ACKERMANN, KONRAD ERNST

(1712-1771)

Actor, manager. One of the founders of professional German theater practice, Ackermann was a superb comic actor who specialized in Molière and Holberg characters. Ackermann began withJohann FriedrichSchönemann's troupe and later led his own company throughout Europe for three decades. The Prussian government in 1753 awarded him the unprecedented concession of building his own 800-seat facility in Königsberg, the first private playhouse in Germany. He premieredGotthold EphraimLessing'sMiss Sara Sampsonin 1755 and thereafter worked in close collaboration with the playwright, creating the role of Major Tellheim inMinna von Barnhelmand staging other Lessing premieres. InHamburghe opened the Komödienhaus, where Lessing served asdramaturg(though not for Ackermann) and for which he wrote hisHamburgische Dramaturgie(Hamburg Dramaturgy) in 1767. Ackermann continued to tour for the rest of his life, attracting many of Germany's finest actors to his troupe. Among them were his daughters, Dorothea Ackermann (1752-1821), known for the title role in Lessing'sMinna von Barnhelmand as Countess Orsina inEmilia Galotti, and his younger daughter Charlotte Ackermann (1757-1775), best known for the title role inEmilia Galotti.