Background
He was born in Brandenburg, Germany, February 12, 1777.
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Friedrich Heinrich Karl de la Motte
Edit ProfileEducation
He received a military education.
Career
He served as officer in the Prussian army in 1794, and again in 1813-1815. He later lived in Nennhausen, near Rathenow, until he was obliged to sell his estate there in 1830; he then removed to Halle. A pension from Frederick William IV of Prussia enabled him to spend his last years in comfort.
He was for a time popular in Germany. His creative powers began to wane early, however, and he outlived his popularity by twenty years. He supported his mediocre talents by using the trappings of medieval chivalry (The Magic Ring, 1813) and Nordic sagas. In a dramatic trilogy on the subject of Siegfried (The Hero of the North, 1810), he anticipated Wagner in the use of Scandinavian sources and an alliterative style. His little story Undine (1811) is a perennial favorite. It is a tale of a water sprite who can gain a soul only by marrying a mortal, and of her tragic disappointment in the outcome. For all its Romantic charm, the work exhibits La Motte-Fouqué's defects: shallowness, sentimentality, and a fatal inability to create real characters. La Motte-Fouqué also wrote the libretto for Ernst Hoffman's opera Undine.
Achievements
Membership
La Motte-Fouqué was a member of the Berlin Romantic group with Achim von Arnim, Clemens Brentano, and Adelbert von Chamisso.
Interests
Connections
Fouqué's first marriage was unhappy and soon ended in divorce. His second wife, Caroline Philippine von Briest (1773–1831), enjoyed some reputation as a novelist in her day. After her death Fouqué married a third time.
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Born
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Died
January 23, 1843 (aged 65) -
Nationality
German