Wilhelm Gerhard

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Wilhelm Gerhard
Signature Wilhelm Gerhard.PNG

Christoph Wilhelm Leonhard Gerhard (born November 29, 1780 in Weimar ; † October 2, 1858 in Heidelberg ) was a German businessman, dramaturge and poet .

Life

Gerhard was the son of a businessman. He completed a four-year apprenticeship as a commercial assistant in Zittau and then worked in a Leipzig trading company . In 1805 he acquired Leipzig citizenship . With a partner he founded a tailoring and fashion store.

In 1807 August Mahlmann introduced him to the Minerva Freemason Lodge in Leipzig . He began his poetic career with a number of Masonic chants. He gave up his business and devoted himself to writing. In addition to poems, he mainly wrote plays or set up existing poems for the stage. At times he was dramaturge at the Leipzig City Theater . He also worked on translations.

In 1827 he bought a park-like garden in Leipzig, which he had redesigned in the English style and which was henceforth called Gerhard's garden . In the manor house of the garden he received important personalities of the intellectual life of the 19th century, such as Ludwig Tieck , Friedrich Rückert , Heinrich Marschner , Albert Lortzing and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy . He was also friends with Goethe . Gerhard became a promoter of the city's intellectual life. In 1853 he had a summer theater built in his garden.

In addition to his writing activities, he was also interested in mineralogy and botany.

Wilhelm Gerhard was married to Caroline Gerhard, née Richter (1797–1879).

In 1832 he was appointed Legation Councilor to the Duke of Saxony-Meiningen.

He died in Heidelberg on the way back from Switzerland.

Works (selection)

Title page to Sakontala
Title page to Sophronia
  • The Mason's Light and the Flaming Star , 1812
  • Mask calendar to the year 1817 , 1817
  • Anakreon and Sappho , free replica for German singing, 1818
  • Sakontala, or The Ring of Fate , Indian drama adapted for the stage, 1820
  • Sophronia or The Conquest of the Holy Sepulcher , drama, 1822
  • Walk across the Alps , 1824
  • Poems , 4 volumes, 1826–1828
  • Cradle consecration , festival, 1828
  • View of some tax relationships in the Kingdom of Saxony , 1831
  • The Borgo di Trastullo fair , festival, 1835
  • Prologus, the fool eater and fool's excerpt , Schönbartspiele for the utility and entertainment of all carnival fools , carried out on February 18, 1840 in company Concordia
  • Spring Awakening , festival scene with song and dance, 1846
  • as well as numerous translations

Honor

  • In 1897 Gerhardstraße was named after him in the Plagwitz district of Leipzig .

literature

  • Horst Riedel: Stadtlexikon Leipzig from A to Z . PRO LEIPZIG, Leipzig 2005, ISBN 3-936508-03-8 , p. 177

Web links

Wikiquote: Wilhelm Gerhard  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stadtlexikon Leipzig from A to Z , p. 177
  2. ↑ Gerhard's exchange offer for herbal preparations
  3. ^ Gina Klank, Gernot Griebsch: Lexikon Leipziger Strasseennamen , Verlag im Wissenschaftszentrum Leipzig, 1995, ISBN 3-930433-09-5 , p. 81/82
personal data
SURNAME Gerhard, Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gerhard, Christoph Wilhelm Leonhard; Gerhard, Wilhelm Christoph Leonhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German dramaturge and poet
DATE OF BIRTH November 29, 1780
PLACE OF BIRTH Weimar
DATE OF DEATH October 2, 1858
Place of death Heidelberg