Axel Maurer

Who is Axel Maurer?

Axel Maurer was a Norwegian stagewriter, editor and theatre director.

He was born in Kristiania. He took the law degree cand.jur. in 1889, but did not practise as a lawyer, as he instead traveled abroad to study theatre. From 1895 to 1896 he was the artistic and financial director of the Karl Johan Theatre in Kristiania. This theatre had been established in 1893 in the premises of Kristiania Tivoli, and led by Olaf Hansson before Maurer took over, but it went defunct in 1896. During this period he wrote and issued the play Lykkens Pamphilius, which was staged at Sekondteatret in 1900 to mediocre reviews. The same reception happened to his next play, Kundskabens Træ, staged in November 1897 at Christiania Theatre. His play Babylons konge, staged at Nationaltheatret, received somewhat more mixed reviews. Another play, Arilda, was accepted by Nationaltheatret, but probably never staged.

Maurer edited the humorous magazine Tyrihans from 1898 to 1899. His songbook Kristiania-viser, issued in 1906 with new lyrics to known melodies, was received well. He also embarked on recitation tours in Norway as well as in Denmark, the US and Germany. In 1917 he issued the novel Den store kjærlighed, and the humoresques Portnøklen and Mindebægeret in 1918 and 1919 respectively.