August Buchner (2 November 1591 – 12 February 1661) was a German philologist, poet and literary scholar, an influential professor of poetry and rhetoric at the

University of Wittenberg Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university i ...

Career

Buchner was born in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

the son of

Paul Buchner Paul Buchner (June, 1531 - 13 November, 1607) was a German architect, geometer, carpenter, and screw maker from Nuremberg, Germany. Life Buchner grew up in Nuremberg and was an apprentice carpenter and screw maker, training under his cousin ...

and his wife Maria, the daughter of the mayor of Dresden . After private education, he attended from 17 November 1604 the ''

Landesschule Pforta Pforta, or Schulpforta, is a school located in Pforta monastery, a former Cistercians, Cistercian monastery (1137–1540), near Naumburg on the Saale River in the Germany, German state of Saxony-Anhalt. The site has been a school since the 16th ...

'', where he received education in religion, classical languages and the

liberal arts Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the ...

. He studied at the

from 19 November 1610, first law and philosophy. He studied poetry with and , ethics with , Greek with , and rhetoric with . Before he achieved the magister degree, he was appointed professor of poetry in 1616 as the successor of Rodenberg by the court of Saxony. Among his students are

Simon Dach Simon Dach (29 July 1605 – 15 April 1659) was a German lyrical poet and hymnwriter, born in Memel, Duchy of Prussia (now Klaipėda in Lithuania). Early life Although brought up in humble circumstances (his father was a poorly paid court int ...

Paul Fleming Paul Fleming may refer to: * Paul Fleming (footballer) (born 1967), English professional footballer *Paul Fleming (poet) (1609–1640), German poet *Paul Fleming (boxer) (born 1988), Australian Olympic boxer *Paul Fleming (restaurateur), American r ...

Johann Franck Johann Fran(c)k (1 June 1618 – 18 June 1677) was a German politician (serving as mayor of Guben and a member of the Landtag of Lower Lusatia) and a lyric poet and hymnist. Life Franck was born in Guben, Margraviate of Lower Lusatia. After vis ...

Paul Gerhardt Paul Gerhardt (12 March 1607 – 27 May 1676) was a German theologian, Lutheran minister and hymnodist. Biography Gerhardt was born into a middle-class family at Gräfenhainichen, a small town between Halle and Wittenberg. His father died in ...

, Christian Gueintz,

Christian Keymann Christian Keymann (also ''Christian Keimann''; 27 February 1607 – 13 January 1662) was a German hymnwriter. He is known for writing the chorale "Meinen Jesum laß ich nicht" in 1658, which served as the base for Bach's chorale cantata '' Meinen ...

Balthasar Kindermann Balthasar Benjamin Kindermann (10 April 1636 – 12 February 1706) was a German poet. Kindermann was born in Zittau, the son of a ''Schwertfeger,'' a smith who specialized in weapons. He attended the Gymnasium of his home town and was encouraged ...

, Johann Klaj,

Martin Opitz Martin Opitz von Boberfeld (23 December 1597 – 20 August 1639) was a German poet, regarded as the greatest of that nation during his lifetime. Biography Opitz was born in Bunzlau (Bolesławiec) in Lower Silesia, in the Principality of ...

David Schirmer David Schirmer (29 May 1623 – 1686) was a German lyric poet and librarian, who also used the pseudonyms ''Der Bestimmende'', ''Der Beschirmende'' and ''DiSander''. He is considered one of the most gifted lyric poets of the Baroque era. Bi ...

, Andreas Tscherning, Jakob Thomasius,

Philipp von Zesen Philipp von Zesen, also Filip Cösius or ''Caesius'' (originally Ph. Caesien, Filip Zesen, Filip von Zesen, in Latin Philippus Caesius à Fürstenau, Philippus Caesius à Zesen) (8 October 1619 O.S. – 13 November 1689 O.S.) was a German poet, ...

and

Caspar Ziegler Caspar Ziegler, also Kaspar Ziegler, (15 September 1621 – 17 April 1690) was a German jurist, poet, hymnwriter and composer. He was the ''Rektor'' of the University of Wittenberg. Career Ziegler was born in Leipzig the son of Caspar Ziegler s ...

. After Opitz had died, Buchner was regarded as most influential for German Baroque poetry. He was ''Rektor'' of the university in 1618, 1632 and 1654. He died in Apollensdorf.

Work

Buchner's ''Hauptwerk'', ''Anleitung zur deutschen Poeterei'' (Instructions for German poetry), was published in Wittenberg in 1665 after his death by his son-in-law . It contains his lectures on poetry, compiled from his manuscripts and those of students. He contributed to the ''Thesaurus Eruditionis Scholasticae'', a Latin dictionary first printed in 1571. Buchner wrote the libretto for a ballet-opera ''Orpheus und Euridice'' with music by

Heinrich Schütz Heinrich Schütz (; 6 November 1672) was a German early Baroque composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach, as well as one of the most important composers of the 17th century. He ...

, which was performed on 20 November 1638 for a courtly wedding. The musical score of this work has subsequently been lost.

Selected works

The German National Library holds 17 of his publications. The

VD 17 The Verzeichnis der im deutschen Sprachraum erschienenen Drucke des 17. Jahrhunderts (in English: ''Bibliography of Books Printed in the German Speaking Countries from 1601 to 1700''), abbreviated VD17, is a project to make a retrospective German n ...

(Bibliography of Books Printed in the German Speaking Countries from 1601 to 1700) lists 216 publications related to him, including collections of dissertations, speeches and letters, including: * ''Dissertationum academicarum'' Wittenberg 1650 (VD 17, 134) * ''Oratio panegyrica.'' Halle 1661 * ''Epistolae'' (letters) Dresden 1697 (VD 17, No. 5–7)

As editor

Plautus Titus Maccius Plautus (; c. 254 – 184 BC), commonly known as Plautus, was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest Latin literary works to have survived in their entirety. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the gen ...

: ''Comoediae'' Wittenberg 1640 (VD 17, 174–176) * Gabriel Naudé: ''Bibliographia politica'' Wittenberg 1641 (VD 17, 173) *

Pliny the Younger Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, born Gaius Caecilius or Gaius Caecilius Cilo (61 – c. 113), better known as Pliny the Younger (), was a lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome. Pliny's uncle, Pliny the Elder, helped raise and educate ...

(ed.): ''Epistolarum libri X'' Wittenberg 1643 (VD 17, 169)

Literature

* Hans Heinrich Borchardt: ''August Buchner und seine Bedeutung für die deutsche Literatur des 17. Jahrhunderts.'' Habilitationsschrift, München 1919 * Wilhelm Buchner: ''August Buchner, sein Leben und Wirken.'' Hannover 186
Online
* Franz Hahne: ''

und Augustus Buchner''. In: ''Euphorion'' 15 (1908), pp. 19–34 * Martin Keller: '' Johann Klajs Weihnachtsdichtung.'' Berlin 1971 * Käte Lorenzen: ''Augustus Buchner''. In: ''Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart,'' 2 (1952), pp. 416–418 * William Jervis Jones: ''Sprachhelden und Sprachverderber – Dokumente zur Erforschung des Fremdwortpurismus im Deutschen (1478–1750)''. de Gruyter, 1995, , pp. 455–462

References

Bibliography

* * * * * Gerhard Dünnhaupt: ''Augustus Buchner (1591–1661)''. In: ''Personalbibliographien zu den Drucken des Barock'', Bd. 2. Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1990, , pp. 855–910. * * Abraham Calov: Artificii Oratorii Magisterium. Oder Sonderbahre Kunst und Meisterstück der göttlichen Beredsamkeit/ des grossen Oratoris Christi Jesu ... : Bey ... Leich-Begängnüß Des ... Augusti Buchneri, Eloquentiae und Poeseos bey der löblichen Universität Wittenberg berühmten Prof. Publ. ... Welcher im Jahr Christi 1661. seines Alters im 70sten/ am 12. Febr. ... entschlaffen/ Und darauf am 19. selbigen Monats in der Schloß Kirchen in sein Ruch-Bettlein versetzet / In der Pfarr-Kirchen daselbst. Wittenberg 1661
Online
* *

External links

Printed works
lbs-braunschweig.gbv.de

Deutsche Biographie

(ed. of M. G. Hübner 1694), Faksimile
Tripota – Trierer Porträtdatenbank
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buchner, August 17th-century German poets German classical philologists Academic staff of the University of Wittenberg Writers from Dresden German editors 1591 births 1661 deaths Baroque writers