Juerg Jenatsch
Jürg Jenatsch is the title of a historical novel by Conrad Ferdinand Meyer published in 1876 about the Bündner pastor and military leader Jörg Jenatsch .
action
The novel takes place during the Thirty Years' War . At the beginning of the war, the Spaniards strive to bring Graubünden under their control in order to get the strategically important mountain passes under control. The young reformed pastor Jürg Jenatsch opposed the Spaniards. He is the leader of the Protestant Grisons who have come to defend their homeland. His opponent on the Catholic side is Baron Pompejus Planta .
Planta stages a conspiracy, as a result of which Jenatsch's wife is killed in the Veltliner Protestant murder . Jenatsch and his reformers have to flee and the Spaniards and Austrians can occupy the country.
Jenatsch, who seeks revenge for the death of his wife, chases Planta and kills him. Jenatsch is also strongly guided by his hatred in all subsequent actions. In the end he has to realize that he has done more harm than good to his country in this way, and he now turns to the French Duke Heinrich von Rohan . Rohan was sent by the French to aid the Reformed Defenders of the Fatherland. Jenatsch becomes a colonel in Rohan's army. From then on, the troops he led were under the command of the French.
The French troops end the war victorious. In the Treaty of Chiavenna , Heinrich von Rohan now vouches for the freedom and independence of Graubünden. Jenatsch very much welcomes this development, but has to recognize that the French Chancellor, Cardinal Richelieu , is not ready to sign the treaty. Jenatsch is now changing into a person who relies primarily on unscrupulous tactics.
He makes a secret alliance with the Spaniards. Joint efforts succeed in driving out the French. In order to obtain an independence treaty for his country, he is even ready to convert to the Catholic faith. From the perspective of the Spaniards, however, he is ultimately a person who has become too powerful. He is the victim of an assassination attempt, carried out by hand by his former lover Lucrezia, using the same ax Jenatsch used to murder her father.
Deviations from the historical tradition
In reality, Pompey Planta's daughter had nothing to do with Jenatsch's murder. The adolescent love affair between Jenatsch and the woman, who will later be his murderer, is based on poetic freedom.
Dubbing
The composer Heinrich Kaminski Jürg Jenatsch wrote from 1927 to 1929 . A drama based on CF Meyer's story of the same name . The premiere on April 27, 1929 at the Semperoper in Dresden was unsuccessful due to uncoordinated parallel work by two directors (one for singers, one for actors).
literature
- Conrad Ferdinand Meyer: Georg Jenatsch. An old Bündner story. H. Haessel , Leipzig 1876 ( digitized and full text in the German text archive ).
- Conrad Ferdinand Meyer: Jürg Jenatsch . Insel Verlag, Frankfurt 1988, ISBN 3-458-32562-X .
- Conrad Ferdinand Meyer: Complete Works. Juerg Jenatsch. Second revised historical-critical edition, Benteli-Verlag, 1998, ISBN 3-7165-0110-7 .
- Conrad Ferdinand Meyer: Jürg Jenatsch . In: The Complete Works - read in full on 5 MP3 CDs by Klauspeter Bungert. CD 4, Bungert, Trier 2008, ISBN 978-3-00-024887-0 .