Anastasius Green

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Anastasius Grün, by Josef Kriehuber , lithograph around 1840

Anton Alexander Graf von Auersperg (born April 11, 1806 in Laibach , † September 12, 1876 in Graz ; pseudonym: Anastasius Grün , Slovenian Zelenec ) was an influential and celebrated representative of Austrian liberal political poetry as a politician and German-speaking political poet ; he was considered a champion for freedom in the time of the Vormärz .

biography

The young Auersperg had his first education at his father's castle Thurn am Hart (Šrajbarski turn) in Lower Carniola. School years in Vienna followed: 1813 to 1815 Theresianum , 1815 to 1817 grammar school, 1817 to 1818 war and engineering academy. In the period from 1819 to 1824 Auersperg attended the private Klinkowström Institute . There, alongside Josef Orel, the teacher of the Slovene language, France Prešeren , the great Slovene poet, was one of his tutors, with whom he later maintained friendly relations. Prešeren is said to have given the young Auersperg eager to learn the key to his private library. From 1824 to 1826 he studied philosophy and law in Graz and Vienna. After completing his studies, Auersperg took over the management of the inherited estates in Krain after the death of his father : Thurn am Hart and Gurkfeld . Thurn am Hart bought his famous ancestor Herward von Auersperg for 64,000 guilders in 1658, and Gurckfeld his son Dietrich Graf von Auersperg in 1705.

Anton Alexander traveled to Italy, France, Germany and England, where he came into contact with literary personalities. In the summer, unless he was traveling, Auersperg stayed mainly on his estates in Krain. He spent most of the winters in Vienna or Graz. His inclination to poetry was certainly promoted by France Prešeren , with whom, however, due to his inadequate knowledge of Slovene, he mainly spoke in German. Together they read Johann Weichard von Valvasor's work “ Die Ehre des Hertzogthums Crain ”, which aroused a certain patriotic sympathy for his closer homeland Krain in Auersperg.

family

Anastasius Grün monument by Karl Schwerzek , 1891

Auersperg belonged to the Krainer or Pankrazischen line of the Auersperg (Pankraz von Auersperg, 1441–1496). He is a direct descendant of Herward von Auersperg (1613–1668), field marshal lieutenant and commanding general on the Croatian border in Karlstadt , as well as Herbard VIII. Freiherr von Auersperg (1528–1575), governor in Carniola, commanding general to the Croatian, Slavonian and Windischen borders, which fell at Budachki in 1575, were.

His father Alexander Graf von Auersperg, freemason and large landowner , was hereditary land treasurer and hereditary land marshal in Carniola and in the Windischen Mark, k. k. Chamberlain and District Commissioner; he died when Anton Alexander was twelve years old. His mother Cäcilia (1786-1836), a born Freiin von Billichgrätz zu Baumkircherthurm and Hilzenegkh, married in 1819 to Leopold Freiherrn von Liechtenberg-Janeschitz von Adlersheim, was next to her sister Antonia one of the last representatives of her gender.

Auersperg married on July 11, 1839, Maria Rosalia Countess von Attems (* April 10, 1816 in Graz, † March 25, 1880 in Graz), daughter of the Governor of Styria, Ignaz Graf von Attems Freiherr von Heiligenkreuz and the Aloisia Countess v . Inzaghi. The son Theodor, born in Graz on February 28, 1859, came from this connection. After the death of his parents, Theodor took over the management of the inherited property. However, he died on May 4, 1881 in Graz after falling from a horse. Heir was Anton Alexander's nephew Erwin Graf von Auersperg, who sold the inherited property in 1903.

Anton Alexander Maria Josef Siegfried Richard Leo Graf von Auersperg, alias Anastasius Grün, was buried on Thurn am Hart in the family crypt on the hill above the castle park after he died of a stroke.

Concordia - Commemorative medal for Auersperg's 70th birthday in Vienna in 1876 . Medalist Carl Radnitzky (front)
Concordia Memorial Medal (back)

Constantin Wurzbach and Anastasius Grün

The young Constantin Wurzbach (1818-1893) was privileged to have met Count Auersperg personally. Wurzbach also saw in him a model for his own poetic ambitions and later dedicated a somewhat larger contribution to the count in his Biographical Lexicon of the Austrian Empire . After Wurzbach, who glorified his model a little, Auersperg published his work Blätter der Liebe (Stuttgart 1830) for the first time under the pseudonym Anastasius Grün. In the same year, the roman wreath, The Last Knight (Munich 1830), was written in the meter of the Nibelungenlied . "This last knight walked through the German people like a gigantic apparition of a god." (Wurzbach, BL, Vol. 1). In Walks by a Viennese Poet (Hamburg 1831), Auersperg conjured up the greatness of Austria, which at that time was not yet visible, but had to come because the imperial state contained all the elements of great moral and political power. This was followed by Schutt (Leipzig 1836), Gedichte (Leipzig 1837), Nibelungen in Frack (Leipzig 1843), Pfaff vom Kahlenberg (Leipzig 1850) and In der Veranda (1876). The importance of these epics had been recognized, because Auersperg towered above all political poets of his time in form and expressiveness. Anastasius Grün, the pseudonym under which Auersperg's works appeared, became a celebrated poet and one of the leaders of the liberal movement in Austria. His work was a model for the contemporary poetry of Junge Deutschland . He dedicated the Pfaff von Kahlenberg to Nikolaus Nimbsch Edlen von Strehlenau, known under the pseudonym Lenau , the unfortunate and ultimately insane poet with whom Auersperg was close friends. After Lenau's death Auersperg published his estate and later also Lenau's works, to which he added a detailed biography of his friend.

Auersperg's political poems prompted an investigation in 1838 that uncovered his pseudonym. Wurzbach writes about it as follows: “We do not want to commemorate a literary incident that took place soon after the 'Walks' appeared, which was expanded further and ended in honor for the poet, because men like A. think we are far too good to deal with unclean Society to be brought into contact even in writing. "

Political ambitions

In April 1848 Auersperg was elected to the German pre-parliament with 63 out of 93 votes and was soon afterwards also a member of the Frankfurt National Assembly. In two political writings published in German, Auersperg tried in vain to win the Slovenes for Frankfurt, whereupon he left the Frankfurt parliament. From 1861 to 1867 he was a member of the Krainer Landtag, where he strongly advocated the German element and was elected to the Styrian Landtag in 1867 because of the differences with the Slovenes. In 1861 Auersperg became a member of the Herrenhaus , the upper house of the Austrian Imperial Council , for life. His clear stance as a politician and as a poet earned him numerous honors.

Auersperg and the Slovenes

He got closer to the Slovenes, who had an ambivalent relationship with Auersperg, and their language through their folk songs . The reason for this was probably Archduke Johann , who won Auersperg in 1832 for his intention to publish Slovene folk songs. With his own mastery, Auersperg began to translate ancient Slovene folk tunes into the German language. He searched in the people and in literature; Prešeren and other poets such as Stanko Vraz , Emil Korytko , Jernej Kopitar , Matevž Ravnikar , Janez Zalokar and Janez Bleiweis also contributed a lot . The translated folk songs first appeared in various almanacs between 1837 and 1845 . Only in 1850 was a separate book published with the title Volkslieder aus Krain . This work by Auersperg and his obituary to Prešern in 1849 brought the Slovenian folk song and the Slovenian poetry into the European field of vision for the first time, which is also gratefully recognized by the Slovenes. Even today, Auersperg's translations are among the most outstanding works of this kind.

The Slovenian writer Janez Trdina (1830–1905), who is described as a somewhat eccentric eccentric and who was not particularly keen on “rule”, described the Count of Auersperg as the most hard-hearted of all the rulers in Lower Carniola at the time. In his work Izprehod v Belo Krajino (Excursion to the White Mark ), Trdina also describes a rendezvous between Auerspergs and Prešeren and the landlord Smole. One day in 1839 Prešeren visited his poet friend Andrej Smole at his Prežek Castle in the White Mark. Prešeren stayed there for three full weeks. The champagne flowed in rivers and the two raved and raved into the morning. After that they fell like stones into the beds, and the snoring penetrated the thickest wall of the castle. A few days later, the "Count of Thurn Castle", the poet Anastasius Grün, joined them. Now the "Landsturm" broke out. The hoots and din of the three exuberant gentlemen could be heard from far and wide day and night. “Takih norcev grad še ni videl - the castle has never seen such fools in his lifetime. Fortunately, the Count only stayed three days, ”whispered the servants.

Judgment from an anonymous person

An anonymous characterizes Auersperg in this way: “Long, pretty figure, but with time a significant belly will cling to it, noble features, blond hair, bourgeois manners, but a strong, manly word. An intelligent man, an excellent politician, very liberal in theory, but not entirely free from aristocratic convictions. He prefers England to France, an ardent, wonderful talent; was for a time disavowed by his aristocratic relatives because of his free thinking; respected and adored by all of Germany and its numerous friends in Austria; Owner of an important estate in Carniola; Bridegroom and Chamberlain in futuris. ”(Anonymous - Uffo Horn).

Honors

The King of Bavaria, Max II. Awarded Auersperg the Bavarian Maximilian Order, founded in 1853. Anastasius Grün was made an honorary citizen of the City of Vienna in 1864, an honorary doctorate from the University of Vienna in 1865, honorary president of the delegation of the Reichsrat in 1868, and an honorary member of the Academy of Sciences in 1871. In 1896 the Anastasius-Grün-Gasse in Vienna- Währing was named after the poet. In 1891 a monument with a portrait bust of Karl Schwerzek was erected in the Schiller Park in Vienna. There is also a monument to Anastasius Grün in Graz. A memorial plaque from 1950 is in Vienna at the house at Schlesingerplatz 4, where he met France Prešeren.

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for the statement marked as a quote

Auersperg's talent and abilities as a poet are undisputed. He loves metaphors and parables, "although it is not always the congruence of thought and image that matters to him". Most of his poems, which are not of a political nature, are about the preparation and foreshadowing of a new free time. His political poems made him the head of the modern Austrian poetry school and the forerunner of all later political poets. At the same time, many of his writings also have romantic features.

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Web links

Commons : Anastasius Grün  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Anastasius Grün  - Quotes
Wikisource: Alexander von Auersperg  - Sources and full texts

Remarks

  1. ↑ cf. Zalokar, Johann , in: Wurzbach: BLKÖ
  2. ↑ Rwezension
personal data
SURNAME Green, Anastasius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Auersperg, Alexander Graf von (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian poet and politician, member of the state parliament
DATE OF BIRTH April 11, 1806
PLACE OF BIRTH Laibach
DATE OF DEATH September 12, 1876
Place of death Graz