Gottlieb Bertrand

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Bertrand around 1800

Gottlieb Bertrand (born March 23, 1775 in Braunschweig , † July 15, 1813 in Osterwieck ) was a German author .

Life

Gottlieb Bertrand was born on March 23, 1775 in Braunschweig and was baptized on March 25 in the St. Andrew's Church in Braunschweig under the name of Gottlieb Werner Anthon Bertram . In a later document he also gave the first name Hans. He was the youngest son of Obercommissarius Johann Heinrich Bertram and his wife Henriette Wilhelmine, geb. Thorbrüggen. His grandfather Bertram was Princely Oberhütten-Inspector of the Duchy of Braunschweig-Lüneburg , his grandfather Thorbrüggen was church treasurer and legal administrator at the St. Balsii monastery , Braunschweig Cathedral. Gottlieb Bertrand's father was from 1780 bailiff in the half-court Bettmar in Braunschweig, hence the spread in all publications presumption derives, Gottlieb Bertrand come from Bettmar. He certainly spent his childhood there. The actual apartment was in Braunschweig, in the house of Hofrat von Hantelmann's on Wendenstrasse . This gave him the opportunity to gain extensive education. For training, he was placed in the hands of a merchant and worked as his servant. In addition, he worked at a lovers' theater and for a while also worked with an actor company in Wolfenbüttel, which gave him a benefit performance for it. He began to write plays and novels. It was probably during this time that the name changed to Bertrand. In the marriage certificate 1797 and from this date onwards, the family name Bertrand is used for all family members. On December 6, 1797, he married the daughter of a Brunswick victual dealer , Johanne Marianne Wilcke, in the New Church in Wolfenbüttel (today: St. Johanniskirche ) . At that time the Bertrands were already living in Wolfenbüttel .

Most of his works were created here, a total of 6 plays and 18 novels. From 1803 he taught at the Samson School , a Jewish school in Wolfenbüttel, where he was responsible for German writing and reading, as well as arithmetic. Among his students there were the later famous scientists Leopold Zunz and Isaak Markus Jost . After 1806 with the invasion of the French, the Duchy of Braunschweig , which was allied with Prussia against Napoleon, was added to the Kingdom of Westphalia with the capital Kassel. The theaters now played primarily operas and ballets. It became more difficult for Gottlieb Bertrand to support the family. That is why he placed advertisements in Braunschweig in the summer of 1808 to offer himself to give lessons in bookkeeping, arithmetic and writing. He moved to Osterwieck, about 50 km away, and lived in the Pflaumenbaumschen house at Markt 420. He died in this house on July 15, 1813, at the age of 38. He last earned his living as a watchmaker.

He left 6 children. His young widow returned to Braunschweig. She gave the eldest daughter to Bertrand's sister in the Riekesche Foundation, where she died in 1815 at the age of 16 and was buried in the poor grave. The three sons received training as a type foundryman or cutler . The widow Bertrand died in Braunschweig after 1839. The hand-painted portrait of Gottlieb Bertrand, which was created around 1800, comes from her estate.

plant

Gottlieb Bertrand's works were widely distributed, not only in Germany, but also in Sweden, Denmark, Great Britain, Switzerland and Austria (there he is listed in the national library, not in Germany). Some works can no longer be traced today due to water damage or war loss. The Royal Library in Berlin has the largest collection . Three of his plays can be found in the Deutsche Schaubühne collection or the dramatic library of the latest pleasure, drama, singing and tragedy plays, Augsburg and Leipzig in 1818. The novel "Minna or the new robber girl" was only published in Leipzig after his death in 1819 . Gottlieb Bertrand has often been confused with the prolific writer Karl Schöpfer , who was born in 1811 and published some of his works under the pseudonym G. Bertrant or Gottlieb Bertrant. In 1894, the literary scholar Carl Müller-Fraureuth called Gottlieb Bertrand “a Braunschweig great in the field of the robber novel” in his work “The Knight and Robber Novels”. G. Bertrand is most often associated with his novel "Nikol List". This work is perhaps not his most mature, because the first part ends abruptly shortly before the church robbery in the St. Katharinen Church in Braunschweig. Bertrand meticulously describes the journey through life with the historical data known to him. The second part, in which the greatest of his outrages, the church robbery at Lüneburg, his capture in Greiz and his death in Celle, was not written.

His novel about the Cossack rebel Pugachev is more precise and complete . He follows all stages of the false tsar with exact dates up to the execution in 1775 in Moscow. As with other works, the subtitle, "romantically depicted." Is striking. Bertrand is following a fashion of the time that goes back to Novalis , who wrote in 1797 “... By giving the common a high meaning, the ordinary a mysterious reputation, the known the dignity of the unknown, the finite an infinite appearance, I romanticize it … “This process runs like a red thread through almost all of Bertrand's works. Throughout his novels there is an old, wise superfather who brings his protégé into a wide variety of situations in order to impart life experience to him and to strengthen him for the further life through the experiences he has gained. Only at the end of each story does the old man reveal himself and the motives for his actions. In doing so, Bertrand is definitely connected to the ideals of the Enlightenment, he always ends with an appeal to the rulers for a moderate management of official business and sees the ideal in a modest lifestyle in the country. The breadth of his topics is astonishing. Between the family stories "The Unknown Wanderer" in 1799 and "The Enigmatic" in 1809, which take place during his lifetime and deal with autobiographical parts (sometimes quite self-deprecatingly), which set a monument to his homeland Braunschweig and Wolfenbüttel, lie the descriptions of the robber figures Nicol List, Mazarino and Pugachev, or the invented robber figure Zoresco of Genoa.

In his plays he portrays major contemporary historical debates: "Sigismund und Sophronie" is about the historically guaranteed history of the unification of the kingdoms of Poland and Russia in the 17th century, while "Abdali, King of Grenada" is about the liberation of Spain in 1492 by Don Carlos of the Moorish princes, and finally in “Zoresco of Genoa” about the courageous act of a woman to save the Republic of Venice from the corrupt public servants. With the play “Clorinde, the Sorceress” he writes a scenic fairy tale for children in which the two children save their sick mother through good deeds. The patriotic tragedy "Eva von Trott", which is set at the time of the Reformation, also processes historical events around the figure of the Brunswick Duchess and her enigmatic death, for which he, as he describes in a detailed foreword, extensive sources study on the nobility history of the family Trotta operated. In the forewords and comments he distinguishes himself from the prolific typing of his time, he prefers to write less, but to deliver more quality in order to meet the rush of booksellers and lending libraries. He has precise ideas about the performance of his plays, gives precise characterizations and makes suggestions for the scenic implementation.

His eldest son states in the marriage certificate 1825 as his father's profession as a private scholar. The majority of his works do not deal with knight or robber characters, but are branched and encrypted family and love stories of his time. The well-read man, who also quotes Goethe, Schiller, Klopstock, Shakespeare and Iffland, was keen to spread history and historical events and thus make a contribution to education. That is why the “Historical Novel” project at the University of Innsbruck does justice to him and his work rather than the German classification into the series of writers of robber novels. With his novels and plays he certainly tried to make a substantial contribution to the entertainment literature of his time.

When Karl Goedeke in outline the history of German poetry Detailed instructions found on his 20 works, novels and dramas. Five of his works are in the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel, the book The terrible adventurer Nikel List is in the Gdansk City Library.

Works

  • Count of Poitou or the ghost apprentice, a romantic fairy tale . Danzig bey Carl Goldstamm 1803
  • Minna or the new robber girl . Leipzig 1819
  • Abdali, King of Grenada or the Abencerrags. A tragedy in 5 acts (in the 25th volume of the Deutsche Schaubühne or Dramatic Library of the newest pleasure, drama, singing and tragedy plays, 1818)
  • Clorinde, the sorceress or the rewarded filial love. A play in 2 acts with chants, (in the 26th volume of the Deutsche Schaubühne or Dramatic Library of the latest pleasure, drama, singing and tragedy plays, 1818)
  • The puzzling one, or the two old ones . Leipzig 1811, Gießen undated
  • Sigismund and Sophronia, or cruelty from superstition . A play. Augsburg 1812 (in the 21st volume of the Deutsche Schaubühne)
  • The puzzling one, or the two old ones . Leipzig 1811, Gießen n.d. 1814
  • Zoresco from Genoa . Tragedy in five acts. Brunswick 1808
  • Pugachev, the terrible rebel . Albrecht, Wolfenbüttel 1807
  • Alwina, Princess of ***, or the Cabal . Leipzig 1807
  • The terrible adventurer Nikel List, called: from the Moselle . Schröder, Braunschweig 1806
  • The offender or the dissimilar brothers . Drama in 5 acts. Schröder, Braunschweig 1805
  • The sarcophagus, or the secrets of Berby Castle . Lueneburg 1805
  • Gustav, the expelled . Herold & Wahlstab, Lüneburg 1804
  • The oath . Herold & Wahlstab, Lüneburg 1804
  • The alpine hiker . Leipzig 1804
  • Golissano, the erring demon . Lueneburg 1803
  • The secret . Hamburg 1803
  • Amina, the beautiful circus rider . Leipzig 1803
  • The wandering virgin . Side piece to the unknown wanderer. Braunschweig 1802 and 1803
  • Mazarino the great robber in Lorraine and Alsace . Lueneburg, 1802
  • Eva von Trott . Patriotic tragedy in 5 record. Herold & Wahlstab, Lüneburg 1801
  • The unsearchable. A Swiss story . Luneburg 1800
  • The unknown wanderer in many forms. A family story of our time . Brunswick 1799

The Unsearchable , The Wandering Virgin , Mazarino and Pugachev were translated into Danish at the beginning of the 19th century .

Mazarino appeared (1804) followed by the "Schweizergeschichte" Die Unforschlichen ( De outgrundelige. En schweizerhistoria , 1805-06), Gollissano ( Bandit-Anföraren Golisano. Eller: Den vandrande anden. En röfvare-historia , 1807), and the sarcophagus ( Hemligheten , 1806-09) in Swedish. De Sarkophaag. Vertaald uit het Duits. Leeuwarden, wed. JP de Boij, 1813. [2 delen in 1 volume] 8 °: pi1,2 AQ 8, pag .: [4] 256 pp .; pi1 AP 8 Q 6, pag .: [2] 252 pp. in Dutch

literature

  • Hainer Plaul: Illustrated history of trivial literature. With many pictures . Hildesheim: Olms, 1983.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Document of the Braunschweig city archive
  2. ↑ Certified death certificate from July 15, 1813 from the St. Stephanikirche Osterwieck and certificate in the state archive of Saxony-Anhalt Magdeburg
  3. ^ Zunz: My first lesson in Wolfenbüttel . Yearbook of Jewish History and Literature (1937), 132.
  4. ^ Georg Christoph Hamberger, Johann Georg Meusel: The learned Teutschland or Lexicon of the now living German writers . Volume 13, p. 111; Volume 17, pp. 154f .; Volume 22/1, pp. 242f.
  5. ^ Karl Goedeke , Edmund Goetze: Outline of the history of German poetry from the sources. 2nd Edition. Ehlermann, Leipzig 1906, vol. 6. p.  404http: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3D~GB%3D~IA%3DGoedekeGrundrissZurGeschichteDerDeutschenDichtung-2-6~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3Dn417~ double-sided%3D~LT%3D404~PUR%3D .
  6. ↑ Danish translations by Gottlieb Bertrand , compiled a. a. from Erland Munch-Petersen: Bibliografi over oversættelser til dansk 1800-1900 af prosafiktion fra de germanske og romanske sprog . Rosenkilde and excavator, 1976

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Bertrand, Gottlieb
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German author
DATE OF BIRTH March 23, 1775
PLACE OF BIRTH Braunschweig
DATE OF DEATH July 15, 1813
Place of death Osterwieck