CHRONEGK, LUDWIG

CHRONEGK, LUDWIG (1837–1890), German actor and stage director of the Meiningen Court Theater, Weimar. Chronegk was born at Brandenburg on the Havel. At the age of 18 he went to Paris to study and returned a year later, in 1856, to Berlin. After graduating he started acting in Liegnitz, Goerlitz, Hamburg, and Leipzig. In 1866 Chronegk joined the Meiningers, headed the company from 1872, and introduced through it new and unorthodox ideas. Although attacked at first for his use of realism, his approach was ultimately adopted throughout the German theater. Under his direction the Meiningers performed brilliantly as an ensemble but were criticized for neglect of individual characterization. The troupe first played in Berlin in 1874 and in London in 1881. (Noam Zadoff (2nd ed.)