Friedrich von Hagedorn

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Friedrich von Hagedorn (by Dominicus van der Smissen (1704–1760), Hamburger Kunsthalle )
Poetic Works Bern, 1766

Friedrich von Hagedorn (born April 23, 1708 in Hamburg ; † October 28, 1754 there ) was a German rococo poet . He was the older brother of the art theorist and collector Christian Ludwig von Hagedorn (1712–1780).

Life

Hagedorn was the son of the wealthy state and government councilor Hans Statius von Hagedorn, who served in the Danish service, and was the Danish envoy to the Hanseatic cities in Hamburg from 1704 to 1722 . Initially trained by private tutors, after his father's economic difficulties he had to attend the academic high school in Hamburg from 1723. From 1726 he studied law at the inexpensive University of Jena . Nevertheless, after six semesters he had to break off his studies and flee from his creditors from Jena . In 1729 he traveled to London for two years as private secretary to the Danish envoy Henrik Frederik von Söhlenthal . On his return, after a two-year period as a court master , he was employed in 1733 as secretary of the trading company Merchant Adventurers at the "English Court" in Hamburg. The current income from this position, combined with a moderate workload, enabled him to devote himself mainly to writing until his death.

In 1737 he married the daughter of an English tailor; the marriage remained childless. Hagedorn lived a dissolute lifestyle with high consumption of food, drink and smoking, so that a picture in his mid-30s shows an overweight, bloated man. He suffered badly from gout , later also from breathing and heart problems, insomnia, paralysis and water in the body and legs.

Hagedorn maintained friendly contacts with famous colleagues such as Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock , Ludwig Gleim and Johann Jakob Bodmer . Also Gotthold Ephraim Lessing visited him occasionally. Although not wealthy himself, he supported poor young poets with recommendations and fundraising.

Works

Hagedorn processed ancient , French and, above all, English suggestions in cheerful, sensible fables and stories (1738) and odes and songs with anacreontic flirtation (1742–1752). Formally, his works can be divided into fables , songs , didactic poems and epigrams . His poetry is kept simple ( alternating verse , easily singable stanzas ) and pursues other stylistic ideals than the poets of the Baroque .

Programmatically, his poems mark the turning away from the fear of life and the world disgust of the Baroque. In the foreground of his poetry are love, enjoyment of wine and poetry, but also moral principles, which, however, follow the Horatian maxims prodesse et delectare (use and entertain), come across as joking. His particular fondness for ancient poets ( Sappho , Anakreon , Virgil and especially Horace ), whose works he aspired to, initially earned him the reputation of an imitator. Today, Hagedorn is regarded as an early enlightener and pioneer of literary rococo in Germany, whose works have a distinct character.

An example of Hagedorn's light, informal poetry style is The Day of Joy (first stanza):

Surrender to
youthful happiness with a free heart :
don't postpone the sweet jokes,
friends, until you are older.
You are attracted by the impulse of sweet impulses;
This should be a day of lust:
Up! Charge the God of love here
! invite the joys here.

In Die Alster , Hagedorn praises the importance of the Elbe and the Alster for Hamburg (second stanza):

The Elbe ship journey makes us richer;
The Alster teaches you to be sociable!
Through these the storages are filled;
The strange wine tastes good on this .
In drifting boats,
unity and pleasure sail,
And freedom and laughter
relieve the breast.

Portraits

  • Dominicus van der Smissen : Friedrich von Hagedorn , (half-length portrait to the right), unmarked - oil on canvas. 53.4 x 42.2 cm. Around 1745
- according to the painting above

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Friedrich von Hagedorn  - Sources and full texts
Commons : Friedrich von Hagedorn  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Friedrich von Hagedorn  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ C. Ritter & Team: THE DAY OF THE JOY OF HAGEDORN. In: gedichte.xbib.de. Retrieved January 7, 2017 .
  2. ^ Claudio Mende: The Alster - Friedrich von Hagedorn. In: www.literaturwelt.com. Retrieved January 7, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Giesela Jaacks: Faces and Personalities . Museum of Hamburg History, Hamburg 1992, p. 183-184 .
personal data
SURNAME Hagedorn, Friedrich von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German poet
DATE OF BIRTH April 23, 1708
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg , Germany
DATE OF DEATH October 28, 1754
Place of death Hamburg