View source for Ellen Franz

{{use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{no footnotes|date=November 2018}}
{{Infobox royalty
| title           =Helene<br>Freifrau von Heldburg
| image           =Ellen Franz, spätere Helene Freifrau von Heldburg, Gemälde von Oskar Begas um 1870.jpg
| caption         =Portrait by [[Oskar Begas]], 1870
| spouse          ={{marriage|[[Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen]]<br>|18 March 1873|25 June 1914|end=d.}}
| father          =Hermann Franz
| mother          =Sarah Grant
| birth_date      ={{birth date|1839|5|30|df=y}}
| birth_place     =[[Naumburg]]
| death_date      ={{death date and age|1923|3|24|1839|5|30|df=y}}
| death_place     =[[Meiningen]]
| date of burial  =
| place of burial =Meininger Park Churchyard
|}}

'''Ellen Franz''', also known as Helene, Baroness von Heldburg (30 May 1839 – 24 March 1923) was a German pianist and actress.

==Biography==

===Early life===
She was born in [[Berlin]]. According to [[Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt]], Ellen Franz made her first appearance in the ''Hoftheater'' of [[Meiningen]] in 1867.

===Marriage===
On 18 March 1873 she married, as his third wife, [[Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen]], in the Villa Feodora in [[Bad Liebenstein]]. Because of her ''[[bourgeois]]'' origin, the Duke ennobled her shortly before their marriage, as [[Freiherr|Baroness]] von Heldburg, the title by which she was henceforth known. This [[morganatic marriage]] annoyed the German Emperor [[Wilhelm II]] so much that because of his aversion towards Helene he decided not to visit the [[Altenstein Palace|Schloss Altenstein]] after the reconstruction undertaken by Georg II and completed in 1889.
[[File:Ellen Franz - Parkfriedhof Meiningen.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Tombstone of Freifrau Helene of Heldburg at Meininger Park Churchyard.]]

===Development of Meiningen Theatre===

The Duke and she, together with the Director [[Ludwig Chronegk]], established the "Meiningen Principles" (''Meininger Prinzipien''), a profound reform in theatrical practice, and created what would become the world-famous [[Meiningen Ensemble]] (''Meininger Hoftheater''). Helene also implemented major changes in the dramaturgy, as well as being  responsible for commitment and cast decisions and the education of young students. Her husband Georg II together with Chronegk undertook the direction, and decided on the appropriate scenery and costumes.

After the death of her husband in 1914, Helene retired to her country seat, the [[Veste Heldburg]]. From 1918 she lived in the palace "[[Helenenstift]]", her widow's residence built in 1891/92. She died in the year 1923, aged eighty-three, in Meiningen. She was buried near the Duke Georg II in a common grave arrangement in the Meininger Park Churchyard (Meininger Parkfriedhof).

==Bibliography==
* Ludwig Eisenberg: ''Großes biographisches Lexikon der Deutschen Bühne im XIX. Jahrhundert''. edited by Paul List, Leipzig 1903, {{p.|279}}. [https://www.archive.org/stream/ludwigeisenberg00eiseuoft#page/279/mode/1up online]
* [[Eva Hoffmann-Aleith]]: ''Ellen Franz'', [[Evangelische Verlagsanstalt]] Berlin, 1989, {{ISBN|3-374-00808-9}}
* {{NDB|5|374|374|Franz, Ellen|Hans Knudsen|118882333}}
* Kuratorium Meiningen (ed): ''Lexikon zur Stadtgeschichte Meiningen.'' Bielsteinverlag, Meiningen 2008, {{ISBN|978-3-9809504-4-2}}.
* Norbert Klaus Fuchs: Das Heldburger Land–ein historischer Reiseführer; ed. Rockstuhl, Bad Langensalza 2013, {{ISBN|978-3-86777-349-2}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{Citation/make link|https://web.archive.org/web/20060620164052/http://www.meiningermuseen.de:80/mmuseeneng/georg2.html|Duke Georg II of Saxe-Meiningen on the Museums of Meiningen website}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Franz, Ellen}}
[[Category:1839 births]]
[[Category:1923 deaths]]
[[Category:House of Saxe-Meiningen]]
[[Category:Morganatic spouses of German royalty]]
[[Category:Actresses from Berlin]]
[[Category:Actresses from the Kingdom of Prussia]]
[[Category:19th-century German actresses]]
[[Category:German stage actresses]]
[[Category:Johannes Brahms]]

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