Ludwig Starklof

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Carl Christian Ludwig Starklof (born September 28, 1789 in Ludwigsburg ; † October 11, 1850 in Oldenburg ) was the founder and first director of the Oldenburg State Theater .

Life

Origin and professional career

Starklof was the third son of the ducal valet and later Oldenburg post director Christian Gottlieb Starklof (1740-1817) and his wife Charlotte Burkhard, who came from Ludwigsburg. He attended grammar school in Oldenburg and then began to study law at the University of Göttingen in 1807 . There he met Theodor Schacht , which resulted in a lifelong friendship. From the winter semester 1809/1810 he studied in Heidelberg , where he belonged to the Corps Hannovera and in Göttingen the Frisia . In February 1811 he entered the civil service of the Duchy of Oldenburg and was initially employed as 2nd secretary in the government of the Principality of Lübeck in Eutin . In October 1814 he was appointed cabinet secretary to Oldenburg and from 1815 to 1818 he was secretary of the Oldenburg legation at the Congress of Vienna and secretary of the legation at the German Bundestag in Frankfurt am Main . In January 1818 he became cabinet secretary in the administration in Oldenburg at his own request and received the title of court counselor . From 1826 to 1827 he worked briefly as a bailiff in Oberstein in the Oldenburg principality of Birkenfeld and then returned to Oldenburg. After Paul Friedrich August took office , Starklof was admitted to the cabinet meetings of the grand ducal government in 1829 and was promoted to first cabinet secretary, and later to councilor. On the occasion of the July Revolution of 1830 , he campaigned for a constitution in the Grand Duchy, but was ultimately unsuccessful.

Since his professional activity in Oldenburg was not very fulfilling, Starklof dealt intensively with politics during this time. He advocated preventive reforms and essentially called for the establishment of a constitutional monarchy and wanted to promote the economy of the Grand Duchy and stimulate economic growth by building roads and railways. So Starklof was to be assigned to the moderate liberals of Oldenburg.

In 1832 he was the founder and first director of the Grand Ducal Theater in Oldenburg, where he ensured the organizational prerequisites for a functioning theater and the establishment of an efficient ensemble, thereby consolidating the theater in Oldenburg as an institution as a whole. In 1842 he resigned from his engagement for the theater because he did not believe his achievements were adequately rewarded, and turned again to other activities. On the one hand, he joined the literary sociable association and was a founding member and board member of the Oldenburger Kunstverein . On the other hand, he became more politically active again, became a member of the Oldenburg city ​​council and supported the construction of the Hunte-Ems Canal and the peatland colonization advocated by Johann Ludwig Mosle . Another focus of his interest was again the railway construction and the connection of the Grand Duchy to the rail network of the other German federal states.

Act as a writer

Since Starklof was almost permanently under-challenged with his professional situation, he was constantly looking for further fields of activity. In this respect, in addition to his other engagements, he continued to appear as the author of numerous novels and travelogues.

His time as legation secretary at the Bundestag legation in Frankfurt gave him the opportunity to pursue literary activities and so he published his first novel Olaf in 1817 , which was followed in 1818 by the novel The Princesses . Already with these two works Starklof expressed political criticism directed against the German small states and the parasitic court nobility with their outdated privileges. At the same time, especially after the French rule , it was national-German and for the This article also exists as the establishment of a German nation -state. After working in Vienna and Frankfurt, Starklof found it difficult to get used to the cramped living conditions of the small-town residence town of Oldenburg. Despite deep dissatisfaction, which at times even took on depressive features, he could not make up his mind to give up the official post that offered security and to leave the city. In 1821 he was accepted into the Literary Society and from this time threw himself into his writing. In quick succession he published a number of poems and essays, several short stories and two novels in which he again critically dealt with the social and political conditions in the small German states.

His socially critical novel Armin Galoor , which appeared in February 1846, triggered a diplomatic affair and a scandal, so that Starklof could not be retained as a civil servant for the Grand Duke and was put on hold on February 25, 1846, with his salary cut. His efforts for a mandate in the assembly of 34 , in the Frankfurt pre-parliament and for the Paulskirchenparliament were in vain. He therefore switched to reporting and from April 1848 reported for the Bremer Zeitung from Frankfurt and then from the end of May 1849 from Stuttgart from the rump parliament .

End of life

Following his work in Stuttgart, he traveled through Switzerland and returned to Oldenburg in October 1849, where he hoped to find another job with the help of friends. In May 1850, the Prime Minister Dietrich Christian von Buttel commissioned Starklof to design an organizational plan for a statistical office in Oldenburg. This work did not satisfy him either, but exceeded his technical knowledge and skills. The joblessness and family accidents then drove Starklof into deeper and deeper depression. On October 11, 1850, he put an end to his life in the Hunte . On November 6th he was buried in the Gertrudenfriedhof .

Part of the estate is in the Lower Saxony State Archives in Oldenburg. His brother Friedrich Detlev Georg Starklof was a bailiff in the Kaltenhof office in the Principality of Lübeck until 1840 .

family

On January 24, 1818, Starklof married Elisabeth Dorothea Römeling (1783–1854), who came from a Danish noble family, the only daughter of the Danish ambassador Just Conrad Römeling (1750–1819) and Marianne born. von Hemert (1765-1815). The couple had five children, their daughter Caroline (* 1821) married the Oldenburg colonel and politician Wilhelm Niebour (1813–1895).

Works (selection)

  • Starklof's letters to JJ Leyser from the years 1827-1849 in the archive of the Verein für Heimatfreunde. Birch field.
  • Olaf. A story from the Thirty Years War. 2 vols. Frankfurt 1817.
  • The princesses. 2 vols. Aarau, 1818. 2nd edition: 1820.
  • Diary of my hike through Switzerland. Bremen. 1819.
  • The lost Son. 2 vol., Mainz 1824.
  • Stories. Frankfurt 1827.
  • Rouge et Noir, or the story of the four kings. Mainz. 1829.
  • Heligoland. A lake fairy tale. Hamburg. 1832.
  • Wittekind. 4 vols. Mainz, 1832. 2nd edition: 1835.
  • Alma. 2 vols. Hamburg, 1834.
  • Prince Leo . Hamburg, 1834.
  • A fortnight in the mountains. Bremen, 1837.
  • Armin Galoor. 2 vols. Leipzig, 1846.
  • Siren . Leipzig, 1846. Also published in: Paul Heyse (Hrsg.): Neuer deutscher Novellenschatz. Vol. 1, Oldenburg, 1884. Most recently ed. by H. Peter Brandt, Idar-Oberstein, 1987.
  • The history of the Oldenburg theater . Published in: Das neue Europa , ed. by August Lewald, Vol. 1, Karlsruhe 1846, pp. 44-46, 55-60, 76-78.
  • Just Ulrik Jerndorff . Oldenburg, 1847.
  • Moor canals and moor colonies between Hunte and Ems . Oldenburg, 1847.
  • Through the Alps. Leipzig. 1850.
  • A hundred years ago - diary sheets. Edited by August Heidrich, in: Birkenfelder Heimatblätter. Various editions (1924–1926).
  • Journal of my trip to Birkenfeld and Oberstein in 1816. Idar-Oberstein. 1982.
  • Experiences and Confessions. Edited by Hans Friedl, published in: Harry Niemann (Ed.): Ludwig Starklof 1789-1850. Oldenburg, 1986, pp. 55-222.

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Ludwig Starklof  - Sources and full texts
personal data
SURNAME Starklof, Ludwig
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Starklof, Carl Christian Ludwig (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer, journalist, dramaturge and theater director
DATE OF BIRTH September 28, 1789
PLACE OF BIRTH Ludwigsburg
DATE OF DEATH October 11, 1850
Place of death Oldenburg