Harp Agnes

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Brunswick originals (from left to right): Rechen-August , German Hermann , Tea-Uncle and Harp-Agnes.
Door handle on the Braunschweig town hall . It shows Harfen-Agnes (left) and Rechen-August (right).

Harfen-Agnes , real name Agnes Adolphine Agathe Schosnoski (born January 24, 1866 in Braunschweig ; †  September 2, 1939 in Königslutter ), was a bailiff singer in Braunschweig in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is considered one of several city ​​originals in Braunschweig.

Life

Schosnoski was born out of wedlock to Henriette Caroline Charlotte Schosnoski and most likely the bricklayer Carl Adolph Julius Glindemann and was baptized on February 27, 1866 in the Magnikirche . After the early death of her father and mother, she grew up until she was 14 years old, mainly in a reformatory in Bevern . After all attempts to teach her to read and write failed, she was found to be both epileptic and mentally retarded.

After she was released from the home, she began servant training in Braunschweig, which she broke off again. Later she performed several years together with a bank singer in a downtown pub and learned the craft of bank song singing. When her companion died in 1907, she inherited his guitar ("harp") and then formed a duo with another singer that roamed the streets and pubs of Braunschweig. When she was stolen from him, they parted ways and from then on she only appeared alone.

"Harfen-Agnes" , as she was soon called, performed her self-composed, sometimes frivolous songs in Brunswick dialect , while she accompanied herself on her "harp". The songs that were very well known at the time included: “Hofrats Rieke” , “Ferdinand, how are you beautiful” or “The song from the streets of Braunschweig's old town” . Her best-known couplet has the refrain “Mensch saa bright, un if it's also duster is” (“Mensch, be smart, even if it looks bad [for you]”). She sang this song as well as several others on November 7, 1918, when she accompanied revolutionary workers and soldiers who liberated prisoners from the Rennelberg prison during the November Revolution in Braunschweig .

Harfen-Agnes was usually only able to earn her very modest livelihood with difficulty at folk festivals, in pubs or at private parties where she appeared as an "attraction". She was described as closed and - in contrast to her "job" as a petty singer - not very sociable person. Her epilepsy, which was not recognized by other people, but from which she was often accused of being drunk during a seizure, certainly contributed to this. Their appearance, always the same: guitar, straw hat, long cape and pink stockings made for ridicule. Most recently she lived in Braunschweiger Neustadt , in a room at Weberstrasse 47, and was looked after by a neighbor there.

At the age of more than 60, when "Harfen-Agnes", who was already the last banter in Braunschweig during her lifetime, could no longer look after herself, she was initially housed in a nursing home in the city. During the time of National Socialism , she was forcibly committed to the Königslutter sanatorium in early 1935 and died there one day after the start of the Second World War . The rumor persisted that “Harfen-Agnes” was a victim of the Nazi euthanasia program .

Afterlife

Schoduvel 2011: A car on the old town market (in the background the old town hall ) with the four most famous Brunswick town originals : (from left to right) Rechen-August, German Hermann, Harfen-Agnes and the tea uncle.

Harfen-Agnes, together with Rechen-August , German Hermann and Tee-Uncle, is one of the most famous originals of the city of Braunschweig - even today. From November 2005 to 2009 the Braunschweig State Theater performed the play “Mensch Agnes! - a Moritat ” by Peter Schanz , which depicts the life of Agnes Schosnoski until her death. The main role of Harp Agnes was played by the actress Nientje Schwabe, while Christian Eitner , member of the Braunschweig band Jazzkantine , was responsible for the musical direction on the stage .

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Gabriele Armenat (Ed.): Women from Braunschweig. Braunschweig 1991, p. 97.
  2. ↑ a b Günter KP Strong: Man, be bright. Brunswick originals, who they were and how they lived…. Braunschweig 1987, p. 27.
  3. ↑ Herbert Blume: Schosnoski, Agnes Adolphine Agathe. In: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck , Günter Scheel (ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon - 19th and 20th centuries . Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hannover 1996, ISBN 3-7752-5838-8 , p. 539-540 .
  4. ↑ a b Günter KP Strong: Man, be bright. Brunswick originals, who they were and how they lived…. Braunschweig 1987, p. 29.
  5. ↑ Günter KP Starke: Man, be bright. Brunswick originals, who they were and how they lived…. Braunschweig 1987, p. 45.
  6. ↑ Camerer, Garzmann, Schuegraf, Pingel: Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon. Braunschweig 1992, p. 99.
  7. ^ Christian Eitner; Peter Schanz; Udo Schürmer; Staatstheater (Braunschweig): Man Agnes! [Program] Braunschweig State Theater, Braunschweig, OCLC 180087328 .
  8. ↑ Peter Schanz: Eine Moritat ( Memento from October 12, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Harp Agnes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schosnoski, Agnes Adolphine Agathe (full name); Harp Agnes (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German bailiff and Brunswick city original
DATE OF BIRTH January 24, 1866
PLACE OF BIRTH Braunschweig
DATE OF DEATH September 2, 1939
Place of death Königslutter