Joseph Emanuel Hilscher

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Joseph Emanuel Hilscher, lithograph by Johann Stadler

Joseph Emanuel Hilscher (born January 22, 1806 in Leitmeritz , Bohemia , † November 2, 1837 in Milan ) was an Austrian poet and soldier.

Life

Joseph Emanuel Hilscher was the son of one of Saxony originating Militärprofoss in the educational house in Kosmanos (Kosmonosy) , which he 1817/1818 by Laibach followed, and entered 1822 as Common soldier into the army. Initially supported by the local chaplain, he was later benefited from support by the teacher of the educational center, Friedrich Dahl and later by the poet Franz von Hermansthal .

His cheerful, sometimes sarcastic mood made him popular with his comrades, who admired him as a genius and polyhistor . In order to better understand his favorite poet, George Gordon Byron , he learned English while at the same time diligently studying French and Italian .

From 1831 he worked as a sergeant in the office . After completing the preparation course, he became a teacher in the same house of education in which he had previously been a student and stayed here until 1832, when he was transferred to what was then the Austrian Lombardy-Veneto . One of the fruits of his Shakespeare studies were the dramas: Kaiser Albrechts Hund and Friedrich der Schöne , both of which were performed in Laibach with the acclaim of literary criticism. Even Ludwig August Frankl could no longer trace both manuscripts . Hilscher tried himself several times as an actor and directed theatrical performances. He also worked as a translator.

In 1832 Hilscher was shocked by the suicide of his former sponsor Dahl, who shot himself with a rifle loaded with water after being demoted because of insubordination . Unhappy, enthusiastic love for women to whom the extremely introverted Hilscher did not want to reveal himself , but idealized them in his poems, clouded his mood considerably.

In recognition of his talent, he was made a cadet ; but the hope of gaining an officer license was not fulfilled. In the meantime, his regiment was transferred to Italy and Hilscher was employed because of his special skills as a chancellery and furier with the general quartermaster staff and as an editor at the Deutsche Mailänder Echo .

In September 1837 he was about to be released from active service, but Hilscher himself could not imagine future prospects, especially since he did not see himself as a "wage slave" for smaller jobs in a newspaper editorial office and consequently ruled out any further existence as a soldier.

He died on November 2, 1837 in Milan of complications from tuberculosis . In his letters, Hilscher described that he had spent most of the time in Italy with "physical and mental illness", barely able to write a cheerful poem. The following day, he was buried in the company of several military personnel in the military cemetery of San Giovannino in front of the Porta Vercellina in Milan.

Ludwig August Frankl published his poems . He had met him in Milan in 1837, as Hilscher was known to him through some of the poems read in the Viennese magazine for art, literature, theater and fashion . In his foreword Frankl described Hilscher as a misunderstood literary genius who had been buried by the military from the start. During his lifetime he never managed to find a publisher. While still in Vienna, Frankl received a letter from Hilscher, and a few months later the news of his death. Through Friedrich Withauer, who acquired the manuscripts from the estate, Frankl, who also states 1804 as the year of birth, came into possession of Hilscher's works with the edition.

Hilscher's talent was based on the heart and enthusiasm for the beautiful and sublime. His poetry is predominantly serious, often with a truly Byronian vibe. The poems from 1832 onwards show the influence of Heinrich Heine's book of songs . His poetry was judged to be a shapely "melancholy poetry that grew out of bitter reluctance and loneliness."

An ambivalent characterization was chosen in the obituary in Der bayerische Volksfreund : “This Hilscher is probably one of the strangest poetic abnormalities of our time. Imagine a common Austrian soldier who, on cold winter nights, while standing watch, ricits Byron and translates verse for verse into the most beautiful verses, which convey the thoughts of a foreign poet in German. "

Hilscher's Byron translations were surprisingly well received in The New Yorker as early as 1840 .

Honors

The Hilscher monument in Leitmeritz

On the initiative of the chairman of the Leitmeritzer Schiller Association Friedrich Ergert , a committee of 17 citizens was founded in 1861, which decided to erect a Hilscher memorial. Ludwig August Frankl supported the financing by publishing Hilscher's originals and translations (1st edition). The monument was erected under the supervision of the chairman of the committee, Dr. med. Lauda from Leitmeritz, built at Hilscher's birthplace and ceremoniously unveiled on June 3, 1863.

A commemorative coin was also minted on the occasion of the unveiling of the monument.

Works

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Joseph Emanuel Hilscher  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Joseph Emanuel Hilscher's poems. Originals and translations from Byron, Moore, Goldsmith, and others. P. 16.
  2. ^ Joseph Emanuel Hilscher's poems. Originals and translations from Byron, Moore, Goldsmith, and others. P. 26 f.
  3. ^ Joseph Emanuel Hilscher's poems. Originals and translations from Byron, Moore, Goldsmith, and others. P. 32 f.
  4. ^ Joseph Emanuel Hilscher's poems. Originals and translations from Byron, Moore, Goldsmith, and others. P. 23.
  5. ^ Joseph Emanuel Hilscher's poems. Originals and translations from Byron, Moore, Goldsmith, and others. Edited by Ludwig August Frankl with a biographical foreword. Gustav Heckenast, Pesth 1840, p. 3.
  6. ^ Joseph Emanuel Hilscher's poems. Originals and translations from Byron, Moore, Goldsmith, and others, p. 14.
  7. ↑ Hilscher Josef Emanuel. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 2, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1959, p. 319.
  8. ↑ The Bavarian People's Friend. An entertainment sheet for all stands. Volume 17, Munich 1840, p. 253 f. Accessed via books.google. November 30, 2012.
  9. ↑ Horace Greeley, Park Benjamin (Ed.): The New Yorker . Volume 10, H. Greeley & Co., New York City 1840, p. 174.
  10. ↑ The second edition in 1863 was made possible by subscription . See Ernst Bruckmüller, Hannes Stekl, Péter Hanák, Ilona Sármány-Parsons et al. (Eds.): Bourgeoisie in the Habsburg Monarchy. Volume 4: Bourgeois self-expression. Böhlau Verlag, Vienna 1995, p. 239.
personal data
SURNAME Hilscher, Joseph Emanuel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian poet
DATE OF BIRTH January 22, 1806
PLACE OF BIRTH Leitmeritz
DATE OF DEATH November 2, 1837
Place of death Milan