Friedrich Ernst Jester

Friedrich Ernst Jester

Friedrich Ernst Jester (born October 9, 1743 in Königsberg ; † April 14, 1822 there ) was a German forester and author . In addition to writings on hunting and forest topics, he also worked as a playwright and librettist .

Life

Origin and education

Friedrich Ernst Jester, the son of a secretary at the trade college, lost his parents at an early age. Eight days after the birth of the only son, his mother died, three years later his father too. From then on, the boy grew up with relatives in the family of the notary in Bielefeld. He initially received private tuition and then attended the higher classes of the old town parochial school from the age of twelve to fifteen . Prepared in this way, he was able to study law at the Royal Albertus University in Königsberg . In doing so, he complied with his foster father's wish. He completed his studies with conscientiousness, but without any inner inclination. In addition to his main studies, he also studied philosophy with Immanuel Kant , mathematics with Friedrich Johann Buck and natural history with Johann Gottfried Teske .

In 1765 Jester traveled through Germany, Switzerland and France , where he spent three months in Paris . On these hikes he came into contact with a number of artists and scholars, and especially poets like Gotthold Ephraim Lessing gave him suggestions. During these years, Jester not only expanded his artistic and legal knowledge, but also acquired practical skills. During stays in Thuringia and the Harz Mountains , for example, he became familiar with mining , metallurgy and the closely related forestry .

First years of employment

As soon as he returned to his hometown in 1767, his relative and godfather, the Minister of Rhod , who was the Prussian envoy at the Viennese court, hired him as secretary at the legation. In this role, Jester got to know Emperor Joseph II and Frederick the Great personally and traveled to Italy and Tyrol on business . Since he only had to appear in the office twice a week in Vienna , Jester had enough freedom to pursue his artistic and scientific inclinations. An avid hunter since the age of 14 , he practically learned forestry and hunting for three years from an imperial chief forester near the imperial city. In 1772 he returned to Königsberg with the ambassador. There he initially took over the post of second librarian at the Royal University Library and at the same time the secretary position to the President Johann Friedrich von Domhardt .

Promotion in the Prussian forest administration

In 1775 Jester was appointed war, domain and presidential councilor of the war and domain chamber in Königsberg and was sent to Marienwerder for a year as an assistant . After his return he concentrated increasingly on the sustainable forestry that was just blossoming in Prussia in those years . Business trips with the President von Domhardt and his successor von Golz gave him an insight into the condition of the Prussian forests, which was still in need of improvement at the time, and enriched his forestry knowledge and experience. In 1780, this resulted in his appointment as a forestry department councilor to the War and Domain Chamber by Minister Levin Rudolph von der Schulenburg . Appointed chief forestry council in 1788 , Jester received the character of chief forestry officer in 1805 - an award that until then had only rarely been given to commoners in Prussia due to the nobility privilege . He was well involved in the forestry circles of his time far beyond the Königsberg area, for example as an active member of the "Society for Forestry and Hunting Studies" founded by Johann Matthäus Bechstein in 1795 .

Jester was not only very successful in the field of forest organization , but above all in the field of silviculture . For example, he had new forests planted in the province of Prussia , encouraged the introduction of foreign tree species such as larches and paid special attention to the planting of drift sand and dune areas. In addition, it is thanks to Jester that the elk in the region of the Curonian Lagoon and the Curonian Spit were spared.

The hunting and forest writer

Friedrich Ernst Jester laid down his extensive hunting experience in the multi-volume series About the small hunt, for the use of budding hunters and hunting enthusiasts . The partial volumes published from 1793 to 1808 made him well known in the German-speaking world and beyond. His forestry specialist publications include the three-part guide to the knowledge and appropriate preparation of timber , which Jester published in 1815 and 1816 at the age of 72, and his experiences with bark beetles and caterpillars . He correctly recognized that bark beetles can also infect healthy wood and therefore advocated appropriate excavations in infested stands in order to prevent the beetles from spreading to still undamaged trees.

Working for the stage

Friedrich Ernst Jester had already dealt with the French language during his student years in Königsberg and was particularly enthusiastic about poetry and acting . He was instructed in metrics by the Königsberg chamber secretary John, who was also active as a poet . And together with his wealthy friend Tritt from Gdansk, he started - in keeping with the trend of the day - a theater for lovers , in which he himself appeared repeatedly. At these appearances, Jester occasionally portrayed women. For example, he played the title role of Sara Sampson in Gotthold Ephraim Lessing 's tragedy of the same name . He achieved these travesties so perfectly because of his soft voice, delicate body, fine education and dexterity that even women were convinced that they were dealing with a female mate.

However, his career as a playwright only began in his Viennese years. He used his great professional freedom there to write , among other things, the comedy Das Duell, or the young married couple and the play Das Duell, or the sage in fact (both printed in 1768). Jester also translated French comedies. In Königsberg he teamed up successfully with the composer Friedrich Ludwig Benda and wrote the libretti for his comic opera Louise (1789) and the operetta Mariechen (1792). After Benda's death, further libretti followed for the comic operetta Der Wunder-Igel by Carl Siegemund Schönebeck (1793), the "fairy opera" Der Triumph der Liebe or Das kühne Abentheuer by CD Stegman (1796) and The Jewelery Box by Friedrich Adam Hiller (1803) .

In addition, Jester, who all his life viewed himself only as a lay and casual poet, wrote the Freemann plays or how will it work? (1790) and The Village Preacher (1792). The latter was a stage adaptation of the then internationally very popular novel The Pastor of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith from 1766. In general, Jester worked more often on foreign material - a common practice at the time. On the other hand, was Freemann or how will it work? his first piece, free of established templates and written entirely according to his own ideas. Nonetheless, it also goes back to tried and tested patterns, including works by Lessing, but also by Friedrich Schiller .

In addition to the smaller font The friend of the lapdog. New Year's present for women (1797) Jester created a total of five plays, five comedies and nine opera libretti. He also translated four operas and 13 comedies by well-known authors such as Nicolas Chamfort , Richard Cumberland , Louis-Benoît Picard and Michel-Jean Sedaine .

Activity as a Freemason

In addition to his work as a writer and playwright, Jester had devoted himself to Freemasonry in his spare time . He had become a Freemason in Paris in 1764 and later a member of the Hope Lodge in Vienna. As a counterpart to the already existing Königsberg three-crown lodge , he founded the Johannisloge Zum Todtenkopfe on March 21, 1772 together with Christian Jacob Hewelke, Jacob Friedrich Grimm, Nathanael Holst and Johann Ignaz Wierzbicki . Jester was elected its first chairman of the lodge master. In 1775 he founded the Zum Phoenix Lodge , which was later combined with the Todtenkopf Lodge to form the Zum Todtenkopf und Phoenix Lodge . On March 21, 1822, a few days before his death, he took part in the jubilee celebration on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Masonic Lodge.

Last years of life

Friedrich Ernst Jester retired in 1820 at his request. Unmarried all his life, he was last looked after by the widow Gerlach, a long-time friend. He died on April 14, 1822. According to his request, he was buried in the box garden under trees that he had planted himself.

Reception and afterlife

Friedrich Ernst Jester already attracted attention in his Viennese years with his early pieces, also abroad. Thus the duel, or the young couple (1768) in a 1780 Dutch published version. And Das Duell, or The Wise Indeed (1768), for example, appeared in 1786 in a French-language adaptation by M. Rauquil-Lieutaud.

One of Jester's most successful pieces is Freemann or how will it work? , which was currently very popular not only in East Prussia. Probably first performed in Königsberg in 1790, it was also given in Hamburg in the same year . The play was reprinted several times and was reprinted around half a dozen in various locations by the end of the century. As a result, it was brought to the stage in many areas of Germany. Another great stage success of Jester was Der Dorfprediger (1792), which was translated into other languages ​​several times. A Swedish version appeared around 1795 and a Danish one in 1815 .

Jester made a name for himself as a librettist for operas and operettas above all with the comic opera Louise with the music of Friedrich Ludwig Benda. First performed in Gdansk in 1789 with great success , it was the most popular stage work in the area for a decade and was also performed in many other cities.

However, Friedrich Ernst Jester achieved perhaps his most lasting success as a hunting writer with his multi-volume work About the small hunt, for the use of budding hunters and hunting enthusiasts (1793-1808). Up until Carl Emil Diezel's Niederjagd (from 1849) it was considered the best publication on the subject of " Niederjagd ". "You can feel from all the booklets how much the author is at home in this area, how he draws from his own experience and speaks from his own experience," said the forest historian Richard Hess . For decades it remained a standard work that was widely used by the hunters. The second edition was published in four volumes in 1817. After Jester's death, the work was published again in 1848 and 1859 by Chief Forestry Officer Carl Heinrich Edmund von Berg . Oskar von Riesenthal obtained a fifth, but completely revised edition in 1884 under the title Die Kleine Jagd. For hunters and hunting lovers . Über die kleine Jagd also met with interest abroad . Parts of it have been translated into Swedish, for example.

His first biographer was his good friend Ludwig von Baczko , who published the memorandum on the forester Friedrich Ernst Jester in 1822 .

In the recent past, Joseph Kohnen in particular has dealt with Jester's literary work, which had been largely forgotten in the course of the 19th century, and in 2010 his successful piece Freemann or how will it work? reissued.

Works (selection)

Dramatic works and libretti

• The duel, or the young married couple. Comedy in one act . Kurtzböck, Vienna 1768 (2nd, improved edition. Frankfurth, Leipzig 1771).
• The duel, or the wise one, indeed. Acting in five acts . Vienna 1768.
• together with Johann Heinrich Friedrich Müller : four fools in one person. Foreplay in one act . Vienna 1770.
• Louise. A comic operetta in three acts . Music by Friedrich Ludwig Benda . 1789, printed by Nicolovius, Königsberg 1791 (later also under the title Arias and Chants from Louise. An opera in 3 acts . Printed by JCD Müller, Riga 1794). (Premiere Koenigsberg January 9, 1791).
• Freemann or how will it work? A play in four acts . In: Deutsche Schaubühne , volume 23. Augsburg 1790 (also in volume 22 of the series Neue, deutsche Schauspiele . Grätz 1797; new edition, edited and with an afterword by Joseph Kohnen , as volume 24 in the series Theatertexte . Wehrhahn, Hannover 2010, ISBN 978-3-86525-156-5 ).
• The village preacher. A play in five acts. Based on the English novel The Country Priest of Wakefield . Nicolovius, Königsberg 1792 (also in Deutsche Schaubühne , Volume 42).
• Mariechen. A comic operetta in three acts . Music by Friedrich Ludwig Benda . Königsberg 1792 [piano reduction, arranged by Johann Wilhelm Schultz ].
• The miracle hedgehog. A comic operetta in one act . Music by Carl Siegemund Schönebeck . Nicolovius, Königsberg, and Breitkopf, Leipzig 1793 [piano reduction].
• The Triumph of Love or The Daring Adventure. A fairy opera in four acts . Music from CD Stegman. Friedrich Nicolovius, Königsberg 1796 [piano reduction]; Another edition: Gesaenge from the Singspiele Der Triumph der Liebe . Freystatzky and Rabe, Hamburg 1796.
• The friend of the lapdog. A New Year's gift for women from 1797 . Nicolovius, Königsberg 1796/1797.
• The jewelry box. Operetta in one act , 1803; Music by Friedrich Adam Hiller (libretto in print as chants from: The jewelry box. Operetta in one act . Königsberg 1803).
• The pilgrim . Comedy in three acts. Based on the French comedy: Le Mariage de Capucin . With several changes and mostly just keeping the main material completely freely edited (UA Königsberg December 28, 1821).

Translations

• Nicolas Chamfort : La jeune Indienne , 1764, translated by Jester under the title The young Indian woman. Comedy in one act .

Hunting and forestry writings

• About the little hunt. For use by budding hunting enthusiasts . 8 volumes. Nicolovius, Königsberg 1793–1808 (5th edition, completely revised by Oskar von Riesenthal , under the title Die Kleine Jagd. For hunters and hunting enthusiasts . FA Brockhaus, Leipzig 1884).
• Instructions for the knowledge and appropriate preparation of timber. Dedicated to young future foresters . Unzer, Königsberg 1815–1816.

literature

• Ludwig von Baczko : Memorandum to the chief forest master Friedrich Ernst Jester . University bookstore, Königsberg 1822, 23 pp.
• Richard Hess : Friedrich Ernst Jester . In: Pictures of the lives of outstanding foresters and mathematicians, naturalists and economists who are deserving of forestry . Paul Parey, Berlin 1885, pp. 172-174.
• Richard Hess:  Jester, Friedrich Ernst . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 13, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1881, pp. 788-790.
• The life and work of the Royal Prussian Forester Jester zu Königsberg . Obituary and appreciation in: Valentin Friedrich Fischer and Wilhelm Friedrich von der Borch (eds.): Sylvan . New series, 2nd year 1824, pp. 3–20 (contains, among other things, a complete list of all of Jester's theatrical writings)
• Julius Theodor Christian Ratzeburg : Friedrich Ernst Jester . In ders .: Forest Science Writer's Lexicon . Berlin 1872-73, pp. 270-272.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m} Richard Heß:  Jester, Friedrich Ernst . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 13, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1881, pp. 788-790.
2. ↑ See for example Wolfgang Pfauch: Johann Matthäus Bechstein 1757-1822. Life and work . Frisch, Eisenach 1995, ISBN 3-931431-03-7 , pp. 65 and 83 (book however without page numbering)
3. ↑ published in Georg Ludwig Hartig's forest and hunting archives by and for Prussia , 2nd year, issue 4, p. 45
4. ↑ Joseph Kohnen : Epilogue to Freemann or how will it work? . Wehrhahn, Hannover 2010, p. 109
5. ↑ The life and work of the Royal Prussian Forester Jester zu Königsberg . Obituary and appreciation in: Sylvan . New series, 2nd year 1824, p. 7
6. ↑ Joseph Kohnen: Epilogue to Freemann or how will it work? . Wehrhahn, Hannover 2010, p. 110f.
7. ↑ Joseph Kohnen: Epilogue to Freemann or how will it work? . Wehrhahn, Hannover 2010, p. 110
8. ↑ Het duel of het jong getrouwde paar. Blyspel in één bedryfv . B. Wild, Utrecht 1780
9. ↑ Le duel, ou La force du prejuge. Comedie en trois actes, en vers . Chez Cailleau, Paris 1786.
10. ↑ Joseph Kohnen: Epilogue to Freemann or how will it work? . Wehrhahn, Hannover 2010, p. 111
11. ↑ Joseph Kohnen: Epilogue to Freemann or how will it work? . Wehrhahn, Hannover 2010, p. 112
12. ↑ Landprasten i Wakefield . Henrik A. Nordström, Stockholm 1795.
13. ↑ Landsbypræsten. Skuespil i 5 Acter . Schmidtnorw, Copenhagen 1815
14. ↑ Joseph Kohnen: Epilogue to Freemann or how will it work? . Wehrhahn, Hannover 2010, pp. 107 and 109
15. ↑ several individual issues , including, for example, Grundlig afhandling öfver rapphönshundars dressering . Translated by Henrik Sandström. Winge, Nyköping 1829.
16. ↑ published as Volume 24 in the Theatertexte series by Verlag Wehrhahn, Hannover 2010, ISBN 978-3-86525-156-5