Karl Wilhelm Osterwald (23 February 1820 in Bretsch ( Altmark) – 27 March 1887 in

Mühlhausen Mühlhausen () is a city in the north-west of Thuringia, Germany, north of Niederdorla, the country's geographical centre, north-west of Erfurt, east of Kassel and south-east of Göttingen. Mühlhausen was first mentioned in 967 and bec ...

) was a German teacher, author, writer of Protestant church poetry and nature lover.

Life

Osterwald studied at the Gymnasium in Salzwedel and the

Franckesche Stiftungen The Francke Foundations (Franckesche Stiftungen), also known as Glauchasche Anstalten were founded in 1695 in Halle, Germany as a Christian, social and educational work by August Hermann Francke The Francke Foundations are today a non-profit e ...

in Halle an der Saale. He studied

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...

at the University of Halle and was later active as a teacher at the Königlichen Pädigogium in Halle and at the Domgymnasium in

Merseburg Merseburg () is a town in central Germany in southern Saxony-Anhalt, situated on the river Saale, and approximately 14 km south of Halle (Saale) and 30 km west of Leipzig. It is the capital of the Saalekreis district. It had a diocese ...

. In 1865 he became headmaster of the Gymnasium in Mühlhausen. During his period in Mühlhausen, he published many pedagogical writings and poems. Around 70 of his nature, travel, and love poems were set to music by composer Robert Franz. In 1889, his former student

Richard von Hertwig Richard Wilhelm Karl Theodor Ritter von Hertwig (23 September 1850 in Friedberg, Hesse – 3 October 1937 in Schlederloh, Bavaria), also Richard Hertwig or Richard von Hertwig, was a German zoologist and professor of 50 years, notable as the fir ...

pressed for the erection of a monument in his memory in the Mühlhäuser Stadtwald. Osterwalddenkmal

Osterwald, together with the cathedral organist Engel in Merseburg, prepared an edition of the ''Geistlichen Lieder'' of

Johann Franck Johann Fran(c)k (1 June 1618 – 18 June 1677) was a German politician (serving as mayor of Guben and a member of the Landtag of Lower Lusatia) and a lyric poet and hymnist. Life Franck was born in Guben, Margraviate of Lower Lusatia. After vis ...

, providing new texts. Osterwald also wrote his own church songs. The Evangelical Lutheran hymnal of the early 20th century features his works including ''O du mein Trost und süßes Hoffen'' for Advent and ''Heilge Nacht, ich grüße dich'' for Christmas. Osterward received the House Order of Hohenzollern.

Works

*''Im Grünen'', Poetry collection, 1853. *''Im Freien'', Poetry collection, 1862. *''Bleibt einig! Zeitgedichte'', 1870. *''Deutschlands Auferstehung'', 1871.

References

* Franz Brümmer: ''Osterwald, Karl Wilhelm'', in Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB), Volume 52, Duncker & Humblot: Leipzig 1906, p. 726f. * Werner Baumgarten: ''Karl Wilhelm Osterwald'', in: Mitteldeutsche Lebensbilder, 1. Band Lebensbilder des 19. Jahrhunderts, Magdeburg 1926, p. 252-257

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Osterwald, Karl Wilhelm 1820 births 1887 deaths People from Stendal (district) People from the Province of Saxony German Protestants Heads of schools in Germany German naturalists German male writers Writers from Saxony-Anhalt 19th-century German educators