author
Rudolf Kneisel
1832–1899
A prolific German actor and playwright, he spent much of his life in the theater and wrote dozens of stage works, including the farce "Blindekuh," which later inspired an opera by Johann Strauss II.
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Viuluniekka : Kolmilohkoinen näytelmä
by Rudolf Kneisel
About the author
Born on May 8, 1832, Rudolf Kneisel was a German actor, dramatist, and theater director. Sources agree that he grew up in a theatrical family: his parents, Wilhelm and Mathilde Kneisel, were stage performers, and he appeared onstage at a young age.
After engagements in cities including Dresden, Altona, and Flensburg, he worked in Magdeburg as a director and dramaturg before going on to lead his own theater company from 1859. He wrote more than 50 plays, building a reputation in popular German theater of the 19th century.
Kneisel died on September 17, 1899, in Pankow, near Berlin. One of his best-known works, Blindekuh, had an afterlife beyond the spoken stage when it became the basis for Johann Strauss II's opera of the same name.