August Lieber (poet)

August Lieber, the "highland singer"

August Lieber , (born August 3, 1847 in Camberg im Taunus (Nassau), † November 30, 1918 in Innsbruck ) was a Tyrolean doctor and writer.

Life

Coming  from an old Grisons family, Lieber was the second youngest son of the Legation Councilor and Vice-Chamber President Moritz Lieber and his second wife Maria Josefa, née Hilt. One of his brothers was the famous member of the Reichstag and leader of the German Center Party, Ernst Lieber .

August Lieber came from a strictly Catholic family and completed his high school studies at the Stella Matutina Jesuit boarding school in Feldkirch and, since 1863, in Metz , where he attended the St. Clement Jesuit college. In the summer of 1866, when the Duchy of Nassau had lost its independence after the lost battle of Königgrätz , he took on Austrian citizenship. Study trips to Paris and Rome followed, and later a stay in Mainz , which lasted until the end of September 1869. On October 1st, Lieber moved as a one-year-old volunteer to the Tyrolean Kaiserjäger Regiment in Innsbruck. After completing his military service, he studied medicine and received his doctorate in medicine on June 26, 1876 at the University of Innsbruck . In the same year he married Marie Anna, the eldest daughter of the Tyrolean member of the state parliament and mayor of Brixen , Franz Ostheimer, who gave birth to two sons.

In 1878, Lieber took part in the occupation campaign in Bosnia as the kk reserve senior physician . His wife and his newly born son Franz accompanied him and stayed by his side as far as the difficult conditions of the mountain war allowed. In December of that year, Lieber fell ill with malaria and returned to Innsbruck with his family. After a year of creeping sickness, the disease broke out with full force, so that he could not take up the position as an assistant at the pediatric outpatient clinic and the vaccination institute at Innsbruck University until the spring of 1880. In 1892 Lieber became a lecturer in somatology and school hygiene at the kk teacher training institute. Ousted from this position by the machinations of a competitor, he taught these subjects from 1898 at the Sisters of Mercy and became a lecturer in industrial hygiene at the state trade school in Innsbruck in 1906.

Although Lieber had suffered from the consequences of the malaria infection for years and repeatedly suffered relapses - especially in spring and autumn - he devoted himself more to his passion, mountaineering, during this time. He was on friendly terms with Ludwig Purtscheller , one of the most important alpinists of the 19th century. His experiences as a tourer were reflected in various articles in the Alpine Club magazine. The paper published in 1887, The first medical assistance in the case of illnesses and accidents on Alpine hikes , is the fruit of this activity.

It was not until later that Lieber felt the urge to process his experiences of nature in lyrical form. The first poems, which he published under the pseudonym "Rebeil", were printed in the "Tyrolean Voices". In 1899 the publishing house of the Wagnerische Universitätsbibliothek published the "Hochlandsklänge" , which in 1906 was published for the third time. Lieber hit the nerve of his time with his high, hymn-like tones ("Gelbphantastisch lohts fire embers in the west! Waves of red flames - lick wild tongues of flame - through the dreary stretches of heaven."), Which earned him the nickname "Lieber, the highland singer " . The sounds of the highlands were followed by the poetry collections “Auf stillen Pfaden” (1902) and “From deep shafts” (1906). Some works by Liebers - such as "Das Lied vom Tiroler Adler" - were also set to music. In the last decade of his life he wrote the iambic pieces “Ecce homo” , “Cruzifixus est” and “Judas Ischariot” , which, however, did not attract much public attention. Today the literary works of August Liebers are long forgotten. In Innsbruck the memory of the doctor and poet, whose motto was: "The man's back was not made to bend down!", Is preserved by a street named after him. August Lieber is buried at the St. Nikolaus cemetery. The address of Innrain 24/1 was given as his last whereabouts in the death register, and the cause of death was "cerebral palsy".

Works

• The first medical assistance in case of illnesses and accidents on alpine hikes, compiled after his lectures in two guide instruction courses on behalf of the Central Committee of the German and Austrian Alpine Association. Publishing house of D. & Oe. AV, Munich 1887
• Highland sounds. Tyrolia, Innsbruck 1900
• On quiet paths. Wagner, Innsbruck 1902
• From deep shafts. Tyrolia, Innsbruck 1906
• Christ. Tyrolia, Innsbruck 1917

Individual evidence

1. ^ Book of the dead of the parish St. Nikolaus (Innsbruck), 1894–1993, p. 321, see Matriken Tirol Online. In some daily newspapers the date of death is given as November 29th.
2. ↑ Innsbrucker Nachrichten, June 25, 1916, p. 4

literature

• Karl Menne: August Lieber, the highland singer. A belated commemorative sheet for his 60th birthday. In: Deutscher Hausschatz 1908, p. 107 f.
• Josef Rampold: August Lieber, the highland singer. Dissertation, Innsbruck 1950
• Mayr:  Dear August. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 5, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1972, p. 195.