Eduard Devrient

He was born and studied in Berlin and performed in a number of German opera houses between 1819 and 1834, when he lost his singing voice and turned his attention to writing and acting.

As a singer, he performed in works by Gluck, Mozart, Beethoven and Weber, among others, and sang in the première of Marschner's Hans Heiling (in the title-role; Devrient also wrote its libretto).

He wrote a number of plays and two other opera librettos, Die Kirmes and Der Zigeuner, both set by Wilhelm Taubert.

In Karlsruhe, in the course of seventeen years, he not only raised it to a high position, but enriched its repertory by many noteworthy librettos.

But his chief work is his history of the German stage, Geschichte der deutschen Schauspielkunst (Leipzig, 1848-1874).