Martin Bircher

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Martin Bircher (born June 3, 1938 in Zurich ; † July 9, 2006 there ) was a Swiss baroque researcher , book historian , collector and university lecturer.

Origin and career

Bircher comes from the Bircher-Benner family in Zurich (his grandfather Maximilian is the namesake of Bircher Müesli ). He studied German, English and art history at the University of Zurich and received his doctorate in 1965 with a thesis on Johann Wilhelm von Stubenberg (1619–1663) under Max Wehrli . Since 1968 he has taught at McGill University / Montreal (Canada) in the Department of German. After a research stay in Wolfenbüttel, in 1978 he became head of the "Research of the 17th Century" department at the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel . In this role he coordinated research projects during the Baroque period, published the Wolfenbütteler Barock-Nachrichten , organized congresses, exhibitions and published numerous articles on the literature of the 17th century.

He regularly lectured at the University of Zurich, which appointed him adjunct professor in 1982. For only a short time (1992) he was director of the Goethe National Museum in Weimar.

In 1996 he returned to his homeland, this time to Lake Geneva , as director of the Martin Bodmer Foundation and director of the Bibliotheca Bodmeriana in Cologny near Geneva . As a passionate book collector, he edited the magazine Librarium - and he was able to exhibit his own collection of books, autographs and portraits from the environment of the first German language society (1992 catalog) in Wolfenbüttel, Münster and Zurich, which he later transferred to the library of the University of California , Berkeley sold (not without collecting treasures of literature again).

Three years after leaving Geneva-Cologny, he succumbed to cancer in Zurich. He was buried in the Islen forest cemetery near Davos.

Research priorities

Bircher's focus was on German baroque literature , and in particular the fruitful society , as well as the edition of (forgotten) texts of this time, the history of books and art . But he was also familiar with Shakespeare research, with the authors of the 18th century who came from Zurich or who worked in Zurich ( Salomon Gessner , Johann Heinrich Füssli ) - and Stefan Zweig or Else Lasker-Schüler .

Fonts

  • Johann Wilhelm von Stubenberg (1619–1663) and his circle of friends. Studies on the Austrian baroque literature of Protestant noblemen. Berlin 1968.
  • German Baroque prints 1600–1720 in the Herzog August Library. 46 vols. (Continued by Thomas Bürger). Wolfenbüttel 1977-1996.
  • In the garden of the palm tree. Treasures from the unknown baroque: The fruitful society and its time (together with Christian Juranek ). Berlin 1992.
  • Mirror of the world: manuscripts and books from three millennia. An exhibition by the Martin Bodmer Cologny Foundation in conjunction with the Schiller National Museum in Marbach and the Bärengasse Museum Foundation in Zurich. 2 vols. Cologny 2000.

Editing

  • Wolfenbütteler work on baroque research
  • Librarium. Journal of the Swiss Bibliophile Society
  • German baroque poetry. Interpretations of poems from Spee to Haller (Ed. With Alois M. Haas). Bern, Munich 1973
  • The German Academy of the 17th Century - Fruitful Society. (Together with Klaus Conermann). Tübingen 1991 ff.
  • German baroque literature (with Friedhelm Kemp). Munich 1967–1992.

literature

  • Ars et Amicitia. Contributions to the topic of friendship in history, art and literature. Festschrift for Martin Bircher on his 60th birthday. Edited by Ferdinand van Ingen and Christian Juranek . Amsterdam 1998 (= Chloe 28). [Therein the list of publications by Martin Bircher, pp. 753–796]
  • Andreas Herz: In memory of Martin Bircher. In: Wolfenbütteler Barock-Nachrichten. 33 (2006), pp. 91-95.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Bircher, Martin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss Germanist, Baroque researcher
DATE OF BIRTH June 3, 1938
PLACE OF BIRTH Zurich
DATE OF DEATH July 9, 2006
Place of death Zurich