Joseph Seconda

Born in Dresden, Seconda was the younger brother of Franz Seconda, both parents were the delicatessen trader Francesco Maria Seconda (1725-1773), who came from Italy, and his wife Sophia Dorothea, née Krampe (1729-1809).

Little is known about the early years of Secona. At the age of 24 he appeared for the first time and possibly briefly at the Hamburg theatre (until summer 1785, under Johann Christian Brandes) and possibly in autumn with Catharina Opitz at the Deutsch-Sorbisches Volkstheater.

in 1786, he took over a part of the Dresden court play from Pasquale Bondini, which he directed as a headmaster until 1817. This theatre company (mainly opera company, so-called Deutsche Operngesellschaft, also Deutsche Schauspieler-Ge September sellschaft[1]) played mainly alternately in Leipzig (1788-1796, 1800-1806, 1810-1817) and Dresden (1787, 1790-1807, 1809-1816). From 1788, he worked closely with his brother Franz Seconda, who, after Bondini, took over the Dresden court theatre. Both continued the privilege of Bondini, who was allowed to play in Leipzig during the War of the Bavarian Succession as a compensation for the performances in Dresden. During the performances in Leipzig from 1807 to 1809, which were cancelled due to the war, there was a new cooperation with the Bautzen theatre, e.g. under Friedrich Nitzschke.

The company's repertoire consisted almost exclusively of operas, for example works by Luigi Cherubini, Ferdinando Paër and Mozart, such as Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro and The Abduction from the Seraglio, but also The interrupted sacrificial feast and Weber's Silvana as well as The Uncle from Amsterdam after Cimarosa. [2]

However, the Deutsche Operngesellschaft was only allowed to perform in Dresden in the small theatre outside the Schwarzen Thors at the Lincke’sches Bad. In the conflict between German and Italian opera, no musician of the Staatskapelle Dresden or the Semperoper under Francesco Morlacchi was allowed to perform with Seconda. These restrictions had the effect that the German opera did not achieve its breakthrough in Dresden until Carl Maria von Weber from 1817.[3]

In February 1813, E. T. A. Hoffmann was offered the position of music director of Seconda's troupe commuting between Leipzig and Dresden. Hoffmann had already applied for this position in 1810 when the society was reorganised. In mid-March 1813, Seconda confirmed the contract with Hoffmann, who then travelled to Dresden. At that time, however, the city was occupied by French troops and was at the centre of the War of the Bavarian Succession against Napoleon. Seconda therefore stayed in Leipzig and called Hoffmann to his home. When an armistice was declared until mid-August 1813, Seconda was finally granted a playing permit for Dresden. However, the usual venue, the Theater am Lincke'schen Bad, was located outside the entrenchments around Dresden and was reserved for performances of the Théâtre Français under French occupation. Through the mediation of his brother Franz, Joseph was therefore granted permission to play at the Dresden court theatre. There, the opera company alternated between Italians and French workss. In the winter of 1813/14, he again organised opera performances in Leipzig. When there were increasing differences with Hoffmann, Seconda already dismissed him in February 1814. In his dramatic fragment of "Blandina", Hoffmann is said to have created a portrait of Seconda.[4]

After the wars of liberation, Seconda resumed regular playing between Dresden and Leipzig, Hoffmann was followed in 1814 by Carl Friedrich Ebers as bandmaster. In 1816, Friedrich Christian Hermann Uber took over this position.[5]

When Seconda's company was dissolved in 1817, it formed the personnel basis of the Leipziger Stadttheater under director Karl Theodor von Küstner. Seconda was still working as cashier at this theatre. From 1817 to 1820, Seconda lived in Leipzig in the Am Mühlgraben house No. 1057.[6]

Seconda died in Leipzig at the age of 59.

Seconda was married three times: In the first marriage from 1782 with Benedicta Elisabeth Jenik (1745-1791), after her death in 1792 with Sophia Louise Isabella Charlotte Cordemann (1771-1795) and after her death from 1800 with Juliane Friederike Fuhrmann. The last marriage produced two daughters, who later on worked as actresses, also in the company of their father: Caroline Antonie Friederike ("Antonie", baptized on May 26, 1802 in Dresden, married on April 24, 1822 to the actor Georg Heinrich Metzner, died on June 28, 1888 in Dresden) and Sophie Dorothea Ernestina ("Sophie", baptized on October 13, 1803 in Dresden, died after 1827).

• Corinna Kirschstein: Seconda, Joseph (Josef). In Institut für Sächsische Geschichte und Volkskunde (ed.): Sächsische Biografie. editing status: August 2011. Retrieved on 14 August 2014.: August 2011. Retrieved am 14. August 2014.
• Michael Hochmuth: Joseph Secondas "Operngesellschaft". In Chronik der Dresdner Oper. vol. 4, Eigenverlag, Radebeul 2014.

• Literature by and about Joseph Seconda in the German National Library catalogue