The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Köberle, Georg

KÖBERLE, kė'bėr-lĕ, Georg, German author and dramatist; b. Nonnenhorn, on Lake Constance, 21 March 1819; d. Dresden, 7 June 1898. He studied at the Augsburg Gymnasium and then at the Collegium Germanicum, Rome, from which he ran away. He next studied philosophy and law at Munich. He went to Leipzig (1846) where he published &lsquo;Aufzeichnungen eines Jesuitenzöglings im deutschen Kolleg in Rom.&rsquo; His dramatic career commenced with his five-act play &lsquo;Die Mediceer&rsquo; (Mannheim 1849), followed by the tragedy, &lsquo;Heinrich IV von Frankreich&rsquo; (Leipzig 1851). Later came the festival play, &lsquo;Des Künstlers Weihe&rsquo;; &lsquo;Zw e ischen Himmel und Erde&rsquo;; &lsquo;George Washington&rsquo;; &lsquo;Die Heldin von Yorktown,&rsquo; etc. He was stage-manager at Heidelberg (1853-56). He wrote &lsquo;Die Theaterkrisis im neuen deutschen Reich&rsquo; (Stuttgart 1872), which led to his being appointed director of the Court Theatre at Karlsruhe the same year. He lived at Mannheim in 1873, then went to Vienna and Dresden and wrote since then the following works: &lsquo;Meine Erlebnisse als Hoftheaterdirektor&rsquo; (2d ed., Leipzig 1874); &lsquo;Berliner Leimruten und deutsche Gimpel&rsquo; (ib. 1875); &lsquo;Brennende Theaterfragen&rsquo; (Vienna 1877); &lsquo;Das Drangsal der deutschen Schaubühne&rsquo; (Dresden 1890). He also wrote the novel &lsquo;Alles um ein Nichts&rsquo; (3 vols., Leipzig 1871). The Archduke of Baden allowed him a pension of 5,000 marks annually.