Misplaced Pages

#136863

25-629: It was by means of a midnight ritual in an oaken grove that the Göttinger Hainbund was founded on 12 September 1772 by Johann Heinrich Voss , Ludwig Christoph Heinrich Hölty , Johann Martin Miller , Gottlieb Dieterich von Miller , Johann Friedrich Hahn and Johann Thomas Ludwig Wehrs , in the university town of Göttingen . The members knew one other through their presence at the University of Göttingen or through their contributions to

50-474: A call to a professorship of classical literature at the University of Heidelberg . Here, in the enjoyment of a considerable salary, he devoted himself entirely to his literary labours, translations and antiquarian research until his death. Voss was a man of a remarkably independent and vigorous character. From 1785 to 1795 he published in two volumes a collection of original poems, to which he afterwards made many additions. An edition of his poems in four volumes

75-549: A competing almanac; in spring 1775, he was replaced by Leopold Friedrich Günther Goeckingk ; he was joined the next year by Gottfried August Bürger , who became sole editor in 1779. After Bürger's death in 1795 he was replaced by Karl Reinhard . A semi-pirated imitation by Engelhard Benjamin Schwickert , Leipziger Almanach der deutschen Musen , simultaneously appeared in Leipzig . Despite including nineteen stolen items, it

100-490: A short autobiography, Abriß meines Lebens (1818). See also Wilhelm Herbst , Johann Heinrich Voß (3 volumes, Leipzig, 1872–1876); Friedrich Heussner , Johann Heinrich Voß als Schulmann in Eutin. Festschrift zum hundertjährigen Gedenktage seiner Ankunft daselbst (1882); and another life by Paulus (Heidelberg, 1826); also Prutz, Der Göttinger Dichterbund (Leipzig, 1841). According to Bartlett's Familiar Quotations , Voss

125-531: A translator that Voss chiefly owes his place in German literature. His translations indicate not only sound scholarship but a thorough mastery of the laws of German diction and rhythm. The most famous of his translations are those of Homer. The translation of the Odyssey , as originally issued in 1781, is singled out as the most successful. He also translated Hesiod (1806), Theocritus , Bion and Moschus (1808),

150-632: Is the most likely source for the phrase Wein, Weib und Gesang , or, in English, wine, women and song . Voss's full phrase is Wer nicht liebt Wein, Weib und Gesang / Der bleibt ein Narr sein Lebelang ("He who loves not wine, woman and song / Remains a fool his whole life long"). Musenalmanach A Musen-Almanach ("Muses' Almanac") was a kind of literary annual, popular in Germany from 1770 into

175-844: The Göttinger Musenalmanach , a literary annual founded by Heinrich Christian Boie in 1770. Their evident delight in wilderness and untamed Nature (as a counterweight to the rationalism of the Enlightenment) is what scholars use to connect them to Sturm und Drang , although not all commentators agree on who influenced whom, and in what way. In the poetry of the 48-year-old Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock they found their ideal. Their respect for him ran parallel to their disdain for Christoph Martin Wieland 's jesting poetry, which they saw as frivolous, Frenchified work. On 2 July 1773, they celebrated Klopstock's birthday: Wieland

200-519: The Musenalmanach , which he continued to issue for several years. He married Boie's sister Ernestine in 1777. In 1778 Voss was appointed rector of the school at Otterndorf . In 1781, after the publication of several treatises, he produced a German-language text for Homer 's Odyssey . This work made the poem national with the Germans (new ed. by Bernays, 1881). In 1782, Voss accepted

225-855: The Hamburger Musenalmanach . The first issue of 1776 lost money, and Voss transferred management to Carl Ernst Bohn , but continued to edit, with the help (from 1779 to 1786) of Goeckingk. In Vienna in 1777, the Wienerischer Musenalmanach (or Wiener Musen-Almanach from 1786) appeared. The editor was Joseph Franz von Ratschky , and he was joined by Aloys Blumauer in 1781, and later by Gottlieb von Leon and Martin Joseph Prandstätter . The last issue appeared in 1796. Other similar almanacs were less successful, including Friedrich Schiller 's Anthologie (1782) which only appeared once. His second attempt

250-601: The Musenalmanach by Adelbert von Chamisso and Karl August Varnhagen von Ense (1804–1806), the Poetische Taschenbuch of Friedrich Schlegel (Berlin 1805–1806) and the Musenalmanach edited by Leo von Seckendorf (Regensburg 1807–1808). The heyday of the almanac was perhaps the 1820s, during which decade they gradually began to appear in England in an etiolated form as literary annuals . In 1823,

275-458: The Musenalmanach . Based on his correspondence with Schulz, he favored a folklike style of Lied composition. Voss's Mythologische Briefe , his Antisymbolik , and other writings made important contributions to the study of mythology . He was also prominent as an advocate of the right of free judgment in religion, and at the time when some members of the Romantic school were being converted to

SECTION 10

#1732772759137

300-672: The Roman Catholic Church , he produced a strong impression by a powerful article, in Sophronizon , on his friend Friedrich von Stolberg 's repudiation of Protestantism (1819). According to the Metzler Lexikon , the heroines of the Voss's ballad Der Freier and a German traditional song share not only the black colour of hair (eyes), but also some primitive — or even erotic — ″sensuality". It is, however, as

325-795: The inventors of the German Kunstballade ("art ballad"). On Sunday, 18 September 1774, Klopstock passed through the city and paid them a visit. He had intended to leave early the next morning, but transportation was difficult to find, and to their delight he spent nearly the whole of the Monday in their company. In 1775, most of its members having completed their education, the Hainbund gradually broke up as they returned to their home cities. Johann Heinrich Voss Johann Heinrich Voss ( German : Johann Heinrich Voß , pronounced [fɔs] ; 20 February 1751 – 29 March 1826)

350-477: The invitation of Heinrich Christian Boie , whose attention he had attracted by poems contributed to the Göttinger Musenalmanach , he went to the University of Göttingen in 1772. Here he studied philology , his studies encompassing both classical and modern languages , and became one of the leading spirits in the famous Hain or Dichterbund . In 1775 Boie made over to him the editorship of

375-427: The latter written in opposition to Georg Friedrich Creuzer , have been characterized as painstaking and dignified, but dreary. His poems were often set by contemporary composers such as C.P.E. Bach , Johann Friedrich Reichardt , and Johann Abraham Peter Schulz , and also later composers such as Felix Mendelssohn , Carl Maria von Weber , and Johannes Brahms . Many of his poems and settings of them were published in

400-856: The mid-19th century. They were modelled on the Almanach des Muses published in Paris from 1765. The first example was Johann Christian Dieterich 's Göttinger Musenalmanach (GMA) of 1770. It was promoted by the mathematician Abraham Gotthelf Kästner , and published by Heinrich Christian Boie (in partnership with Friedrich Wilhelm Gotter ). As a literary outlet for students at the University of Göttingen , it received contributions from Johann Heinrich Voss , Ludwig Christoph Heinrich Hölty , Johann Martin Miller and his relative Gottlob Dietrich Miller , Johann Friedrich Hahn , Johann Thomas Ludwig Wehrs , Johann Anton Leisewitz , and others. In 1774 Boie made Voss editor, but Voss soon left for Hamburg and started

425-605: The rectorship of the gymnasium at Eutin . There, in 1789, he published translations of Virgil 's Eclogues and Georgics . In 1793, his translation of Homer's Iliad appeared, along with the Odyssey in a new form. He also produced two volumes of controversial letters addressed to Christian Gottlob Heine ( Mythologische Briefe , 1794). He retired from Eutin in 1802 with a pension of 600 thalers , and settled at Jena . In 1805, although Johann Wolfgang von Goethe used his utmost endeavours to persuade him to stay, Voss accepted

450-401: The result has been characterized as less successful than Schlegel 's work. Voss's Sämtliche poetische Werke were published by his son Abraham in 1835; new ed. 1850. A selection is in A. Sauer, Der Göttinger Dichterbund , volume i. ( Joseph Kürschner 's Deutsche National-literatur , vol. 49, 1887). His Letters were published by his son in 3 or 4 volumes (Halberstadt, 1829–1833). Voss left

475-533: The simple rural virtue of the German bard. The two literary predecessors, Poet and Barde , vie for the allegiance of the modern Dichter . The Poet condemns the "voice of coarse Nature", but the Barde wins by emphasizing the closer spiritual connection he holds with the living German, and the Dichter exclaims: Another father figure (although not a member) was Gottfried August Bürger . He and Hölty are known as

500-418: The whole of Virgil (1799, rev. ed. 1821), Horace (1806), Tibullus (1810), Propertius (1830) and selections from Ovid (1798). He prepared a critical edition of Tibullus. From 1818 to 1829, a translation of William Shakespeare 's plays in 9 volumes was published. This work Voss completed with the help of his sons Heinrich and Abraham, both of whom were scholars and writers of considerable ability, though

525-426: Was Musen-Almanach (1796–1800) which is the most famous example in the entire genre, because of the contributors: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , Johann Gottfried Herder , Ludwig Tieck , Friedrich Hölderlin and August Wilhelm Schlegel . Inspired by his example, there followed Musenalmanache by August Wilhelm Schlegel and Ludwig Tieck (Tübingen 1802), by Johann Bernhard Vermehren (Leipzig 1802 and Jena 1803),

SECTION 20

#1732772759137

550-531: Was a German classicist and poet, known mostly for his translation of Homer 's Odyssey (1781) and Iliad (1793) into German . Voss was born at Sommersdorf in Mecklenburg-Strelitz as the son of a farmer. After attending the Gymnasium at Neubrandenburg from 1766 to 1769, he was obliged to accept a private tutorship in order to earn money to enable him to study at a university. At

575-478: Was issued in 1825. Of these original works, the idyllic poem Luise , is uniformly singled out as his most successful. It was first printed in 1783, and reissued with changes in 1795. In this work, he sought to apply the style and methods of classical poetry to the expression of modern German thought and sentiment. The later works Wie ward Fritz Stolberg ein Unfreier (1819) and Antisymbolik (2 volumes, 1824–1826),

600-555: Was on sale before the GMA. The editor was Christian Heinrich Schmid , and in subsequent years it would include the work of Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock , Christian Fürchtegott Gellert , Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim and Karl Wilhelm Ramler . From 1776 it was titled Leipziger Musen-Almanach , and from 1782 Benjamin took over as editor. The third almanac to appear was that of the Johann Heinrich Voss previously mentioned,

625-505: Was untroubled and responded generously, referring to the members of the Hainbund , in a letter to Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi , as "well-meaning" youngsters without experience of the world. In fact, by 1779, Voss was counted among Wieland's friends. The term Hainbund refers to Klopstock's ode "Der Hügel und der Hain" ("The Hill and the Grove", 1767), which contrasts citified Ancient Greek artistic ideals (symbolised by Mount Parnassus ) with

#136863