Charlotte Birch-Pfeiffer

Charlotte Birch-Pfeiffer: lithograph by Franz Hanfstängl

Charlotte Birch-Pfeiffer (23 June 1800(?) in Stuttgart – 25 August 1868 in Berlin) was a German actress and writer.

She was the daughter of an estate agent named Pfeiffer. She received her early training at the Munich court theatre, and in 1818 began to play leading tragic roles at various theatres. In 1825 she married the historian Christian Andreas Birch of Copenhagen, but continued to act. From 1837 to 1843 she managed the theatre at Zürich.

In 1844 she accepted an engagement at the royal theatre in Berlin, to which she remained attached until her death. Her intimate knowledge of the technical necessities of the stage fitted her for the successful dramatization of many popular novels, and her plays, adapted and original, make twenty-three volumes, Gesammelte dramatische Werke (Leip. 1863-1880). Many continued to retain the public favor. Her novels and tales, Gesammelte Novellen und Erzahlungen, were collected in three volumes (Leipzig 1863-1865).

Her daughter, Wilhelmine von Hillern, also became an actress.

Works

• Dorf und Stadt (after Berthold Auerbach)
• Der Glöckner von Notre Dame (after Victor Hugo)
• Der Goldbauer
• Die Grille (after George Sand)
• Der Herr Studiosus
• Kind des Glücks
• Steffen Langer aus Glogau oder Der holländische Kamin
• Der Leiermann und sein Pflegekind
• Mutter und Sohn
• Nacht und Morgen (after Edward Bulwer-Lytton)
• Die Waise aus Lowood

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

Persondata
Name	Birch-Pfeiffer, Charlotte
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Date of birth	1800
Place of birth
Date of death	1868
Place of death