Johann Caspar von Orelli

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Johann Caspar von Orelli. Portrait drawn by Ludwig Wegner
Signature Johann Caspar von Orelli.PNG

Johann Caspar von Orelli (born February 13, 1787 in Wädenswil , † January 6, 1849 in Zurich) was a Swiss classical philologist .

life and work

Von Orelli, a descendant of immigrants from Locarno , came from a noble Ticino family who had found refuge in Zurich during the Reformation . He was the son of the provincial governor , Grossrats and Chief Justice David von Orelli (1759-1813) and his wife regulators. His cousin, the theologian Johann Konrad von Orelli (1770–1826), was the author of a number of works on late Greek literature , while his younger brother, the grammar school teacher Konrad von Orelli (1788–1854), wrote a first grammar of Old French .

He studied theology at the Carolinum in Zurich. He then stayed for a short period with Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi in Yverdon . Pestalozzi was impressed by the young Orelli. From 1807 to 1814 he worked as a preacher in the Reformed parish of Bergamo , where he found a taste for Italian literature , leading to the publication of articles on the history of Italian poetry (1810) and the biography (1812) of Vittorino da Feltre , his ideal a teacher who led.

In 1814 he became a teacher of modern languages ​​and history at the cantonal school in Chur , in 1819 professor of rhetoric and hermeneutics at the Carolinum in Zurich, and in 1833 professor at the new University of Zurich , the establishment of which is largely due to his efforts. From 1831 to 1849 he was senior librarian at the Zurich City Library, the predecessor of today's Zurich Central Library . His main focus during this period was on classical literature and antiquity. He already had a copy of the Anti dose of Isocrates published with critical notes and commentary, the full text based on manuscripts of Ambrosian and Laurentian Library , by Andreas Mustoxydis from Corfu had been announced.

The three works on which its reputation is based are:

  1. A complete edition of Cicero's works in seven volumes (1826–1838). The first four volumes contain the text (new edition 1845–1863), the fifth the old Scholiasts, the remaining three (called Onomasticon Tullianum ) the life of Cicero, a bibliography of previous editions, indices on places and names, laws and regulations, Greek Words, and the consular annals. After his death, the revised edition of his text was completed by Johann Georg Baiter and Karl Felix Halm and corrected by Theodor Mommsen and Johan Nicolai Madvig .
  2. The Works of Horace (1837–1838). The exegetical commentary, although admittedly only a compilation of the work of earlier commentators, shows extensive knowledge, although it is hardly up to date with modern criticism.
  3. Inscriptionum Latinarum Selectarum Collectio (1828; reviewed by W. Henzen, 1856), extremely helpful in studying private life and religion in the Roman Empire .

His editions of Platon (1839–1841, including the old scholia , in collaboration with AW Winckelmann) and Tacitus (1846–1848) also deserve mention.

He was considered a very liberal man in both politics and religion, an enthusiastic promoter of popular education, and an extremely stimulating teacher. He showed great interest in the Greek struggle for independence and fought for the appointment of the well-known David Friedrich Strauss to the chair of dogmatic theology in Zurich, which led to the unrest of September 6, 1839 and the overthrow of the liberal government. With Johann Heinrich Bremi and Conrad Melchior Hirzel , he founded a Greek association in Zurich, not least on his own initiative and under the influence of Bremi's ideas, which was dedicated to the philhellenic idea. The association was extremely active and had extensive contacts.

In 1834 he was elected a corresponding member of the Bavarian and in 1836 of the Prussian Academy of Sciences .

literature

See also his biography by his younger brother Conrad in the New Year's Gazette of the Zurich City Library (1851)

  • J. Adert: Essai sur la vie et les travaux de Jean-Gaspard Orelli. Ramboz, Geneva 1849 (special reprint from: Bibliothèque universelle de Genève. 4th Sér., Vol. 3, June - August 1849, ZDB -ID 443418-3 ).
  • Heinrich Schweizer-Sidler : Commemorative speech for J. Caspar Orelli, born in Zurich on February 13, 1787, died on January 6, 1849 in the same place. Held after the unveiling of a marble bust of the celebrated man in the auditorium of the Polytechnic on April 29, 1874. Zurich 1874.
  • Conrad Bursian : History of Classical Philology in Germany from the Beginnings to the Present. Oldenbourg, Munich et al. 1883 ( History of Science in Germany - Modern Times 19, Half 2).
  • Edgar Bonjour :  Orelli, Johann Caspar. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 19, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-428-00200-8 , p. 585 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Michele C. Ferrari (ed.): Against ignorance and darkness. Johann Caspar von Orelli (1787–1849) and the culture of his time. Chronos, Zurich 2000, ISBN 3-905313-64-2 .
  • Hans-Ulrich Grunder: Johann Caspar von Orelli. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . May 1, 2009 , accessed December 5, 2019 .

Web links

Commons : Johann Caspar von Orelli  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans-Ulrich Grunder: Johann Caspar von Orelli. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . May 1, 2009 , accessed February 3, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Friedgar Löbker: Ancient Topoi in German Philhellenic Literature , Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, Munich 2000, p. 102 ( Google Book Search )
personal data
SURNAME Orelli, Johann Caspar von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss classical philologist
DATE OF BIRTH February 13, 1787
PLACE OF BIRTH Waedenswil
DATE OF DEATH January 6, 1849
Place of death Zurich