Karl Friedrich Cerf was a German

Germans

The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

 theatrical manager.

Cerf was born Jewish but embraced Christianity when very young. He had to support his father's family when only 17 years old. After having been engaged for many years in the horse trade

Horse trading

In the original sense, Horse trading is the buying and selling of horses, also called "Horse Dealing". Due to the difficulties in evaluating the merits of a horse offered for sale, the selling of horses offered great opportunities for dishonesty...

 at Dessau

Dessau

Dessau is a town in Germany on the junction of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it is part of the merged town Dessau-Roßlau. Population of Dessau proper: 77,973 .-Geography:...

, he rose to the post of chief military agent, and in this capacity took part in the campaign of 1813-15, under Count Peter Wittgenstein

Peter Wittgenstein

Ludwig Adolph Peter, Prince Wittgenstein was a Russian Field Marshal distinguished for his services in the Napoleonic wars.-Life:...

, general of the Imperial Russian army

Imperial Russian Army

The Imperial Russian Army was the land armed force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian army consisted of around 938,731 regular soldiers and 245,850 irregulars . Until the time of military reform of Dmitry Milyutin in...

. The courage and fidelity displayed by Cerf won for him the favor of Emperor Alexander I

Alexander I of Russia

Alexander I of Russia , served as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and the first Russian King of Poland from 1815 to 1825. He was also the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania....

, who conferred on him a gold medal.

Cerf then settled at Berlin, and in 1822 obtained from Friedrich Wilhelm III a perpetual grant for the erection of the Königsstädtisches Theater. The theater opened on August 4, 1824 in the street Alexanderstraße. It was devoted to French comedy and Italian opera

Italian opera

Italian opera is both the art of opera in Italy and opera in the Italian language. Opera was born in Italy around the year 1600 and Italian opera has continued to play a dominant role in the history of the form until the present day. Many famous operas in Italian were written by foreign composers,...

. Cerf managed it until his death.

His son Rudolf Cerf was also a Berlin theater owner and manager, inheriting the theater concession from his father. On October 12, 1852 he opened the Neues Königstädtisches Theater. In 1855 he also opened the Königstädtisches Vaudeville-Theater.

External links

• The Königsstädtisches Theater at the German Wikipedia
• The Neues Königstädtisches Theater with a photo
• Karl Friedrich Cerf on Messianic Judaism Wiki