David Elias Heidenreich (21 January 1638 – 6 June 1688) was a German poet, dramatist, librettist and translator of the

Baroque era The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including th ...

Biography

Born in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

, he was the son of the prominent lawyer Tobias Heidenreich and his wife, who was a daughter of the famous poet and printer Gregor Ritzsch. Although Heidenreich followed his father into a legal career, his poetic talent soon revealed itself. After his father's death, he spent 13 years 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 ...

in the home of ''

Bürgermeister Burgomaster (alternatively spelled burgermeister, literally "master of the town, master of the borough, master of the fortress, master of the citizens") is the English form of various terms in or derived from Germanic languages for the chief m ...

'' (mayor) and poet Christian Brehme. Later he attended the '' Gymnasium'' in Halle. In 1655 he registered as a student at the faculty of law in

Wittenberg Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon language, Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the Ri ...

, where he earned a living through translation work and occasional poetry. After completing his studies he went to work at the court 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 ...

, where he made a career in the court and

consistory Consistory is the anglicized form of the consistorium, a council of the closest advisors of the Roman emperors. It can also refer to: *A papal consistory, a formal meeting of the Sacred College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church *Consistory ...

administrations, and where his numerous theatrical works were premiered. The composer

David Pohle David Pohle (1624 – 20 December 1695) was a German composer of the Baroque era. His surname is also spelled Pohl, Pohlen, Pole, Pol or Bohle. Biography Pohle was born in Marienberg into a family of civic musicians. He was a pupil of Heinrich Sc ...

, a pupil of

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 ...

, was ''

Kapellmeister (, also , ) from German ''Kapelle'' (chapel) and ''Meister'' (master)'','' literally "master of the chapel choir" designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term ha ...

'' at the Saxon courts of Halle and Weißenfels. Heidenreich provided him with the libretti for a number of the ''

Singspiel A Singspiel (; plural: ; ) is a form of German-language music drama, now regarded as a genre of opera. It is characterized by spoken dialogue, which is alternated with ensembles, songs, ballads, and arias which were often strophic, or folk-like ...

'' operas that he composed.Snyder. Heidenreich's 1665 ''Geistliche Oden'' (Sacred Odes) were also set to music by Pohle. In 1672 Heidenreich became a member of the

Fruitbearing Society The Fruitbearing Society (German Die Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft, lat. ''societas fructifera'') was a German literary society founded in 1617 in Weimar by German scholars and nobility. Its aim was to standardize vernacular German and promote it a ...

, under the name ''der Willige'' ("the Willing"). He died in Weißenfels in 1688.

Works

Selected works include: * ''Horatz oder Gerechtfertigter Schwester-Mord'', translation after

Pierre Corneille Pierre Corneille (; 6 June 1606 – 1 October 1684) was a French tragedian. He is generally considered one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine. As a young man, he earned the valuable patronag ...

(1662, Leipzig) * ''Rache zu Gibeon'', translation after

Joost van den Vondel Joost van den Vondel (; 17 November 1587 – 5 February 1679) was a Dutch poet, writer and playwright. He is considered the most prominent Dutch poet and playwright of the 17th century. His plays are the ones from that period that are still most ...

(1662, Leipzig) * ''Geistliche Oden auf die fürnehmsten Feste und alle Sonntage des gantzen Jahres'' (1665, Halle) * ''Heyrath macht Friede, oder Der erkannte Tuisco. Trauer-Freuden-Spiel'' (1669, Halle) * ''Der verliebte Mörder Herodes, der Große'' (1673, Halle)

References

Sources

* 1638 births 1688 deaths 17th-century German poets German opera librettists University of Wittenberg alumni Writers from Leipzig People from Weißenfels German male poets German male dramatists and playwrights 17th-century German dramatists and playwrights German male non-fiction writers 17th-century German male writers 17th-century German translators {{Germany-translator-stub