Hans Henny Jahnn

Hans Henny Jahnn (17 December 1894, Stellingen – 29 November 1959, Hamburg) was a German playwright, novelist and organ-builder.

As a playwright, he wrote: "Pastor Ephraim Magnus" (1917), which "The Cambridge Guide to Theatre" describes as a nihilistic, expressionist play "stuffed with perversities and sado-masochistic motifs"; "Coronation of Richard III" (1922; "equally lurid");Banham (1998, 553).] and a version of "Medea" (1926). Later works include the novel "The Shoreless River" ("Fluss ohne Ufer", trilogy) and the drama "Thomas Chatterton" (1955; staged by Gustaf Gründgens in 1956). Erwin Piscator staged Jahnn's "The Dusty Rainbow" ("Der staubige Regenbogen") in 1961.

Jahnns was also a music publisher, focusing on 17th-century organ music. He was a contemporary of organ-builder Rudolf von Beckerath.

He met Gottlieb Friedrich Harms at school (St. Pauli's Realschule) which he united in a "mystical wedding" in 1913, and they lived together between 1914 and 1918. [Jan Bürger, 2003. "Der gestrandete Wal. Das maßlose Leben des Hans Henny Jahnn. Die Jahre 1894–1935". Berlin: Aufbau-Verlag. ISBN 3-351-02552-1.] They met Ellinor Philips in 1918. In 1919, Jahnn founded the community of Ugrino with a sculptor, Franz Buse. [Jochen Hengst und Heinrich Lewinski, 1991. "Hanns Henny Jahnn: Ugrino". Hannover: Revonnah Verlag. ISBN 3-927715-08-5] In 1926, Jahnn married Ellinor, and Harms married Sybille Philips, Ellinor's sister, in 1928.

References

Works cited

* Banham, Martin, ed. 1998. "Jahnn, Hans Henny." In "The Cambridge Guide to Theatre." Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521434378. p.553.
* http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0825880.html