Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz

Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz (born 12 Januarjul / January 23 1751greg in Seßwegen, Livonia (now Cesvaine, Latvia ). .. . † 24 Maijul / June 4 1792greg in Moscow ) was a German writer of the Sturm und Drang.

Life

JMR Lenz was the son of the Pietist pastor (from 1779 general superintendent of Livonia) Christian David Lenz ( 1720-1798 ) in Seßwegen, about 150 km east of Riga, was born. At the age of nine, he moved with his family to Dorpat, where the father received a pastorate. A first poem was published when he was 15 years old. From 1768-1770 he studied with a scholarship, first at Dorpat and then at the Albertus University of Königsberg theology. In Konigsberg, he heard lectures by Immanuel Kant, read at whose suggestion of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, went his literary interests and neglected by theology. His first independent book publishing, the long poem The plagues, appeared in 1769.

1771 broke Lenz his studies in Königsberg and went against the will of the Father, so the contact with his son broke off, as a servant of the Courland barons and officer candidates Friedrich Georg and Ernst Nikolaus von Kleist, who wanted to start their military service to Strasbourg. He arrived there in contact with the actuary Johann Daniel Salzmann, by which the intellectual circles of the Société de philosophie et de belles lettres had formed in which the young Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrong, who also resided at this time in Strasbourg and whose acquaintance as well as here Lenz made ​​by Johann Heinrich Jung-Stilling. Goethe was on his artistic role model admired about him was the contact to Johann Gottfried Herder and Johann Kaspar Lavater, with whom he corresponded. The following year, 1772, he moved in the wake of his masters in succession in the garrisons of Landau, Fort Louis and White Castle. He fell in love with Friederike Brion ( Sesenheimer songs), the former lover of Goethe, his feelings, however, remained unrequited. 1773 Lenz returned back to Strasbourg and resumed his studies again. In 1774 he gave his service with the brothers on Kleist, lived as a freelance writer and earned his living by private teaching. Now developed to Goethe friendly relations, presented this spring during a visit both in Emmen things also his sister Cornelia and her husband Johann Georg Schlosser ago.

In April 1776 Lenz followed Goethe to the court at Weimar, where the courtiers at first received him kindly. But in early December he was expelled at the instigation of Goethe again. The exact background is not known, Goethe, who then broke off the personal contact, mentioned in his diary only vaguely Lenz Eseley.

Lenz went on to Emmen things, where he was received by Cornelia and Johann Georg Schlosser. From there he made several trips to the Alsace and Switzerland, among others, in May 1777 Lavater to Zurich. When he learned the news of Cornelia Schlosser's death in June at Lavater, he returned to Emmen things. After another lengthy visit to Lavater it came in November when staying in Winterthur with Christoph Kaufmann to an outbreak of his mental illness, paranoid schizophrenia. Kaufmann finally sent Lenz mid-January 1778 the philanthropist, social reformer and pastor Johann Friedrich Oberlin in the Alsatian Waldersbach, where he stayed from January 20 to February 8. Despite the care of Oberlin and his wife Lenz worse ' mental state. Then Lenz went back to locksmith to Emmen things and was housed there at a shoemaker and a forester.

His younger brother Charles took Lenz in June 1779 from Hertingen where this was at a physician for treatment, and brought him to Riga, where her father was now ascended to the superintendent. He was there but not professionally foothold: Trying to be leader of the local cathedral school, failed, Herder refused for a letter of recommendation. Also in St. Petersburg, where he stayed from February to September 1780 he was unsuccessful. He went on as a steward on an estate at Dorpat. After another stay in Saint Petersburg the following year Lenz traveled in September 1781 Moscow, where he was first in the historian Friedrich Müller found shelter and learn Russian. He worked as a private tutor, frequented circles of Russian Freemasons and writer, took part in the drafting of various reform plans and translated books on Russian history into German. In this case, his mental state deteriorated further. Most recently, he survived only through the support of Russian patrons.

In the early morning of the 24th Maijul. / June 4 1792greg. Lenz was found dead in a Moscow street. The location of his grave is unknown.

Lenz as a literary figure

Georg Büchner processed Lenz's visit to the evangelical pastor Johann Friedrich Oberlin in Bedrock ( in the Vosges ) to his novella Lenz. Lenz Oberlin at the suggestion of Kaufmann sought, as this was known as a pastor and psychologist. Oberlin's report on the events surrounding Lenz during this period served as a source Büchner to his story. This in turn is the template for Wolfgang Rihm's chamber opera Jakob Lenz.

More recently, the writer Peter Schneider have in his story Lenz ( 1973) and Gert Hofmann with the novella The Return of the Prodigal JMR Lenz processed to Riga (1984 ) Lenz's literary life.

To mention also is the novel The Red Domino from 2002 by Marc Buhl, who uses the friendship between Goethe and Lenz and their abrupt end by Lenz Eseley as a starting point for a criminal history.

The Lenz in the representation of Georg Büchner is also reference character in the novel Lena in Waldersbach (2012 ) by Eduard Habsburg.

Works (selection)

• The plagues. Epic poem, in 1769.
• The Tutor, or advantages of private education. A comedy. Drama, 1774th
• The new Menoza. Drama, 1774th
• Notes over the theater, along with the attached translated piece of Shakespear. Essay, 1774; Translation of Shakespeare's Loves Labour 's Lost Amor vincit omnia under the title.
• Opinions of a layman, appropriated to the clergy. In 1775.
• Pandaemonium Germanicum. Drama, originated in 1775, published posthumously in 1819.
• The soldiers. A comedy. Drama, 1776 (presented by the eponymous opera by Manfred Gurlitt (1930) and Bernd Alois Zimmermann ( 1965) ).
• The friends make the philosophers. Drama, 1776.
• Zerbin. Amendment, 1776.
• The country preacher. 1777.
• The Englishman - A dramatic Phantasey. 1777.
• The forest brother. Unfinished novel, published posthumously 1797.

Werkausgaben

• Works and letters. Three volumes, Edited by Sigrid Damm. Insel Verlag [License Issue Hanser Verlag], Leipzig [ Munich / Vienna ] 1987, ISBN 3-446-14665-2.
• Works. Selected and annotated by Karin Lauer, Hanser Verlag, Munich / Vienna 1992, ISBN 3-446-16338-7.
• Works. Edited by Friedrich Voit. Reclam Verlag, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-15-008755-4, selection band.
• Works. Facsimiles of the first editions of his lifetime self- published texts. Edited by Christopher White, 12 volumes, Roehrig Verlag, St. Ingbert 2001, ISBN 3-86110-071-1.
• Moscow's writings and letters. Edited and annotated by Heribert Tommek. Text and commentary. Weidler Verlag, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-89693-486-4.

Single

• Jacob Michael Reinhold Lenz: disputed As Sr. Hochedelgebohrnen the Professor Kant the 21st August 1770 for the professor - dignity. Facsimile of the first edition of Königsberg 1770. Edited by Christopher White. Wehrhahnlinie Verlag, Laatzen 2003, ISBN 3-932324-68-4.