John Oxenford (12 August 1812 – 21 February 1877) was an English dramatist, critic and translator.

Life

Oxenford was born in Camberwell, London, his father a prosperous merchant. Whilst he was privately educated, it is reported that he was mostly self-taught in Greek, Latin and modern languages. He began his literary career by writing on finance, though later became the author of many translations from German, notably of

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 ''

Dichtung und Wahrheit ''Aus meinem Leben: Dichtung und Wahrheit'' (''From my Life: Poetry and Truth''; 1811–1833) is an autobiography by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe that comprises the time from the poet's childhood to the days in 1775, when he was about to leave for ...

'' (1846) and

Eckermann Johann Peter Eckermann (21 September 1792 – 3 December 1854), German poet and author, is best known for his work ''Conversations with Goethe'', the fruit of his association with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe during the last years of Goethe's life. ...

's '' Conversations with Goethe'' (1850). Oxenford's primary interest was in the theatre and over sixty-eight plays are attributed to him. His first play was ''My Fellow Clerk'', produced at the Lyceum Theatre in 1835. This was followed by a long series of pieces, the most famous of which was perhaps the ''Porter's Knot'' (1858) and ''Twice Killed'' (1835). He also wrote many operatic

libretti 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. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major l ...

, including eight for

George Alexander Macfarren Sir George Alexander Macfarren (2 March 181331 October 1887) was an English composer and musicologist. Life George Alexander Macfarren was born in London on 2 March 1813 to George Macfarren, a dancing-master, dramatic author and journalist, wh ...

, including ''Robin Hood'' (1860) and ''

Helvellyn Helvellyn (; possible meaning: ''pale yellow moorland'') is a mountain in the English Lake District, the highest point of the Helvellyn range, a north–south line of mountains to the north of Ambleside, between the lakes of Thirlmere and Ul ...

'' (1864). Oxenford was an acquaintance of

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

, and he adapted '' Oliver Twist'' for the stage in 1868. Later in life he became dramatic critic of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' and wrote a version of ''Last Days of Pompeii'' in 1872.

Bryan Magee Bryan Edgar Magee (; 12 April 1930 – 26 July 2019) was a British philosopher, broadcaster, politician and author, best known for bringing philosophy to a popular audience. Early life Born of working-class parents in Hoxton, London, in 1930, w ...

, in his ''The Philosophy of Schopenhauer'', described how Oxenford contributed to the promulgation of

Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work '' The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the pr ...

's work. Oxenford's anonymous ''

Westminster Review The ''Westminster Review'' was a quarterly British publication. Established in 1823 as the official organ of the Philosophical Radicals, it was published from 1824 to 1914. James Mill was one of the driving forces behind the liberal journal unt ...

'' 1853 article, "Iconoclasm in German Philosophy," was written in order to present Schopenhauer as a critic of Hegel. It was translated and published in the ''

Vossische Zeitung The (''Voss's Newspaper'') was a nationally-known Berlin newspaper that represented the interests of the liberal middle class. It was also generally regarded as Germany's national newspaper of record. In the Berlin press it held a special role d ...

'', which resulted in German readers showing enthusiastic and enduring interest in Schopenhauer's writings. It also advanced the cause of

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

in Britain. He died in Southwark on 21 February 1877.

Legacy

His 1835 one-act ''A Day Well Spent'', after expansion, translation, and rewriting, formed the basis of Thornton Wilder's 1954 play ''

The Matchmaker ''The Matchmaker'' is a 1954 play by Thornton Wilder, a rewritten version of his 1938 play ''The Merchant of Yonkers''. History The play has a long and colorful history. John Oxenford's 1835 one-act farce ''A Day Well Spent'' had been exte ...

'', which itself was the basis of the 1964 stage musical '' Hello, Dolly!'' and its 1969 film adaptation. Many references to his pieces will be found in ''The Life and Reminiscences of E. L. Blanchard'' (ed. C Scott and C Howard, 1891).

Notes

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oxenford, John 1812 births 1877 deaths People from Camberwell English male dramatists and playwrights 19th-century English dramatists and playwrights 19th-century British male writers A Day Well Spent Translators of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe