Johann Martin Mieding

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Miedingstein, view of the insignia
View of the Miedingstein with Goethe verse

Johann Martin Mieding (born December 3, 1725 in Erfurt , † January 27, 1782 in Weimar ) was a German court carpenter and set designer .

Live and act

Johann Martin Mieding, son of a carpenter, learned the trade from his father. He later moved to Weimar and lived there in a little house on Herderplatz. Mieding was a particularly valued colleague of Goethe at the theater in his capacity as a set designer and probably even more because of his simple, honest personality. He also worked for the Tiefurt theater company around Anna Amalia von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach .

On September 18, 1768 he married Johanna Dorothea Schreiber from Weimar in the Predigerkirche in Erfurt.

Johann Martin Mieding died in Weimar in 1782 at the age of 56. In his honor, Goethe wrote the poem Auf Miedings Tod in the same year . This elegy is mentioned in a letter written during the trip to Italy , in which it was about its printing, which took place in 1789. At the same time, there is a scene in Goethe's Faust at the beginning of Walpurgis Night's Dream in which the theater master says: Today we will rest for once, Mieding's brave sons . Without Goethe, the name of this set designer would have long been forgotten.

Mieding was also a Weimar court carpenter. He had remained the only craftsman who had the honor of an elegiac obituary from Goethe. In it, however, the court painter, the court tailor and the court factor named Elkan are mentioned. It also alluded to the singer and actress Corona Schröter . This elegy first appeared in the Journal von Tiefurt in 1782. This in turn happened at a time when this genre was no longer up to date. This elegy should not have been in Mieding's real funeral context, but rather Goethe's staging corresponded to the literary imagination of it. The funeral ceremony is therefore not real, but fictitious. It can be assumed that neither Goethe nor anyone from the Weimar court was present at the actual funeral service.

The Singspiel Die Fischerin , composed by Goethe on July 22, 1782 , was premiered in Tiefurt . According to Goethe, the piece was completely related to the forest and water nature of the place and was primarily aimed at lighting effects. Corona Schröter played the main role here. Mieding produced the stage technology for this. He hadn't been able to see this performance.

In memory of Johann Martin Mieding

Besides Goethe's elegy to Mieding, there are also other forms of remembrance of him. On September 27, 1919, a memorial stone was inaugurated for him at Jacobsfriedhof Weimar , on which there is also a passage from Goethe's Elegy to Mieding. The sculptor Josef Heise created this. The well-preserved insignia of his profession are also remarkable. Whether it was Mieding's actual grave site in the cemetery at the same time cannot be said with certainty. According to Effi Biedrzynski , among others , the stone designates the presumed burial site of Mieding.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gerhard R. Kaiser: Tiefurt: literature and life at the beginning of Weimar's great time , Wallstein-Verlag Göttingen 2020, pp. 193-226. ISBN 9783835336599 Kaiser dedicates an entire chapter in this book to Mieding under the title: Obituary for a theater master: Goethe's poem >> Auf Miedings Tod << in the >> Journal von Tiefurt << .
  2. ^ Gerhard R. Kaiser: Tiefurt: Literature and Life at the Beginning of Weimar's Great Time , Wallstein-Verlag Göttingen 2020, p. 226. ISBN 9783835336599
  3. ↑ Effi Biedrzynski : Goethe's Weimar: The Lexicon of People and Places , Artemis & Winkler Verlag, Mannheim 2010, p. 286 f.
  4. ↑ Art: Mieding, Johann Martin , in: Gitta Günther , Wolfram Huschke , Walter Steiner (Ed.): Weimar. Lexicon on the history of the city , Verlag Hermann Böhlaus Successor, Weimar 1997, ISBN 3-7400-0807-5 , p. 305.

literature

  • Effi Biedrzynski: Goethe's Weimar: The lexicon of people and scenes , Artemis & Winkler Verlag, Mannheim 2010, p. 286 f.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Mieding, Johann Martin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German carpenter
DATE OF BIRTH December 3, 1725
PLACE OF BIRTH Erfurt
DATE OF DEATH January 27, 1782
Place of death Weimar