Johann Anton Leisewitz

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Johann Anton Leisewitz
Signature Johann Anton Leisewitz.PNG
His wife Sophie Leisewitz, b. Seyler
Named after Leisewitz Leisewitz house where he lived until his death with his wife.
Gravestone on the Martinifriedhof in Braunschweig
Silhouette of Leisewitz from the Johann Heinrich Voss collection

Johann Anton Leisewitz (born May 9, 1752 in Hanover , † September 10, 1806 in Braunschweig ) was a German writer and lawyer .

Life

Johann Anton Leisewitz was the son of a wine merchant. He spent his childhood and youth in Celle . In Göttingen he studied from 1770 to 1774 law . He was a member of the Gustav Lodge in the inseparable Concordia Order , which was connected to the CeT student order , and there he joined the Göttingen Hainbund in 1774 .

In a competition between theater director Konrad Ernst Ackermann and his wife Sophie Charlotte Schröder , Leisewitz was defeated by Friedrich Maximilian Klinger in 1775 . His tragedy Julius von Tarent was subject to Klinger's play Die Zwillinge . But when Gotthold Ephraim Lessing read the Leisewitz play at Easter 1776 , he suspected Johann Wolfgang Goethe's authorship because of the genius . Julius von Tarent established Leisewitz's fame as a writer and is still considered to be one of the most important theater plays by Sturm und Drang .

After successfully completing his studies, Leisewitz settled in Braunschweig as a lawyer in 1775. His contacts (correspondence) with Lessing, Johann Joachim Eschenburg , Jakob Mauvillon and others originate from this time . In Braunschweig he was a member of the Argonauts order founded in 1771 , which is mentioned in a diary entry in 1779.

In 1776, Leisewitz stayed in Berlin for a long time , where he also made the acquaintance of Friedrich Nicolai .

In 1780 Leisewitz visited Goethe in Weimar . Probably thanks to the intercession of Goethe, Leisewitz was appointed tutor of the future Duke Ferdinand of Braunschweig-Lüneburg in 1786 . Four years later, Leisewitz was a member of the government in Braunschweig .

In 1801 Leisewitz was promoted to the position of a secret judicial councilor and as such he headed the senior medical council as president from 1805. Johann Anton Leisewitz died on September 10, 1806 in Braunschweig at the age of 54. In his will, Leisewitz ordered the destruction of his entire literary estate.

He married Sophie Marie Katharina Seyler (1762–1833) in Hamburg in 1781 , daughter of the theater principal Abel Seyler , niece and foster daughter of the natural scientist JGR Andreae and sister of the banker Ludwig Erdwin Seyler . They were engaged to be engaged in 1777; he was then 25 and she was 15 years old. Both lived in the Leisewitz house that was later named after him until Leisewitz's death .

Works

  • The Pfandung (dramatic scene), 1775
  • The midnight visit (dramatic scene), 1775
  • Julius of Tarent (tragedy), 1776
  • Self-talk of a strong spirit in the night (dramatic fragment), 1776
  • Konradin (dramatic fragment), 1776
  • Alexander and Hephestion (dramatic fragment), 1776
  • Speech by a scholar to a society of scholars (satire), 1776
  • History of the Discovery and Conquest of the Canary Islands (translation from English), 1777
  • News of Lessing's death (letter to Lichtenberg), 1781
  • On the principles to be followed when establishing public poor institutions , 1802

literature

Web links

Commons : Johann Anton Leisewitz  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Johann Anton Leisewitz  - Quotes
Wikisource: Johann Anton Leisewitz  - Sources and full texts
personal data
SURNAME Leisewitz, Johann Anton
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German author, lawyer and writer
DATE OF BIRTH May 9, 1752
PLACE OF BIRTH Hanover
DATE OF DEATH September 10, 1806
Place of death Braunschweig