Adolf Wilhelm Theodor Stahr

Adolf Stahr ( born October 22, 1805 in Prenzlau, † October 3, 1876 in Wiesbaden ) was a German writer and historian.

Life

Adolf Wilhelm Theodor Stahr, son of field preacher and later pastor in Wallmow (Uckermark) Johann Adam Stahr ( 1768-1839 ), the high school attended in Prenzlau, went in 1825 at the request of parents to study theology to Halle, but soon because of his enthusiasm for classical antiquity the subject and studied philology. After his studies he was ten years a teacher at the Royal Pädagogium in Halle. Stahr married in 1834 preachers daughter Marie itch. The marriage produced five children, three boys ( Alwin, Adolf and Edo ) and two girls (Anna and Helene ).

In 1836 he was appointed as vice-principal and professor at the Gymnasium in Oldenburg. In Oldenburg, he devoted himself next to his educational responsibilities and journalistic work, preference Oldenburg theater, which he - wanted to do with his friends Ferdinand von Gall and Julius Mosen to a pattern stage - stimulated by the example of Karl Immerman in Dusseldorf. While impacted by Gall as a theater director and dramaturge Mosen, Stahr is operated primarily as a theater critic. A collection of theater critical work Stahrs appeared in 1845 ( Oldenburgische Theatre, 2 vols ). The Grand Ducal Court Theatre in Oldenburg was one of the most important venues of the German theater at this time. Came to performance also numerous pieces of modern authors such as Karl Gutzkow or Prutz.

Because of his poor health is Stahr had a leave of absence in 1845 and made ​​many years traveling through Italy, Switzerland and Paris, where he among other things, wrong with Heinrich Heine. End of 1845 Stahr learned in Rome the writer Fanny Lewald know. Between the two kindled a passionate relationship, both made in the following years several trips, wrote and worked together. 1852 was Stahr his day job as a teacher, went into retirement, moved to Berlin, divorced from his first wife in 1854 and married in 1855 Fanny Lewald. He devoted himself to continue his versatile literary works. 1849 was a three-volume novel The Republicans had appeared in Naples, 1849/50 was followed by a presentation of the 1848 revolution in Prussia ( The Prussian Revolution, 2 vols ), it came out several travel books, art historical works ( Torso. art, artists and works of art Old, 2 vols 1854/55 ), translations of Aristotle, biographical and literary-historical works on Gotthold Ephraim Lessing ( GE Lessing., His Life and works, 1859, 2 vols ) and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ( Goethe's female figures, 1865-68, 2 vols ), which reached very high volume part. Stahr sat down at this time also intensely with the political upheaval of the early Roman Empire apart and wrote several biographies about people of this era, which he in Berlin published in the Verlagsbuchhandlung I. Guttentag ( Tiberius, 1863; Cleopatra, 1864; Imperial Women, 1865, Agrippina, the mother of Nero, 1867). A selection scattered published essays and reviews appeared in four volumes 1871-75 ( Small writings on literature and art ).

Stahrs 's last years were marked by illness and increasing resignation. He suffered in 1875 from a severe pneumonia and died a year later during a course of treatment in Wiesbaden.

Classification

Stahr was one of the most important and influential critics in pre-and Nachmarz. Politically, he took a decidedly liberal position and was friends with many liberal- democratic politicians and publicists such as Arnold Ruge. His biography of Lessing was dedicated to the Prussian Democrats Johann Jacoby. After his death, Fanny Lewald repaid in a new edition, the dedication to Jacoby and dedicated the work to Otto von Bismarck. Also Stahrs brother Karl Ludwig Stahr (1812-1863) was active in journalism.

1995 was donated by the Hamburg businessman Holger Cassens at the suggestion of Gerhard Kegel, endowed with 4000 € "Adolf Stahr Award". Since 1996 he is awarded every two years for working in literary and historical range, which have a direct relation to or for the City Uckermark Prenzlau.

Works

• A year in Italy, 3 vols, 1847-50
• Two months in Paris, 2 vols, 1851
• Weimar and Jena. A diary, 2 vols 1852
• After five years. Studies in Paris in 1855, 2 vols 1857
• Herodian 's history of the Roman Empire since Marcus Aurelius. German Adolf Stahr. Stuttgart: Hoffmann 1858
• Autumn months in Italy, 1860
• GE Lessing: His Life and Works, 2 vols, 1859.
• Tiberius, 1863.
• Cleopatra, 1864.
• Roman Imperial Women, 1865.
• Agrippina, the mother of Nero, 1867.
• A winter in Rome, 1869 (together with Fanny Lewald )
• From his youth, 2 vols 1870-77
• Ludwig Geiger ( ed.): From Adolf Stahrs estate. Letters from Stahr together with letters to him, 1903