Christian Friedrich Hunold (born 29 September 1680 in

Wandersleben Wandersleben is a village and a former municipality in the district of Gotha, in Thuringia, Germany. Since 1 January 2009, it is part of the municipality Drei Gleichen Drei Gleichen is a municipality in the district of Gotha, in Thuringia, Germ ...

near

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...

, died 16 August 1721 in Halle) was a German author who wrote under the pseudonym Menantes.

Biography

Hunold went to school in

Arnstadt Arnstadt () is a town in Ilm-Kreis, Thuringia, Germany, on the river Gera about south of Erfurt, the capital of Thuringia. Arnstadt is one of the oldest towns in Thuringia, and has a well-preserved historic centre with a partially preserved town ...

and continued in 1691 at the ''Gymnasium Illustre Augusteum'' in

Weißenfels Weißenfels (; often written in English as Weissenfels) is the largest town of the Burgenlandkreis district, in southern Saxony-Anhalt, central Germany. It is situated on the river Saale, approximately south of Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Halle. His ...

until 1698. From 1698 until winter 1699/1700 he studied law and languages at the

University of Jena The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (german: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The un ...

. His first novel, ''Die Verliebte und Galante Welt'' (Hamburg: Liebernickel, 1700), was an instant success. The publication of his novel ''Satyrischer Roman'' (Satyrical Novel) in 1706 caused a scandal. Hunold moved to Halle and held private seminars. The second part of ''Satyrischer Roman'' was published in Stade by Hinrich Brummer in 1710. Hunold continued his own studies and graduated in 1714 in law. He died 6 August 1721 in Halle of tuberculosis. A biography of him by Benjamin Wedel was published in 1731 including some of his letters.

Libretti

Hunold wrote the

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

''Der blutige und sterbende Jesus'' (The bleeding and dying Jesus), set by

Reinhard Keiser Reinhard Keiser (9 January 1674 – 12 September 1739) was a German opera composer based in Hamburg. He wrote over a hundred operas. Johann Adolf Scheibe (writing in 1745) considered him an equal to Johann Kuhnau, George Frideric Handel and Georg ...

in 1704, an early

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

Passion oratorio In Christian music, a Passion is a setting of the Passion of Christ. Liturgically, most Passions were intended to be performed as part of church services in the Holy Week. Passion settings developed from Medieval intoned readings of the Gospe ...

. Hunold appears to have known Bach, and in Halle he wrote texts for

Bach cantata The cantatas composed by Johann Sebastian Bach, known as Bach cantatas (German: ), are a body of work consisting of over 200 surviving independent works, and at least several dozen that are considered lost. As far as known, Bach's earliest can ...

s which were performed at the court of

Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen (29 November 1694 – 19 November 1728) was a German prince of the House of Ascania and ruler of the principality of Anhalt-Köthen. Today, he is best remembered for employing Johann Sebastian Bach as his Kapellmeister ...

. With the partial exception of ''Lobet den Herrn, alle seine Heerscharen'', BWV Anh. 5, which uses religious themes, these were secular works, written especially for occasions such as birthdays. This collaboration between Bach and Hunold lasted from 1718 to 1720 after which year the composer found another librettist for his continuing series of congratulatory cantatas. After the poet had died Bach returned to his work as the basis for the cantata ''Ich bin in mir vergnügt''.

Selected works

* ''Die verliebte und galante Welt'', Hamburg: Liebernickel, 1700 (reprint of the 1707 edition Hans Wagener: Bern 1988) * ''Der Europäischen Höfe Liebes- und Helden-Geschichte'', Hamburg: Gottfried Liebernickel, 1705 (reprint Hans Wagener and Eli Sobel: Bern 1978) * ''Satyrischer Roman der galanten Welt zur vergnügten Curiosite, ans Licht gestellt von Menantes'', Hamburg: B. Wedel, 1706 (reprint Hans Wagener: Frankfurt am Main 2005, ; online
Editions Marteau

References

Sources

* Benjamin Wedel: ''Geheime Nachrichten und Briefe von Herrn Menantes Leben und Schriften.'' Cöln 1731 (reprint Zentralantiquariat der DDR, Leipzig 1977) * Hans Schröder: ''Lexikon der hamburgischen Schriftsteller bis zur Gegenwart''. 8 volumes. Perthes-Besser u. Mauke, Hamburg 1851–1883 * Herbert Singer: ''Der galante Roman''. Metzler, Stuttgart 1961. * Herbert Singer: ''Der deutsche Roman zwischen Barock und Rokoko''. Böhlau, Köln 1963 * Hans Wagener, ''Die Komposition der Romane Christian Friedrich Hunolds'', University of California Publications in Modern Philology, 94 (Berkeley/ Los Angeles, 1969) *

Gerhard Dünnhaupt Gerhard Dünnhaupt, FRSC (born August 15, 1927 in Bernburg (Saale)) is a German bibliographer, literary historian, emeritus professor of the University of Michigan, an honorary life member of the Modern Language Association of America, Elected Fe ...

: "Christian Friedrich Hunold (1681–1721)", in: ''Personalbibliographien zu den Drucken des Barock''. Band 3. Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1990, , p. 2184–2213 (works and literature) * Jens-Fietje Dwars: ''Leben und Werk des vormals berühmten Christian Friedrich Hunold alias Menantes''. quartus-Verlag, Bucha 2005, * Cornelia Hobohm (editor.): ''Menantes. Ein Dichterleben zwischen Barock und Aufklärung''. Jena: Quartus Verlag, 2006) * Jörn Steigerwald: ''Höfliches Lachen: Die distinguierende Komik der höfischen Gesellschaft (am Beispiel von Christian Friedrich Hunolds 'Satyrischem Roman' '', in: ''Anthropologie und Medialität des Komischen im 17. Jahrhundert (1580–1730)''. editor Stefanie Arend et al. Amsterdam / New York 2008, p. 325–355.

External links

Biography
(in German)

(in German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hunold, Christian Friedrich 1680 births 1721 deaths People from Gotha (district) Pseudonymous writers German-language poets German cantata librettists German oratorio and passion librettists German male poets