Moritz Hartmann

For the footballer, see Moritz Hartmann (footballer)

Moritz Hartmann.

Moritz Hartmann (October 15, 1821 - May 13, 1872) was a German poet and author.

Biography

Hartmann was born of Jewish parentage at Duschnik (Czech: Dušníky, aka Trhové Dušníky) in Bohemia.

Having studied philosophy at Prague and Vienna, he travelled in south Germany, Switzerland and Italy, and became tutor in a family at Vienna. In 1845 he proceeded to Leipzig and there published a volume of patriotic poems, Kelch und Schwert (1845). Fearing in consequence prosecution at the hands of the authorities, he abided events in France and Belgium, and after issuing in Leipzig Neuere Gedichte (1846) returned home, suffered a short term of imprisonment, and in 1848 was elected member for Leitmeritz in the short-lived German parliament at Frankfurt-am-Main, in which he sided with the extreme Radical party.

He took part with Robert Blum in the revolution of that year in Vienna, but contrived to escape to London and Paris. In 1849 he published Reimchronik des Pfaffen Mauritius, a satirical political poem in the style of Heine.

During the Crimean War (1854-56) Hartmann was correspondent of the Kölnische Zeitung, settled in 1860 in Geneva as a teacher of German literature and history, became in 1865 editor of the Freya in Stuttgart and in 1868 a member of the staff of the Neue Freie Presse in Vienna.

He died at Oberdöbling, near Vienna, in 1872.

Works

Among Hartmann's numerous works may be especially mentioned Der Krieg um den Wald (1850), a novel, the scene of which is laid in Bohemia; Tagebuch aus Languedoc und Provence (1852); Erzahlungen eincs Unsteten (1858); and Die letzten Tage eines Konigs (1867). His idyll, Adam and Eva (1851), and his collection of poetical tales, Schatten (1851), show that the author possessed but little talent for epic narrative.

His Gesammelte Werke were published in 10 vols. in 1873-1874, and a selection of his Gedichte in the latter year. The first two volumes of a new edition of his works contain a biography of Hartmann by O Wittner.

Evaluation

1911 Encyclopædia Britannica opines that “Hartmann's poems are often lacking in genuine poetical feeling, but the love of liberty which inspired them, and the fervour, ease and clearness of their style compensated for these shortcomings and gained for him a wide circle of admirers.”

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). "Hartmann, Moritz". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

Persondata
Name	Hartmann, Moritz
Alternative names
Short description	German poet and author
Date of birth	October 15, 1821
Place of birth
Date of death	May 13, 1872
Place of death