David Schirmer (29 May 1623 – 1686) was a German

lyric poet Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person. It is not equivalent to song lyrics, though song lyrics are often in the lyric mode, and it is also ''not'' equi ...

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.

Biography

Schirmer was born in Pappendorf into a family of evangelical pastors that already had a literary tradition. Initially educated by his father, in 1640, he studied under

Christian Gueintz Christian Gueintz (13 October 1592 – 3 April 1650) was a teacher and writer-grammarian. He was qualified and taught in several mainstream subjects of the time, notably philosophy, theology, and law. He lived during the first half of the seve ...

at the '' Gymnasium'' in

Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hall ...

. In 1641, he enrolled as a student at

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 ...

, and from 1645, studied under

August Buchner 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. Career Buchner was born in Dresden the son of Paul Buchne ...

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 ...

. In 1647

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, ...

admitted him into his literary society, the ''Deutschgesinnte Genossenschaft''. From 1649 Schirmer worked as ''Hofdichter'' (

court poet A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ...

) at

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 ...

, and in 1650 his first collection of poetry was published. Schirmer obtained musical settings for 68 of his poems from the Dresden court musician

Philipp Stolle Philipp Stolle (1614 – 4 October 1675) was a German composer, tenor and theorbo player of the Baroque era. Stolle was born in 1614 at Radeburg. He was a pupil of Caspar Kittel.Baron. He worked for many years at the Dresden court of Johann G ...

, and these were published in 1654 as the songbook ''Singende Rosen Oder Liebes-und Tugend-Lieder''. Stolle's settings were for

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

theorbo The theorbo is a plucked string instrument of the lute family, with an extended neck and a second pegbox. Like a lute, a theorbo has a curved-back sound box (a hollow box) with a wooden top, typically with a sound hole, and a neck extending ou ...

or viola da gamba, and

basso continuo Basso continuo parts, almost universal in the Baroque era (1600–1750), provided the harmonic structure of the music by supplying a bassline and a chord progression. The phrase is often shortened to continuo, and the instrumentalists playing th ...

. Schirmer later included 51 of the songs from ''Singende Rosen'' in his 1657 collection ''Poetische Rosen-Gepüsche''.Harper (2003). pp. 175–176 The latter, a two-part collection of 800 pages, showed him at the height of his poetic creativity. His great skill in lyric love poetry and ''

Lied In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French s ...

'' (German song) verse owed something to the influences of Martin Opitz and

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 ...

. A later volume, ''Poetische Rauten-Gepüsche'' (1663), provided 700 pages of the kind of

occasional poetry Occasional poetry is poetry composed for a particular occasion. In the history of literature, it is often studied in connection with orality, performance, and patronage. Term As a term of literary criticism, "occasional poetry" describes the work' ...

and courtly diversions that his position as court poet demanded of him. In 1655, he was appointed as ''Hofbibliothekar'' (court librarian), succeeding Christian Brehme. After nearly 30 years of activity, in 1683, he retired due to illness, and died three years later in Dresden. He was buried on 12 August 1686.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schirmer, David 1623 births 1686 deaths German poets German librarians Writers from Dresden German male poets Baroque writers Occasional poets