Johann Martin Miller (3 December 1750 in Ulm – 21 June 1814 in Ulm) was a German theologian and writer. He is best known for his novel '' Siegwart'', which became one of the most successful books at the time.

Life

Miller, the son of the Evangelical pastor Johann Michael Miller (1722–1774), was born in Jungingen, nowadays part of the city of Ulm. From 15 October 1770, he studied theology at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

, where he helped to establish the ''

Göttinger Hainbund The ''Göttinger Hainbund'' ("Grove League of Göttingen") was a German literary group in the late 18th century, nature-loving and classified as part of the ''Sturm und Drang'' movement. Origin and description It was by means of a midnight ritual ...

''. Through this literary group, founded in 1772, Miller became acquainted with Matthias Claudius,

Gottfried August Bürger Gottfried August Bürger (31 December 1747 – 8 June 1794) was a German poet. His ballads were very popular in Germany. His most noted ballad, '' Lenore'', found an audience beyond readers of the German language in an English and Russian ada ...

Ludwig Christoph Heinrich Hölty Ludwig Christoph Heinrich Hölty (21 December 1748 – 1 September 1776) was a German poet, known especially for his ballads. Hölty was born in the Electorate of Hanover in the village of Mariensee (today part of Neustadt am Rübenberge) where h ...

, Johann Heinrich Voss, and Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock. In 1774 he accompanied Klopstock from Göttingen to

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. In 1774 and 1775 he studied in Leipzig. Grave Monument

During his years in Göttingen, Miller mainly wrote folk songs, many of which were set to music during his lifetime and are still found in different songbooks today. "Die Zufriedenheit" ("Contentedness"), his most popular poem, was set to music by

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

, and

Christian Gottlob Neefe Christian Gottlob Neefe (; 5 February 1748 – 28 January 1798) was a German opera composer and conductor. He was known as one of the first teachers of Ludwig van Beethoven. Life and career Neefe was born in Chemnitz, Saxony. He received a m ...

(''"Was frag ich viel nach Geld und Gut, / Wenn ich zufrieden bin"'' ("What need have I of funds and goods / While I am just content"). His particular tone as well as the sound of his plain verses were well known to contemporary writers, such as

Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friends ...

Johann Wolfgang von 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 trea ...

and

Karl Philipp Moritz Karl Philipp Moritz (Hameln, 15 September 1756 – Berlin, 26 June 1793) was a German author, editor and essayist of the ''Sturm und Drang'', late Enlightenment, and classicist periods, influencing early German Romanticism as well. He led a li ...

, and authors of later generations, such as

Eduard Mörike Eduard Friedrich Mörike (8 September 18044 June 1875) was a German Lutheran pastor who was also a Romantic poet and writer of novellas and novels. Many of his poems were set to music and became established folk songs, while others were used by ...

and

Friedrich Rückert Friedrich Rückert (16 May 1788 – 31 January 1866) was a German poet, translator, and professor of Oriental languages. Biography Rückert was born in Schweinfurt and was the eldest son of a lawyer. He was educated at the local '' Gymnasium'' ...

After he had returned to his hometown, he published in 1776 the sentimental novel '' Siegwart. Eine Klostergeschichte'' ("Siegwart, a Monastic Tale"), which he had already begun to work on in Göttingen - a great success which, accordings to the number of reprints and similar to Goethe's '' The Sorrows of Young Werther'', became one of the best sold novels of the time. From 1776 to 1777 appeared his ''Briefwechsel dreyer Akademischer Freunde'' ("Correspondence of Three Friends at the Academy"), an epistolary novel, once described as "an example of the diversity of intellectual currents ... in the Age of Enlightenment". Miller was connected to many contemporary intellectuals of the

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

period, such as

Friedrich Nicolai Christoph Friedrich Nicolai (18 March 1733 – 11 January 1811) was a German writer and bookseller. Life Nicolai was born in Berlin, where his father, Christoph Gottlieb Nicolai (d. 1752), was the founder of the bookseller ''Nicolaisch ...

and Friedrich Maximilian Klinger. Later on, Miller seemed to have failed in developing new topics and materials. His later novels could not repeat the surprising success of debut. It is certain that at the very latest in 1790 he ceased to work as an author. After his student years in Göttingen, Miller was active in Ulm and its surroundings: from 1780 onwards as a pastor, from 1781 as a teacher in the local high school, and from 1783 as a cathedral preacher in the Minster of Ulm. In 1804 he became a consistorial councillor, in 1809 a district deacon, and in 1810 a spiritual councillor and deacon for Ulm. Miller joined

Freemasonry Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

on 13 October 1774 at the ''Zum goldenen Zirkel'' lodge in Göttingen. On 11 December 1776 he was elected a fellow-craft. In 1775 he helped found the ''Zur goldenen Kugel'' lodge in Hamburg. For a long time he was speaker at the ''Asträa zu den 3 Ulmen'' lodge in Ulm (which was shut during the period 1795-1807).Matrikel der Loge Zum goldenen Zirkel im Geh. Staatsarchiv Berlin-Dahlem, Sign. 5.2 G 31 Nr. 19 On 21 June 1814, Johann Martin Miller died at the age of sixty-four in Ulm. A short autobiographical essay, written by Miller in 1793 and published in a widely read periodical, is one of the main sources of his life. His collected poems appeared in 2016 (the 200th anniversary of his death) wit
Elfenbein Verlag
in Berlin - for the first time in 1783.

Works

* ''Beytrag zur Geschichte der Zärtlichkeit. Aus den Briefen zweier Liebenden'' ("Towards a History of Tenderness. From the Letters of Two Lovers," 1776, reprinted with appendix in 1780) * ''Siegwart. Eine Klostergeschichte'' ("Siegwart, a Monastic Tale", 1776)
facsimile scan
at Deutsches Textarchiv) * ''Briefwechsel dreyer akademischer Freunde'' ("Correspondence of Three friends at the Academy", 1776) * ''Geschichte Karls von Burgheim und Emiliens von Rosenau'' ("Tale of Karl von Burgheim and Emilie von Rosenau", 1778) * ''Johann Martin Millers Gedichte'' ("Johann Martin Miller's Poems", 1783) * ''Karl und Karoline'' ("Carl and Caroline") (1783) * ''Briefwechsel zwischen einem Vater und seinem Sohn auf der Akademie'' ("Correspondence of a Father and a Son on the Academy", 1785) * ''Die Geschichte Gottfried Walthers, eines Tischlers, und des Städtleins Erlenburg'' ("The Story of Gottfried Walther, a

Joiner A joiner is an artisan and tradesperson who builds things by joining pieces of wood, particularly lighter and more ornamental work than that done by a carpenter, including furniture and the "fittings" of a house, ship, etc. Joiners may work in ...

, and the Little Town of Erlenburg", 1786)

Available Editions

* ''Liederton und Triller. Sämtliche Gedichte'', ed., commentary and postface by Michael Watzka. Berlin: Elfenbein Verlag, 2014, .

Sources

* Bernd Breitenbuch: ''Johann Martin Miller 1750-1814. Liederdichter des Göttinger Hain, Romancier, Prediger am Ulmer Münster. Ausstellung zum 250. Geburtstag. Stadtbibliothek Ulm, Schwörhaus, 3. Dezember 2000 bis 27. Januar 2001.'' Weißenhorn: Konrad 2000. (= Veröffentlichungen der Stadtbibliothek Ulm; 20) * Bernd Breitenbruch: "Johann Martin Millers Romane und ihre Nachdrucke. Mit Beiträgen zu den Reutlinger und Tübinger Nachdrucken", in: ''Jahrbuch des Freien Deutschen Hochstifts'' 2013. Göttingen/Tübingen, 2014, pp. 83–145. * * Alain Faure: ''Johann Martin Miller, romancier sentimental.'' Paris: Champion 1977. * Hans-Edwin Friedrich: "Autonomie der Liebe - Autonomie des Romans. Zur Funktion von Liebe im Roman der 1770er Jahre: Goethes ''Werther'' und Millers ''Siegwar''t" (30. Juli 2004), in: oethezeitportal.http://www.goethezeitportal.de/db/wiss/epoche/friedrich_liebe.pdf* Heinrich Kraeger: ''Johann Martin Miller. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Empfindsamkeit.'' Bremen: Heinsius 1893. * Erich Schmidt
Miller, Johann Martin
in:

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB, german: Universal German Biography) is one of the most important and comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language. It was published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Aca ...

(ADB). Band 21, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1885, pp. 750–755. * Frank Raberg: ''Biografisches Lexikon für Ulm und Neu-Ulm 1802–2009''. Süddeutsche Verlagsgesellschaft Ulm im Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Ostfildern 2010, , pp. 275 f. * Reinhart Schönsee: ''J. M. Millers Prosaschriften als Krisenphänomen ihrer Epoche.'' Hamburg: Univ. Diss. 1972. * Manfred von Stosch (Hg.): ''Der Briefwechsel zwischen Johann Martin Miller und Johann Heinrich Voss.'' Berlin: De Gruyter 2012. (correspondence with J. H. Voss) * Heinz Strauss: ''Der Klosterroman von Millers 'Siegwart' bis zu seiner künstlerischen Höhe bei E. T. A. Hoffmann. Ein Beitrag zur Literaturgeschichte des 12. Jahrhunderts.'' München: Univ. Diss. 1922. * Michael Watzka: "Ein One-Hit-Wonder? Die Lyrik Johann Martin Millers in den Kompositionen seiner Zeitgenossen", in: ''Lenz-Jahrbuch 21'', 2014, S. 111–146. / .

External links

* * * * *
Porträt in der Südwet Presse Ulm

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Johann Martin 1750 births 1814 deaths 18th-century German novelists University of Göttingen alumni German male novelists German-language poets German male poets 18th-century German male writers