In September 2024, a find in the library of the Tyrolean State Museum Ferdinandeum caused an international sensation. Five previously unknown letters from Heinrich von Kleist to the Austrian diplomat Joseph von Buol-Berenberg were presented to the surprised public together with the Kleist Society and the Kleist Museum. This is the largest discovery of Kleist letters for over 100 years. Hermann F. Weiss, a German scholar working in Michigan, is credited with discovering the letters. He initiated the search and then supervised the processing of the letters.
Weiss was significantly supported by the Innsbruck-based German scholar Klaus Müller-Salget, who carried out the intensive work on site in the library and is considered a recognised Kleist expert.
The Kleist matinee, which is a cooperation between the Tiroler Landestheater and the Tiroler Landesmuseen, now brings Kleist to the stage. Actors Julia Posch and Florian Granzner will read the letters, Klaus Müller-Salget will place them in the context of Kleist’s biography and work and Irene Girkinger from the Tiroler Landestheater, Klaus Müller-Salget and Roland Sila, Head of the Ferdinandeum Library, will discuss the significance of the find on the podium.