Background
Denis was born at Schärding, located on the Inn River, then ruled by the Electorate of Bavaria, in 1729, the son of Johann Rudolph Denis, who taught him Latin at an early age. He was brought up by the Jesuits.
Denis was born at Schärding, located on the Inn River, then ruled by the Electorate of Bavaria, in 1729, the son of Johann Rudolph Denis, who taught him Latin at an early age. He was brought up by the Jesuits.
At the age of ten, he was enrolled to be educated by the Jesuits at their college in Passau.
In 1759 Denis was appointed professor in the Theresianum in Vienna, a Jesuit college. In 1784, after the suppression of the college, he was made second custodian of the court library, and seven years later became chief librarian.
A warm admirer of Klopstock, he was one of the leading members of the group of so-called “bards”; and his original poetry, published under the title Die Lieder Sineds des Barden (1772), shows all the extravagances of the “bardic” movement. He translated the Ossian (1768-1769; also published together with his own poems in 5 vols. as Ossians und Sineds Lieder, 1784). More important than either his original poetry or his translations were his efforts to familiarize the Austrians with the literature of North Germany; his Sammlung kürzerer Gedichte aus den neuern Dichtern Deutschlands, 3 vols. (1762-1766), was in this respect invaluable. He has also left a number of bibliographical compilations, Grundriss der Bibliographie und Bücherkunde (1774), Grundriss der Literaturgeschichte (1776), Einleitung in die Bücherkunde (1777) and Wiens Buchdruckergeschichte bis 1560 (1782).
Ossians und Sineds Lieder have not been reprinted since 1791; but a selection of his poetry edited by R. Hamel will be found in vol. 48 (1884) of Kürschner’s Deutsche Nationalliteratur. His Literarischer Nachlass was published by J. F. von Retzer in 1802 (2 vols. ).
(Kurze Erzählung der Streitigkeiten über die alten Urkunde...)
