Background
Hölty was born on December 21, 1748 in Neustadt am Rübenberge, Lower Saxony, Germany, where his father was pastor.
(This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)
This book was originally published prior to 1923, and represents a reproduction of an important historical work, maintaining the same format as the original work. While some publishers have opted to apply OCR (optical character recognition) technology to the process, we believe this leads to sub-optimal results (frequent typographical errors, strange characters and confusing formatting) and does not adequately preserve the historical character of the original artifact. We believe this work is culturally important in its original archival form. While we strive to adequately clean and digitally enhance the original work, there are occasionally instances where imperfections such as blurred or missing pages, poor pictures or errant marks may have been introduced due to either the quality of the original work or the scanning process itself. Despite these occasional imperfections, we have brought it back into print as part of our ongoing global book preservation commitment, providing customers with access to the best possible historical reprints. We appreciate your understanding of these occasional imperfections, and sincerely hope you enjoy seeing the book in a format as close as possible to that intended by the original publisher.
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Hölty was born on December 21, 1748 in Neustadt am Rübenberge, Lower Saxony, Germany, where his father was pastor.
Hölty went to study theology at the University of Göttingen. By the time he left the university in 1774, he had abandoned all intention of becoming a clergyman, but he was not to enter any profession.
Hölty was the most gifted lyric poet of the Göttingen circle. He was influenced by Johann Uz and Friedrich Klopstock, but his love for the Volkslied and his delight in nature preserved him from the artificiality of Uz and the unworldliness of Klopstock. A strain of melancholy runs through all his lyrics. His ballads are the pioneers of the rich ballad literature on English models, which sprang up in Germany over the next few years. Among his most familiar poems are: "Üb' immer Treu' und Redlichkeit" (1776), "Tanzt dem schönen Mai entgegen", and "Wer wollte sich mit Grillen plagen" (1776). To many, the opening lines of Hölty's poem "Der alte Landmann an seinen Sohn" ("The Old Farmer to His Son") are the very embodiment of all Prussian virtues. This poem was set to music by Mozart to a melody adapted from the aria "Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen" from his 1791 opera The Magic Flute. It was played daily by the carillon of the Potsdam Garrison Church where Frederick the Great was initially buried. Hölty's collection Gedichte (poems) was published by his friends Count Friedrich Leopold zu Stolberg and J. H. Voss (Hamburg, 1783). Many of Hölty's poems were set to music by composers including Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Brahms. Several streets and schools in Germany are named after him, including the Hölty-Gymnasium in Wunstorf near Hanover; in 2008, the biennial poetry prize Hölty-Preis was created in his name.
(This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)