Maximilian Kronberger

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Maximilian Kronberger

Maximilian Kronberger , actually Max Konrad August Kronberger (born April 14, 1888 in Berlin , † April 15, 1904 in Munich ) was an important person in the George Circle .

Acquaintance with Stefan George

Kronberger was the son of the Würzburg businessman Alfred Kronberger. He grew up in Munich-Schwabing , where he attended high school. The poet Stefan George met him on the street in Munich in 1902 and approached him for the first time a little later. George drew Kronberger, who only found out after the meeting that he was dealing with a well-known poet. In January 1903 the two met again on the street, and now they met more often. Kronberger made friends with Georges, some of whom were already well-known poets such as Hugo von Hofmannsthal , Friedrich Gundolf or Karl Wolfskehl . George also took him to social events of the Schwabing bohemian, such as a costume party with Henry von Heiseler . George also tried to be on good terms with Kronberger's parents, he even attended Maximilian's confirmation. Kronberger had already started to write poetry and hoped that his acquaintance with the poet would improve his poems.

Copy of the entry in the death register of the Munich registry office about the death of Maximilian Kronberger

But the first tensions arose as early as 1904. George was upset because Kronberger had transferred him several times. At the next meeting, Kronberger noted in his diary:

"[George] made [...] me wait an unusually long time, even though he was in the next room. Finally he came, gave me his hand and looked at me for a long time ... That I had no time on Sunday was a mere excuse, he knew that from his youth etc. It was also a stupid excuse for the coming Sunday. I told him that I didn’t have time, he’s doing me an injustice. Then he turned to me, frowned and threatened me with his finger. Then he sat down at the desk and began when I didn't have time or if he does not have the will to come when he has time, he neither has the time nor the will to receive me when I come. [...] I said coldly goodbye and held out my hand to him, but he absolutely didn’t look here… I don’t need to let him scold me like a schoolboy? "

Kronberger wanted to break off contact, but George was able to prevent this. Shortly afterwards, Maximilian Kronberger fell in love with a girl of the same age, with whom he now spent a lot of time and to whom he dedicated almost all of his poems. In April 1904 he traveled to Vienna to visit a cousin. There he met Stefan George again. Shortly afterwards he traveled back to Munich, still in Vienna he had shown the first symptoms of an illness. He had meningitis and died soon after, on April 15, 1904, the day after his 16th birthday. In the death register entry No. 719 of April 15, it is also recorded that he was a Protestant religion and a high school student by profession. He lived with his parents at Nikolaistraße 9 in Munich.

Artistic work

Maximilian Kronberger wrote 241 poems. Here is his first and last poem (after the publication by Georg Peter Landmann):

GOD

Is there a god? You brood back and forth
and still only come to one goal:
Go to the roaring sea and look
at the change in nature.
O look at the growing generation.
Picture the course of history.
Think of the alternation of good and bad.
Go out into the forest in spring -
From every salvation out of need
From every misery on earth it
sounds out loud: There is a God!

(November 21, 1901)


The poet (rises)

You flute, complain! You cymbals, rush out!
You boys swing the green-wrapped staff!
Your words are still ringing in my ears.
You flute player, guide you into the grave!
But do not cover her limbs with earth Cover her
with flowers until morning approaches
Then I see my beloved again.
Then I woke up to life too.

(written 2 weeks before his death)

Maximin myth

The boy's death hit George hard, for example he wrote to Sabine Lepsius : "I mourn an incomprehensible and early death that also wanted to lead me to the last clefts". From the time immediately after Kronberger's death, there are only a few other sources that could provide information about George's thoughts. He soon began to prepare a commemorative volume dedicated to Maximilian, which was ready by April 1905. In addition to a preface, he himself had contributed several poems, further lyrical contributions came from Friedrich Gundolf, Karl Wolfskehl and Lothar Treuge , and Melchior Lechter took care of the artistic presentation of the volume . Some poems from Kronberger's estate were also finally included in the volume Maximin at the end of 1906 . A memorial book published. In George's preface it says:

“We fell down in the dull despair of the community left behind, we writhed in senseless pain that we should never touch those hands again, that we should never kiss those lips again. Then his lively voice penetrated us and taught us about our folly that still wanted to force him here ... We can now greedily for passionate admiration in our sanctuary put up his pillar and prostrate before him and pay homage to what human fear had prevented us from when he was still was among us. "

From then on, George Kronberger stylized himself into a deity incarnate under the name “Maximin”. The seventh ring followed in 1907 , which also deals centrally with the myth of Georges Maximin. The myth was a central identification and integration feature of the George circle , especially in the next few years .

Works

literature

  • Claus-Artur Scheier: Maximin's clearing. Philosophical remarks on George's God. In: George Year Book , Volume 1, 1996/1997, pp. 80-106.
  • Thomas Karlauf : Stefan George. The discovery of the charism. Pantheon, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-570-55076-2 , in particular pp. 342-353.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ This birthday date is mentioned in "Poems. Diaries. Letters" by Georg Peter Landmann (Hrsg.), Stuttgart 1987, p. 6
  2. ^ "Maximilian Kronberger came from an upper-class family. The grandfather Konrad Kronberger, son of a "paver master", had earned his name and fortune as an engineer through the construction of roads, locks and railway bridges. The father, Alfred Kronberger, born in 1857, had trained as a merchant and after several stops in 1884 became co-owner a furniture factory in Berlin. There he married the manufacturer's daughter Christina Buch and had three children from her, Max, born on April 14, 1888, Johanna and Lisa. They lived in Berlin on Mariannenplatz. Later Alfred Kronberger and his younger brother, who had learned the trade, became co-owners and managers of a brewery in Würzburg, but at the beginning of 1900 almost completely retired from working life and moved with his wife to a flat in Munich, initially Nicolaiplatz 1, in the course of 1902 Nicolaistrasse 9. His sister was married to a goldsmith Oskar Dietrich in Vienna and had three sons, Oskar, Arthur and Walter. ”From: Georg Peter Landmann (Ed.): Gedichte. Diaries. Letters. Stuttgart 1987, p. 6.
  3. ^ Maximilian Kronberger, Poems. Diaries. Letters . Edited by Georg Peter Landmann. Stuttgart 1987, p. 104 f. Thomas Karlauf, Stefan George, p. 346 sees here an indication of George's infatuation.
  4. ^ Sabine Lepsius, Stefan George. History of a friendship, Stuttgart 1935, facsimile portfolio.
  5. ↑ Stefan George (Ed.), Maximin. A memorial book, Berlin 1907 (published at the end of 1906 with the year 1907).
  6. ↑ Stefan George, preface to Maximin, in: Complete edition of the works, Volume 17, p. 31 f.
personal data
SURNAME Kronberger, Maximilian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Maximin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German member of the George Circle
DATE OF BIRTH April 15, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH April 15, 1904
Place of death Munich