Christian Felix Weisse
Christian Felix Weisse (born January 28, 1726 in Annaberg , † December 16, 1804 in Stötteritz ) was a German poet , writer and educator during the Enlightenment . Weisse is one of the most important representatives of the Enlightenment and is considered the founder of German children's and youth literature .
Life
Christian Felix Weisse was born in 1726 as the son of Christian Heinrich Weisse , rector of the Latin school in Annaberg in the Ore Mountains and teacher of oriental and modern European languages, and his wife Christiane Elisabeth born. Kleemann, born. When he was six months old, the family moved to Altenburg , where he attended high school from the age of ten . At this time he made his first lyrical attempts.
His family later moved to Leipzig. 1745-1750 he studied at the University of philology and theology . During his studies he learned a. a. Christian Fürchtegott Gellert , Gotthold Ephraim Lessing , Friederike Caroline Neuber , Gottlieb Wilhelm Rabener and Ewald Christian von Kleist know. They were both admirers and critics of his works .
After completing his studies, Weisse took a position as tutor to Count von Geyersberg, who was also studying in Leipzig at the time. In 1759 he took over the editing of the Library of Fine Sciences at Friedrich Nicolai's request , but in the same year traveled to Paris with his student Johann Heinrich von Geyersberg. Back from Paris, Weisse resigned from his position as private tutor and went to Schloss Burgscheidungen an der Unstrut as a partner of Count Schulenburg .
In 1761, White became a district tax collector in Leipzig and in 1790 inherited the Stötteritz manor near Leipzig. This was made possible u. a. through the patronage of Count Schulenburg.
In addition to his poetry (which, among other things, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart set to music) and his dramas, Weisse had great success with his magazine Der Kinderfreund , which appeared in 24 volumes from 1775 to 1782 and is Germany's first children's magazine.
Christian Felix Weisse died on December 16, 1804 in Stötteritz. His grave is in the old Johannisfriedhof .
He was married to Christiane Platner, who died in 1813. The son, the historian Christian Ernst Weisse, is known from this marriage . Christian Felix Weisse was the godfather of the natural scientist Theodor Grotthuss .
Honors
On Weißes 100th birthday, on January 28th, 1826, at the suggestion of Annaberg superintendent Carl Heinrich Gottfried Lommatzsch in the Friedrichsaal of the museum (today Erzhammer / Haus des Gastes) the "White Foundation Annaberg" was founded as a "pension institution for needy boys" . White son-in-law, Samuel Gottlob Frisch, served on the foundation's board for many years . Six hundred children formed a capital “W” on the market square and “ celebrated the festivities in the museum's locale from six o'clock onwards. The pupils of the Weißischen Foundation appeared in their clothes in the blue cloth. The foster parents sat in the first row of seats, ” reported the Annaberger Tageblatt on January 29, 1926.
Weißestrasse in (Leipzig-) Stötteritz is named after him. A street in Annaberg-Buchholz also bears his name, but it has been wrong for years because it was written as "Weise-Straße".
Trivia
The opening lines of his poem Der Aufschub became a winged word :
Works (selection)
Libretti for German Singspiele
- The devil is loose (1752), music (1766): Johann Adam Hiller
- Love in the Country (1768), Music (1768): Johann Adam Hiller
Poetry
- Amazon songs. Leipzig 1762 ( digitized in the digital library Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania)
Funny operas
- The Hunt (1770), music: Johann Adam Hiller
- The transformed women (1778)
- The Merry Cobbler (1778)
- The Dorfbalbier (1778)
Comedies
- Amalia (1765, published 1766)
- Friendship to the test (1768)
- Comedy , 3 volumes (1783)
- The jug goes to water until it breaks; or the bailiff. A play in one act (1786). New edition with an afterword ed. by Alexander Košenina. Wehrhahn, Hannover 2013, ISBN 978-3-86525-354-5 .
tragedies
- The Liberation of Thebes (1764)
- Tragedy , 5 volumes (1776–1780)
Youth and non-fiction books
- Little Songs for Children (1766)
- Songs for children . Leipzig: Weidmann 1767 ( digitized and full text in the German text archive )
- New ABC book (1772)
- The Child's Friend (24 volumes, 1775–1782)
- Correspondence from the family of the child friend (12 volumes, 1784–1792)
- Eight hundred new riddles never printed (1791)
Autobiography
- Christian Felix Weissen's autobiography (1806) digitized
Translations
- Edward Moore : Fables for the Fair Sex by E. Moore . Translated from the English by Christian Felix Weisse. Weidmann & Reich, Leipzig 1762.
- Louis-Sébastien Mercier : The year two thousand four hundred and forty (2440). London (Schwickert in Leipzig); 1st edition 1772.
literature
- Carola Cardi: The children's play of the Enlightenment period. An examination of the German-language children's plays from 1769–1800. Lang, Frankfurt am Main a. a. 1983. (= European university publications; series 1, German language and literature; 693) ISBN 3-8204-7715-2
- Anne-Kristin Mai: Christian Felix Weisse 1726–1804. Leipzig writer between the office building, the stage and the Stötteritz idyll. Biographical sketch and selection of works. Sax Verlag, Beucha 2003, ISBN 3-934544-53-3
- Bettina Hurrelmann: Youth Literature and Bourgeoisie. Social education in the youth literature of the Enlightenment using the example of Christian Felix Weisses 'child friend' 1776–1782. Schöningh, Paderborn 1974. (= information on language and literature didactics; 5) ISBN 3-506-74055-5
- Walter Huettemann: Christian Felix Weisse and his time in his relationship to Shakespeare . Dissertation, University of Bonn 1912
- Walter Pape: The literary children's book. Studies of origin and typology. de Gruyter, Berlin a. a. 1981, ISBN 3-11-008474-0
- Jakob Minor : White, Christian Felix . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 41, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1896, pp. 587-590.
- Gotthard B. Schicker , "Felix Weisse - Child Friend from Annaberg" in Dicknischl - Erzgebirge people from then and now , Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft Marienberg mbH, 2008, ISBN 978-3-931770-76-1
- Stefan Lindinger : Weisse, Christian Felix. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 39, Bautz, Nordhausen 2018, ISBN 978-3-95948-350-6 , Sp. 1521-1530.
Web links
- Literature by and about Christian Felix Weisse in the catalog of the German National Library
- Works by and about Christian Felix Weisse in the German Digital Library
- Works by Christian Felix Weisse at Zeno.org .
- Secondary literature on Christian Felix Weisse
- Excerpt from Christian Felix Weissen's autobiography from 1806 (describes the years 1756 to 1758, especially the encounters with Ewald Christian von Kleist and Gotthold Ephraim Lessing )
- Poems on zgedichte.de
- Works by Christian Felix Weisse in the Gutenberg-DE project
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | White, Christian Felix |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German writer and educator |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 28, 1726 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Annaberg |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 16, 1804 |
| Place of death | Stötteritz |