Heinrich Wilhelm von Gerstenberg

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Heinrich W. von Gerstenberg
HW von Gerstenberg's birthplace in Tønder (photo 2015)
Blackboard at the birthplace in Tønder (photo 2015)

Heinrich Wilhelm von Gerstenberg (born January 3, 1737 in Tondern , Schleswig , † November 1, 1823 in Altona ; pseudonyms: Ohle Madsen, Zacharias Jernstrup, Irmenfried Wetstein ) was a German poet and critic who was in Danish service for a long time.

biography

Youth, studies in Jena, military service (1737–1765)

Gerstenberg was born the son of a Rittmeister in the Danish service. He went to school for the first time in Husum , from where he was able to move to the Christianeum in Altona in early 1751 , which was also Danish at the time. His first literary attempts date from here. The theologian and rector of the pedagogy in Altona Gottfried Schütze inspired him for the old Norse myths, as attested by Gerstenberg's ode about the joy of the old Celts to die , which he recited publicly in the pedagogy in 1754. He also studied foreign languages ​​and their literature intensively. Latin, French, Danish, and English were among the languages ​​whose works he read in the original. He also learned Spanish. Of the German poets, he especially admired Friedrich von Hagedorn .

From 1757 he studied law at the University of Jena , which he broke off two years later. In Jena he became a member of the German Society in his first year of study , where he made important literary contacts. Matthias Claudius , who was also studying in Jena at the time, admired him and was encouraged by him to work as a writer and poet himself.

In 1760 Gerstenberg joined the Danish army as a cornet and served as adjutant for two years on the staff of Major General Peter Elias von Gähler . During this time he wrote an equestrian manual under the pseudonym Ohle Madsen and translated Jean Baptiste d'Espagnac's attempt on the great war .

Gerstenberg made his debut with his Tändeleyen (1759) in the Halle anacreontic style . His war songs (1762) earned him great praise from the critics when they appeared, but are now almost forgotten.

Together with his fellow student Jacob Friedrich Schmidt , Gerstenberg published the Holstein weekly Der Hypochondrist from January 2, 1762 on the model of the English Tatler . They chose "Zacharias Jernstrup" as their community pseudonym and were supported in their work by Kleen, Loppnau and Oertling. After only 25 issues, the magazine went bankrupt on June 19, 1762. Gerstenberg tried again in 1771 to bring it to life; but again in vain.

Denmark (1765–1775)

In September 1763, Gerstenberg became engaged to Sophie Trochmann (1744–1785) in Schleswig , whom he then married on July 12, 1765. He had seven children with her. Due to the death of King Friedrich V , the army was restructured and Gerstenberg was set to less than a quarter of his previous pay.

Gerstenberg and his family settled in Copenhagen in 1765 . There he soon became a welcome guest in the salon of the German diplomat Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff . Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock's group of writers also welcomed him in a friendly manner. Gerstenberg's most important acquaintances and friends from these years, besides the aforementioned Johann Andreas Cramer , Gottfried Benedict Funk , Balthasar Münter , Friedrich Gabriel Resewitz , Johann Heinrich Schlegel and Helfrich Peter Sturz . He was also friends with Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock.

Over time, Gerstenberg, who lived in the village of Lyngby , also formed a small circle, which, in addition to literature, also indulged in house music . With the help of his highly musical wife, Gerstenberg was able to publish his cantata Ariadne on Naxos in 1767 . During his time in Copenhagen Gerstenberg maintained an extensive correspondence a. a. with Johann Gottfried Herder , Friedrich Nicolai and some members of the Göttinger Hainbund .

Together with Christian Fleischer and Peter Kleen, he edited the so-called sorøske samling (1765), a collection of critical writings that appealed to the emerging Danish national feeling .

During this happiest time of his life for Gerstenberg, he also wrote his most important works, first the poem of a skald (1766), then the Schleswig literary letters (1766/67/70), in which he dealt with, among other things, the Norse poems and the dramas of Shakespeare . He developed the concept of genius and argued against a rationalistic, rule-oriented literary criticism for one that seeks to gain an understanding of a work from itself.

With his literary letters and the tragedy Ugolino , which appeared in 1768 and is considered his major dramatic work, Gerstenberg prepared the ground for Sturm und Drang . The plot of the drama is based on the suffering of Ugolino della Gherardesca , who was imprisoned in a tower with his sons and starved to death. Dante had the material in the XXXII. and XXXIII. Song of the Inferno treated.

During the campaign against the Russians (1763) he was promoted to Rittmeister and as such came to "Eickstedts Dragoon Regiment" in October 1767, where he resigned from the army in January 1771. Through the administration, which was headed by Minister Johann Friedrich Struensee , Gerstenberg got a job as a member of the German Chamber in 1768 and was accepted as an assessor in the Commerzdeputation .

Danish consul in Lübeck, Justitzdirector of the lottery in Altona, last years (1775–1823)

Gerstenberg was already in debt for a long time and was not able to change this even with his last employment. The fact that the diplomat Bernsdorff and the minister Ernst Heinrich von Schimmelmann considered him "... unreliable in money matters and work shy" made things even more difficult. Nevertheless, Gerstenberg was appointed to the Danish consul in Lübeck in 1775 .

In 1783 he quit this service and retired with his family to Eutin , where two years later his wife died after a long illness. At the beginning of 1786 Gerstenberg settled in Altona and was appointed judicial director of the royal lottery there in 1789 with the help of friends like Caspar Siegfried Gähler , and held this position until his retirement in 1812. In 1796 he married again, with Sophie Ophelia Stemann (1761-1852), the daughter of a German businessman in London and an Englishwoman.

During this time he occupied himself more with the philosophy of Immanuel Kant and led a lively correspondence with Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi , Charles de Villers and the brothers Christian and Friedrich Leopold zu Stolberg-Stolberg . He also published philosophical writings, such as Two Chambers in the State? or one? (1792) and The categories developed and explained (1795). However, he destroyed a large number of his philosophical works.

Gerstenberg later lived very withdrawn and was almost forgotten. A certain amount of public recognition that he has been given in recent years (1808 through Jacobi: foreign member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences , 1815 honorary doctorate from the University of Kiel ), could not hide the fact that literary, if at all, he was only known as Perceived relic of a bygone era. Even the edition of his mixed writings , which he himself undertook in 1815/16, received hardly any attention. Gerstenberg died on November 1st, 1823 at the age of 86 in Altona.

Works

  • Tändeleyen . Leipzig 1759
  • Prosaic poems . Altona 1759
  • War songs by a Danish grenadier . Altona 1762
  • Manual for a Reuter . Altona 1763
  • Samling of adskillige scripters to the skiønne Videnskabers and the danske Sprogs Opkomst and Fremtarv . Sorø / Copenhagen 1765
  • Poems of a skald . Copenhagen 1766
  • Ariadne on Naxos . Cantata, Copenhagen 1767
  • Letters about peculiarities in literature . Schleswig 1766/70 (4 vol.)
  • Ugolino . A tragedy in five acts . Hamburg 1768 (anonymous), first performance on June 22, 1769 in Berlin
  • Minona . Hamburg 1785
  • Mixed fonts . Altona 1815 (3 vol.)
  • Clarissa in the coffin . Cantata (unfinished)
  • Peleus . Opera (unfinished)

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Richard Batka : Old Norse fabrics and studies in Germany. 1. From Gottfried Schütze to Klopstock. in: Euphorion . Volume 3. 1896 Supplementary Volume pp. 37–71 Internet Archive and Anne-Bitt Gerecke: Transculturality as a literary program Heinrich Wilhelm von Gerstenberg's Poetics and Poetry. Göttingen 2002, p. 136ff. MDZ
  2. ^ Albert Malte Wagner: Heinrich Wilhelm von Gerstenberg and the storm and stress. 1st volume. Gerstenberg's life, writings and personality. Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 1920. P. 28f. Internet Archive
  3. ^ Heinrich Lüdtke: Klopstock and our Lower Elbian homeland. On the 125th anniversary of the death of the Messiah singer , Altona 1928, page 109 f.

Web links

Wikisource: Heinrich Wilhelm von Gerstenberg  - Sources and full texts
personal data
SURNAME Gerstenberg, Heinrich Wilhelm von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Madsen, Ohle (pseudonym); Jernstrup, Zacharias (pseudonym); Wetstein, Irmenfried (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German playwright
DATE OF BIRTH January 3, 1737
PLACE OF BIRTH Tondern, Schleswig
DATE OF DEATH November 1, 1823
Place of death Altona