Michael Denis
Johann Nepomuk Cosmas Michael Denis , also Sined the Bard (born September 27, 1729 in Schärding , Bavaria , † September 29, 1800 in Vienna ) was an Austrian Catholic priest , writer, translator, librarian and zoologist.
Life
Michael Denis was taught the Latin language at an early age by his father, Johann Rudolph Denis. In 1739 the then ten year old came to the Jesuit grammar school in Passau , which he successfully completed in 1747. In the same year Denis joined the Jesuit order in Vienna .
After the novitiate, Denis worked as a grammar and rhetoric teacher at the Jesuit colleges in Graz and Klagenfurt . In this role he wrote his neo-Latin school dramas and the didactic epic Palatium Rhetoricae ("Palace of Rhetoric"). In 1757 he was ordained a priest. In 1759 he was appointed professor at the Theresianum in Vienna and remained in this position until the Jesuit order was abolished in 1773. From then on, until the academy was dissolved, he headed the Garellische Library. From 1784 he was curator of the court library in Vienna.
In addition to the school dramas already mentioned, Denis' literary work also includes Neo-Latin and German poetry and German hymns. The lyrical works he published mostly under the pseudonym Sined the Bard (where Sined is an anagram of his surname). He also wrote library studies and textbooks as well as the first Austrian reading book in 1762 .
He became known throughout the German-speaking world for the first German translation of the works " Ossians " (1768/69), which were enthusiastically received throughout Europe as the alleged works of a Gaelic bard, but were a contemporary invention by the Scot James Macpherson . He is also the author of the well-known Advent hymn Tauet, Heaven, the Righteous and the Easter hymn The Savior Has Risen .
Denis helped the Austrian natural scientist Johann Ignaz Schiffermüller for several years to collect and process the butterflies in the Vienna area. As a result, the Systematic Directory of Butterflies in the Vienna Region was published in 1775 . The butterfly collection in the Imperial Court Natural History Cabinet burned down in 1848.
From 1801-1802 the literary estate of Denis, who died in 1800, was edited in two volumes by Joseph Friedrich von Retzer (1754-1824).
In 1874, Denisgasse in Vienna- Brigittenau (20th district) was named after him. His epitaph is on the outer wall of the parish church of St. Andreas Hütteldorf in the 14th district of Vienna .
Works
- The Danube River: to Josephen von Baiern On her honeymoon trip to Vienna , Vienna 1765 ( digitized at BSB)
- Poetic images of most of the warlike processes in Europe since 1756 , Vienna 1760 ( digital copy at BSB)
- The poems of Ossian, an old Celtic poet, translated from English , Vienna 1768–1769
- The songs Sineds des Barden , Vienna 1772 ( digitized by BSB)
- Spiritual songs z. Use of the high metropolitan church b. St. Stephan in Vienna and d. entire Vienna Archbishopric , Vienna 1774 (including The Savior has risen )
- Introduction to book studies , Vienna 1777–1778 (vol. 1: digitized version ), (vol. 2: digitized version ) (at BSB)
- Systematic directory of the butterflies of the Vienna region edited by some teachers at the kk Theresianum (with Schiffermüller), Vienna 1776 ( digitalised by BSB)
- Outline of the bibliography , Vienna 1777 ( digitized from Google Books )
- The Oddities of the Imperial and Royal Public Library at Theresiano , Vienna 1780 ( digitized by BSB)
- Bibliotheca typographica Vindobonensis from anno 1482 usque ad annum 1560 , Vienna 1782 ( digitized from Google Books), also in German Vienna's book printer history until 1560 , Vienna 1782–1793 ( digitized from BSB)
- Ossian and Sineds Lieder , 5 volumes, 1784 (Vol. 1: Digitized ), (Vol. 2: Digitized ), (Vol. 3: Digitized ), (Vol. 4: Digitized ), (Vol. 5: Digitized ) (at BSB)
- Short account of the disputes about the old documents , Heidelberg 1785 ( digital copy at BSB)
- Recollections , Vienna 1794 ( digitized at BSB)
- Carmina quaedam , Vienna 1794 ( digitized at CAMENA )
- Activities with God already collected in the 12th century , Vienna 1799 ( digitized at GDZ)
literature
- Constantin von Wurzbach : Denis, Johann Michael Kosmas Peter . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 3rd part. Typogr.-literar.-artist publishing house. Establishment (L. C. Zamarski, C. Dittmarsch & Comp.), Vienna 1858, pp. 238–246 ( digitized version ).
- Paul von Hofmann-Wellenhof : Michael Denis. A contribution to the German-Austrian literary history of the XVIII. Century . Wagner, Innsbruck 1881
- K. White: Denis, Michael . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, pp. 51-53.
- Wilhelm Bietak: Denis, Johann Nepomuk Cosmas Michael. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 3, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1957, ISBN 3-428-00184-2 , p. 598 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Ludwig Fladerer: Michael Denis (1729–1800) - Latin language and literature in the life of an Austrian enlightener. In: Neulateinisches Jahrbuch 10 (2008), pp. 61–86.
- Ludwig Fladerer: On the threshold to modernity: The Latin autobiography of the Jesuit Michael Denis (1729-1800). Part I. In: Neulateinisches Jahrbuch 14 (2012), pp. 53–111.
Web links
- Works by Michael Denis at Zeno.org .
- Literature by and about Michael Denis in the catalog of the German National Library
- Vienna's book printer history , 1782, e-book of the Vienna University Library ( eBooks on Demand )
- Michael Denis in the literature portal Bavaria
- Entry on Michael Denis by Eduard Beutner for the Upper Austrian literary history of the StifterHaus
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Denis, Michael |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Denis, Johann Nepomuk Cosmas Michael; Sined the Bard (pseudonym) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian Jesuit, author, translator, librarian and zoologist |
DATE OF BIRTH | September 27, 1729 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Schärding |
DATE OF DEATH | 29th September 1800 |
Place of death | Vienna |