DINGELSTEDT, FRANZ

(1814-1881)

   Director, intendant. Dingel-stedt is best known as a Shakespearean director both in Munich and in Vienna, though he began his career as a journalist and man of letters. He lost several editorial positions at newspapers due to frequent clashes with political authorities, but by 1846 he had become dramaturg at the Stuttgart Court Theater. In 1851 he was named intendant of the Munich Court Theaters and soon thereafter the king of Bavaria raised him to the aristocracy. In 1854 Dingelstedt attempted to create elaborate productions of Shakespeare's chronicle plays in Munich, casting the best actors then working. The results were a failure, but by 1857 he became intendant of the Weimar Court Theaters. In 1864 Dingelstedt staged a widely acclaimed cycle of Shakespeare's plays and helped to found the German Shakespeare Society. He became director of the Burgtheater in 1871.