Devrient, Eduard (EN)

Devrient Philipp Eduard, *11 August 1801 Berlin, †4 October 1877 Karlsruhe, German baritone singer, actor, director, and music writer. He studied under C.F. Zelter at the SingAkademie in Berlin; he made his debut in 1819 and was associated for many years with the Königliche Oper in Berlin. In 1829 he sang the role of Christ in the famous performance of J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion conducted by F. Mendelssohn. He authored libretti and performed the title role in the premiere of H.A. Marschner’s opera Hans Heiling. After losing his vocal abilities, from 1834 he performed as an actor; in 1844–46 he served as director of the Hoftheater in Dresden, and from 1852 to 1869 he was director of the theater in Karlsruhe. He wrote several works on the history of theater in Germany.

Literature: Eduard Devrient. Aus seinen Tagebüchern, 2 vols., ed. R. Kabel, Weimar 1964; correspondence between E. Devrient and J. Rietz, ed. P.A. Mehrbach, “Archiv für Musikwissenschaft” III, 1921; Eduard Devrient und Therese Deorient, Briefwechsel, ed. H. Devrient, Munich 1922; J. Bab Die Devrients, Berlin 1932.