author
Paul Weidmann
1744–1801
An Austrian dramatist and civil servant from Vienna, he wrote more than 65 plays and helped shape the city’s late-18th-century theater scene. He is especially remembered for works such as Johann Faust and for librettos written for the musical stage.
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About the author
Born in Vienna on September 10, 1744, he built a dual career as a government official and a prolific man of letters. Sources describe him as an Austrian writer and dramatist, and note that he entered Austrian state service in 1767 while continuing to write for the theater.
He published and staged a large body of work, with more than 65 dramas attributed to him. His writing ranged from tragedies and comedies to librettos, and his name is often linked with Johann Faust, an early dramatic treatment of the Faust story, as well as other stage works produced in Vienna during the later 1700s.
He died in Vienna on April 9, 1801. Because his brother Joseph Weidmann was also active in the theater, the two have sometimes been confused, but Paul Weidmann stands out in his own right as a busy and important figure in Austrian literary and theatrical life of the Enlightenment era.