Emanuel Schikaneder - Early Life and Family

Early Life and Family

Schikaneder was born in Straubing in Bavaria to Joseph Schickeneder and Juliana Schiessl. Both of his parents worked as domestic servants and were extremely poor. They had a total of four children: Urban (born 1746), Johann Joseph (died at age two), Emanuel (born 1751 and also originally named Johann Joseph), and Maria (born 1753). Schikaneder's father died shortly after Maria's birth, at which time his mother returned to Regensburg, making a living selling religious articles from a wooden shed adjacent to the local cathedral.

Schikaneder's wife, Eleonore, was born Maria Magdalena Arth in 1751. While the leading actress in the Schopf company, Arth married Schikaneder on 9 February 1777. He was frequently unfaithful to her; the 1779 baptismal records for Augsburg (where the company was performing) record two children born to him out of wedlock—each to different mothers. His wife played an important role in Schikaneder's career, particularly in inviting him in 1788 to join her at the Theater auf der Wieden. She died in 1821.

Two of Schikaneder's blood relatives were also his professional associates:

• Urban Schikaneder (1746–1818), a bass, was Emanuel's older brother. He was born in Regensburg on 2 November 1746, and worked for a number of years in his brother's troupe, both as a singer and in helping to administer the group. At the premiere of The Magic Flute, he sang the role of the First Priest.
• Anna Schikaneder, (1767–1862) also called "Nanny" or "Nanette", was brother Urban's daughter. At age 24 she sang the role of the First Boy in The Magic Flute.

Schikaneder's illegitimate son Franz Schikaneder (1802–1877) was a blacksmith in the service of emperor Ferdinand I of Austria.