Phöbus (magazine)

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Phöbus - A Journal for Art
Cover woodcut of the magazine "Phöbus" by Ferdinand Hartmann
description German literary magazine
First edition January 1808
attitude December 1808
Frequency of publication per month
editor Heinrich von Kleist, Adam Heinrich Müller

Phöbus - A Journal for Art was a literary magazine published by Heinrich von Kleist and Adam Heinrich Müller . The journal was published between January 1808 and December 1808 in twelve issues in nine deliveries in Dresden .

Plan for the magazine

The journal got its name after the nickname Phoibos of the Greek god Apollo . The cover drawing of the first issue, drawn up by Ferdinand Hartmann , showed the sun god Phöbus pulling over Dresden on a chariot pulled by the sun horses. In his resolution for the first issue, Kleist wrote: "Race into it, oh you, with your flaming horses, / Phöbus, Bringer of the Day, into infinite space!"

The journal was based on Schiller's Horen . The attempt to advertise the magazine by well-known authors such as Goethe quickly failed because they distanced themselves from the project. Because of this, and because Müller and Kleist had neither a precise plan nor relationships with booksellers, Phöbus soon failed ; the two editors had to inject money. The exact edition is not known, but Klaus Günzel assumes in his Kleist biography that hardly more than 150 copies per issue were sold.

Content and development

In the first issue a fragment from Kleist's drama Penthesilea appeared , which was not very well received by the critics - like the magazine as a whole. The review by Karl August Böttiger of February 6, 1808, in which u. a. means: "On the other hand, there are a lot of places where the sense is either completely or not at all or at least very twisted and eccentric ...". Goethe also saw it similarly, although Kleist offered him the first volume of Phöbus with an almost submissive cover letter "on the knees of his heart". There were no contributions from Goethe to the journal and his fate was actually sealed with the first issue.

Nevertheless, Kleist and Müller continued. However, the accumulating debts quickly led to tension between the two publishers. When Müller sold the magazine behind Kleist's back to a Dresden bookseller (in exchange for repayment of the debt), the relationship between the two cooled noticeably.

Contents of the booklets

Bibliographical indexing in: Bibliographisches Repertorium. Volume 1, Berlin 1904, Sp. 54-76 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).

First issue, January 1808

  • Prologue , by Kleist
  • Organic fragment from the tragedy Penthesilea , by Kleist
  • About the meaning of dance , by Christian Gottfried Körner
  • The angel at the tomb of the Lord , by Kleist
  • To Dorothee , from Novalis
  • Fragments on Dramatic Poetry and Art , by Müller
  • Popularity and Mysticism , by Müller
  • About the literary character of Frau von Stael-Holstein , von Müller
  • Epilog , by Kleist

Second issue, February 1808

  • The marquise of O ... , by Kleist
  • The two pigeons, a fable based on Lafontaine , by Kleist
  • Lectures on the beautiful , by Müller
  • Corinne ou l'Italie par Madame de Stael-Holstein , from Müller

Third issue, March 1808

Fourth and fifth issues, April / May 1808

  • Fragment from the tragedy Robert Guiskard , by Kleist
  • The old man and his translator , von Wetzel
  • The adventures of the fiddler at Shiraz , by Gotthilf Heinrich Schubert
  • M. and S. , from Novalis
  • Lectures on the beautiful (continuation), by Müller
  • Faareveile , by Adam Öhlenschläger
  • Irony, comedy, Aristophanes , von Müller
  • Fragments from a lecture by Schubert
  • Epigrams , from Kleist
  • Something about landscape painting , by Müller
  • Variation on the Muses and Graces in the Mark , by Wetzel
  • Fragment from the play Das Käthchen von Heilbronn , by Kleist
  • Saul and David , from Wetzel

Sixth issue, June 1808

  • La fête de la victoire où le retour des Grecs , by Germaine de Staël
  • The fairy tale of the long nose by Wetzel
  • From the great Christoph , from Wetzel
  • Michael Kohlhaas , from Kleist
  • Apology for French Dramatic Literature , by Müller
  • Art criticism , by Müller
  • Epigrams , from Kleist

Seventh issue, July 1808

  • From the character of Spanish poetry , from Müller
  • From didactic poetry , by Wilhelm Nienstädt
  • Iduna, goddess of immortality , from Wetzel
  • God's stream , from Wetzel
  • The missed church , von Wetzel
  • Philosophical and critical miscelles , various authors

Eighth volume, August 1808

  • The Wole grave , by Wetzel
  • Introduction to the consideration of the Greek stage , by Müller
  • Kleobis and Biton , from Wetzel
  • On didactic poetry (continued), by Nienstädt
  • Philosophical-critical miscelles , von Müller
  • The school of Johann von Müller , von Müller
  • Something else about the difference between ancient and modern theater , von Müller

Ninth and tenth issues, September / October 1808

  • On the religious character of the Greek stage , von Müller
  • For the grape harvest , from Novalis
  • Second fragment from the play Das Käthchen von Heilbronn , by Kleist
  • Fragments on William Shakespear , by Müller
  • Small occasional poems by Kleist

Eleventh and twelfth issues, November / December 1808

  • Prolegomena of an art philosophy , by Müller
  • Song of the youth , of Wetzel
  • Death , von Wetzel
  • Curse of Time , by Wetzel
  • The gem , from Wetzel
  • The horror in the bath , by Kleist
  • Kunz von Kauffungen , from Count Otto Heinrich von Löben
  • The dying Maria , from von Löben
  • Maria Ascending to Heaven , by von Löben
  • Pressure of the soul , from Müller
  • Italian theater, masks, extemporaries , by Müller
  • Spirit closeness , from Wetzel
  • About the German family painting by Müller
  • To J. , von Müller
  • Invisible writing , by Wetzel
  • Wanderer's day trip , from Wetzel
  • Wanderer's evening , from Wetzel
  • Wanderer's night camp , from Wetzel
  • About art exhibitions and art criticism , by Ferdinand Hartmann
  • Emergency and help booklet for artists and art lovers in Mildheim , by Friedrich Wilhelm Basilius von Ramdohr

Web links

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