Hermann Georg Knapp

Hermann Georg Knapp (born April 13, 1828 in Schwendi , Oberamt Laupheim , Württemberg ; † 1890 ) was a German dialect poet , journalist and private scholar .

Life

Knapp was the son of a Catholic teacher and grew up in a musical family. He was intended by his parents for the clergy and first attended the grammar school in Biberach an der Riß before he studied theology at the St. Josef College in Ehingen , at the Wilhelmsstift in Tübingen and finally at the University of Freiburg , but without studying the clergy Stand to enter. Classical philology, modern languages ​​(especially Italian), Middle High German poetry and art history attracted him more than theology.

After completing his studies, Knapp traveled through Germany, France, Switzerland and Italy from 1854 to 1855. In Rome he associated with the local German artists (the so-called German Romans ), including Peter von Cornelius , Franz von Rohden , and Wilhelm Achtermann . These encounters determined his decision to turn to writing. In this project he was strengthened by his friendship with the Dutch writer and composer Nicolaas Adrian Janssen , whom he had met on Lake Como.

After his return from Italy he lived in different places, in villages, country towns and larger cities, where he was inspired to write poems in Swabian dialect through encounters with farmers, citizens and craftsmen. His places of residence were Ursendorf , Riedlingen , Laupheim , Emerkingen , Munderkingen , Ulm and Biberach. In Ulm in 1862 he edited the “Ulmer Tagblatt” and the “Schwäbische Wochenblatt”, in Biberach in 1863 the “Rissbote”.

In 1862 he married Viktoria Magg from Laupheim, a real Upper Swabian woman who had a great influence on all of his dialect poems.

In 1864 he moved to Stuttgart , where from then on he worked as a private scholar for languages ​​and music.

Works

• Luitbertus, or: The little peasant from Fulgenstadt . An Upper Swabian legend in six songs , Sigmaringen 1859
• Poetic attempts by a prose writer. Poems in High German and Swabian dialect , 2 volumes, Biberach 1863/1865 (the 3rd volume from 1865 is essentially a new edition of the 1st volume from 1863)
• Hellauf and Glattaweg! Poems in Swabian dialect , Biberach 1873, 2nd increased edition Reutlingen 1879

translation

• Nicolaas Adrian Janssen: Historical-critical considerations on secular and church music . Ravensburg 1857

literature

• Franz Brümmer: German poet lexicon. Biographical and bibliographical reports on German poets of all times . Krüll, Eichstätt et al. 1876–1877 (main source of this article)