Andreas Moser (writer)

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Johann Ulrich Schellenberg (1773–1838): Andreas Moser, 1800.

Andreas Moser (baptized November 22, 1766 in Landshut ; † beginning of 1806 , allegedly in Linz ) was a Bavarian writer and educator who worked in the monarchy of Austria and in the Helvetic Republic . His main work, Common Sense, about the art of making people happy , was published in St. Gallen in 1800 . Moser was to become Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi's successor as an orphan father in Stans and was involved in founding the canton school in Aarau , where he created the oldest gymnasium in Switzerland. On the eve of the counterrevolution of 1802 ( Stecklikkrieg ), he was the alleged Illuminat the target of a smear campaign. His further fate is only partially known.

Life

From the monastery to Turkey

Moser's father Jakob was a farmer's son from Dessing (municipality of Kumhausen ) who had acquired the citizenship of Landshut as a carpenter, the mother Ursula Oberhofer the daughter of an assessor ( Hintersassen ) and day laborer ( day laborer ). The young Moser became a monk. This enabled him to attend high school in his hometown or in Munich . Then he moved to the University of Ingolstadt , where the spirit of the Inquisition reigned again after the Order of Illuminati was banned in 1785 . In 1787/88 Moser was a candidate for theology. In 1790 we find him at the Law Faculty. In the meantime he had obviously broken with the Church. During a ten to twelve year wandering he came to Turkey . He later expressed his sympathy for Poles and Jews. He lamented the "oriental cruelty" towards the subjects as he had experienced in Turkey, in divided Poland and in Hungary . He also condemned war crimes committed by the Russians .

A disguised revolutionary piece

Title copper to Andreas Moser: Karoline von Sonneburg. Vienna 1797.

From 1793 Moser lived in Vienna. He must have had knowledge of how to deal with varnishes and paints, as he published a book for craftsmen there that contains appropriate recipes. Although rated negatively by reviewers, it experienced several editions. Moser earned his bread as a tutor. As a result, he was administrator at Schwarzenau Castle in Lower Austria . His employer, Vinzenz Graf Strassoldo, as chief steward, directed the education of a young sister of the emperor , Archduchess Maria Amalia (1780–1798). During this time Moser wrote the disguised revolutionary piece Karoline von Sonneburg. It is about the love between a noblewoman and an administrator and confronts a rural Arcadia with the royal seat, "where nature bears a larva and truth is sin". The heroine of the title says to a courtier who is after her innocence: " Virtue gives equality to every relationship, respect to every one, but vice to contempt every rank (...)"

Editor of the Helvetic People's Friend

The Helvetic friend of the people. 2nd year, St. Gallen 1800.

In 1797 Moser was presumably in Chernivtsi , the capital of Bukowina . In Mainz , annexed by France , he looked in vain for employment. After the Helvetic Revolution in 1798, he became a private tutor for the India manufacturer Johann Georg Tschanz in Kirchberg near Burgdorf ( Emmental ). In 1799 he took on the minister of education Philipp Albert Stapfer as a "machinist" or teacher. When Switzerland became the battlefield of the great powers in the Second Coalition War , he temporarily sheltered in Paris . After the Second Battle of Zurich he was given a temporary position in St. Gallen as a clerk at the administrative chamber of the canton of Säntis . He also cataloged the part of the monastery library that the fled monks had left behind. From March to December 1800 he edited the newspaper Der Helvetische Volksfreund, published in St. Gallen . In it he argued, among other things, for the Jews to be granted citizenship.

A "secular Helvetic Bible"

Andreas Moser: Common sense about the art of making people happy. St. Gallen 1800.

In November 1800 Moser published his main work Common Sense on the art of making people happy. It was published by the publisher of the Volksfreund , Johann Jakob Hausknecht. Hanspeter Marti called it a "secular Helvetic Bible ". Education, religion and (representative) democracy take up most of the space . One is reminded of Mozart's Magic Flute remembers when Moser promises the reader, one on "freedom, love, truth, virtue, education , enlightenment and wisdom founded" Constitution will make the people of the happiest creatures. Or to Beethoven's Fidelio when he exclaims: “Freedom! - This word is holy, next to the name of the great God man knows nothing more holy. "

Most of the attention was paid to what Moser wrote about religion. Rejecting the idea of ​​a God intervening in the world ( theism ), he vacillated between pantheism and deism : “God is either nature, allness itself, or he is the author of nature, allness.” He propagated the introduction of a non-denominational world religion and wrote, filled with the optimism of the Enlightenment : “Once the universal, pure, true, natural religion is fully known and practiced among all peoples of the earth in its original beauty and grandeur , a general covenant of peace will be concluded throughout humanity can, and this peace covenant will be crowned by general undisturbed philanthropy and general happiness . "

The common sense took place after Moser's information "throughout Helvetia, and even more in Germany" distribution. One critic attested the author not only "deep, lively feeling", but also "solid knowledge and sharp reasoning". His writing is "far removed from that metaphysical chatter that only threshes empty straw". Another reviewer , however, who already Karoline von Sonnenburg panned had wrote that Moser " fanaticism " generate only nagging desires that are never satisfied "for the good of humanity" suffered and that his proposals.

Co-founder of the canton school in Aarau

Aarau on the Aare plan by Samuel Kyburz, 1809. 1:  Meyerhaus.
2: Cantonal school. 3:  Telliring
(
oldest gymnasium in Switzerland designed by Andreas Moser ).
From 1802 to 1896, the seat of the canton school was today's Amthaus , which the city of Aarau made available to the school.

At the end of 1800 Moser applied to Interior Minister Albrecht Rengger to succeed Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi as head of the war orphanage in Stans. The pastor from Stans, who was entrusted with the selection of the candidates, stood up for him emphatically. In order to prepare for his new job, Moser was trained by Pestalozzi from January to May 1801 in his teacher training college in Burgdorf. The Executive Council of the Helvetic Republic took over part of the costs. The orphan father's position was ultimately not filled again.

In June Moser became tutor and librarian with the silk ribbon manufacturer and naturalist Johann Rudolf Meyer Sohn (1768-1825) in Aarau. Pestalozzi enjoyed hospitality in his villa ( Meyerhaus ) while he was a propagandist for the Helvetic Revolution in 1798. Meyer had three children. Because he was preparing to publish an encyclopedia of chemistry , from 1790 he bought around 40,000 scientific books. Moser's services were soon used elsewhere: He was involved in the founding of the canton school, which his employer and his friend, mountain director Johann Samuel Gruner (1766-1824) ran. At the same time he introduced Pestalozzi's teaching method together with the lower school teacher Christian Würsten at Aarau's city schools. To relieve Moser, Meyer sent his sons to Pestalozzi's educational institute in Burgdorf.

The canton school, which opened at the beginning of 1802, was intended to prepare students for “the professions of farmer and businessman, scholar and statesman”. As a teacher in agriculture, Moser was assigned a central role. In addition, he taught "the art of drawing in mechanics , architecture and mechanical engineering", vocal music and gymnastics . For singing lessons, he published a song book with the motto : “He who works and is happy in his life honors God.” In addition to Masonic songs, it also contains a translation of the revolutionary song Ah! ça ira , which calls for the aristocrats to hang up . With the telliring , Moser created the oldest gymnastics area in Switzerland - years before the corresponding facilities by gymnastics father Jahn in Berlin (1811) and by Phokion Heinrich Clias in Bern (1817). The President of the Cantonal School Commission (teachers' conference), Georg Franz Hofmann , was one of his friends.

Target of a smear campaign

Joseph Reinhart: Pastor Johann Jakob Pfleger, 1788.
Religion as a political weapon: warning against atheism, Paris 1797.

In October 1801, the federalists (supporters of the Ancien Régime ) had put themselves to power in the Helvetic Republic . After the Unitarian counter-coup in April 1802, a new constitution was presented to voters on June 2. The cantons of Aargau and Baden declared themselves to be a unified state . On the same day, the Small Council of the Helvetic Republic lifted the censorship introduced by the federalists . This made it possible for Aarau's first pastor Johann Jakob Pfleger (1746–1819) to publish a pamphlet a week later that hit like a bomb. In it, he referred to Moser as the head of a conspiracy of Illuminati who wanted to introduce a new paganism , yes, as an antichrist . This although the attacked person did not advertise his religious convictions at his new place of work.

In the subsequent Moser trading dodged Aarau patriots of the crucial question of how they felt it with Christianity. Moser himself wavered between defense and counterattack in his answer to Pfleger. He received support only from the liberal politician and publicist Paul Usteri (1768–1831). Zealots of faith devastated the vegetable garden of Moser's friend Würsten and felled trees on the Telliring . The opposing party visited Pastor Pfarrer's garden. Finally, Moser was dropped in order to ensure the continued existence of the canton school. It was not the only case of heretic persecution in Helveticia: Other victims were the Deists Johannes Frey (1743–1800) in Basel and Kaspar David Hardmeyer (1772–1832) in Zurich .

The real conspiracy came to light when the counterrevolution against the Helvetic Republic ( Stecklik War ) broke out in September 1802 : Bern's aristocracy had long worked towards this popular uprising with the help of state funds invested in England . The mood among the rural population had shifted since June because the government, due to a lack of agreement on a new tax system, again raised the tithe that had not been collected since 1798 . Threatened in life and limb, Moser fled to Munich. The Meyer family transferred their factory and property to Bavaria , where Elector Max Joseph and his minister Montgelas carried out radical reforms. As a result, all canton school teachers of the revolutionary period were expelled, most of them left Aarau. Nevertheless, Moser gave the city high praise in a postscript to the second edition of Common Sense.

Obituary notice with censorship gap

Obituary notice with censorship gap.
The sincere and experienced Swiss messenger, February 28, 1806.

In Munich, Moser found employment at the military academy, whose director, Colonel Friedrich Freiherr von Schwachheim, was related by marriage to his former employer Meyer. This employment relationship ended at the latest in July 1805 when the academy was converted into a cadet corps and Schwachheim was retired. In the above-mentioned postscript on common sense , Moser indicated that he was in a difficult position when writing it and that he had no time for writing. His job search was probably made more difficult by the fact that Emperor Franz II attacked Bavaria, which was allied with France, in September 1805. When Napoleon defeated the Imperialists at Ulm and Austerlitz , Moser seems to have moved to Austria in the wake of the French .

A typhus epidemic broke out after the Battle of Austerlitz . In connection with this, Heinrich Zschokke reported on February 28, 1806 in his newspaper The sincere and experienced Swiss messenger : “Also Mr. Andr, who was a teacher at the canton school in Aarau. Moser, author of the book: common sense, - censorship gap. - also died of that contagious disease in Moravia , in Linz, and stands before God. He died calmly and with a good conscience. ”The four-line gap in censorship is unique in this obituary. Apparently the then conservative government of the canton of Aargau prevented the persecution of Moser because of common sense from being mentioned. Moser's death is not recorded in the Linz archives. The author of an obituary published in Munich in 1810 was not familiar with Moser's writings published abroad, but praised them: "He was a musician, also knew several languages, and an excellent mechanic and technologist ."

The common sense was seized in conservative Bavaria has become the 1835th The Moser trade in ostrich trade experienced a new edition in 1839: At that time, the conservatives used the appointment of the enlightened German theologian David Friedrich Strauss to the University of Zurich to overthrow the liberal cantonal government in the Zurich coup . The cleaning up of the canton school in Aarau was glossed over later. Publications devoted to the history of the school provided the winners' interpretation of the events. Ernst Zschokke and Carl Günther were the first to follow up on Moser's biography by studying Aarau's gymnastics. The rediscovery of common sense and its author by the left-wing liberal historian Alfred Rufer (1885–1970) went unnoticed. The local historian Paul Erismann did the common sense as "concoction of a random head" from.

Works

Printed sources and representations

References and comments

  1. ↑ The sincere and experienced Swiss messenger. Aarau, February 28, 1806, p. 71.
  2. ↑ Stadtarchiv Landshut, Volume 32d, p. 83.
  3. ↑ Bischöfliches Zentralarchiv Regensburg , Landshut St. Nikola, Volume 5, pp. 108, 346.
  4. ^ Letter from the canton of Arau (sic) in Switzerland, dated February 1803 (published anonymously). In: Der Neue Teutsche Merkur, Weimar, March 1803, pp. 233–236.
  5. ↑ New Upper German General Literature Newspaper. Munich, April 14, 1810, intelligence sheet no.15, column 113.
  6. ↑ An Andreas Moser is mentioned in: Objects for public examination of the second rhetorical class in Munich. (Munich 1784), p 2, and in: catalog of the students, who in the electoral school home to Munich (...) excellent (...) have. (Munich 1785), p. 7.
  7. ↑ Franz Xaver Freninger: The Matriculation of the University of Ingolstadt-Landshut-München, rectors professors doctors 1472-1872, candidates from 1772 to 1872. 2. Theil, Munich 1872, p. 100.
  8. ^ Rainer Albert Müller: The register of the Ludwig Maximilians University Ingolstadt-Landshut-Munich. Part 1, Volume 3, 2nd Half Volume, Munich 1979, p. 220.
  9. ^ A North American to the Helvetii (published anonymously). In: The Helvetian People's Friend. St. Gallen, March 16, 1800, pp. 85-88; March 23, 1800, pp. 95-97; April 6, 1800, pp. 115–117, here: p. 86.
  10. ↑ Common sense about the art of making people happy (...) printed in the land of freedom for the year of the present and the time of the future. (Johann Jakob Hausknecht, St. Gallen 1800), p. 273.
  11. ↑ Der Künstlerfreund, a book for chemists, mechanics, economists , builders, copper engravers, painters, sculptors, lacquerers, turners, instrument and violin makers, gold, silver and other metal workers, joiners, carpenters, stone carvers and similar artists and craftsmen, published by an artist friend. Christoph Peter Rehm, Vienna 1793.
  12. ^ New General German Library. 51st volume, 1st item, Kiel 1800, p. 420 f .; Annals of Literature and Art in the Austrian States, Vienna 1804, columns 319 f. ("Pathetic compilation ").
  13. ^ Moser to Minister of the Interior Rengger, St. Gallen, December 8, 1800 ( Johannes Strickler : Official Collection of Acts from the Time of the Helvetic Republic, Volume 11, Bern 1911, p. 1312).
  14. ↑ Karoline von Sonneburg or the masquerade in the royal hall. A dramatic painting. Christoph Peter Rehm, Vienna 1797, pp. 63, 80.
  15. ↑ Compare excerpt from a letter from Czernowitz in Bukowina, dated February 20, 1800 (published anonymously). In: Der Helvetische Volksfreund, St. Gallen, May 18, 1800, p. 167 f.
  16. ↑ Hanspeter Marti: Two monastery libraries in the Helvetic era. In: Swiss journal for religious and cultural history. Friborg 2005, pp. 267–278, here: pp. 274–276.
  17. ^ Andreas Moser: Frank Thoughts on the Cause of Jewish Citizenship in Free States. In: Der Helvetische Volksfreund, St. Gallen, October 26, 1800, pp. 357-360.
  18. ^ Compare Peter Ehrenzeller: Jahrbücher der Stadt St. Gallen 1828. Volume 2, (St. Gallen) 1829, pp. 93–95.
  19. ↑ Hanspeter Marti: Two monastery libraries in the Helvetic era. In: Swiss journal for religious and cultural history. Friborg 2005, pp. 267–278, here: p. 275.
  20. ↑ Common sense about the art of making people happy (...) printed in the land of freedom for the year of the present and the time of the future. (Johann Jakob Hausknecht, St. Gallen 1800), p. 4 f.
  21. ↑ Common sense about the art of making people happy (...) printed in the land of freedom for the year of the present and the time of the future. (Johann Jakob Hausknecht, St. Gallen 1800), p. 36.
  22. ↑ Not to be confused with natural religions , comparable to the cult naturel of the theophilanthropists in France, which was banned after the Concordat Bonaparte with the Pope (1801).
  23. ↑ Common sense about the art of making people happy (...) printed in the land of freedom for the year of the present and the time of the future. (Johann Jakob Hausknecht, St. Gallen 1800), p. 64.
  24. ^ The struggle of a layman with a priest, or the defense and illumination of common sense against the declared enemy of the same Johann Jakob Pfleger, first pastor in Aarau. Helvetien (Bern) 1802, p. 11.
  25. ^ Yearbook of the latest literature. Leipzig, November 7, 1801, columns 260 f.
  26. ^ New General German Library. Volume 44, Part 1, Kiel 1799, p. 48.
  27. ^ New General German Library. 75th volume, 1st piece, Berlin / Stettin 1803, pp. 263, 265.
  28. ^ Johann Rudolf (1791–1833), Justine (1792–1806) and Johann Gottlieb (1793–1829).
  29. ↑ Systematic presentation of all experiences in the study of nature, designed by Johann Rudolph Meyer the Younger, edited by several scholars. 4 volumes (no longer published), Aarau 1806–1808.
  30. ^ Catalog on the scientific library bequeathed by Johann Rudolph Meyer sel. Aarau 1827 (pasted over: Schaffhausen 1831).
  31. ^ Feyerliche opening of the canton school in Aarau. Promoted to print by the new literary society in Aarau. (Aarau) 1802, p. 19.
  32. ^ The struggle of a layman with a priest, or the defense and illumination of common sense against the declared enemy of the same Johann Jakob Pfleger, first pastor in Aarau. Helvetien (Bern) 1802, p. 14.
  33. ↑ Songs to encourage virtue, to promote human sociability, to increase joy and to enliven exhilarating cheerfulness. First issue (no longer published), Aarau 1802.
  34. ↑ In the canton of Aargau the result was 6356 yes against 1793 no with 6412 non-voters, in the canton Baden 6474 yes against 1422 no with 3562 non-votes. (Johannes Strickler: Official collection of files from the time of the Helvetic Republic. Volume 8, Bern 1902, p. 260.)
  35. ^ Brother of Daniel Pfleger (1751–1829), who in 1798 had presided over Aarau's revolutionary committee. Compare Georges Gloor: Pfleger, Johann Jakob. In: Biographisches Lexikon des Aargau 1803–1957, Aarau 1958, p. 596 f.
  36. ↑ In the 1780s, the secret society had an offshoot in Switzerland, which Pestalozzi directed ( Peter Stadler : Pestalozzi, Geschichtliche Biographie. Volume 1, Zurich 1988, pp. 275–281).
  37. ↑ A word to his dear fellow citizens for instruction, warning and reassurance, about Moser's common sense, by Joh. Jakob Pfleger, first (sic) pastor in Arau. Arau (June 9th) 1802.
  38. ^ Paul Erismann: Aarau im Stecklikrieg Anno 1802, in: Aarauer Neujahrsblätter 1952, pp. 3–21, here: p. 8; Nold Halder: History of the Canton of Aargau. 1. Volume, Aarau 1953, p. 51.
  39. ^ The struggle of a layman with a priest, or the defense and illumination of common sense against the declared enemy of the same Johann Jakob Pfleger, first pastor in Aarau. Helvetia (Bern) 1802.
  40. ↑ Aarau City Archives, Minutes of the Municipality , July 6, 1802, p. 337; July 23, 1802, p. 342; August 10, 1802, p. 347 f.
  41. ↑ The nurse's model was probably the Zurich hate preacher Johann Jakob Schweizer (1771–1843), whose father-in-law Johann Jakob Scheuchzer lost his office as governor of the canton of Baden when the Aargau was unified .
  42. ^ Franz Xaver Bronner: Der Canton Aargau (...) 2nd volume, St. Gallen / Bern 1844, p. 13. ("A butcher chased him with a drawn knife; with hardship he was able to save himself in a town house and through the back door to escape. ")
  43. ↑ Münchner Tagblatt, September 27, 1802, p. 619 (September 23: "Moser, Prof. at the canton school in Arau"); Kurpfalzbaierischer Münchner Anzeiger, September 29, 1802 (September 22: "Mr. Moser, Professor from Switzerland").
  44. ↑ Common sense about the art of making people happy (...) printed in the land of freedom for the year of the present and the time of the future. 2nd edition, (Huber & Co., St. Gallen) 1807, postscript to my readers.
  45. ^ Letter from the canton of Arau (sic) in Switzerland, dated February 1803 (published anonymously), in: Der Neue Teutsche Merkur, Weimar, March 1803, pp. 233–236, here: p. 236; Oberdeutsche Allgemeine Litteraturzeitung, Munich, January 17, 1803, column 191 f. A corresponding personal file is not available in the Bavarian War Archives .
  46. ↑ Compare Peter Genner: The hosts of the Helvetic Society . The Schwachheim-Renner family as the owners of Bad Schinznach and their emigration to Bavaria. In: Argovia 2012, pp. 126-179.
  47. ↑ The sincere and experienced Swiss messenger. Aarau, February 28, 1806, p. 71.
  48. ^ According to information from the Linz City Archives (Ms. Sabine Sammer) and the Upper Austrian Provincial Archives (Mr. Norbert Kriechbaum).
  49. ↑ New Upper German General Literature Newspaper. Munich, April 14, 1810, intelligence sheet no.15, column 113.
  50. ^ Intelligence sheet of the Königlich-Baierischen Oberdonau-Kreis (Augsburg). 1835, columns 418 f.
  51. ↑ For example Klaus Sochatzy : The New Humanist High School and the Purely Human Education. Two attempts at school reform in their wider meaning. Göttingen 1973, pp. 105–145 ( Ernst August Evers and the reform of the Aarauer Kantonsschule ).
  52. ^ Ernst Zschokke: From the gymnasium in the Telli in Aarau. In: Aarauer Neujahrsblätter. 1928, pp. 24-42, here: pp. 26-31; Carl Günther: The Aarau Cantonal School Gymnastics Association (...) Aarau 1930, pp. 9–11, 86.
  53. ^ Alfred Rufer: A German pacifist from the Helvetic. In: St. Galler Tagblatt. No. 353, July 31, 1931; Alfred Rufer: Andreas Moser, a German patriot from the Helvetic era. In: Politische Rundschau, published by the General Secretariat of the Liberal Democratic Party of Switzerland. Bern, August / September 1936, pp. 268–274, 294–302.
  54. ^ Paul Erismann: Aarau im Stecklikrieg Anno 1802. In: Aarauer Neujahrsblätter 1952, pp. 3–21, quotation: p. 9.
  55. ↑ Moser's authorship can only be determined in part.
  56. ↑ Emil Weller: The wrong and simulated printing locations (...) Leipzig 1858, p. 119, wrongly gives Bern as the printing location.
  57. ↑ Emil Weller: The wrong and fictitious printing sites (...) Leipzig 1858, p. 123.
  58. ↑ Contains a total of seven pamphlets published to date.
  59. ^ The author of the first two parts, Johann Georg Heinzmann , died in 1802.
personal data
SURNAME Moser, Andreas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bavarian writer and educator
DATE OF BIRTH baptized November 22, 1766
PLACE OF BIRTH Landshut
DATE OF DEATH 1806
Place of death Linz