View source for Gottfried August Bürger

{{short description|18th-century German poet (1747–1794)}}
{{tone|date=March 2015}}

{{Infobox artist
| image = Gottfried August Bürger.jpg
| caption = Gottfried August Bürger, portrait by [[Johann Heinrich Tischbein the Younger]] in 1771, Gleimhaus Halberstadt.
| birth_name =  Gottfried August Bürger 
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1747|12|31|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Molmerswende]], near [[Halberstadt]], [[Saxony-Anhalt|Anhalt]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1794|06|08|1747|12|31|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Göttingen]]
}}

'''Gottfried August Bürger''' ([[December 31|31 December]] [[1747]] [[Molmerswende]], near [[Halberstadt]], [[Saxony-Anhalt|Anhalt]] – [[June 8|8 June]] [[1794]] [[Göttingen]]) was a German [[poet]]. His [[ballad]]s were very popular in Germany. His most noted ballad, ''[[Lenore (ballad)|Lenore]]'', found an audience beyond readers of the [[German language]] in an [[English language|English]] and [[Russian language|Russian]] adaptation and a [[French language|French]] translation.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="nie" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Gottfried August Bürger {{!}} Ballad Poetry, Minnesang, Lyricist {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gottfried-August-Burger |access-date=2025-08-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Biography==
Bürger was born in [[Molmerswende]] (now a part of [[Mansfeld]]), [[Principality of Halberstadt]], where his father was the [[Lutheran]] pastor.
He showed an early predilection for solitary and gloomy places and the making of verses, for which he had no other model than hymnals. At the age of twelve, he was practically adopted by his maternal grandfather, Bauer, at [[Aschersleben]], who sent him to the Pädagogium at [[Halle, Saxony-Anhalt|Halle]]. He learned Latin with difficulty. In 1764, he gained admission into the [[University of Halle]] as a student of [[theology]], which, however, he soon abandoned for the study of [[jurisprudence]]. There he fell under the influence of [[Christian Adolph Klotz]] (1738–1771), who directed Bürger's attention to literature and encouraged his natural disposition to a wild and unregulated life. In consequence of his dissipated habits, he was in 1767 recalled by his grandfather, but on promising to reform was in 1768 allowed to enter the [[University of Göttingen]] as a [[law]] student.<ref name="EB1911">{{cite EB1911 |wstitle= Bürger, Gottfried August |volume= 4 |pages= 812-813 |short=1}}</ref><ref name="nie" />

As he continued his wild career, however, his grandfather withdrew his support and he was left to his own. Meanwhile, he had made fair progress with his legal studies, and had the good fortune to form a close friendship with a number of young men of literary tastes.<ref name="EB1911"/> He studied the ancient [[classics]] and the best works in French, Italian, Spanish and English, particularly [[Shakespeare]], and the old English and Scottish ballads. [[Thomas Percy (Bishop of Dromore)|Thomas Percy]]'s ''[[Reliques of Ancient English Poetry]]'', which Bürger translated into German,<ref name=":1" /> was his constant companion.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}} In the [[Göttinger Musenalmanach|Göttingen ''Musenalmanach'']], edited by [[Heinrich Christian Boie]] and [[Friedrich Wilhelm Gotter]], Bürger's first poems were published, and by 1771 he had already become widely known as a poet. In 1772, through Boie's influence, Bürger obtained the post of ''[[Amtmann]]'' or district magistrate at [[Altengleichen]] near Göttingen. His grandfather was now reconciled to him, paid his debts and established him in his new sphere of activity.<ref name="EB1911"/>

[[Image:Die Gartenlaube 1874 Auguste Leonhart.jpg|thumb|right|Auguste Leonhart, sister of Bürger's wife, and the "Molly" of his poetry. After an autoportrait pastel drawing in 1781.]]
[[Image:Die Gartenlaube 1874 Dorette Bürger.jpg|thumb|Dorette Bürger, after a pastel drawing by her sister Auguste in 1781.]]
Meanwhile, he kept in touch with his Göttingen friends, and when the ''Göttinger Bund'' or "Hain" ("[[Göttinger Hainbund]]") was formed, Bürger, though not himself a member, kept in close touch with it. In 1773,<ref name=":0">{{Cite Collier's|wstitle=Bürger, Gottfried August}}</ref><!-- 1774 according to German Wikipedia --> the ballad ''[[Lenore (ballad)|Lenore]]''<ref>[http://www.sff.net/people/DoyleMacdonald/l_lenore.htm Lenore, by Göttfried August Bürger], (Translated by [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]])</ref> was published in the ''Musenalmanach''. This poem, which in dramatic force and in its vivid realization of the weird and supernatural remains without a rival, made his name a household word in Göttingen. ''Lenore'' was paraphrased by [[Walter Scott]] under the title ''[[Translations and Imitations from German Ballads by Sir Walter Scott#William and Helen|William and Helen]]'' and [[Goethe]] did the same under the title ''[[Bride of Corinth]]''.<ref>''German Classics'', by William Cleaver Wilkinson Published 1900 by Funk & Wagnalls Company in New York, London, p. 151ff</ref><ref>[http://allpoetry.com/poem/8479465-William_and_Helen-by-Sir_Walter_Scott ''William and Helen'' by Sir Walter Scott]</ref><ref>[http://www.simplysupernatural-vampire.com/vampire-poem-bride-of-corinth-goethe.html ''The Vampire Female: "The Bride of Corinth"'' (1797) by: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927192531/http://www.simplysupernatural-vampire.com/vampire-poem-bride-of-corinth-goethe.html |date=2013-09-27 }}</ref> In 1774 he married Dorette Leonhart, the daughter of a [[Hanover]]ian official; but his passion for his wife's younger sister Auguste (the "Molly" of his poems and elegies) rendered the union unhappy and unsettled his life. In 1778 Bürger became editor of the ''Musenalmanach'', a position he retained until his death.<ref name=nie>{{Cite NIE|wstitle=Bürger, Gottfried August|year=1905}}</ref> In the same year published the first collection of his poems. In 1780 he took a farm at [[Appenrode]], but in three years lost so much money that he had to abandon the venture. Pecuniary troubles oppressed him, and being accused of neglecting his official duties, and feeling his honour attacked, he gave up his official position and removed in 1784 to Göttingen, where he established himself as ''[[Privatdozent]]''.<ref name="EB1911"/>

[[Image:Wilhelm Volkhart Lenardo und Blandine.jpg|thumb|right|''Lenardo und Blandine'', after Bürger's poem, by [[Wilhelm Volkhart]]]]
Shortly before his removal there his wife died (30 July 1784), and on 29 June the next year he married his sister-in-law "Molly." Her death in childbirth on 9 January 1786 affected him deeply. He appeared to lose at once all courage and all bodily and mental vigour. He still continued to teach in Göttingen; at the jubilee of the foundation of the university in 1787 he was made an honorary doctor of philosophy, and in 1789 was appointed [[extraordinary professor]] in that faculty, though without a stipend.<ref name="EB1911"/><ref name=":1" /> He was obliged to gain his living by poorly rewarded translations for booksellers.

In 1790, he married a third time, his wife being a certain Elise Hahn, who, enchanted with his poems, had offered him her heart and hand. Only a few weeks of married life with his "Schwabenmädchen" sufficed to prove his mistake, and after two and a half years he divorced her. Deeply wounded by [[Friedrich Schiller|Schiller]]'s criticism, in the 14th and 15th part of the ''Allgemeine Literaturzeitung'' of 1791, of the second edition of his poems, disappointed, wrecked in fortune and health, Bürger eked out a precarious existence as a teacher in Göttingen until, ill with [[tuberculosis]], he died there on 8 June 1794.<ref name="EB1911"/> The government of Hanover afforded him some assistance shortly before his death.

Bürger's talent for popular poetry was very considerable, and his [[ballad]]s are among the finest in the [[German language]]. Besides ''Lenore'', ''Das Lied vom braven Manne'', ''Die Kuh'', ''Der Kaiser und der Abt'' and ''Der wilde Jäger'' are famous. Among his purely lyrical poems, but few have earned a lasting reputation; but mention may be made of ''Das Blümchen Wunderhold'', ''Lied an den lieben Mond'', and a few love songs. His [[sonnet]]s, particularly the elegies, are of great beauty.<ref name="EB1911"/> Bürger revived the sonnet form in German, and his experiments in it were praised as models by Schiller, despite his severe criticism of some of Bürger's more popular poems.<ref name="nie"/>
[[File:Goe.Skulptur.Bürgerstr.CA.Bürger02.detail.JPG|thumb|Bust at the Gottfried-August-Bürger-Denkmal in [[Göttingen]] from 1895]]

==Editions==
Editions of Bürger's ''Sämtliche Schriften'' appeared at Göttingen, 1817 (incomplete); 1829–1833 (8 vols.), and 1835 (one vol.); also a selection by [[Eduard Grisebach]] (5th ed, 1894). The ''Gedichte'' have been published in innumerable editions, the best being that by [[August Sauer]] (2 vols., 1884). ''Briefe von und an Bürger'' were edited by [[Adolf Strodtmann]] in 4 vols. (1874). Bürger was introduced to English readers in ''William and Helen'' (1775), [[Walter Scott]]'s version of ''Lenore''. The [[Alexandre Dumas|elder Dumas]] translated ''Lenore'' into [[French language|French]].<ref name=nie/>

Bürger is known for German translations of ''[[Baron Munchausen's Narrative of His Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia]]'' by [[Rudolf Erich Raspe]] (1786, after the release of the 4th English edition; 2nd expanded ed. 1788, after the release of the 5th expanded English edition).<ref name=":1" /> In his introduction to the 1788 German edition, Bürger admitted to adapting and elaborating the original English-language works, and, despite his clear notice that he was doing a translation, for some time Bürger was believed to be the author of the tales. Raspe had originally concealed his authorship.

==See also==
{{portal|Poetry}}
*[[Baron Munchausen]]
*[[Rudolf Erich Raspe]]
*[[Le Chasseur maudit (Franck)]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Bürger, Gottfried August|volume=4|pages=812–813}} This work in turn cites:
** Biography by [[Heinrich Pröhle]] (1856)
** Introduction from Sauer's edition of the poems
** [[Wolfgang von Wurzbach]], ''Gottfried August Bürger. Sein Leben und seine Werke'' (Leipzig, 1900)
*{{Cite Americana|wstitle=Bürger, Gottfried August}}
* {{de-ADB|23|1|5|Münchhausen, Hieronimus Freiherr von|Karl Ernst Hermann Krause|ADB:Münchhausen, Hieronymus Freiherr von (Erzähler)}}

== External links ==
{{commons}}
{{wikisource|works=or}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=5748| name=Gottfried August Bürger}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Gottfried August Bürger |sopt=w}} 
* {{Librivox author |id=4597}}
*[http://hdl.handle.net/1802/2027 Lenore. Ballade von G. A. Bürger. Melodram mit Begleitung des Pianoforte. [Op. 8.&#93;] from the Sibley Music Library Digital Score Collection
*[http://hdl.handle.net/1802/1664 Lenore. Ballade von Bürger. [Musik von&#93; Franz Liszt. Texte francais d'Alexandre Picot]from the Sibley Music Library Digital Score Collection
* {{Cite web|url=http://www.klaus-seehafer.de/dichter_denker/buerger.htm|author=Herbert Günther|publisher=klaus-seehafer.de|title=Gottfried August Bürger|access-date=26 July 2011|language=de}}
* [[William Cleaver Wilkinson]] [https://archive.org/stream/germanclassics00wilkgoog#page/n147/mode/2up  ''German classics'' Published 1900 by Funk & Wagnalls Company in New York, London p. 151]

{{Baron Munchausen |state=autocollapse}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burger, Gottfried August}}
[[Category:1747 births]]
[[Category:1794 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Mansfeld]]
[[Category:People from the Principality of Halberstadt]]
[[Category:18th-century German poets]]
[[Category:Writers from Saxony-Anhalt]]
[[Category:German male poets]]
[[Category:German-language poets]]
[[Category:University of Göttingen alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Göttingen]]
[[Category:Baron Munchausen]]