Johann Karl August Musäus
Johann Karl August Musaeus ( born March 29, 1735 in Jena, † October 28, 1787 in Weimar ) was a German writer, literary critic, educationist, scholar and collectors of fairy tales and both satirical and popular narrator of the Enlightenment.
Life
Johann Karl August Musaeus was born on March 29, 1735, the only son of Amtskommisarius and country judge Johann Christoph Musäus in Jena. The age of nine he came to his uncle in Altstedt who brought him up strictly according to Christian values. They both moved after a few years to Eisenach, because Musaeus ' father got a job there as a Justice and bailiff. At the University of Jena, he studied theology from 1754 to 1758, but then turned to classical philology, as it due to certain unkirchlicher offenses the proffered pastorate in Farnroda at Eisenach was not allowed to accept.
1763 Musäus got a job as a Page Hofmeister in Weimar and took three years later, a literary-critical activities as an employee of the issued by the reconnaissance Friedrich Nicolai " Universal German Library" on. He peer reviewed about 350 contemporary novels by the standards of the Enlightenment, based on the ancient oratory art theory. 1769 he was appointed by Anna Amalie, Duchess of Saxe-Weimar- Eisenach, professor of classical language and history at the Weimar Wilhelm -Ernst -Gymnasium. At this school he also taught his nephew, August von Kotzebue, who later gained fame as a writer.
The following year he married Juliane Krüger, the later two sons, Charles and August gave him. He had secured the professorship and author work his livelihood. From then led Musäus a comfortable life off the court and the center of Weimar Classicism with its main characters. He was a critic of the cult of the genius and sensibility. Since 1776, he was a Freemason as a member of the lodge ' Amalia ' in Weimar. A lot of time he spent at his summer cottage with garden, relating to his stay he led in the last years book. There received and he maintained friendly relations with the figures of his era, including Duke Karl August, Bertuch, citizens, Herder, Lavater, Nicolai, Corona Schröter and last but not least Wieland, who, after the death of Musaeus its successful collection of fairy tales " popular tales of the Germans" the many editions and translations experienced, newly published. In 1783 he was admitted to the Illuminati as a so-called ' presbyters ' under the name ' Dante Alighieri / Priscillan '.
He died on October 28, 1787 in Weimar to a polyp at heart. Johann Gottfried Herder held a memorial speech on 30 October 1787. His final resting place Musäus on the Jacob Cemetery in Weimar. Musäus estate 1791 edited by Kotzebue, entitled " Posthumous Writings".
The house of Musäus on Kegelplatz in Weimar is used by the Albert Schweitzer Foundation, which maintains a museum there.
Works
- Grandison of the Second, or history of Mr. N ***. 1760-1762, three-volume epistolary novel, which parodies the sentimental novel History of Sir Charles Grandison by Samuel Richardson ( first published anonymously )
- The Gardener Girl of Vincennes. 1771 libretto, which, inter alia, of the composer Franz Andreas Holly and Ernst Wilhelm Wolf (1774 ) is converted into an opera
- Physiognomic travel. 1778/1779, Satiric novel, which is directed against Johann Kaspar Lavater physiognomic and his teachings to the cult of the genius of the Sturm und Drang, superstition and obscurantism
- The German Grandison, a family history. 1781/1782, Two-volume reworking of his 1762 published novel Grandison
- Popular tales of the Germans. 1782-1786: Collection of Fairy Tales (better: art fairytale ), legends and legends in five volumes, the popular (! But literarily mediated ) and satirical elements ties together Volume 1: The Books of the Chronicles of the Three Sisters, Richilde, Roland's squire
- Volume 2: Legends of Rubezahl, The Nymph of the Fountain
- Volume 3: The opera, the stolen veil, love loyalty
- Volume 4: Dumb Love, Ulrich with the Bühel, Demon Cupid
- Volume 5: Melechsala, The Treasure Hunter, The Abduction