author
Wilhelm Meyer-Förster
1862–1934
A German novelist and playwright with a gift for romantic storytelling, he is best remembered for Alt Heidelberg, the hugely popular play that later inspired The Student Prince. His path to literature ran through studies in law and art history before he settled on writing full time.
1 Audiobook
Karl Heinrich
by Wilhelm Meyer-Förster
About the author
Born in Hanover on June 12, 1862, Wilhelm Meyer-Förster was the son of a bookseller and grew up around the world of books. He studied law and later art history in Berlin, Munich, and Vienna, but chose a literary career instead. He also wrote under the name Samar Gregorow.
From 1890 to 1898 he lived in Paris, then returned to Berlin. Meyer-Förster built his reputation as both a novelist and a dramatist, but his greatest success was Alt Heidelberg (1901), a warmly nostalgic play about youth, duty, and lost happiness. Its popularity reached far beyond Germany and helped carry his name into international theater and film.
He died on March 17, 1934, in Heringsdorf. Today he is remembered above all for the lasting afterlife of Alt Heidelberg, especially through its adaptation into Sigmund Romberg's operetta The Student Prince.