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich. 28. Theil. Kaiserlich-königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1874, p. 340
  • Adolph Kohut: Die größten und berühmtesten deutschen Soubretten des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. Mit ungedruckten Briefen von Josephine Gallmeyer, Marie Geistinger, Ottilie Genée. Bagel, Düsseldorf 1890, 1885.
  • Ludwig Eisenberg: Großes biographisches Lexikon der Deutschen Bühne im XIX. Jahrhundert. Published by Paul List, Leipzig 1903, p. 303, (Josephine Gallmeyer on Literature.at.
  • Hermann Arthur Lier (1906), "Gallmeyer, Josephine", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB) (in German), 51, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 739–742
  • E. Döbler: Josefine Gallmeyer. Thesis, University of Vienna 1935.
  • Eduard P. Danzky: Die Gallmeyer: der Roman ihres Lebens. Wancura, Wien 1953.
  • Blanka Glossy: Josefine Gallmeyer. Wiens größte Volksschauspielerin. Waldhein-Eberle, Vienna 1954.
  • "Gallmeyer Josephine". In: Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Vol. 1, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1957, p. 395 f. (Direct links to "p. 395", "p. 396")
  • Gertrud Doublier (1964), "Gallmeyer, Josephine", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German), 6, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 53–54; (full text online)
Press reports

External links[]

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