The old lyre is smashed on the rock, which is called Christ

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Reference to [Bernhard] Martin Giese as an author in the Allgemeine Kirchenzeitung (1850)

The old lyre is smashed on the rock called Christ! are the first two lines of a poem that goes back to the pastor and “ March revolutionary ” Bernhard Martin Giese (1816–1873). It appeared for the first time on May 25, 1850 in the conservative Volksblatt für Stadt und Land for instruction and entertainment with the opening lines I want to smash my lyre / On the rock, which is called Christ . Giese's authorship must have been forgotten in the first decades after his death. The poem gained notoriety (albeit in a slightly different version) through the claim, mainly made in Christian circles and in Christian literature, that Heinrich Heine (1797–1856) was its author and thus documented his conversion to Christ towards the end of his life . This claim probably goes back to an article that appeared in the Reformed Church Newspaper in November 1907 under the title "Heinrich Heine's Testament" .

While the relevant research with references to catalog raisonnés and stylistic studies had always denied Heine's authorship, the Potsdam religious scholar Nathanael Riemer succeeded in 2016 in identifying Bernhard Martin Giese as the author and thus the claim that Heine was the author of the poem finally to refute. The result of his scientific investigation was published in the Heine Yearbook 2017.

"Poems of someone found again"

In the above-mentioned Volksblatt für Stadt und Land for instruction and entertainment, which was published by Richard Mühlmann's Christian-conservative publishing house ( Halle (Saale) ), there are four "Poems of a Recovered" in various editions in late spring 1850. The first poem in this cycle is entitled “Poet's Confession”, has five stanzas and begins with the lines “I want to smash my lyre / On the rock, which is called Christ”. The three other poems in this series are entitled “Passion Penance”, “Prison Joy” and “A Prisoner's Christmas Song”. The cycle “Poems of a Recovered” was published anonymously in the Volksblatt für Stadt und Land […] , but it was soon confirmed as an author in reprints and Christian house books for Bernhard Martin Giese.

Bernhard Martin Giese

Arnsnesta village church
BM Giese: Confessions of a person who has been freed (1846)
Magdeburg Citadel (around 1880)

Bernhard Martin Giese was born on September 8, 1816 in Wittenberg as the son of the mayor Carl Gottfried Giese. He studied Protestant theology at the universities in Wittenberg, Berlin and Halle. In 1839 he passed his first exam in Berlin and in 1841 his second in Magdeburg . Giese was first assistant preacher in Wittenberg and then pastor at the village church in Arnsnesta (now part of the city of Herzberg ). There he developed from a formerly "ardently zealous Pietist " to a radical rationalist . He joined the Association of Protestant friends ( Friends of Light ) and its published Confessions of a free what has become [...], the 1846 appeared in Altenburg and in the same year for impeachment Giese led.

Giese moved with his wife and two children to Halle and took over the preaching position of the newly founded German-Catholic Free United Congregation . Politically, he allied himself with the democratic movement of the March Revolution , whose ideas he spread primarily through poems and songs he wrote himself . His poem Sturmlied, which appeared in the Halleschen Demokratie Zeitung in November 1848 , led to his being sentenced in spring 1849 to two and a half (three and a half?) Years imprisonment for insulting majesty and inciting a riot.

After the conviction, Giese began his imprisonment in the Magdeburg Citadel . Already in the first months he turned away from his rationalistic and revolutionary views - probably also under the influence of his wife - and was released from prison at the end of July 1850 on the basis of a positive appeal for clemency. The condition was to avoid the territory of Prussia for two years and to assist Johann Hinrich Wichern in his missionary-diaconal work in the Rauhen Haus near Hamburg for two years . Even before Giese was released from prison, the aforementioned cycle of Poems by a Recovered Man was published, including the poet's confession, which begins my lyre with the line I want to smash .

Giese converted to the Roman Catholic Church in Hamburg in 1854 and moved to Münster that same year, where he settled down as a private citizen. From 1858 he worked for Kaspar Franz Krabbe 's monthly journal for Catholic teaching and education . He died in Münster in 1873. David August Rosenthal dedicated a chapter to him in his convertite pictures from the 19th century .

text

The following table places the Giese text from 1850 next to that from 1907, which was wrongly attributed to Heinriche Heine. The most striking difference is the lack of the second stanza in the version published in 1907. Another significant difference is shown when comparing the first two stanzas. While in the version from 1850 the poet appears as an actor and announces the smashing of his lyre, the version published in 1907 assumes that the lyre has already been destroyed - but without revealing by whom. A more massive change can also be seen in the last stanza. Other differences can be described as marginal. Some essentially consist of linguistic smoothing, others can be explained with the spelling reforms of 1876 and 1901 .

The stanzas 1 to 4 or 1–3 each end with a gesture of humility before God (for example: “[…] I kneel down”) and a request for forgiveness. In the closing lines of the last stanza, the poet wishes for God's blessing and new songs in both the version from 1850 and that of 1907. Both texts also have in common that the author of the poem remains anonymous, but still gives a biographical reference: He introduces himself as a poet whose songs have so far "incited riot, apostasy, ridicule and doubt."

The text differences are marked in the table. Orthographic differences are excluded from this.

verse Text 1850
( Author: Bernhard Martin Giese )		 Text 1907
( erroneously attributed to Heinrich Heine )
1

I want to smash my lyre / on the rock, which is called Christ,
The lyre that was used for the evil celebration / was moved by the evil spirit,
The lyre that sounded for revolt / that sang apostasy, mockery and doubt!
O Lord, O Lord, I kneel down / forgive, forgive me my songs!

Smash the old is gurdy / the rock, who is Christ!
The lyre of trouble celebration / moved was of the evil spirit,
the lyre, which sounded to riot, / the doubt , ridicule and waste sang.
O Lord, O Lord, I kneel down / forgive, forgive me my songs!

2

In an intoxicated urge to act / I have scattered many poisonous words;
The dragon seed, it won't last long! / to the harvest she grew who repented me.
The old saying has come true: / Whoever sows wind harvests storm enough
O Lord, O Lord, I kneel down / forgive, forgive me my songs!


The second stanza is missing here.
3

The church has sounded outrageous with its faith / many a song of mockery.
It was supposed to steal discipline and truth / deceit through soft tones.
The free group triumphs: / I have given them some.
O Lord, I cast down my eyes; / Forgive, forgive me my songs!

The church and its faith / many a song of mockery resounded in outrage;
It was supposed to steal discipline and order / deceit through soft tones.
The free band triumphs! / I gave her some.
O Lord I cast my eyes down; / forgive, forgive me my songs!

4th

And when the storms of March came, / until November cloudy and wild,
I scattered bitter riot seeds, / wrapped in sweet songs.
I have seduced many a heart, / destroyed the happiness of eternal life,
bowed head I cry again: / O Lord, forgive me my songs!

And when the storms of March came / until November cloudy and wild,
I wrapped wild revolters / in sweet songs.
I have beguiled many a heart, / destroyed the happiness of eternal life.
With bowed head I shout again: / O Lord, forgive me my songs!

5

The old lyre is
smashed / on the rock, which is called Christ, But Lord, give new poets' fire / which praises you in noble ways.
Give a lyre, pure and mild / filled with a sacred sound of peace!
Yes, bow down in a blessing / and give me new, new songs!

Shattered is the same old story / the rock, which is called Christ?
The lyre of trouble celebration / moved was of the evil spirit.
Oh gift me one, new and mild / from satisfied heil'gem Peace sound;
O , bow down to bless you / and give me new, new songs!

Reception history

After the aforementioned publications of the Giese poem in the middle of the 19th century, four stanzas of the original five-stanzle poem made a name for themselves again from November 1907 - but this time as "Heinrich Heine's last verse". Theodor Lang (1870–1931), editor of the Reformed Church Newspaper, reported under the heading "Heinrich Heine's Testament" about a spectacular find that was made in a Baltic rectory and sent to him. In a comment on his find report, Lang pointed out that Heine's authorship was by no means certain: “Are these verses known? Does anyone know more about their origin? It would be interesting to find out whether they were real or just [...] put into the poet's mouth. "

For Gustav Karpeles (1848–1909), writer, literary historian and Heine connoisseur, Heine's authorship was clearly to be denied. When asked by a “Heine admirer” who had sent him Theodor Lang's article, he replied: “Even this poem need not be said to be false. How right was Heine when he spoke in his confessions of how Protestant voices from home expressed the assumption in very indiscreet questions asked whether the rebirth of his religious feeling had also strengthened his sense of the ecclesiastical in him. "

In the following decades, the (by whoever) revised Giese poem fell into oblivion. It was not until 1956, in the Heine anniversary year, that another “reception phase began, which continues to the present day.” Pastor Wilhelm Reinhold Brauer , director of the Berlin City Mission , spoke to his staff on March 9th of that year on the subject of Heinrich Heine's return to God . The lecture was published as a brochure due to increased demand. The treatise, which is preceded by sentences by the evangelical theologian and anti-Semite Adolf Stöcker (1835–1909), contains the Giese text in the version from 1907 in the appendix. Under the heading “A remarkable poem” it says in the introduction: “The following Some people attribute the poem to Heinrich Heine. It is said to appear in his estate, which in all its fullness is still unorganized. However, it has not yet been clearly proven by the hour. The whole tone in which the poem is written fits perfectly with his last poems. We therefore pass on this anonymous poem - with reservations -. "

While Brauer published the text as a Heine poem with express reservations, Abraham Meister (1901–1990), Wuppertal Bible school teacher and theological writer, went one step further. In an essay published in 1973, Meister published the Giese poem and signed it with the words: “Poemed by Heinrich Heine at the end of his life”. Numerous Christian brochures and books subsequently multiplied this claim, which was then unproven and now falsified. The editors and authors of these writings were, among others, Evangelical Society for Germany / Neukirchen Mission , West Europe Mission Wetzlar, Oberkirchenrat and Probst Peter Klaus Godzik , Irmgard Holup-Feldhoff, Alexander Seibel , and Wim Malgo . At the moment it is mainly Christian websites that use the poem to spread the false report of Heine's conversion to Christ. A small selection of examples of this are the sides of the parish Tanna, the Bible points, the Gottesbotschaft.de and the Evangelical Church of Öschelbronn. An exception among the Christian Heine attributions of the poem was found in 1987 in the Swiss magazine factum, the - so the subtitle - Christian knowledge magazine about faith, people and natural sciences . The Roman Catholic theologian Peter Walter , who dealt there with the “criticism of religion and the religiosity of old age in Heinrich Heine” and also examined the poem attributed to Heinrich Heine in this context, firmly rejected Heine's authorship and complained “about Heine's use for one Christian mission ”.

Because of the aforementioned and other publications, Heine connoisseurs were occasionally confronted with inquiries regarding the authorship of the Giese poem. The editor of the communications of the Heinrich-Heine-Gesellschaft Düsseldorf, for example, answered such a written request in 1973: “The ineradicable Heine mystifications obviously include the four times 8 lines, the first of which is the old lyre / On the rock, which is called Christ! ring. They are excavated with constant regularity and published as a Heine poem [...]. This poem, which is decades, if not a century, old, is a rather crude attempt to modify Heine's attitude to certain questions of faith in old age and during his illness into a primitive confession and a kneeling before the church and To convert God. In terms of subject matter and diction, the poem is as unrelated as possible and it is absolutely certain that it is not the poet's creation.

While these and other answers were primarily based on conjecture, the Potsdam religious scholar Nathanael Riemer succeeded in 2017 for the first time in the clear proof that Bernhard Martin Giese is the author of the poem discussed here. Many years ago he had come across “a Christian missionary tract entitled A Mocker Revoked ”. In addition to various excerpts from Heine's works, it also contained the poem Smashed is the old lyre , which is introduced there with the following words: “Among the poems from Heine's estate there is a final, shocking revocation of a whole unbelieving poetry [...]. This retraction as a last repentant confession of the poet should not be forgotten. ”The mission tract was the reason for Riemer to undertake more extensive research. He summarized its results under the heading "The old lyre is smashed on the rock, which is called Christ!" How the penitential poem of the March revolutionary Bernhard Martin Giese advanced to prove a desired "conversion" Heinrich Heine .

literature

  • Nathanael Riemer: "The old lyre is smashed on the rock called Christ". How the penitential poem of the March revolutionary Bernhard Martin Giese advanced to prove Heinrich Heine's desired "conversion". In: Heine yearbook . Edited by Sabine Brenner-Wilczek (Heinrich Heine Institute Düsseldorf). 56th year, 2017, ISBN 978-3-476-04513-3 , pp. 131-148, doi: 10.1007 / 978-3-476-04514-0_7 .
  • Peter Walter: “Was Heine converted at the end of his life? Criticism of religion and old age religiosity in Heinrich Heine ”. In: factum magazine . 9/1987, pp. 35-46; 10/1987, pp. 28-37.
  • Bernhard Martin Giese: Confessions of a person who has been released, with a special reference to Kampf's answer to Uhlich's confessions. Julius Helbig, Altenburg 1846, OCLC 989755552 ( scan in Google book search).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Prof. Dr. Nathanael Riemer. In: uni-potsdam.de, accessed on February 11, 2019.
  2. ↑ Nathanael Riemer: "The old lyre is smashed on the rock, which is called Christ". How the penitential poem of the March revolutionary Bernhard Martin Giese advanced to prove Heinrich Heine's desired "conversion". In: Heine yearbook. Edited by Sabine Brenner-Wilczek (Heinrich Heine Institute Düsseldorf). 56th year, 2017, p. 137.
  3. ^ Richard Mühlmann (ed.): Volksblatt für Stadt und Land for instruction and entertainment. Publishing house by Richard Mühlmann, Halle an der Saale 1850, issue No. 42 of May 25, 1850, ISSN  2569-684X , column 672.
  4. ^ Richard Mühlmann (ed.): Volksblatt für Stadt und Land for instruction and entertainment. Publishing house by Richard Mühlmann: Halle an der Saale 1850. Issue no. 46 of June 8, 1850, columns 735 f.
  5. ^ Richard Mühlmann (ed.): Volksblatt für Stadt und Land for instruction and entertainment. Publishing house by Richard Mühlmann, Halle an der Saale 1850, issue no.47 from June 12, 1850, columns 750 ff.
  6. ^ Richard Mühlmann (ed.): Volksblatt für Stadt und Land for instruction and entertainment. Publishing house by Richard Mühlmann, Halle an der Saale 1850. Issue No. 48 of June 15, 1850, columns 765 f.
  7. ↑ Nathanael Riemer: "The old lyre is smashed on the rock, which is called Christ". How the penitential poem of the March revolutionary Bernhard Martin Giese advanced to prove Heinrich Heine's desired "conversion". In: Heine yearbook. Edited by Sabine Brenner-Wilczek (Heinrich Heine Institute Düsseldorf). 56th year, 2017, p. 139.
  8. ↑ For example Allgemeine Kirchenzeitung. An archive for the latest history and statistics of the Christian Church. Edited by Karl Gottlieb Bretschneider, Karl Zimmermann. First volume of the 29th year. Karl Wilhelm Leske, Darmstadt 1850, p. 1088 ( church chronicle and miscelles ).
  9. ↑ Unless otherwise stated, the data and facts given here are based on the information in the Lexicon of Westphalian Authors 1750–1950 ( Bern (h) ard Martin Giese in the Lexicon of Westphalian Authors ).
  10. ↑ Bernhard Martin Giese: Confessions of a person who has been freed, with a special reference to fighting's answer to Uhlich's confessions. Altenburg 1846, p. III ( scan in Google book search).
  11. ↑ For details of the impeachment see General Church Newspaper. An archive for the latest history and statistics of the Christian Church. Edited by Karl Gottlieb Bretschneider, Karl Zimmermann. First volume of the 25th year. Karl Wilhelm Leske, Darmstadt 1846, p. 534 ff. ( Scan in Google book search).
  12. ^ David August Rosenthal : Convertitenbillder from the 19th century. Volume I, 3. Schaffhausen 1872, p. 106.
  13. ↑ Bern (h) ard Martin Giese in the Lexicon of Westphalian Authors
  14. ^ Bulletin for the political police in Germany for the period from January 1, 1848 to the present. A manual for every German police officer. Liepsch & Reichardt, Dresden 1855, p. 232 ( scan in Google book search).
  15. ^ Ernst Keil : The Citadelle zu Magdeburg in 1850. A contribution to the history of the Prussian counterrevolution. In: The lighthouse. 9/1850, pp. 170–175, here: p. 175.
  16. ↑ Nathanael Riemer: "The old lyre is smashed on the rock, which is called Christ". How the penitential poem of the March revolutionary Bernhard Martin Giese advanced to prove Heinrich Heine's desired "conversion". In: Heine yearbook. Edited by Sabine Brenner-Wilczek (Heinrich Heine Institute Düsseldorf). 56th year, 2017, p. 137.
  17. ^ David August Rosenthal: Convertitenbillder from the 19th century. Volume I, 3. Schaffhausen 1872.
  18. ↑ Nathanael Riemer: "The old lyre is smashed on the rock, which is called Christ". How the penitential poem of the March revolutionary Bernhard Martin Giese advanced to prove Heinrich Heine's desired "conversion". In: Heine yearbook. Edited by Sabine Brenner-Wilczek (Heinrich Heine Institute Düsseldorf). 56th year, 2017, p. 138.
  19. ↑ GeorgRieger: Refomierte pastor preached for war. In: Quarterly magazine reformiert (Ed. Evangelical Reformed Church). 4th quarter 2014, p. 13.
  20. ↑ Th [eodor] L [an] g: Heinrich Heine's Testament. In: Reformed Church Newspaper. Organ of the Reformed Federation for Germany . Issue No. 46 (November 17, 1907), p. 365.
  21. ↑ Quoted from Nathanael Riemer: "The old lyre is smashed on the rock, which is called Christ". How the penitential poem of the March revolutionary Bernhard Martin Giese advanced to prove Heinrich Heine's desired "conversion". In: Heine yearbook. Edited by Sabine Brenner-Wilczek (Heinrich Heine Institute Düsseldorf). 56th year, 2017, p. 141.
  22. ↑ Karpeles' reply was published posthumously on September 25, 2010 in the Neue Freie Presse (p. 33).
  23. ↑ Nathanael Riemer: "The old lyre is smashed on the rock, which is called Christ". How the penitential poem of the March revolutionary Bernhard Martin Giese advanced to prove Heinrich Heine's desired "conversion". In: Heine yearbook. Edited by Sabine Brenner-Wilczek (Heinrich Heine Institute Düsseldorf). 56th year, 2017, p. 142.
  24. ^ Wilhelm Reinhold Brauer: Heinrich Heine's homecoming to God. A self-testimony from the poet to all “godless self-gods” of our time. Stoecker bookstore of the Berliner Stadtmission, Berlin-Tempelhof o. J. [1956?] ( Transcript and PDF ).
  25. ^ Wilhelm Reinhold Brauer: Heinrich Heine's homecoming to God. A self-testimony from the poet to all “godless self-gods” of our time. Stoecker-Buchhandlung der Berliner Stadtmission: Berlin-Tempelhof oJ [1956?], P. 24 (The page number “21” in the brochure seems to be a misprint.).
  26. ↑ Abraham Meister: The spiritual transformation according to some self-testimonies from Heinrich Heine. In: Bible and Church. Bible Covenant Journal. 3/1973, p. 331.
  27. ↑ EG for Germany / Neukirchen Mission (ed.): Heinrich Heine's conversion. Neukirchen o. J.
  28. Jump up ↑ West Europe Mission: Last Words of Great Men. Wetzlar no year
  29. ↑ Peter Klaus Godzik (ed.): The way into light. A reader on the last questions in life. Rosengarten near Hamburg 2015, p. 49.
  30. ↑ Irmgard Holup-Feldhoff: With Jesus through everyday life. Wetzlar 2012, p. 55.
  31. ↑ Alexander Seibel: The last words of famous men. In: Community letter of the Evangelical Congregation Amstetten. 12/2006, p. 16.
  32. ↑ Wim Malgo: What does the Bible say about the end of the world? Pfäffikon 1982 and 1995. 1982 edition: pp. 115–117 / 1995 edition: pp. 129–130.
  33. ^ Sermon on Trinity Sunday (May 22, 2016). In: kirchspiel-tanna.de, accessed on May 31, 2019.
  34. ↑ Heinrich Heine. Or: the old story is smashed ... truth or falsification. In: bibelpoint.de, accessed on May 31, 2019.
  35. ↑ Last words of great personalities. In: gottesbotschaft.de, accessed on May 31, 2019.
  36. ↑ Sermon on Acts 9: 1–20 (Pastor Michael Schaan, August 14, 2016). (PDF; 364 kB), p. 3. In: eki-öschelbronn.de, accessed on May 31, 2019.
  37. ↑ Peter Walter : Criticism of religion and religion of old age in Heinrich Heine. In: factum. Christian knowledge magazine about faith, people and science. Schwengeler Verlag, Berneck (Switzerland) 1987. Edition 9, pp. 35-46.
  38. ↑ Quoted from Nathanael Riemer: "The old lyre is smashed on the rock, which is called Christ". How the penitential poem of the March revolutionary Bernhard Martin Giese advanced to prove Heinrich Heine's desired "conversion". In: Heine yearbook. Edited by Sabine Brenner-Wilczek (Heinrich Heine Institute Düsseldorf). 56th year, 2017, p. 143.
  39. ^ Heinrich-Heine-Gesellschaft (ed.): Communications of the Heinrich-Heine-Gesellschaft Düsseldorf. Issue 1, 1973, p. 4 ff.
  40. ↑ The treatise mentioned: Ein Mocker revokes (Urbach, undated) comes from the STIWA publishing house , which was dissolved on September 6, 2001, and appeared there under order number 145.