Michael Beer (19 August 1800, Berlin – 22 March 1833,

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

) was a German Jewish poet, author and playwright.

Early life

Beer was born to a wealthy Jewish family, the son of salonnière Amalie Beer. His elder brother was the composer

Giacomo Meyerbeer Giacomo Meyerbeer (born Jakob Liebmann Beer; 5 September 1791 – 2 May 1864) was a German opera composer, "the most frequently performed opera composer during the nineteenth century, linking Mozart and Wagner". With his 1831 opera ''Robert le di ...

; another brother was the astronomer

Wilhelm Beer Wilhelm Wolff Beer (4 January 1797 – 27 March 1850) was a banker and astronomer from Berlin, Prussia, and the brother of Giacomo Meyerbeer. Astronomy Beer's fame derives from his hobby, astronomy. He built a private observatory with a ...

. In the period 1817–1823 he frequently travelled with family members in Italy, where his brother Meyerbeer was studying. In 1819 Beer was a founder member of the movement '' Verein für Cultur und Wissenschaft der Juden (Association for Culture and Science of the Jews)'', which attempted to provide an intellectual framework for considering the Jews as a people in their own right, and to validate their secular cultural traditions as being on an equal footing with those of the German people. Beer's co-founders included

Eduard Gans Eduard Gans (March 22, 1797 – May 5, 1839) was a German jurist. Biography Gans was born in Berlin to prosperous Jewish parents. He studied law first at the Friedrich Wilhelm University, Berlin, then at Göttingen, and finally at Heidelberg, w ...

, Moses Moser,

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of '' Lied ...

and

Leopold Zunz Leopold Zunz ( he, יום טוב צונץ—''Yom Tov Tzuntz'', yi, ליפמן צונץ—''Lipmann Zunz''; 10 August 1794 – 17 March 1886) was the founder of academic Judaic Studies (''Wissenschaft des Judentums''), the critical investigation ...

Works

The first of Beer's works to be performed was ''Klytemnestra (

Clytemnestra Clytemnestra (; grc-gre, Κλυταιμνήστρα, ''Klytaimnḗstrā'', ), in Greek mythology, was the wife of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, and the twin sister of Helen of Troy. In Aeschylus' ''Oresteia'', she murders Agamemnon – said by Eu ...

)'', (1819), influenced by the

classicism Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aestheti ...

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 treat ...

. His second stage-work ''Die Bräute von Aragonien (The Brides of

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...

)'', was also suggested by Goethe's poetry. Far superior to these early works was the one-act play ''Der Paria (The Pariah''), premiered in Berlin in 1823, and admired by Goethe, which was soon played on stages across Germany. In the play, the pariah Gadhi and his wife Maja choose to die so as to enable their son to live freely. The work can be construed as a cry of pain about the pariah status of Judaism in early nineteenth-century Germany. This is a topic which constantly recurs in Beer's correspondence with Meyerbeer. Beer's 1827 drama ''Struensee'' (based on the life of the German-Danish reformer

Johann Friedrich Struensee Lensgreve Johann Friedrich Struensee (5 August 1737 – 28 April 1772) was a German-Danish physician, philosopher and statesman. He became royal physician to the mentally ill King Christian VII of Denmark and a minister in the Danish government. ...

) was initially banned from production in Prussia, and was premiered in 1828 in Munich, where Beer had briefly settled and where he became a friend of

Schelling Schelling is a surname. Notable persons with that name include: * Caroline Schelling (1763–1809), German intellectual * Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (1775–1854), German philosopher * Felix Emanuel Schelling (1858–1945), American educat ...

. Not until 1846 (thirteen years after the author's death) did the relaxation of censorship enable a performance in Berlin; for this King

Frederick William IV Frederick William IV (german: Friedrich Wilhelm IV.; 15 October 17952 January 1861), the eldest son and successor of Frederick William III of Prussia, reigned as King of Prussia from 7 June 1840 to his death on 2 January 1861. Also referred to ...

commissioned Meyerbeer to provide an overture and incidental music. Beer's poetic output includes a series of 'Elegies' written in Italy, a protest at the injustice of criminal sentencing (''Im Gerichtssaal''), and a satirical poem on the paradoxes of extreme religiosity (''Der fromme Rabbi'').

Later life

Beer's personality is known mainly through his correspondence with his family and with the playwright

Karl Leberecht Immermann Karl Leberecht Immermann (24 April 1796 – 25 August 1840) was a German dramatist, novelist and a poet. Biography He was born at Magdeburg, the son of a government official. In 1813 he went to study law at Halle, where he remained, after t ...

. Beer spent many of his last years in Paris where he was acquainted with

Ferdinand Hiller Ferdinand (von) Hiller (24 October 1811 – 11 May 1885) was a German composer, Conductor (music), conductor, pianist, writer and music director. Biography Ferdinand Hiller was born to a wealthy Jewish family in Frankfurt am Main, where his fat ...

and

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sy ...

, who was an occasional

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

-partner. Beer's early death was attributed to

neurasthenia Neurasthenia (from the Ancient Greek νεῦρον ''neuron'' "nerve" and ἀσθενής ''asthenés'' "weak") is a term that was first used at least as early as 1829 for a mechanical weakness of the nerves and became a major diagnosis in North A ...

. He is buried with his parents and siblings in the Jewish cemetery in

Schönhauser Allee Schönhauser Allee in Berlin is one of the most important streets of the Prenzlauer Berg district. Schönhauser Allee begins at Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz in the south and ends at Schonensche Straße in the north. Many of the side streets of Schönha ...

, Berlin.

Michael Beer Foundation

Beer was, in the tradition of his family, generous of his wealth and supported scholars and artists, including the orientalist

Salomon Munk Salomon Munk (14 May 1803 – 5 February 1867) was a German-born Jewish-French Orientalist. Biography Munk was born in Gross Glogau in the Kingdom of Prussia. He received his first instruction in Hebrew from his father, an official of the J ...

. He bequeathed a large fortune, which was turned into a foundation administered by the

Berlin Academy of Arts The Academy of Arts (german: Akademie der Künste) is a state arts institution in Berlin, Germany. The task of the Academy is to promote art, as well as to advise and support the states of Germany. The Academy's predecessor organization was fo ...

. The annual income of the Michael Beer Foundation was awarded to two young artists, who had to be Jewish; this financed a one-year study period in Italy, of which they had to spend at least eight months in Rome.Kahn (1976), 158

References

;Notes ;Sources * Becker, Heinz & Gudrun, tr. Mark Violette (1989). ''Giacomo Meyerbeer: A Life in Letters''. London: Christopher Helm. * Conway, David (2012). ''Jewry in Music - Entry to the Profession from the Enlightenment to Richard Wagner''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. . * Espagne, Michel (1996). ''Les juif allemands de Paris à l'époque de Heine: la translation ashkénase''. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. . * Hiller, Ferdinand, tr. M.E. von Glehn (1874). ''Felix Mendelssohn: Letters and Recollections''. London: Macmillan. *

Jewish Encyclopedia ''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on th ...

(1906).
Beer, Michael
* Kahn, Lothar (1976). 'Michael Beer (1800–1833)', in ''Leo Baeck Institute Yearbook 1976'', pp. 149–160 * Sachar, Howard M. (1990). ''The Course of Modern Jewish History''. New York:Vintage. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Beer, Michael 1800 births 1833 deaths Writers from Berlin 19th-century German Jews German poets Jewish poets Neurological disease deaths in Germany Burials at Schönhauser Allee Cemetery, Berlin German male poets German male dramatists and playwrights 19th-century poets 19th-century German dramatists and playwrights 19th-century German male writers