author
Wilhelm Meyer-Förster
1862–1934
Best remembered for the enormously successful play Alt-Heidelberg, this German novelist and playwright helped shape popular romantic theater at the turn of the 20th century. His work later reached even wider audiences through film adaptations and the operetta The Student Prince.
1 Audiobook
Karl Heinrich
by Wilhelm Meyer-Förster
About the author
Born in Hanover on June 12, 1862, he was the son of a bookseller and first studied law before turning to art history and then to literature. He also wrote under the name Samar Gregorow, building a career as both a novelist and a dramatist.
His best-known work is Alt-Heidelberg (1901), a sentimental and very successful stage play that grew out of his earlier novel Karl Heinrich. The story's popularity lasted well beyond its first productions, inspiring several screen versions and, most famously, Sigmund Romberg's operetta The Student Prince.
Meyer-Förster spent part of his career in Paris and later lived in Berlin. He died on March 17, 1934, and is generally identified as having died in Heringsdorf.