Theodor Hell ("Theodore Bright") was the pseudonym of Karl Gottfried Theodor Winkler (9 February 1775,

Waldenburg, Saxony Waldenburg is a town in the district Zwickau in Saxony, Germany. The castle was owned by the House of Schönburg from 1378 until 1945. The pottery town of Waldenburg lies in the valley of the Zwickauer Mulde. The environment is characterized by f ...

– 24 September 1856,

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

), a court councillor (''Hofrath'') in

from 1824, who was the centre of literary life through his work as editor, translator and critic. He was the theatrical secretary from 1815. He is mostly remembered for his friendships with the composers

Carl Maria von Weber Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (18 or 19 November 17865 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, virtuoso pianist, guitarist, and critic who was one of the first significant composers of the Romantic era. Best known for his opera ...

Therese Emilie Henriette Winkel Therese Emilie Henriette Winkel (20 December 1784 – 7 March 1867) was a German artist, author, composer, and harpist. She also published under the pseudonyms Comala and Theorosa. Winkel was born in Weissenfels, but moved to Dresden in 1788 when ...

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 ...

(and brief contact with

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...

and

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 ...

) — for example, he wrote the words to Schubert's "Das Heimweh" (D456) and the

libretto 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 theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

for Weber's opera ''

Die Drei Pintos ' ( Anh 5, ''The Three Pintos'') is a comic opera of which Carl Maria von Weber began composing the music, working on a libretto by Theodor Hell. The work was completed about 65 years after Weber's death by Gustav Mahler. It premiered on 20 Januar ...

''. He was the editor for many years of the literary magazine ''Penelope'', and of the '' Dresdner Abendzeitung'' (from 1817 to 1843) in association with Friedrich Kind. Dresden appointed him

honorary citizen Honorary citizenship is a status bestowed by a city or other government on a foreign or native individual whom it considers to be especially admirable or otherwise worthy of the distinction. The honour usually is symbolic and does not confer an ...

in 1851.

Selected works

Lyrical

* ''Das Heimweh'' * ''Im Englischen Garten bei München'' (1811) * ''Des Dichters Los''

Drama

* ''Der Geschädigte'' (1817) * ''Der neun und zwanzigste Januar 1819'' (1819)

Translations

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...

: ''

Julie, or the New Heloise ''Julie; or, The New Heloise'' (french: Julie, ou la nouvelle Héloïse), originally entitled ''Lettres de Deux Amans, Habitans d'une petite Ville au pied des Alpes'' ("Letters from two lovers, living in a small town at the foot of the Alps"), is ...

'' *

James Planché James Robinson Planché (27 February 1796 – 30 May 1880) was a British dramatist, antiquary and officer of arms. Over a period of approximately 60 years he wrote, adapted, or collaborated on 176 plays in a wide range of genres including ...

: the opera ''

Oberon Oberon () is a king of the fairies in medieval and Renaissance literature. He is best known as a character in William Shakespeare's play ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', in which he is King of the Fairies and spouse of Titania, Queen of the Fair ...

''. Translated from the original English in 1826, after the death of the opera's composer,

Bibliography

Carl Friedrich Glasenapp Carl may refer to: *Carl, Georgia, city in USA *Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community *Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name *Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of tel ...

. ''Das Leben Richard Wagners.'' Chapter 1.2. * Hermann Anders Krüger, ''Pseudo-Romantik: Friedrich Kind und der Dresdener Liederkreis: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Romantik.'' Leipzig, 1904. * Hellmut Fleischhauer, "Theodor Hell und seine Tätigkeit als Journalleiter, Herausgeber, Übersetzer und am Theater." Diss. Univ. of Munich 1930. Borna and Leipzig 1930. * Franz Brümmer. ''Deutsches Dichterlexicon'', volume 2, 1877. (Full list of works.)

References

External links

Correspondence
kept at the Beinecke Library,

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

* *
Theodor Hell in Dresden
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hell, Theodor 1775 births 1856 deaths People from Waldenburg, Saxony German male writers