Theodor Creizenach

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Theodor Creizenach (born April 17, 1818 in Mainz , † December 6, 1877 in Frankfurt am Main ) was a German teacher, poet and literary historian.

life and work

Creizenach was a son of the Jewish preacher and mathematician Michael Creizenach (1789–1842) and his wife Marianne, née. Haas (1788-1844). His father was appointed as a teacher at the Philanthropin in 1825 , which Theodor also initially attended. In 1829 he became a student at the Frankfurt grammar school , where he passed the school leaving examination in 1835. After studying philology in Giessen , Göttingen and Heidelberg , he took up a position as private tutor and educator in the house of Anselm Salomon von Rothschild in 1842 . He managed the Rothschild branch in Vienna , but mostly lived with his family in Frankfurt and frequently traveled to London and Paris, where Creizenach was able to accompany him. From 1839 to 1853 he was also a teacher at the Philanthropin.

In 1842, as a radical supporter of the Jewish reform movement , Creizenach was one of the founders of the liberal Frankfurt Jewish Reform Association . In the following years he moved further and further away from his Jewish roots. He doubted the religious rules and rituals and no longer expected the coming of the Messiah and the return of the Jews to Jerusalem, but saw himself as a German Jew. At the beginning of 1854 Creizenach gave up his teaching post at Philanthropin and after a trip to Italy on December 18, 1854 accepted the baptism ; he joined the evangelical church . From 1856 to 1858 he was Otto Müller's successor and published the cultural magazine Frankfurter Museum . Until 1858 he lived mainly as a private teacher and man of letters, after which he became a teacher at municipal schools - first at the trade school, from 1859 at the higher middle school and from 1861 at the Frankfurt grammar school. In 1863 he succeeded Georg Ludwig Kriegk as a full professor at the grammar school.

Creizenach was considered a respected Dante and Goethe researcher . He wrote numerous literary works, including two volumes of poetry, essays and dramas. From 1870 he worked on the world history of Friedrich Christoph Schlosser with Oskar Jäger and Theodor Bernhardt and continued the work. In 1877 he published the correspondence between Goethe and Marianne von Willemer . The inscription "Dem Wahren, Schönen, Guten" on the gable of the Frankfurt Opera House is said to have been suggested by Creizenach. Like his father , he was a member of the Masonic lodge Zur Aufstieg Morgenröthe, which was mainly visited by Jewish citizens of Frankfurt .

Creizenach was married to Louise geb. Flersheim, a daughter of the banker Moritz Flersheim. His son is the literary historian Wilhelm Creizenach (1851-1919).

literature

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personal data
SURNAME Creizenach, Theodor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Creizenach, Theodor Adolph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German teacher, poet and literary historian
DATE OF BIRTH April 17, 1818
PLACE OF BIRTH Mainz
DATE OF DEATH December 6, 1877
Place of death Frankfurt am Main