Johann Nikolaus Götz

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JN Götz as pastor around 1750

Johann Nikolaus Götz (born July 9, 1721 in Worms , † November 4, 1781 in Winterburg near Kreuznach ) was a German clergyman , writer and translator . He is considered a representative of German anakreontics .

Life

Origin, education

Götz came from a Lutheran-Evangelical rectory in Worms , where he attended grammar school from 1731 . After graduating from high school, he studied philosophy ( Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten , Georg Friedrich Meier , Christian Wolff ), Greek and Hebrew ( Michaelis senior and junior ) and theology ( Siegmund Jakob Baumgarten , Andreas Weber ) in the Prussian university town of Halle (Saale) from 1739–1742 , Johann Friedrich Stiebritz and Johann Georg Knapp ), where he and his college friends Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim and Johann Peter Uz formed the so-called second Halleschen poet group and worked as a preceptor at the Francke orphanage for a year and a half ; the literary and human connection to Gleim and Uz remained lifelong, even over great distances.

Private tutor, stays abroad

After graduating, Götz received a position as private tutor in Emden , which had recently become Prussian, in the family of Colonel Ernst Georg von Kalckreuth (1690–1763) on the recommendation of his academic teacher Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten Count Wilhelm Heinrich Adolf von Kalckreuth responsible. After returning to Worms for health reasons in 1744, he became the castle preacher and court master of the widow of the governor general of the Duchy of Zweibrücken , Henning von Stralenheim , in Forbach, Lorraine , whose grandson he raised and whom he accompanied to the knight academy (aristocratic school) in Lunéville in 1746 . There he came into contact with the intellectual atmosphere at the court of the Lorraine Duke Stanislaus I. Leszczyński , including Voltaire , and developed his fondness for the French language and literature, especially in its small forms.

JN Götz as a young theologian, around 1750

Field preacher, pastorate, marriage

In 1747 Götz became a field preacher with the Régiment Royal-Allemand in Nancy , with whom he undertook the campaign to Flanders and Brabant ; He spent his free time traveling to nearby Holland and studying. After the Peace of Aachen (1748) he returned to Germany, where in 1751 he was given the Lutheran pastor in Hornbach in Zweibrücken and married the widow of his predecessor Hautt in the same year; the years of traveling were thus over. In 1754 he became senior pastor and inspector in Meisenheim , then in 1759 (1761?) Senior Consistorial Councilor in Winterburg am Soonwald near Bad Kreuznach, initially in Zweibrücken, and since 1776 in Baden-Durlach, and in the same year as Superintendent there . Götz turned down further promotions and transfers in the surrounding area in order to devote himself to the family, his community and his poetry; Plans to move to larger cities, such as a. To be called as court preacher in Halberstadt or in the vicinity of Berlin failed. Cut off from the great literature and its movements, Götz nevertheless promoted the “peasant poet” Isaak Maus and the Kreuznach painter and poet painter Müller from Winterburg .

Christine J. Hautt b. Caesar married Götz, around 1750

Later years, death

The sensitive and gallant lyric poet Götz died of a stroke in 1781 at the age of 61, despite happy marriage and family relationships, full of melancholy and premonitions and worries about the future of the family and the large, pietistic-oriented and barren community. We are grateful to Karl Wilhelm Ramler's acquaintance and student Karl Ludwig von Knebel , who visited Götz in Winterburg, for a clear report on the author's living conditions in his idyllic but secluded refuge.

The literary work

Götz's works consist of numerous lyrical works and translations, the most important of which are Anakreon from Greek, Gresset and Montesquieu from French. His graceful, graceful, delicate, light and melodious verses without any deeper personal content, sometimes also delicate or bordering on frivolous, corresponded to the gallant taste of the time. As a translator of French and Greek authors, he can hardly be overestimated and, after the weight of thought of the literary baroque, he eloquently expressed the Rococo and Enlightenment attitudes towards life .

Together with Uz, Götz was the first to translate all of the odes of Anakreon into German (1746); he is one of the most important anacreontic poets. As a translator of French authors, he made the genres of the madrigal , the triolet and the rondeau suitable for literature in Germany by means of gallant and skilful translations and imitations, for which Prussian King Frederick II (Prussia ) praised him in his Littérature allemande (1781). Highly valued as writers, Christoph Martin Wieland , Johann Gottfried Herder , Johann Heinrich Voss , Lessing , Goethe , Johann Heinrich Merck , and later Eduard Mörike praised his dexterity of form, his imagery and his poetic feeling. The melody of his verses inspired 37 composers to set settings, including Johann Friedrich Reichardt and Joseph Haydn .

“Taste, grace and graceful handling of language and form are what distinguish him, as they go hand in hand with genuine feeling. It was only a limited circle in which he moved, knowing his abilities and powers exactly, but within it he achieved excellent things that can rightly claim to be saved from complete oblivion. "

- J. Franck, General German Biography , 1879

Problems of text transmission

From the beginning, but especially since his appointment as pastor in a Protestant community in the countryside, Götz had fearfully avoided any publication of his poetic activity; also out of modesty and a stoic attitude to life (Greek lathe biosas , "live in the hidden") he gave his editor and auditor Karl Wilhelm Ramler , the "German Horace", a free hand in editing his writings and the way they were published. According to Ramler's text editing, his poems therefore appeared anonymously or under abbreviations ("Q", "Y" and others) in muse almanacs and collections, and even in this way they caused a sensation. Ramler's largely unknown additions and changes make a critical assessment difficult: "As a result, we only have Götz and Kuh in Ramler's disguise". It is known from Lessing that he acknowledged with dismay that Ramler had allowed himself to edit his text; Ramler's smoothing, formalizing, often pedantic influence on the form of the text has been largely clarified after the discovery of Götz's handwritten texts (Johannes / Wisser 1986 and Oehmichen 2017), but a critical edition is still pending.

With the exception of the manuscripts , Götz's estate was auctioned off; Since the Ramler edition had not yet been sold in the publishing house of his son, the bookseller Christian Götz, a final edition of the work by Götz's Weimar admirers was not made. His writings came into the possession of the family of Baron von Preuschen , Osterspai / Rhein , through the Kreuznach writer painter Müller and Götz's grandson Friedrich .

Götz's son Gottlieb Christian was an employee and successor of the Schwan'schen Hofbuchhandlung in Mannheim. He was friends with Schiller and rival of the poet who was also interested in the bookseller's daughter Margarete Schwan. Schiller's Räuber and Beethoven's early compositions were published by Schwan, and JN Götz's complete posthumous works were later published here in Ramler's arrangement.

Works and editions

Works

  • Attempt by a worms in poetry . 32 pp. Without publisher or location information 1745. [ND 1790 and 1792 under the title Gedichte eines Wormsers .]
  • The Odes of Anacreon in rhyming verse. Along with some other poems . (Translated and edited by Johann Nikolaus Götz and Johann Peter Uz). 4 sheets, 128 pages Frankfurt. Leipzig: without publisher 1746. - Johann Peter Uz (1720–1796) was an anacreontic writer whose sociable, graceful poetry praises the joy of life.
  • About the death of his brother Cornelius Georg Götzens . 6 sheets without publisher or location information 1747.
  • J. (ean) B. (aptiste) L. (ouis) Gresset: Paperle. In four chants . (Translated by Johann Nikolaus Götz). Frankfurt. Leipzig: 1750 without publisher's information. - Gresset (1709–1777), French Jesuit, poet and playwright from Amiens, was known for his witty, light occasional poetry with a strongly satirical, frivolous touch. Expelled from the order because of his writings, he lived afterwards on an official pension as a theater writer; his polished dialogues made him famous. In 1759 there was a change of mind and a commitment to religiosity. - Johann Peter Uz (1720–1796) was considered a “German Gresset” (Gleim in a letter to Jacobi; A. Anger, Dichtung des Rokoko, Tübingen 1969, p. 139).
  • J. (ean) B. (aptiste) L. (ouis) Gresset: Ver-Vert . By JNGötz. In folio. Karlsruhe 1752. - This edition could not be verified.
  • Montesquieu: The Temple of Gnidus. From the French des Gresset . Karlsruhe 1759. - Montesquieu (1689–1755), French lawyer, member of parliament and academician, was significant for his satirical “Persian Letters” (1721), the historical-philosophical work “Size and Decay of the Romans” (1734) and, above all, the constitutional one Work "Spirit of Laws" (1748) known throughout Europe. - The philosophical-satirical novel “The Temple of Gnidus” is one of Montesquieu's “most charming narrative writings” (Brockhaus in Text and Image Edition 2002).
  • The Poems of Anacreon and the Sappho Oden. Translated from the Greek and accompanied by notes . 228 S. Karlsruhe: Macklot 1760. - Facsimile print after the edition of 1760 with an afterword by Herbert Zeman . (German reprints. Series of texts from the 18th century). Stuttgart: Metzler 1970. The edition translated jointly by Uz and Götz first appeared in 1746. The present edition from 1760 is the second, expanded edition from Götzens pen.
  • The girls' island. An elegy . 15 p. Without indication of location or publisher 1773.

Posthumous editions

  • Mixed poems. Edited by Karl Wilhelm Ramler. 3 vols. Mannheim: Schwanische Hofbuchhandlung 1785.
  • Mixed poems . 2 parts. Vienna. Prague: Haas 1805.
  • Mixed poems. Latest edition . 2 parts in 1. Vienna: Bauer 1817.
  • Friedrich Götz: Beloved shadows . 1858. (Contains facsimile poems in their original form).
  • Poems by Johann Nikolaus Götz from the years 1745–1765 in their original form . Edited by Carl Schüddekopf. (The German literature of the 18th and 19th centuries. Vol. 42). Stuttgart: Göschen 1893. ND Nendeln / Liechtenstein: Kraus 1968. - Contains 99 poems in their original form.
  • Letters from and to Johann Nikolaus Götz . Wolfenbüttel: Zwissler 1893. Digitized

Settings

Haydn The Harmony in Marriage Hoboken XXVc: 3, Esmuc
  • Joseph Haydn: "The Harmony in Marriage (Goetz)". In: The three- and four-part chants. Edited by Bernhard Paumgartner. BA 901. Kassel. Basel: Bärenreiter 1967. - “O wonderful harmony - what he wants, she wants too. He likes to cup, he likes to lobbies, he likes the bag and likes to play the gentleman ... that is also their use, ”a satire set to music on a couple who share the same weaknesses.
  • Karl Sieber: "The harmony in marriage": Joseph Haydn sets a poem by the Hornbach pastor Johann Nikolaus Götz to music . In: Home calendar for the Pirmasenser and Zweibrücker Land 2001.

literature

  • Johann Heinrich Voß: About Götz and Ramler. Critical Letters . - Mannheim: Schwan and Götz 1809.
  • J. Franck:  Götz, Johann Nicolaus . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 10, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1879, p. 252 f.
  • Ludwig Bäte: But I'll give you my heart. Johann Nikolaus Götz . Worms: Nornberg 1954. - Terse but confident and knowledgeable article by the prolific writer and polyhistor Ludwig Bäte.
  • Walter Plümacher: Johann Nikolaus Götz - A poet of anacreontics . In: Bad Kreuznacher Heimatblätter 1 and 2 (1955).
  • Kurt Wölfel :  Götz, Johann Nikolaus. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1964, ISBN 3-428-00187-7 , p. 589 ( digitized version ).
  • Gero von Wilpert , Adolf Gühring: first editions of German poetry. A Bibliography on German Literature 1600-1960 . Stuttgart: Kröner 1967. pp. 422-423 sv Götz.
  • Willy Mathern: Johann Nikolaus Götz. The Winterburg nightingale. Life picture of a German poet . Bad Kreuznach: Voigtländer 1972. - Not badly researched, based on research. With the article from "Adrastea" with the description of Knebel's visit. Additions to Maus, Schiller, Sons Götz, Horn, Simrock etc., also Winterburg u. a.
  • Willi Mathern: A winter burger with Goethe and Schiller. The tragic story of Schiller's childhood sweetheart from Mannheim and his rival from Winterburg . In: Bad Kreuznach Heimatblätter 3/1978.
  • Willy Mathern: Johann Nikolaus Götz - the "Winterburg Nightingale". On the 200th anniversary of the poet's death . In: Rhein-Hunsrück-Kalender 37 (1981).
  • Johann Nikolaus Götz, pastor of Hornbach from 1751–1754 . 27 S. Pirmasens: district administration 1981
  • Karl-Heinz Drescher: From the life and work of the rococo poet and pastor Johann Nikolaus Götz (1721–1781) on the 200th anniversary of his death . In: Meisenheimer Hefte 13 (1981).
  • Detlev Johannes, Alfred Pointer, Richard Wisser : Johann Nikolaus Götz 1721–1781 and the bourgeois Rococo . A joint exhibition by the Worms City Library and the Heilshof Art House on the 200th anniversary of the death of the Worms anacreontist . Worms 1981. - Very good up-to-date summary, with old portraits.
  • Wolfgang Neuber : Johann Nikolaus Götz on the 200th anniversary of his death. Attempt to identify a paradigm . In: Blätter der Carl-Zuckmayer-Gesellschaft 7 (1981), pp. 63-132. - Most comprehensive current scientific appreciation.
  • Helmut Hauß: "As nutritious for the mind as it is sweet for the senses". The poetic world of Johann Nikolaus Götz (born 1721 Worms, died 1781 in Winterburg im Soonwald) . In: Landeskundliche Vierteljahrsblätter 1982, pp. 117–131. - With an accent on the interpretation.
  • Richard Wisser , Detlev Johannes, Helmut Hauß: A city remembers. A paperback for friends of Worms and Goethe . Worms: Wormser Verlagsdruckerei Westbrack 1982. In it: Richard Wisser: The "Wormser Götz" and the young Goethe . Pp. 7-56. - With drawings by Worms von Goetz, illustration Goetz.
  • Helmut Hauß: The poetic world of Johann Nikolaus Götz . In: Bad Kreuznach Heimatblätter 10 + 11/1983.
  • Detlev Johannes, Richard Wisser : Johann Nikolaus Götz and his Worms . Exhibition 23 May to 23 June in the Haus zur Münze. With drawings by Gerhard Pallasch. Worms: City of Worms undated (approx. 1986). - With archival finds in the archive of Preuschen, Burg Lahneck; Sons, Pictures, Haydn 3 poems: “Daphnen's only mistake”, “To women”, “Harmony in marriage” (set to music by Haydn!). Handwriting reproduction, silhouette, wife, brother etc.
  • Klaus Schwarz: Johann Nikolaus Götz, public pastor - secretly a poet . In: 1250 years of Hornbach Monastery - publisher City of Hornbach. - Part 2 (1993), pp. 72-79.
  • Heinz-Walter Roth: About the "sweetness of love" . In: 1250 years of Hornbach Monastery - publisher City of Hornbach. - Part 2 (1993), pp. 79-81.
  • Lexicon of Palatinate Personalities . Edenkoben: Hennig 1995. p. 204.
  • Richard Wisser : Homecoming: Johann Nikolaus Götz (1721–1781). A memorial to a poet from Worms . In: Der Wormsgau 18 (1999).
  • Hermann-Peter Eberlein; Literature . In the S. (Ed.): Territorialkirchen und Protestantische Kultur 1648–1800, Bonn 2015 (Evangelical Church History in the Rhineland Vol. 2), pp. 495–502 (especially pp. 486–492).
  • Felix Oehmichen: Johann Nikolaus Götz (1721–1781). Life and work. Hanover: Wehrhahn 2017 (Phil.Diss. Universität Hamburg 2015) - With reference to a future critical new edition

Web links

Wikisource: Johann Nikolaus Götz  - Sources and full texts
Commons : Johann Nikolaus Götz  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "Winterburg Nightingale"; JG Herder.
  2. ↑ On this recently Oehmichen, Götz, Chapter 8 "Der Melancholiker Götz", pp. 165–194
  3. ^ J. Franck:  Götz, Johann Nicolaus . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 10, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1879, p. 252 f.
  4. ^ Hermann Petrich :  Ramler, Karl Wilhelm . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 27, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1888, pp. 213-215.
  5. ^ E. Hermann .:  Schwan, Christian Friedrich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 33, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1891, p. 176 f.
personal data
SURNAME Götz, Johann Nikolaus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Götz, Johann Nicolaus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German clergyman, writer and translator
DATE OF BIRTH July 9, 1721
PLACE OF BIRTH Worms
DATE OF DEATH November 4, 1781
Place of death Winterburg near Kreuznach