Birch-Pfeiffer, CHARLOTTE

Birch-Pfeiffer, CHARLOTTE, a German actress and dramatist, was born at Stuttgart in the year 1800. She made her début at Munich at the age of thirteen, and afterwards played with great success at Berlin, Vienna, and Hamburg. In 1825 she married Dr Christian Birch of Copenhagen, and in 1837, after performing at Petersburg, Pesth, Amsterdam, and other places, she undertook the management of the theatre at Zurich. At a later period, she acquired even greater renown as a writer for the stage than as an actress. In 1843 she made an engagement with the theatre-royal at Berlin, in which town she died, August 24, 1868. Madame Birch-Pfeiffer's plays attain no very high standard, but are still popular with German audiences. A complete edition of her dramatic works has been published in 23 vols. (Leip. 1863-80), and of her novels and tales in 3 vols. (1863-65).—Her daughter is the well-known novelist Wilhelmine von Hillern, whose daughter also is already a successful novelist.