Christian Brehme

Christian Brehme (born April 26, 1613 in Leipzig , † September 10, 1667 in Dresden ) was a German poet , electoral official, librarian and mayor of Dresden.

Life

Christian Brehme was the son of a master builder, but lost both parents as a child. As an orphan, he attended high school in Roßleben at the Unstrut and enrolled in 1630 at the Leucorea in Wittenberg to law study. In 1633 he returned to Leipzig to continue his studies in philosophy , politics and law. He also devoted himself to studying the Italian language and literature.

During the Thirty Years' War and the occupation of his hometown Leipzig in 1633 by imperial troops, he served for several years as an officer in the Saxon, Brandenburg and Swedish armies and was promoted to lieutenant captain.

In 1639 he came to Dresden and took on the position of secret valet for Prince Elector Johann Georgs II. In 1640 he was hired as the electoral librarian . Under his leadership a significant expansion of the holdings succeeded, u. a. the reference library of the widow Christian II, Hedwig of Denmark and the library of the Wittenberg professors Christian and Friedrich Taubmann . From 1642 Brehme was also a member of the Dresden Council and has been the city's senator ever since. His numerous legal and political obligations forced him to give up library work in 1654, which at his request was passed on to his friend David Schirmer . However, he remained co-inspector of the library until his death. In 1560 he was appointed to the electoral council.

On April 29, 1657 he was appointed governing mayor by the Dresden City Council and held this office four times until 1666. Brehme died in Dresden in 1667 and was buried with high honors in the Frauenkirchhof .

family

Christian Brehme was married twice. His first wife Anna Margarethe was the daughter of the electoral Saxon secretary Gabriel Voigt. On the occasion of her death in 1652, Brehmes composed the work "O my soul, why are you sad", which Heinrich Schütz later set to music . In his second marriage, he married Ursula Rosina Schäfer, a daughter of the Dresden mayor Valentin Schäfer .

Literary activity

Brehme began his first literary attempts during his studies. In Wittenberg he became acquainted with August Buchner , who was to strongly influence him and his friends, including Zacharias Lund . After returning to Leipzig he met other young poets such as Gottfried Finckelthaus , Paul Fleming and Adam Olearius . As a student, he was able to present a first anthology of his own poems in 1637. Ten years later he published anonymously his novel "Die Vier Tage einer Newen und Lustigen Schäfferey ...", one of the first of its kind in Germany. He also wrote a guide on how to write short letters and published numerous poems under the pseudonym "Corimbo". Brehme was also the first German to translate parts of Dante's "Divine Comedy". His literary estate is in the Saxon State Library in Dresden , together with various personal letters .

Works (selection)

• C. Brehmens all kinds of funny, dragging poems and poems that occurred at the time , ed. Anthony J. Harper, Tübingen: Niemeyer 1994 (Ndr. D. Edition Leipzig 1637)
• Way to write short letters . Leipzig 1640
• The four days of a new and funny sheep farm . Dresden 1647
• First (- Third) Part of Christian Conversations . Dresden 1659

literature

• Gerhard Dünnhaupt : "Christian Brehme (1613-1667)", in: Personalbibliographien zu den Druck des Barock , Vol. 2. Stuttgart: Hiersemann 1990, pp. 787–794. ISBN 3-7772-9027-0
• Franz Schnorr von Carolsfeld:  Brehme, Christian . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 3, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, p. 284.
• Sieglinde Richter-Nickel: The venerable council of Dresden , in: Dresdner Geschichtsbuch No. 5, Dresden City Museum (ed.); DZA Verlag for Culture and Science, Altenburg 1999, ISBN 3-9806602-1-4 .
• Otto Richter: Constitutional and administrative history of the city of Dresden , Volume 1, Verlag W. Baensch, Dresden 1885.

Web links

• Publications by and about Christian Brehme in VD 17 .
• Literature by and about Christian Brehme in the catalog of the German National Library
• Literature by and about Christian Brehme in the Saxon Bibliography
• Digitized prints by Christian Brehme in the catalog of the Herzog August Library
• Christian Brehme in the Stadtwiki Dresden

predecessor	Office	successor
Christian Schumann (1656, 1659) Michael Müller (1662, 1665)	Mayor of Dresden 1657, 1660, 1663, 1666	Valentin Schäfer (1658, 1661, 1664) Paul Zincke (1667)