Johannes Fastenrath

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Johannes Fastenrath

Johannes Fastenrath (born May 3, 1839 in Remscheid , † March 16, 1908 in Cologne ) was a German lawyer , writer and translator .

Life

Fastenrath's parents were the wholesale merchant Johannes Fastenrath sen. (1798–1867) and Rosalie Fastenrath née Hürxsthal. After moving to the parents of Remscheid to Cologne in 1847, he visited here first the Friedrich-Wilhelm Gymnasium , in 1856, he studied in Bonn, Heidelberg, Munich, Berlin and Paris law . On March 20, 1860 doctorate he in Berlin to Dr. jur. utr. and then worked as a trainee lawyer at the Cologne Regional Court . After only one and a half years he gave up his legal career and since then has lived in Cologne with exclusively literary work. Various trips took the admirer of the Romance character and language, especially to Spain , where he stayed for four months for the first time in 1864. There he dealt extensively with contemporary literature - both Spanish and Catalan . A second trip to Spain followed in 1869, which also lasted four months. On this trip he managed to establish important personal and literary connections, including with the poet Don Manuel Juan Diana .

He translated Diana's comedy recipe against mothers-in-law (La Receta contra las Suegras) into German (2nd edition 1872), as King Ludwig I had already done, and provided free reproductions of old and new Spanish poems in a series of poetry collections: A Spanish bouquet of romances (Leipzig 1865), sounds from Andalusia (Leipzig 1866), the miracles of Sevillas (romances and songs, Leipzig 1867), Hesperic flowers (Leipzig 1869) and immortelles from Toledo (Leipzig 1869), which later became The Book of My Spanish Friends (Leipzig 1870, 2 volumes) and Voices of Christmas (songs based on Ventura Ruiz Aguilera , Leipzig 1880).

Johannes Fastenrath, around 1900

These seals caused an unusual sensation in Spain and won Fastenrath rare awards on his second trip there in 1869. In 1870 he published songs of war and victory under the title The German Heroes of 1870 (6th edition Leipzig 1871). In Spanish in 1872 he published Pasionarias de un Alemán-Español , a description of the Oberammergau Passion Play , and La Walhalla y las glorias de Alemania (1872 ff., 6 volumes), in which he gave the Spaniards a gallery of outstanding German men from Arminius to Kaiser Wilhelm I. demonstrated.

In 1879 Fastenrath traveled to Spain for the third time. In May 1881 he took part in the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the death of Pedro Calderón de la Barca in Madrid as a delegate of the General German Writers ' Association. 1891 Fastenrath was a founding member of the of Joseph Stöckle launched German Bunds bushel . In the Scheffel yearbook for 1894 he made a small memorial to his friend with the four-stanza poem To Joseph Stöckle's memory . The Scheffelbund later made Fastenrath an honorary member.

On May 13, 1893, the Literary Society Cologne eV was founded in Gürzenich , Cologne . Fastenrath was elected first chairman, and he retained the office until his death. From 1898 to 1914 the society organized poetic competitions every year, the Cologne Flower Games . On one of his trips, Fastenrath became aware of the medieval custom of flower games (see also Jocs Florals ). These flower games were originally poetic competitions aimed at maintaining the language of the Trobadors . They took their name from the silver flowers with which the poets who emerged victorious from the competitions were awarded. From 1899 to 1905, the lyrical poet Ernst Scherenberg sat on the panel of judges for the Cologne Flower Games .

Fastenrath tomb in Cologne's Westfriedhof

In 1900, Fastenrath had the representative, three-storey “Haus Fastenrath” built in the classicism style on the property at Neumarkt 3 / Cäcilienstraße 48 in Cologne, designed by the architects Schreiterer & Below . It had a Moorish salon and a replica of the Alhambra's lion fountain in the courtyard . Fastenrath moved in here in 1901 and held a first literary circle that year. The salon with an extensive collection of paintings was one of the focal points of upper-class artistic cultivation. After the death of Fastenrath's widow (1914), the house was up for sale in 1917 and was acquired as a commercial building by the Math. Lempertz art dealer in 1918 .

Fastenrath had been married to the Hungarian writer Luise (Louise) Fastenrath born Goldmann (1858-1914) since 1883, who was in 1892 in correspondence with Wilhelm Busch . After the death of her husband, she continued the Cologne Flower Games . Fastenrath's grave was initially located in the Melaten cemetery and was later moved to Cologne's Westfriedhof (corridor D). The grave monument - u. a. with a portrait bust of Fastenrath - created by the Austrian sculptor Hans Brandstetter .

Honors / awards

  • 1868: Honorary Citizenship of the City of Seville
  • 1869: Corresponding member of the Academia de la Historia in Madrid
  • 1869: Knight's Cross of the Spanish Crown
  • 1870: Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III. the Spanish crown

Grand Duke Carl Alexander von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach awarded Fastenrath the title of (Grand Ducal Saxon) Councilor , he received other high orders from the kings of Portugal and Württemberg , from the President of the Republic of Venezuela and from the Prince of Hohenzollern . He was a corresponding member of the Academia Mexicana de la Lengua in Mexico City .

More fonts

  • Luther in the mirror of Spanish poetry. Brother Martin's vision. (after Gaspar Núñez de Arce ) 2nd edition, Leipzig 1881.
  • Calderon de la Barca. Leipzig 1881.
  • Calderón in Spain. Leipzig 1882.
  • From wedding to wedding. Songs from sunny days. Vienna 1883.
  • Autobiografía. In: Castilla (Valladolid), Volume 1, No. 27 (from July 19, 1903), p. 7.
  • Granada elegies. Leipzig 1885.

He has also published several dramas based on José Echegaray .

estate

The estates of Johannes and Luise Fastenrath are kept and administered in the historical archive of the city of Cologne (holdings 1032). After Luise Fastenrath's death, the Spanish letters were sent to the King of Spain, while the Catalonian, Provencal, French and all Spanish letters from Barcelona were sent to the city of Barcelona.

literature

  • Fritz Lejeune : The German-Spanish friendship efforts of Johannes Fastenrath. In: Romanisches Museum , 11th year 1917, p. 29.
  • Werner Beinhauer:  Fastenrath, Johannes Karl Ferdinand. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1961, ISBN 3-428-00186-9 , p. 28 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Hildegard Schmökel: Johannes Fastenrath, a friend of Spain from Cologne. In: Yearbook of the Cologne History Association (JbKölnGV), Volume 42 (1968), pp. 189–198.
  • Werner Kienitz: The Fastenrath estate in the Cologne city archive. In: Hans Blum (Hrsg.): From Cologne and Rhenish history. Festival dedicated to Arnold Güttsche on the occasion of his 65th birthday. Verlag H. Wamper, Cologne 1969, pp. 295–334.
  • Ernst Hirsch: Johannes Fastenrath and the Württemberg Waldensians. In: Zeitschrift für Württembergische Landesgeschichte (ZWLG), Volume 30, 1970, Issue 2, pp. 408–411.
  • Titus Heidenreich: Johannes Fastenrath and Mexico. Topics and consequences of the letters (1889 ff.) From Otto Engelbert Freiherr von Brackel (1830-1903). In: Manfred Tietz (Ed.): The interest in Spain in the German-speaking area. Contributions to the history of Hispanic studies before 1900 . Vervuert Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1989. (= Edition of the Iberoamericana III , 27.)
  • Ursula Vones-Liebenstein: Johannes Fastenrath (1839-1908). In: Rheinische Lebensbilder , Volume 12. Rheinland-Verlag, Cologne / Bonn 1991, pp. 157–178.
  • Johannes Hösle: Catalan Studies in the Belle Epoque. Johannes Fastenrath. In: Brigitte Schlieben-Lange, Axel Schönberger (Ed.): Polyglotte Romania. Homenatge a Tilbert Dídac Stegmann. (Festschrift) Domus Ed. Europaea, Frankfurt am Main 1991, ISBN 3-927884-15-4 , Volume 1, pp. 25-37.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Detailed information on the Cologne Flower Games: Yearbook of the Cologne Flower Games , Volume 1 (1899/1900) to Volume 16 (1914). ZDB ID 973319-x
  2. ↑ Rheinische Lebensbilder , Volume 12, p. 165 (see literature )
  3. ↑ Rolf Hochhuth (Ed.): Complete works and a selection of the sketches and paintings in two volumes. Volume 1: And the moral of the story. Volume 2: What is popular is also allowed. Bertelsmann, Gütersloh 1959; New edition Munich 1982, ISBN 3-570-03004-0 , p. 1031 f. ( Answers of May 22, 1892 to inquiries from Ms. Louise Fastenrath, Cologne ).
personal data
SURNAME Fastenrath, Johannes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fastenrath, Johann; Fastenrath, Juan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer and writer
DATE OF BIRTH May 3, 1839
PLACE OF BIRTH Remscheid
DATE OF DEATH March 16, 1908
Place of death Cologne