Eugen von Vaerst

Friedrich Christian Eugen Baron von Vaerst (born April 10, 1792 in Wesel , † September 16, 1855 in Herrendorf bei Soldin ), pseudonym Chevalier de Lelly , was a Prussian officer , writer , theater director in Breslau and gastrosoph .

Life

Vaerst received his school education in Wesel and Bayreuth . From 1803 he attended the Berlin Cadet House , joined the Prussian Army in 1810 and was made an officer the following year. He took part in the campaign against Russia in 1812 and fought in the Wars of Liberation in 1813/15 . Vaerst was able to prove himself in the Battle of Waterloo , was awarded the Iron Cross , the Order of St. Vladimir and the Order of St. Anna and was transferred to the Guard. In 1818 he quit his military service as a captain in order to travel through Europe as a "cavalier" .

He was a drinking companion of ETA Hoffmann , whom he served as a model for his brother Serapion, and made friends in Breslau with Karl Schall , Karl von Holtei , Karl Witte and Franz von Schober . Vaerst later also worked as a journalist (including for Schalls (Neue) Breslauer Zeitung ), played a role in diplomacy and wrote books such as (under the pseudonym "Chevalier de Lelly") the "Cavalier-Perspective", a "manual for budding spendthrift ”(1836), in which he describes his stay in Paris and, above all, his speculations on the stock market at that time. This book is by the way - a literary joke on the side - dedicated to "his dear friend and cousin Eugen Baron Vaerst".

Between 1840 and 1847 Vaerst was director of the Breslau theater, but gave up this post because of an illness that soon confined him to bed and made him blind. He withdrew to the estate in Herrendorf near Soldin in Neumark , which his brother Hugo Hans had acquired in 1846 , and in this seclusion, after ten years of work, created his main work, the more than 600 printed pages "Gastrosophy or the doctrine of the joys of the table" Published in two volumes in 1851. Because of the related subject area, von Vaerst is therefore also considered the German Brillat-Savarin - however, Vaerst 's work was far less received than Brillat-Savarin's “Physiologie du gout”.

In his "Gastrosophie" von Vaerst elevates the enjoyment of food to an art form and describes the three types of gourmets: the gourmand , the gourmet and the gastrosophie ; the term “ gastrosophy ” was probably first introduced into German in this book. The first volume deals with all types of food (meat, game, poultry, vegetables, spices, sauces, fish, etc.), the second volume is devoted to drinks (water, wine, coffee, tea and beer) and describes an Athenian one Binge.

With Lessing's motto “Only known!”, The title page indicates that this work is a compilation which Vaerst - as he himself writes - “compiled from thousands of excerpts, from tens of thousands of quotations” have. Countless references, anecdotes and piquancy from various authors merge here with Vaersts' own views. Although the book thus has the character of an anthology rather than a textbook, this book remains an invaluable source for culinary cross-references in history, literature and philosophy, simply because of the sheer number of compiled passages. The educational claim, however, is more concealed than raised by the multitude of anecdotes and the entertaining style. According to the critic Schraemli, it is "the most ingenious work that has ever been written about the joys of the table."

Works (selection)

• A hundred sonnets. (together with Karl Witte and Friedrich Schmidt), Breslau 1825.
• Political New Year gift. Wroclaw 1831.
• Cavalier Perspective. Handbook for budding spendthrifts from Chevalier de Lelly, Leipzig 1836.
• The pyrenees. Wroclaw 1847.
• Gastrosophy or the doctrine of the joys of the table. Leipzig 1851.

Literature (selection)

• Bärbel Rudin (Ed.): Finds and findings on the Silesian theater history. Dortmund 1983.
• Ludwig Sittenfeld: History of the Breslau Theater. 1841-1900. Wroclaw 1909.
• Henk J. Koning: Friedrich Christian Eugen Baron von Vaerst (1792-1855). Part 1–2. Weltmann, man of letters, newspaper editor and theater director in Wroclaw. In: Schlesien, year 38. Sigmaringen 1993. Issue 1 (part 1), pp. 34–42 and issue 2 (part 2) pp. 74–83.
• Andreas Gottfried Schmidt: Gallery of German pseudonymous writers excellent of the last decade. Grimma 1840, p. 113 ( digitized version )
• Conversations at the home hearth. Volume 1, p. 124 ff. Nekrolog

Web links

• Literature by and about Eugen von Vaerst in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by Eugen von Vaerst in the Gutenberg-DE project