Friedrich Wilhelm Gotter (3 September 1746 – 18 March 1797) was a German

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...

and

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

Biography

He was born at

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 Gotha (district), district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine House of Wet ...

. He started out studying law, but early on was influenced to write for the theatre. After the completion of his university course at

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The ori ...

, he was appointed second director of the Gotha Archive. He subsequently went to Wetzlar, the seat of the imperial law courts, as secretary to the

Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (german: Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha), or Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (german: Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha, links=no ), was an Ernestine, Thuringian duchy ruled by a branch of the House of Wettin, consisting of territories in the present- ...

legation. In 1768 he returned to Gotha as tutor to two young noblemen, and here, together with H. C. Boie, he founded the famous ''

Göttinger Musenalmanach ''Göttinger Musenalmanach'' was the title of two different literary magazines published in Göttingen, Germany, one running from 1770 to 1807, the other 1896 to 1953. A ''Musen-Almanach'' was a kind of literary annual, and the Göttingen magazin ...

''. In 1770 he was once more in Wetzlar, where he belonged to

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as tr ...

's circle. Four years later he returned to live permanently in Gotha, where he worked until his death.

Work

Gotter was the chief representative of French taste in the German literary life of his time. According to the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition, his poetry is elegant and polished, and largely free from the trivialities of the

Anacreon Anacreon (; grc-gre, Ἀνακρέων ὁ Τήϊος; BC) was a Greek lyric poet, notable for his drinking songs and erotic poems. Later Greeks included him in the canonical list of Nine Lyric Poets. Anacreon wrote all of his poetry in t ...

tic lyric of the earlier generation of imitators of

French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than F ...

; but he lacked imaginative depth. His plays, of which ''Merope'' (1774), an adaptation in blank verse of the

tragedies Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...

of Maffei and

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his '' nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—e ...

, and ''

Medea In Greek mythology, Medea (; grc, Μήδεια, ''Mēdeia'', perhaps implying "planner / schemer") is the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, a niece of Circe and the granddaughter of the sun god Helios. Medea figures in the myth of Jaso ...

'' (1775), a

melodrama A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or exce ...

, are best known, were mostly based on French originals and had considerable influence in counteracting the formlessness and irregularity of the

Sturm und Drang ''Sturm und Drang'' (, ; usually translated as "storm and stress") was a proto- Romantic movement in German literature and music that occurred between the late 1760s and early 1780s. Within the movement, individual subjectivity and, in particul ...

drama. ''Medea'' served as a libretto for an opera by Jiří Antonín Benda (1778). Gotter's collected ''Gedichte'' appeared in 2 vols. in 1787 and 1788; a third volume (1802) contains his ''Literarischer Nachlass''. See B. Litzmann, ''Schröder und Gotter'' (1887), and R. Schlösser, ''F. W. Gotter, sein Leben und seine Werke'' (1894). His best known work is the lyrics to the well known lullaby ''

Schlafe, mein Prinzchen, Schlaf ein "Schlafe, mein Prinzchen, schlaf ein" ("Sleep, my little prince, fall asleep") is perhaps the most famous '' Wiegenlied'' (German for 'lullaby'), dating from the 18th century. History The words are by Friedrich Wilhelm Gotter. For many years, the c ...

''.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gotter, Friedrich Wilhelm 1746 births 1797 deaths German poets People from Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg People from Gotha (town) University of Göttingen alumni German male poets German male dramatists and playwrights 18th-century German dramatists and playwrights German-language poets 18th-century German male writers