Gustav Anton Freiherr von Seckendorff, alias Patrik Peale: A Biographical Note

Gustav Anton von Seckendorff, author of 'Vorlesungen über Deklamation und Mimik' (1816), is among the many contemporary theorists of declamation the only one who had a noteworthy, if brief stage career. References to Seckendorff ’s ideas on declamation have become more frequent in recent scholarship, but little is known about his extraordinary life. Drawing upon period journalism and the memoires of contemporaries, this article presents the first sketch for a fuller picture.