Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz

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Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz

Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz (born January 12, jul. / 23. January  1751 greg. In Seßwegen , Governorate of Livonia , Russian Empire , † May 24 jul. / 4. June  1792 greg. In Moscow ) was a Baltic German writer of Sturm und Drang .

Life

JMR Lenz was born as the son of the pietistic pastor (from 1779 general superintendent of Livonia) Christian David Lenz and Dorothea, geb. Neoknapp (1721–1778), born in Seßwegen, approx. 150 km east of Riga . At the age of nine, the family moved to Dorpat , where the father had received a pastor's position. A first poem was published when he was 15 years old. Between 1768 and 1770 he studied on a scholarship first in Dorpat and then at the University of Königsberg theology . In Königsberg he also heard lectures by Immanuel Kant , read Jean-Jacques Rousseau at his suggestion , pursued his literary interests and neglected theology. His first independent book publication, the long poem Die Landplagen , appeared in 1769.

In 1771, Lenz broke off his studies in Königsberg and, against the will of his father, who therefore broke off contact with his son, followed suit as a servant of the two Kurland barons and officer candidates Friedrich Georg and Ernst Nikolaus von Kleist, who wanted to enter French military service Strasbourg . There he came into contact with the actuary Johann Daniel Salzmann , around whom the intellectual circle of the Société de philosophie et de belles lettres had formed, which also included the young Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , who was also in Strasbourg at the time and whose acquaintance as well as that of Johann Heinrich Jung-Stilling made here Lenz. Goethe then became his admired artistic role model, through him the contact to Johann Gottfried Herder and Johann Caspar Lavater , with whom he corresponded , arose . In the following year 1772 he moved to the garrisons of Landau , Fort-Louis and Weissenburg in the wake of his employers . He fell in love with Friederike Brion ( Sesenheimer Lieder ), Goethe's former lover, but his feelings remained unrequited. In 1773 Lenz returned to Strasbourg and resumed his studies. In 1774 he gave up his service with the Kleist brothers, lived as a freelance writer and earned his living doing private teaching. A friendly relationship developed with Goethe, who Lenz introduced to his sister Cornelia and her husband Johann Georg Schlosser during a visit to both of them in Emmendingen .

In December 1775 Luise Koenig showed him some letters she had received from Henriette Louise de Waldner de Freundstein. This woman, then still unmarried, is better known as Baroness Henriette von Oberkirch . Lenz fell under the charm of Henriette's writing style. An impossible love grew in him, which is documented in numerous letters to Johann Caspar Lavater , Sophie von La Roche and Roederer .

At the end of March 1776, Lenz followed Goethe to the court in Weimar . On the outward journey he learned of Henriette von Waldner's marriage to the Strasbourg baron Siegfried von Oberkirch. The Weimar court society initially received him in a friendly manner. But at the beginning of December he was expelled again at Goethe's instigation. The exact background has not been passed down, Goethe, who then broke off personal contact, only vaguely mentions Lenzens Eseley in his diary .

Lenz then went to Emmendingen, where he was accepted by Cornelia and Johann Georg Schlosser. From there he made various trips to Alsace and Switzerland , including in May 1777 to Lavater in Zurich . When he heard the news of Cornelia Schlosser's death from Lavater in June, he returned to Emmendingen. After another long visit to Lavater, while staying with Christoph Kaufmann in Winterthur in November, his mental illness , probably catatonic schizophrenia, broke out . Kaufmann finally sent Lenz in mid-January 1778 to the philanthropist , social reformer and pastor Johann Friedrich Oberlin in Waldersbach , Alsace , where he stayed from January 20 to February 8. Despite the care of Oberlin and his wife, Lenz's mental state worsened. Oberlin wrote a report about Lenz's stay with him, which in turn served Büchner as a template for his novella Lenz . Oberlin had Lenz brought to Strasbourg. Then Lenz went back to the locksmith in Emmendingen and was housed there with a shoemaker and a forester.

His younger brother Karl picked up Lenz in June 1779 from Hertingen , where he was being treated by a doctor, and took him first on foot to Lübeck and then by ship to Riga , where her father had meanwhile been promoted to superintendent. But he could not gain a foothold there professionally: The attempt to become head of the cathedral school there certainly failed because Herder refused him a letter of recommendation. He was also unsuccessful in Saint Petersburg , where he stayed from February to September 1780. He then went to an estate near Dorpat as court master. After another stay in Saint Petersburg the following year, Lenz traveled to Moscow in September 1781, where he initially found accommodation with the historian Friedrich Müller and learned Russian. He worked as a tutor, frequented the circles of Russian Freemasons and writers, took part in the development of various reform plans and translated books on Russian history into German. His psychological condition deteriorated more and more. In the end he only survived thanks to the support of Russian patrons.

Early in the morning of May 24th . / June 4,  1792 greg. Lenz was found dead on a Moscow street. The location of his grave is unknown.

Lenz as a literary figure

Georg Büchner processes Lenz's visit to the Protestant pastor Johann Friedrich Oberlin in the Steintal (in the Vosges) into his novella Lenz . Lenz had visited Oberlin at the suggestion of Kaufmann, as he was known as a pastor and psychologist. Oberlin's report on the events surrounding Lenz at this time served Büchner as the source for his story. This in turn is the model for Wolfgang Rihm's chamber opera Jakob Lenz .

More recently, the writers Peter Schneider in his short story Lenz (1973) and Gert Hofmann with the novel The Return of the Lost JMR Lenz to Riga (1984) have processed Lenz's life in literary terms.

The third and final chapter of the novel Unbekannte Briefe (2017) by the author Oleg Jurjew contains a long (fictional) letter from Lenz, which Lenzen is said to have written on the day of his death and which Jurjew claims to have found in Moscow police archives.

Also worth mentioning is the novel The Red Domino from 2002 by Marc Buhl , who uses the friendship between Goethe and Lenz and its abrupt end through Lenzen 's Eseley as the starting point for a crime story.

Lenz in the portrayal of Georg Büchner is also a reference figure in Eduard Habsburg's novel Lena in Waldersbach (2012) .

Lenz is also a character in Franz Lehár's operetta Friederike , in which Goethe's relationship to Friederike Brion is discussed.

Works (selection)

Dramas

Translations and revisions

  • Amor vincit omnia (translation of Shakespeare's drama Loves Labor's Lost ), 1774
  • Coriolan (translation of Shakespeare's drama Coriolanus ), written in 1774/75
  • The little father (comedy after Plautus Asinaria ), in print 1773/74
  • The trousseau (comedy based on Plautus Aulularia ), 1774
  • The Abduction (comedy based on Plautus Miles gloriosus ), originated in 1772
  • The Buhlschwester ( comedy based on Plautus Truculentus ), written in 1772
  • The Turkish slave ( comedy based on Plautus Curculio )

prose

  • Moral Conversion of a Poet , written in 1775
  • Zerbin or the more recent poetry (short story), 1776
  • The country preacher ( short story), 1777
  • Something about Philota's Character , 1781
  • The forest brother a counterpart to Werther's suffering (fragment of a letter novel), 1797

Theoretical writings

  • Draft of a letter to a friend who studies theology at academies , written in 1771/72
  • An experiment on the first principle of morality , written in 1771/72
  • Supplement to the treatise on the tree of the knowledge of good and bad , created 1771/72, partial print 1780
  • About the nature of our mind , written in 1771/73
  • Two things about Virgil's first eclogue , 1773
  • About Götz von Berlichingen , written in 1773/75
  • Notes on the theater with attached translated play by Shakespeare , 1774
  • Letters about the morality of young Werther's sufferings , written in 1774/75, was considered lost for a long time, published posthumously in 1918
  • Defense of the translator's defense of comedies , written in 1774
  • About Ovid , written in 1775
  • About the processing of the German language in Alsace, Breisgau and the neighboring areas , originated in 1775
  • On the Advantages of the German Language , 1775
  • About the Purpose of the New Strasbourg Society , created in 1775
  • From Shakespeare's Hamlet , written in 1775/76
  • About soldier marriages , written in 1776
  • Defense of Mr. W. against the clouds - by the author of the clouds , 1776
  • On the change in the theater in Shakespeare , 1776
  • The Hochburg Castle , 1777

literature

Work editions

  • Works and letters. Three volumes, edited by Sigrid Damm . Insel Verlag [licensed edition by Hanser Verlag], Leipzig [Munich / Vienna] 1987, ISBN 3-446-14665-2 .
  • Works. Selected and commented on by Karin Lauer, Hanser Verlag, Munich / Vienna 1992, ISBN 3-446-16338-7 .
  • Works. Edited by Friedrich Voit. Reclam-Verlag, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-15-008755-4 , selection volume.
  • Works. Facsimiles of the first editions of the texts he published independently during his lifetime. Edited by Christoph Weiß, 12 volumes, Röhrig Verlag, St. Ingbert 2001, ISBN 3-86110-071-1 .
  • Moscow writings and letters. Edited and commented by Heribert Tommek. Text and commentary volume. Weidler Buchverlag, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-89693-486-4 .

Single issues

  • Jacob Michael Reinhold Lenz: When Sr. Hochedelgebohrnen Professor Kant disputed on August 21, 1770 for the title of professor. Facsimile of the first printing in Königsberg 1770. Ed. By Christoph Weiß. Wehrhahn Verlag, Laatzen 2003, ISBN 3-932324-68-4 .
  • Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz: Philosophical lectures for sensitive souls . Facsimile print of the edition Frankfurt and Leipzig 1780. Edited with an afterword. by Christoph Weiß. St. Ingbert: Werner J. Röhrig Verlag 1994.

Secondary literature
alphabetically

  • Gregor Babelotzky: Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz as a preacher of “secular theology” and “naturalism”. Göttingen 2019
  • Sigrid Damm : Birds that proclaim land. The life of Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz. Insel, Frankfurt 1992, ISBN 3-458-33099-2 . Biography.
  • Volker Ebersbach : Five studies about a donkey - Goethe and Lenz. Boldt-Literaturverlag, Winsen / Luhe / Weimar 1994, ISBN 3-928788-10-8 .
  • Jean Firges : Büchner , Lenz, Celan : The walk through the mountains. Conversation in the mountains. (= Exemplary series literature and philosophy. 29). Sonnenberg, Annweiler 2010, ISBN 978-3-933264-58-9 .
  • Julia Freytag, Inge Stephan, Hans-Gerd Winter (eds.): JMR-Lenz-Handbuch. Berlin / Boston 2017, ISBN 978-3-11-023760-3 .
  • Carola L. Gottzmann / Petra Hörner: Lexicon of the German-language literature of the Baltic States and St. Petersburg . 3 volumes; Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2007. ISBN 978-3-11-019338-1 . Volume 2, pp. 818-834.
  • Gert Hoffmann: The return of the lost Michael Reinhold Lenz to Riga. 1981.
  • Curt Hohoff : JMR Lenz . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1977, ISBN 3-499-50259-3 . Biography (not current)
  • Herbert Kraft: JMR Lenz. Biography. Wallstein, Göttingen 2015, ISBN 978-3-8353-1647-8 .
  • Matthias Luserke : Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz: The Hofmeister; The new Menoza; The soldiers . W. Fink, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-8252-1728-0 .
  • Edward McInnes: Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz: The soldiers. Text, materials, comment. Hanser, Munich 1977 (Hanser series, vol. 237), 203 pages, ISBN 3-446-12452-7 .
  • Andreas Meier: Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz: From Sturm und Drang to Modernity. Winter, Heidelberg 2001, ISBN 3-8253-1238-0 .
  • Peter Müller (Ed.): Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz in the judgment of three centuries. Texts of the reception of work and personality; 18.-20. Century. Four volumes. Edited by Peter Müller with the collaboration of Jürgen Stötzer. Peter Lang Verlag, Bern et al. 1995-2005, ISBN 3-03910-473-X .
  • Johann Friedrich Oberlin: Mr. L. . . . . .. In the print version "Der Dichter Lenz, Im Steintale" by August Stöber. In: Hubert Gersch: Georg Büchner - Lenz. Study edition. Philipp Reclam Jun. Stuttgart, 1984
  • Manfred Orlick: Genius and madness - On the 225th anniversary of the death of JMR Lenz @ literaturkritik.de, Institute for Modern German Literature, Philipps University Marburg, No. 6, June 2017.
  • Peter Petersen / Hans-Gerd Winter: Lenz operas. The music theater as a special branch of the productive reception of JMR Lenz's dramas and drama theory . In: Lenz-Jahrbuch Vol. 1, St. Ingbert 1991, pp. 9–58.
  • May Redlich: Lexicon of German Baltic Literature. A bibliography. Published by the Georg Dehio Society. Verlag Wissenschaft und Politik Berend von Nottbeck, Cologne 1989, ISBN 3-8046-8717-2 , entry pp. 209-211.
  • Röhrig University Press: Lenz Yearbook. Sturm und Drang studies.
  • Ulrich Rüth: On the report by Pastor Oberlin about the psychotic poet JMR Lenz. Foreign history of schizophrenic disease. For the poet JMR Lenz on the 250th birthday. Spectrum of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Neurology, 30, 5: 108-114.
  • Gerhard Sauder : Concupiscence and sensitive love. JMR Lenz '"Philosophical Lectures for Sensitive Souls". In: Lenz yearbook. Sturm und Drang Studies 4 (1994), 7-29, 14-21.
  • Peter Schneider : Lenz. A story. Rotbuch, Berlin 1973 and others (Red Book 104).
  • Andreas Urs Sommer : Theodicy and the renunciation of instincts. On JMR Lenzen's “Philosophical Lectures for Sensitive Souls”. In: Lichtenberg-Jahrbuch 1995. Ed. On behalf of the Lichtenberg Society by Wolfgang Promies and Ulrich Joost, Saarbrücken 1996, pp. 242–250.
  • Hans-Gerd Winter: Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz. (= Metzler Collection. 233). 2., revised. and actual Edition. JB Metzler, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-476-12233-6 .
  • Wolfgang Wittkowski:  Lenz, Jakob. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 14, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-428-00195-8 , pp. 226-231 ( digitized version ).

Movies

Trivia

City bus Lenz in Emmendingen

Since 2010, the city ​​buses in Emmendingen have been named after well-known personalities who were born in the city or who lived and worked there temporarily, including Cornelia Goethe and Johann Georg Schlosser . On line 5, from the train station via the Center for Psychiatry Emmendingen and Windenreute to the stronghold , the bus bears the name of the poet Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz . The name is on the side of the bus; supplemented by the brief biographical information: "Poets and writers (1751–1792)".

Web links

Wikisource: Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz  - Sources and full texts
Wikiquote: Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz  - Quotes
Commons : Jacob Michael Reinhold Lenz  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Ulrich Rüth: On the report by Pastor Oberlin on the psychotic poet JMR Lenz. Foreign history of schizophrenic disease. For the poet JMR Lenz on the 250th birthday. In: Spectrum of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Neurology, 30, 5: 108-114. Deutscher Ärzteverlag, October 1, 2001, accessed on February 23, 2020 .
  2. ^ Johann Friedrich Oberlin: Mr. L. . . . . .. In the print version "Der Dichter Lenz, Im Steintale" by August Stöber. In: Hubert Gersch: Georg Büchner - Lenz. Study edition. Philipp Reclam Jun. Stuttgart, 1984
  3. ↑ Ulrich Rüth: On the report by Pastor Oberlin on the psychotic poet JMR Lenz. Foreign history of schizophrenic disease. For the poet JMR Lenz on the 250th birthday. In: Spectrum of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Neurology, 30, 5: 108-114. Deutscher Ärzteverlag, October 1, 2001, accessed on February 23, 2020 .
  4. ^ Paul Jandl: Oleg Jurjew: «Unknown letters». Only God can help here. Neue Zürcher Zeitung , May 10, 2017, accessed June 25, 2017
  5. ↑ fernsehenderddr.de LENZ (1991) A television film by Egon Günther based on the template by Georg Büchner ... (fernsehenderddr.de)
personal data
SURNAME Lenz, Jakob Michael Reinhold
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lenz, Jakob
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Baltic German writer
DATE OF BIRTH January 23, 1751
PLACE OF BIRTH Seßwegen , Livonia Governorate , Russian Empire
DATE OF DEATH June 4, 1792
Place of death Moscow