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Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff (10 March 178826 November 1857) was a German poet, novelist, playwright,
literary critic Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. ...
, translator, and anthologist. Eichendorff was one of the major writers and critics of
Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
.Cf. J. A. Cuddon: ''The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory'', revised by C. E. Preston. London 1999, p. 770. Ever since their publication and up to the present day, some of his works have been very popular in Germany. Eichendorff first became famous for his 1826 novella '' Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts'' (freely translated: ''Memoirs of a Good-for-Nothing'') and his poems. The ''Memoirs of a Good-for-Nothing'' is a typical Romantic novella whose main themes are wanderlust and love. The protagonist, the son of a miller, rejects his father's trade and becomes a gardener at a Viennese palace where he subsequently falls in love with the local duke's daughter. As, with his lowly status, she is unattainable for him, he escapes to Italy – only to return and learn that she is the duke's adopted daughter, and thus within his social reach. With its combination of dream world and realism, ''Memoirs of a Good-for-Nothing'' is considered to be a high point of Romantic fiction. One critic stated that Eichendorff's ''Good-for-Nothing'' is the "personification of love of nature and an obsession with hiking."
Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...
called Eichendorff's ''Good-for-Nothing'' a combination of "the purity of the folk song and the fairy tale." Many of Eichendorff's poems were first published as integral parts of his novellas and stories, where they are often performed in song by one of the protagonists.Cf. Katja Löhr: ''Sehnsucht als poetologisches Prinzip bei Joseph von Eichendorff''. Epistemata, Würzburger Wissenschaftliche Schriften, Reihe Literaturwissenschaft vol.248, Würzburg 2003, p.12-13. The novella ''Good-for-Nothing'' alone contains 54 poems.


Biography


Origin and early youth

Eichendorff, a descendant of an old noble family, was born in 1788 at Schloß Lubowitz near Ratibor (now Racibórz, Poland) in Upper Silesia, at that time part of the
Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...
. His parents were the Prussian officer Adolf Freiherr von Eichendorff (1756–1818) and his wife, Karoline née Freiin von Kloche (1766–1822), who came from an aristocratic
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
family. Eichendorff sold the family estates in Deutsch-Krawarn, Kauthen, and Wrbkau and acquired Lubowitz Castle from his mother-in-law. The castle's
Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
reconstruction, which was begun by her, was very expensive and almost bankrupted the family. Young Joseph was close to his older brother Wilhelm (1786–1849). From 1793 to 1801, they were home-schooled by tutor Bernhard Heinke. Joseph began writing diaries as early as 1798, witnesses to his budding literary career. The diaries present many insights into the development of the young writer, ranging from simple statements about the weather to notes about finances to early poems. At a young age, Eichendorff was already well aware of his parents' financial straits. On 19 June 1801, the thirteen-year old noted in his diary: "Father travelled to Breslau, on the run from his creditors," adding on 24 June, "mom become terribly faint." With his brother Wilhelm, Joseph attended the Catholic Matthias Gymnasium in Breslau (1801–1804). While previously preferring chapbooks, he was now introduced to the poetry of Matthias Claudius 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 ...
's '' La Henriade'', an epic poem about the last part of the wars of religion and
Henry IV of France Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monar ...
in ten songs. In 1804 his sister Luise Antonie Nepomucene Johanna was born (died 1883), who was to become a friend of Austrian writer Adalbert Stifter. After their final exams, both brothers attended lectures at the University of Breslau and the Protestant Maria-Magdalena-Gymnasium. Eichendorff's diary from this time shows that he valued formal education much less than the theatre, recording 126 plays and concerts visited. His love for
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 ...
also goes back to these days. Joseph himself seems to have been a talented actor and his brother Wilhelm a good singer and guitar player.


College days

Together with his brother Wilhelm, Joseph studied law and the humanities in Halle an der Saale (1805–1806), a city near
Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a po ...
, which was a focal point of the ''Frühromantik'' (Early Romantics). The brothers frequently attended the theatre of Lauchstädt, 13 km where the
Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...
court theatrical company performed plays by
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 ...
. In October 1806
Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...
's troops took Halle and teaching at the university ceased. To complete their studies, Wilhelm and Joseph went to the
University of Heidelberg } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...
in 1807, another important centre of
Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
. Here Eichendorff befriended romantic poet Otto Heinrich von Loeben (1786–1825), met Achim von Arnim (1781–1831) and possibly
Clemens Brentano Clemens Wenzeslaus Brentano (also Klemens; pseudonym: Clemens Maria Brentano ; ; 9 September 1778 – 28 July 1842) was a German poet and novelist, and a major figure of German Romanticism. He was the uncle, via his brother Christian, of Franz ...
(1778–1842).Cf. Paul Stöcklein: ''Joseph von Eichendorff. In Selbstzeugnissen und Bilddokumenten''. Rowohlts Monographien. Ed. by Kurt Kusenberg, Reinbek 1974, pp. 163–164. In Heidelberg, Eichendorff heard lectures by Joseph Görres, a leading member of the Heidelberg Romantic group, a "hermitic magician" and "formative impression", as Eichendorff later explained. In 1808 the brothers finished their degrees, after which they undertook an educational journey to Paris,
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
, and
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...
. In Berlin they came into closer contact with Romantic writers such as Clemens Brentano,
Adam Müller Adam Heinrich Müller (30 June 1779 – 17 January 1829; after 1827 Ritter von Nitterdorf) was a German-Austrian conservative philosopher, literary critic, and political economist, working within the romantic tradition. Biography Early life ...
, and Heinrich von Kleist. To further their professional prospects, they travelled to
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
in 1810, where they concluded their studies with a state examination diploma. Wilhelm procured employment in the Austrian civil service, while Joseph went back home to help his father with managing the estate.


Love affairs

From Eichendorff's diaries we know about his love for a girl, Amalie Schaffner, and another love affair in 1807–08 during his student days in
Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German: ') is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914, of which roughly a quarter consisted of students ...
with one Käthchen Förster. His deep sorrow about the unrequitted love for the nineteen-year-old daughter of a cellarman inspired Eichendorff to one of his most famous poems, '' Das zerbrochene Ringlein'' (''The Broken Ring'').


Military service

In his deep desperation over this unhappy infatuation, Eichendorff craved death in military exploits as mentioned in his poem Das zerbrochene Ringlein: Although Chase's translation weakens the second line from ''blut’ge Schlacht'' (''bloody battle'') to "''in fight''" this, actually, happens to be much closer to the historical truth, since Eichendorff's participation in the Lützow Free Corps seems to be a myth – in spite of some authorities asserting the contrary. In 1813, when conflict flared up again, Eichendorff tried to join the struggle against
Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...
, however he lacked the funds to purchase a uniform, gun, or horse, and, when he finally managed to get the money necessary, the war was all but over.


Betrothal, marriage and family life

His parents, to save the indebted family estate, hoped that Eichendorff would marry a wealthy heiress, however he fell in love with Aloysia von Larisch (1792–1855), :de:Aloysia von Eichendorff called ‚Luise’, the seventeen-year-old daughter of a prominent, yet impoverished Catholic family of nobles. The betrothal took place in 1809, the same year Eichendorff went to Berlin to take up a profession there. In 1815, the couple was married in Breslau's St. Vinzenz church and that same year Eichendorff's son Hermann was born, followed in 1819 by their daughter Therese. In 1818, Eichendorff's father died and in 1822 his mother. The death of his mother resulted in the final loss of all the family's estates in Silesia.


Child mortality

During the period, infant mortality was very high. Both Eichendorff's brother Gustav (born 1800) and his sister Louise Antonie (born 1799) died in 1803 at a very young age, as did two of Eichendorff's daughters between 1822 and 1832. The poet expressed the parental sorrow after this loss in the famous cycle "Auf meines Kindes Tod". One of the poems in this series conveys an especially powerful sense of loss in this era:


Travels of a transferee

With his literary figure of the ''Good-for-Nothing'' Eichendorff created ''the'' paradigm of the wanderer. The motif itself had been central to romanticism since Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder and Ludwig Tieck undertook their famous ''Pfingstwanderung'' (Whitsun excursion) in the Fichtelgebirge in 1793, an event that began the Romantic movement. Travels through Germany, Austria, and France rounded off Eichendorff's education, however, he himself was not much of a hiker. Apart from some extensive marches on foot during his school and college days (for example from Halle to Leipzig, to see popular actor Iffland), he only undertook one lengthy tour, traversing for seventeen days the
Harz The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...
mountains with his brother in 1805, a trip partly undertaken using the stagecoach, as witnessed by his diary. Eichendorff was less of a romantic wanderer, but rather displaced again and again by changes of location necessitated by his official activities. The following trips, mainly undertaken by coach or boat, are documented:


Eichendorff as civil servant

Eichendorff worked in various capacities as Prussian government administrator. His career began in 1816 as unpaid clerk in Breslau. In November 1819, he was appointed assessor and in 1820 consistorial councilor for West and East Prussia in Danzig, with an initial annual salary of 1200 thalers. In April 1824, Eichendorff was relocated to
Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was ...
as "Oberpräsidialrat" (chief administrator) with an annual salary of 1600 thalers. In 1821, Eichendorff was appointed school inspector and, in 1824, "Oberpräsidialrat" in Königsberg. In 1831, he moved his family to Berlin, where he worked as Privy Councilor for the Foreign Ministry until his retirement in 1844.


Death and burial

Eichendorff's brother Wilhelm died in 1849 in
Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol and the fifth-largest city in Austria. On the River Inn, at its junction with the Wipp Valley, which provides access to the Brenner Pass to the south, it had a p ...
. That same year, there was a Republican uprising and the Eichendorffs fled to Meißen and Köthen, where a little house was purchased for his daughter Therese (now a von Besserer-Dahlfingen) in 1854. In 1855, he was much affected by the death of his wife. In September he traveled to Sedlnitz for the christening of his grandchild. Shortly after he made his very last trip, dying of pneumonia on 26 November 1857 in Neiße. He was buried the next day with his wife.


Growth of a Romanticist


Artistic influences

The two writers who had the greatest early influence on Eichendorff's artistic development were Friedrich Schlegel, who established the term ''romantisch'' (romantic) in German literature, and Joseph Görres. While the writers who gathered around Schlegel inclined more to philosophy and aesthetic theory, the adherents of Görres became mainly known as writers of poetry and stories. Both movements, however, greatly influenced intellectual life in Germany by emphasising the individual, the subjective, the irrational, the imaginative, the personal, the spontaneous, the emotional, the visionary, and the transcendental over classical precepts. One of their fundamental ideas was the "unity of poetry and life". Eichendorff shared Schlegel's view that the world was a naturally and eternally "self-forming artwork", Eichendorff himself used the metaphor that "nature asa great picture book, which the good Lord has pitched for us outside." Arnim's and Brentano's studies and interpretations of the
Volkslied Volkslied (literally: folk song) is a genre of popular songs in German which are traditionally sung. While many of them were first passed orally, several collections were published from the late 18th century. Later, some popular songs were also ...
(folk song) deeply influenced Eichendorff's own poetry and poetology. Arnim's and Brentano's anthology ''Des Knaben Wunderhorn: Alte deutsche Lieder'', a collection of songs about love, soldiers, wandering, as well as children's songs, was an important source for the Romantic movement. Similar to other early 19th-century anthologists such as Thomas Percy, Arnim and Brentano edited and rewrote the poems in they collected. "Everything in the world happens because of poetry, to live life with an increased sense and history is the expression of this general poetry of the human race, the fate performs this great spectacle," is what Arnim said in a letter to Brentano (9 July 1802).


Eichendorff’s poetical style


Range

Although Eichendorffs poetry includes many metric forms ranging from very simple elegiac couplets and stanzas to sonnets, his main artistic focus was on poems imitating folk songs. A comparison of forms shows that Eichendorff's ''lyricism'' is "directly influenced by Brentano and Arnim".


Naturalness and artificiality

Following the model of ''Des Knaben Wunderhorn'', Eichendorff uses simple words ('naturalness'), adding more meaning ('artificiality') than dictionary definitions would indicate. In this sense, "His words are rich in connotative power, in imaginative appeal and in sound."


Emblematic imagery

Certain expressions and formulas used by Eichendorff, which are sometimes characterised by critics as pure cliché, actually represent a conscious reduction in favour of
emblematic An emblem is an abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a king or saint. Emblems vs. symbols Although the words ''emblem'' and ''symbol'' are often used in ...
s. In Görres’ poetology "nature is speaking" us. But before it can happen, the wonderful song sleeping in each thing must be woken up by the poet's word: One notable example used by Eichendorff is the ''Zauberwort'' (magic word) – and one of Eichendorff's most celebrated poems, the four-line stanza '' Wünschelrute'' (divining rod), is about finding such a ''Zauberwort'':


Main motifs

The titles of Eichendorff's poems show that, besides the motif of wandering, the two other main motifs of his poetry were the passing of time (transience) and nostalgia. Time, for Eichendorff, is not just a natural phenomenon but, as Marcin Worbs elaborated: "Each day and each of our nights has a
metaphysical Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
dimension." The morning, on the other hand, evokes the impression that "all nature had been created just in this very moment," while the evening often acts as a ''mysterium mortis'' with the persona pondering transience and death. Eichendorff's other main motif, nostalgia, is described by some critic as a phenomenon of infinity. However, there is a number of different interpretations. According to Helmut Illbruck: The "simple-minded Taugenichts (...) feels continually homesick and can never come to rest." Katja Löhr distinguishes between nostalgia as an emotion consisting of two components — longing and melancholy: "The inner emotion of longing is to long for, the inner emotion of melancholy is to mourn. As an expression of deep reflection, longing corresponds with intuition (''Ahnen''), grieving with memory." Theodor W. Adorno, who set out to rescue Eichendorff from his misled conservative admirers, attested: "He was not a poet of the homeland, but rather a poet of homesickness". In sharp contrast, Natias Neutert saw in Eichendorff's nostalgia a dialectical unity of an "unstable equilibrium of homesickness and wanderlust at once".


Religiosity

For a long time it had been argued that Eichendorff's view of Romanticism had been subordinate to religious beliefs. More recently, however, Christoph Hollender has pointed that Eichendorff's late religious and political writings were commissioned works, while his poetry represents a highly personal perspective.


Eichendorff’s own résumé

Eichendorff summed up the Romantic epoch stating that it "soared like a magnificent rocket sparkling up into the sky, and after shortly and wonderfully lighting up the night, it exploded overhead into a thousand colorful stars."


Legacy

"While other authors (such as Ludwig Tieck, Caroline de la Motte Fouqué, Clemens Brentano and Bettina von Arnim) adapted the themes and styles of their writing to the emerging
realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: * Classical Realism *Literary realism, a mov ...
, Eichendorff "stayed true to the emblematic universe of his literary Romanticism right through to the 1850s," Adorno stated: "Unconsciously Eichendorff’s unleashed romanticism leads right up to the threshold of
modernism Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...
".


Works


Volumes of poetry

* First publication of some ''Poems'' in Ast's ''Zeitschrift für Wissenschaft und Kuns''t, under the pseudonym «Florens»; Heidelberg, (1808), * ''Gedichte von Joseph Freiherrn von Eichendorff'', Verlag Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, (1837) * ''Julian'', story in verses, (1853) * ''Robert und Guiscard'', epic poem, (1855) * ''Lucius'', epic poem, (1855)


Narrative texts


Novels

* ''Ahnung und Gegenwart''. Mit einem Vorwort von de la Motte Fouqué, novel, Nürnberg, bei Johann Leonhard Schrag (1815) * ''Dichter und ihre Gesellen'', novel, Verlag Duncker & Humblot, Berlin (1834)


Novellas

* ''Die Zauberei im Herbste'', (1808/09), published posthumously in 1906, * ''Das Marmorbild'' (''The Marble Statue''), ed. by De la Motte-Fouqué, published in «Frauentaschenbuch für das Jahr 1819» (1819), * '' Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts'' (''Memoirs of a Good-for-Nothing'') together with ''Das Marmorbild'' (''The Marble Statue''), (1826), * ''Viel Lärmen um Nichts'' (1833) * ''Eine Meerfahrt'', (1836); published posthumously (1864) * ''Das Schloß Dürande'', (1837) * ''Die Entführung'', in: ''Urania. Taschenbuch für das Jahr 1839'' (1839) * ''Die Glücksritter'', in: ''Rheinisches Jahrbuch'' (1841) * ''Libertas und ihre Freier'' (1848), published posthumously (1858)


Play texts

* ''Krieg den Philistern! Dramatisches Märchen in Fünf Abenteuern'', (1823) * ''Meierbeth's Glück und Ende'', (1827) * ''Ezelin von Romano'', (1828) * ''Der letzte Held von Marienburg'', (1830) * ''Die Freier'', (1833)


Translations

* Pedro Calderón de la Barca: ''Der Graf Lucanor'', (1845) * ''Die geistlichen Schauspiele Calderons'' (2 vol.), (1846–53)


Literary critic

* ''Über die ethische und religiöse Bedeutung der neuen romantischen Poesie in Deutschland'' (''On the ethical and religious significance of the new romantic poetry in Germany''), (1847) * ''Der deutsche Roman des 18. Jahrhunderts in seinem Verhältniss zum Christenthum'' (''The German novel of the 18th century in its relationship to Christianity''), (1851) * ''Geschichte der poetischen Literatur Deutschlands'', (1857)Cf. Hans Jürg Lüthi: ''Dichtung und Dichter bei Joseph von Eichendorff''. Francke Verlag, Bern 1966, p. 307-308.


Anthologist

* ''Oberschlesische Märchen und Sagen'' ('' Upper Silesian fairytales and sagas'') (1808–1810), including five fairy tales (with their respective classification in the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index): ** ''Die schöne Craßna und das Ungeheuer'', variant of '' Beauty and the Beast'' (tale type ATU 425C); ** ''Die Prinzessin als Küchenmagd'', variant of '' Allerleirauh'' (mostly tale type ATU 510B); ** ''Der Faulpelz und der Fisch'', variant of ''
Peruonto Peruonto is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the ''Pentamerone''. Synopsis A widow named Ceccarella had a stupid son named Peruonto, as ugly as an ogre. One day, she sent him to gather wood. He sa ...
'' and '' Emelian the Fool'' (tale type ATU 675); ** ''Die schöne Sophie'', variant of '' Snow White'' (tale type ATU 709); ** ''Der Vogel Venus'', variant of '' The Golden Bird'' (mostly tale type ATU 550, combined with ATU 551 and ATU 506).


Editor

* Lebrecht Blücher Dreves: ''Gedichte''. Ed. and with a foreword by Joseph v. Eichendorff. Verlag Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1849.


Set to music

With approximately 5000 musical settings, Eichendorff is the most popular German poet set into music. "The magical, enchanting lyricism of his poetry almost seems to be music itself," as it is praised. His poems have been set to music by many composers, including Schumann, Mendelssohn, Max Bruch,
Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...
, Hugo Wolf,
Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...
, Hans Pfitzner,
Hermann Zilcher Hermann Zilcher (18 August 1881 – 1 January 1948) was a German composer, pianist, conductor, and music teacher. His compositional oeuvre includes orchestral and choral works, two operas, chamber music and songs, études, piano works, and nume ...
, Alexander Zemlinsky,
Max Reger Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger (19 March 187311 May 1916) was a German composer, pianist, organist, conductor, and academic teacher. He worked as a concert pianist, as a musical director at the Leipzig University Church, as a professor a ...
, and even
Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...
. His poems also inspired orchestral music, such as Reger's '' Eine romantische Suite'' as well as electronic arrangements by
Qntal Qntal is a German "electro-medieval" band founded in 1991 by Michael Popp and Ernst Horn. They later added vocalist Syrah (Sigrid Hausen) to complete the band. It has roots in Estampie, an acoustic band based on "authentic" Early music, whereas ...
.


Literature


Primary Literature

* ''Sämtliche Werke des Freiherrn Joseph von Eichendorff. Historisch-kritische Ausgabe '': (shortened form: HKA). Begründet von Wilhelm Kosch und August Sauer, fortgeführt und herausgegeben von Hermann Kunisch (†) und Helmut Koopmann, Max Niemeyer Verlag, Tübingen. * HKA I/1: Gedichte. Erster Teil. Text. Ed. by Harry Fröhlich/Ursula Regener (1993). * HKA I/2: Gedichte. Erster Teil. Kommentar. Aufgrund von Vorarbeiten von Wolfgang Kron. Ed. by Harry Fröhlich (1994). * HKA I/3: Gedichte. Zweiter Teil. Verstreute und nachgelassene Gedichte. Text. Ed. by Ursula Regener (1997). * HKA I/4: Gedichte. Zweiter Teil. Verstreute und nachgelassene Gedichte. Kommentar. Ed. by Ursula Regener (1997). * HKA III: Ahnung und Gegenwart. Ed. by Christiane Briegleb/Clemens Rauschenberg (1984). * HKA IV: Dichter und ihre Gesellen. Ed. by Volkmar Stein (2001). * HKA V/1: Erzählungen. Erster Teil. Text. Ed. by Karl Konrad Polheim (1998). * HKA V/2: Erzählungen. Erster Teil. Kommentar. Ed. by Karl Konrad Polheim (2000). * HKA V/3: Erzählungen. Zweiter Teil. Fragmente und Nachgelassenes. Ed. by Heinz-Peter Niewerth (2006). * HKA V/4: Erzählungen. Dritter Teil. Autobiographische Fragmente. Ed. by Dietmar Kunisch (1998). * HKA VI/1: Historische Dramen und Dramenfragmente. Text und Varianten. Ed. by Harry Fröhlich (1996). * HKA VI/2: Historische Dramen und Dramenfragmente. Kommentar. Ed. by Klaus Köhnke (1997). * HKA VIII/1: Literarhistorische Schriften I. Aufsätze zur Literatur. Aufgrund der Vorarbeiten von Franz Ranegger. Ed. by Wolfram Mauser (1962). * HKA VIII/2: Literarhistorische Schriften II. Abhandlungen zur Literatur. Aufgrund der Vorarbeiten von Franz Ranegger. Ed. by Wolfram Mauser (1965). * HKA IX: Literarhistorische Schriften III. Geschichte der poetischen Literatur Deutschlands. Ed. by Wolfram Mauser (1970). * HKA XI: Tagebücher. Ed. by Franz Heiduk/Ursula Regener (2006) * HKA XII: Briefe 1794–1857. Text. Ed. by Sibylle von Steinsdorff (1993). * HKA XV/1: Übersetzungen I. Erster Teil. Graf Lucanor von Don Juan Manuel. Geistliche Schauspiele von Don Pedro Calderón la Barca I. Ed. by Harry Fröhlich (2003). * HKA XV/2: Übersetzungen I. Zweiter Teil. Geistliche Schauspiele von Don Pedro Calderón la Barca II. Ed. by Harry Fröhlich (2002). * HKA XVI: Übersetzungen II. Unvollendete Übersetzungen aus dem Spanischen. Ed. by Klaus Dahme (1966). * HKA XVIII/1: Eichendorff im Urteil seiner Zeit I. Dokumente 1788–1843. Günter and Irmgard Niggl (1975). * HKA XVIII/2: Eichendorff im Urteil seiner Zeit II. Dokumente 1843–1860. Ed. by Günter and Irmgard Niggl (1976). * HKA XVIII/3: Eichendorff im Urteil seiner Zeit III. Kommentar und Register. Ed. by Günter and Irmgard Niggl (1986). * HKA II: Epische Gedichte. * HKA VII: Dramen II. Satirische Dramen und Dramenfragmente. Ed. by Harry Fröhlich. * HKA X: Historische und politische Schriften. Ed. by Antonie Magen * HKA XIII: Briefe an Eichendorff. Ed. by Sibylle von Steinsdorff. * HKA XIV: Kommentar zu den Briefen (Bd. XII und Bd. XIII). Ed. by Sibylle von Steinsdorff. * HKA XVII: Amtliche Schriften. Ed. by Hans Pörnbacher. * Joseph von Eichendorff, Werke, 6 Bde. (Bibliothek deutscher Klassiker) Hrsg. von Wolfgang Frühwald. Deutscher Klassiker-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1985–93 * Joseph von Eichendorff: ''Ausgewählte Werke''. Ed. by Hans A. Neunzig. Nymphenburger, Berlin 1987. *Wolfdietrich Rasch (Ed.): ''Joseph von Eichendorff. Sämtliche Gedichte''. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich, 1975.


Secondary literature

* Theodor W. Adorno: "Zum Gedächtnis Eichendorffs". In: ''Noten zur Literatur'' I. Bibliothek Suhrkamp 47, Frankfurt am Main 1963. pp. 105–143. * Hans Brandenburg: ''Joseph von Eichendorff. Sein Leben und sein Werk''. Beck, Munich 1922. * Dirk Göttsche / Nicholas Saul (eds.): ''Realism and Romanticism in German Literature / Realismus und Romantik in der deutschsprachigen Literatur''. Aisthesis, Bielefeld 2013. * Klaus Günzel: ''Die deutschen Romantiker. 125 Lebensläufe. Ein Personenlexikon''. Artemis & Winkler, Düsseldorf / Zürich 1995. * Rufus Hallmark: ''German Lieder in the Nineteenth Century''. Schirmer, New York 1996. . * Helmut Illbruck: ''Nostalgia. Origins and Ends of an Unenlightened Disease''. Northwestern University Press, Evanston Illinois, 2012. . * Hans Jürg Lüthi: ''Dichtung und Dichter bei Joseph von Eichendorff''. Francke Verlag, Bern 1966. * Sybille Anneliese Margot Reichert: ''Unendliche Sehnsucht. The Concept of Longing in German Romantic Narrative and Song''. Dissertation, Yale University 1995. * Günther Schiwy: ''Eichendorff. Der Dichter in seiner Zeit. Eine Biographie''. C.H. Beck, Munich 2000. * Oskar Seidlin: ''Versuche über Eichendorff.'' Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1965. * Paul Stöcklein: ''Joseph von Eichendorff in Selbstzeugnissen und Bilddokumenten''. Rowohlts Monographien 84, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1963. ISBN B0094MO2DQ * Jürgen Thym: ''100 Years Of Eichendorff Songs.'' Recent Researches in the Music of the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries, vol. 5. A-R Editions, Madison 1983.


Museum, archives and organisations

* Deutsches Eichendorff-Museum, Eselsberg 1, D-7988 Wangen im Allgäu, Germany, c/o Sybille Heimann, 07522 / 3840 or 3704. * Frankfurter Goethe-Haus. Freies Deutsches Hochstift. Großer Hirschgraben 23–25, 60311 Frankfurt am Main. * Eichendorff-Forum. Prof. Dr. Ursula Regener Universität Regensburg Institut für Germanistik, D-93040 Regensburg


See also

*
Eichendorff-Literaturpreis Eichendorff-Literaturpreis is a literary prize of Germany. It was first awarded in 1956 and was created in honour of Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff. The prize, endowed with 5,000 euros, has been awarded annually by the Wangener Kreis – Socie ...
* German Romanticism


References


External links

* * * * * http://www.koethen-anhalt.de/de/eichendorff-lebensdaten.html
Eichendorff texts
online at German
Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital libr ...
* * *
Freiherr von Eichendorff
Catholic Encyclopedia The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') i ...
article
Joseph von Eichendorff Chronology
Published by the Goethe Institut

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eichendorff, Joseph Freiherr Von Romantic poets 19th-century German poets 19th-century German male writers German-language poets German male poets German Roman Catholics Freikorps personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Barons of Germany People from the Province of Silesia People from Racibórz Silesian-German people Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg alumni Heidelberg University alumni 19th-century German people 1788 births 1857 deaths