Nationality German Occupation Poet
Author | Name Christian Morgenstern Role Author | |
 | ||
Full Name Christian Otto Josef Wolfgang Morgenstern Born 6 May 1871 ( 1871-05-06 ) Munich Died March 31, 1914, Merano, Italy Parents Charlotte Morgenstern, Carl Ernst Morgenstern Grandparents Christian Ernst Bernhard Morgenstern Similar People Carl Ernst Morgenstern, Erik Bergman, Richard Strauss, Lisbeth Zwerger, Karl Riha | ||
Christian morgenstern live ostermarsch 15 04 2001
Christian Otto Josef Wolfgang Morgenstern (6 May 1871 – 31 March 1914) was a German author and poet from Munich. Morgenstern married Margareta Gosebruch von Liechtenstern on 7 March 1910. He worked for a while as a journalist in Berlin, but spent much of his life traveling through Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, primarily in a vain attempt to recover his health. His travels, though they failed to restore him to health, allowed him to meet many of the foremost literary and philosophical figures of his time in central Europe.
Contents
- Christian morgenstern live ostermarsch 15 04 2001
- Christian morgenstern miscellaneous pt 14
- Gallows Songs
- Morgenstern as Translator
- Musical settings
- Essays reviews and aphorisms
- Collected works
- Literature
- References
Morgenstern's poetry, much of which was inspired by English literary nonsense, is immensely popular, even though he enjoyed very little success during his lifetime. He made fun of scholasticism, e.g. literary criticism in "Drei Hasen", grammar in "Der Werwolf", narrow-mindedness in "Der Gaul", and symbolism in "Der Wasseresel". In "Scholastikerprobleme" he discussed how many angels could sit on a needle. Still many Germans know some of his poems and quotations by heart, e.g. the following line from "The Impossible Fact" ("Die unmögliche Tatsache", 1910):
Embedded in his humorous poetry is a subtle metaphysical streak, as e.g. in "Vice Versa", (1905):
Gerolf Steiner's mock-scientific book about the fictitious animal order Rhinogradentia (1961), inspired by Morgenstern's nonsense poem Das Nasobēm, is testament to his enduring popularity.
Morgenstern was a member of the General Anthroposophical Society. Dr. Rudolf Steiner called him 'a true representative of Anthroposophy'.
Morgenstern died in 1914 of tuberculosis, which he had contracted from his mother, who died in 1881.
Christian morgenstern miscellaneous pt 14
Gallows Songs
Morgenstern's best known works are the Galgenlieder (Gallows Songs, 1905). This volume of humorous verses was followed by Palmström in 1910. Published posthumously were the important companion volumes Palma Kunkel in 1916, Der Gingganz in 1919, and Alle Galgenlieder in 1932. In German these works have gone through dozens of different editions and reprints and sold hundreds of thousands of copies.
Morgenstern as Translator
Christian Morgenstern was also an acclaimed translator, rendering into German various prominent works from Norwegian and French, including the dramas and poems of Henrik Ibsen, Knut Hamsun, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and August Strindberg.
Musical settings
Morgenstern's poems have been set to music by composers such as Erik Bergman (four Galgenlieder, Das große Lalula, Tapetenblume, Igel und Agel, Unter Zeiten), Hanns Eisler, Sofia Gubaidulina, Paul Graener, Friedrich Gulda, Paul Hindemith, Robert Kahn, Yrjö Kilpinen, Matyas Seiber (Two Madrigals and Three Morgenstern Lieder for soprano and clarinet), Rudi Spring (Galgenliederbuch nach Gedichten von Christian Morgenstern op. 19), Siegfried Strohbach (5 Galgenlieder) and Graham Waterhouse (Gruselett, Der Werwolf).
Essays, reviews and aphorisms
In his early years Christian Morgenstern wrote a considerable number of essays and reviews for various German periodicals. They have been collected together and published in Volume 6 (Kritische Schriften, 1987) of the German collected works of Morgenstern. His philosophical and mythical works were largely influenced by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, the Austrian educationalist Rudolf Steiner (the originator of anthroposophy and the Waldorf school movement), and the Russian writers Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Leo Tolstoy.
Perhaps Morgenstern's most philosophical volume is a collection of aphorisms published posthumously in 1918 entitled Stufen: Eine Entwickelung in Aphorismen und Tagebuch-Notizen (Stages: A Development in Aphorisms and Diary Notes). It has given rise to a number of celebrated quotations. These include:
Collected works
A complete edition of the works of Christian Morgenstern in German in nine volumes is currently being prepared by Verlag Urachhaus (Stuttgart) under the direction of Professor Reinhardt Habel. Volumes 1 and 2 comprise Morgenstern's lyrical writings and poems; volume 3: humoristic writings, including the complete Gallows Songs; volume 4: epic and theatrical writings; volume 5: collected aphorisms; volume 6: critical essays and reviews; volumes 7-9: complete correspondence. The volume titles in German are: