Karl August, Freiherr von Lichtenstein

Karl August, Baron von Lichtenstein, was born in Lahm, near Kronach, on 8 September 1767, and died in Berlin on 10 September 1845. His career belongs to Germany between the late eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth, when German-language opera was making its way through the courts and provincial theatres. He composed, wrote libretti and directed theatres, a combination that was customary at the time, although his output never achieved the fame of that of his more illustrious contemporaries.

He spent his childhood in Gotha, where his father was a government official, and completed his education at Göttingen. He served for a time in the English army before entering the service of Hanover, where his opera Glück und Zufall, with a libretto of his own, premiered in 1793. In 1797 he was appointed director of the court opera at Dessau, whose new building he opened in December 1798 with Bathmendi. Alongside his administrative duties, he and his wife frequently performed in the productions. The singspiel Die steinerne Braut was well received in 1799, and one of its duets appeared in the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung.

After a season in Leipzig that was artistically successful but expensive, he settled in Vienna in 1800 as Kapellmeister and artistic director of the Hoftheater, under Baron von Braun. The revised version of Bathmendi failed in 1801. Around 1806 he left the theatre to serve as minister to the Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen, although he resumed composing from 1811 in Bamberg, where he directed the theatre from 1813. He then passed through Strasbourg and Dresden, and settled in Berlin in 1823. From 1825 he worked at the city's opera until his retirement in 1832, and he continued adapting, translating and composing works for the stage.

His legacy lies chiefly in his work as an intermediary: he wrote libretti for other authors, among them a revision of Agnes von Hohenstaufen for Spontini in 1837, and he translated or arranged nearly twenty operas by the most prominent composers of his day. Some of his scores, such as Die Edelknaben or Die deutschen Herren in Nürnberg, appear in the premiere records, although several late titles, such as Der Gluthengeist or Trübsale eines Hofbankiers, are doubtful or never reached the stage.