Bäuerle, Adolf

(Otto Horn, 1786-1859)

   Playwright, journalist. Bäuerle was originally an Austrian civil servant who became a Viennese theater critic and in 1806 the editor of Wiener Allgemeine Theaterzeitung (Theater Daily of Vienna); he edited that daily newspaper until his death. Bäuerle began writing plays in 1813 and is widely credited with creating the stock Viennese character type named Staberl, whom several playwrights subsequently imitated. Bäuerle's popular comedy Staberls Hochzeit (The Marriage of Staberl) initiated a long series of Staberl plays at the Theater in der Leopoldstadt, where nearly all his plays were premiered. They often featured songs by Wenzel Müller (1767-1835) and portrayed other Viennese types in familiar Viennese locales. Bäuerle was unusually prolific, writing on average about four plays per year until 1848, when his antirevo-lutionary sentiment turned audiences against him. He continued newspaper work, but concurrently began writing a string of successful novels.