Carl Gottfried Miedke, also Miedtke,[1] (3 September 1773[2] – 4 January 1839), was a German actor, director and playwright.
Miedke was born in Potsdam on 3 September 1773. His father was the Royal KüchenschreiberFrederick the Great,[3] the mother was Albertina Charlotta Kaebelizzen or Kaebelitz. He was active on the stage from the age of 18 and was married in his first marriage to the actress and singer Charlotte Miedke, née Pfister (1781 in Mannheim - 22 October 1806 in Stuttgart).[4] There were three children from this marriage:
Gottfried Miedke at the court ofIn his second marriage, he was married from 3 March 1810 to Wilhelmine Aschenbrenner (1791 - after 1834), who was active as an actress in Stuttgart, Leipzig, Darmstadt among others and who was portrayed in 1834 by the painter Otto Stotz (1805-1873).
Miedke died in 1839 as a retired court actor in Stuttgart at the age of 65.[7]
Together with his first wife Charlotte, who among others also gave guest performances in Erlangen, he was engaged by the Augsburg Fuggersche Gesellschaft under Ferdinand Kindler in Nuremberg in 1798 and at the Nuremberg Theatre from 1798 to 1801.[8][9] In 1805, he moved with his wife from Nuremberg to the Court Theatre in Stuttgart, where he appeared among others in Schiller's Don Carlos as Posa[10] and on 16 March 1823 appeared as Samiel in der Freischütz.[11] Guest appearances at the Würzburg theatre are documented for 1834.
Wilhelm Waiblinger, with whom he was a friend, took declamation lessons from him and praised Miedke's acting and his high level of knowledge. However, Miedke's acquaintance with the Stuttgart court singer Krebs caused Waiblinger to distance himself from Miedke (according to the diary entry of 18 September 1822); however, further contacts are documented until 1826.[12]