Nikolaus Lenau(1802-1850)
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Nikolaus Lenau's real name was Nikolaus Niembsch, Edler von Strehlenau (from 1822). Lenau grew up in the confines of an impoverished officer's family. He spent his childhood and youth in Pest, Trokaj, Vienna and Stockerau near Vienna. From 1812 to 1815 he went to the Piarist High School in Pest. In 1816 the family moved to Tokaj, where he received private lessons as well as violin and guitar lessons. In 1817 he passed his examination at the Piarist high school in Sátoraljaújhely and in 1818 at the high school in Pest. He then moved to Stockerau near Vienna to live with his wealthy paternal grandparents. In 1820 his grandfather, Colonel Josef Niembsch, received the title of nobility, which was inherited by Nikolaus Lenau after his death in 1822. From this he derived his stage name.
After his school education, with the financial support of his grandparents, he studied law, philosophy, agriculture and medicine in Pressburg, Vienna, Hungarian-Altenburg and Heidelberg from 1822 to 1832, but without completing his studies. In 1828 he was able to read one of his works for the first time, the poem "The Dreams of Youth" in J.G. Publish Seidl's paperback "Aurora". From 1830 he used his pseudonym Lenau. In Württemberg he had his first contact with the members of the "Swabian Poets' Circle" in 1831; there he met Gustav Schwab, Ludwig Uhland, Justinus Kerner, Count Alexander v. Württemberg and Carl Mayer. He owes his first publications to the Cotta publishing house to the professor, editor and poet Gustav Schwab. In Stuttgart he frequented various salons where he recited his own poems.
From 1832 to 1833 he traveled to America to try for a new start, but it failed. There he encountered a situation similar to that at home, which did not give him any new motifs for his poetic work. His experiences were processed in Ferdinand Kürnberger's novel "Der Amerika-Müde" (1855). With this trip, Lenau tried to escape from the political and intellectual narrowness of contemporary Germany. Departures have accompanied him since his childhood and also in later years. This homelessness was transferred to his poetic work, in which he moved between melancholy and commitment. In 1833 Lenau fell in love with the married Viennese woman Sophie von Löwenthal, in whose house he lived intermittently from 1837 to 1841. He began a restless life traveling between Württemberg and Vienna.
Lenau entered into several engagements, which he saw as a way out of his unhappy love - but none of them led to a happy ending. In 1836 he met the Danish theologian Hans Lassen Martensen. He and his reading of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel influenced his thinking and work. Between 1833 and 1842, Nikolaus wrote his three major hybrids "Faust" (1836), "Savonarola" (1837) and "The Albigensians" (1842). These dramatic works with an epic tone are characterized by distinctly lyrical elements that can also be found in other dramatic pieces and in his verse epics. Lenau's poetic productivity focused primarily on nature poetry. His images of nature are associated with death, isolation, transience and loss. Lenau strikes a tone of sadness and melancholy.
This contrasts with his political, often aggressive and accusatory poems, which propagate European freedom, emancipation, liberalism and democracy. These two sides make up the ambivalence in Nikolaus Lenau's poetic work. His lyrical works are characterized not only by rich images and metaphors, but also by an onomatopoeic language that appeals to all the senses. In 1844, the physical and mental collapse followed, from which Nikolaus Lenau never recovered. The sensitive poet went mad, suffered a stroke and attempted suicide several times. He was sent to closed sanatoriums in Stuttgart and Vienna, where he spent a total of six years. His work on "Don-Juan" was never completed.
Nikolaus Lenau died on August 22, 1850 in Oberdöbling/Vienna.
After his school education, with the financial support of his grandparents, he studied law, philosophy, agriculture and medicine in Pressburg, Vienna, Hungarian-Altenburg and Heidelberg from 1822 to 1832, but without completing his studies. In 1828 he was able to read one of his works for the first time, the poem "The Dreams of Youth" in J.G. Publish Seidl's paperback "Aurora". From 1830 he used his pseudonym Lenau. In Württemberg he had his first contact with the members of the "Swabian Poets' Circle" in 1831; there he met Gustav Schwab, Ludwig Uhland, Justinus Kerner, Count Alexander v. Württemberg and Carl Mayer. He owes his first publications to the Cotta publishing house to the professor, editor and poet Gustav Schwab. In Stuttgart he frequented various salons where he recited his own poems.
From 1832 to 1833 he traveled to America to try for a new start, but it failed. There he encountered a situation similar to that at home, which did not give him any new motifs for his poetic work. His experiences were processed in Ferdinand Kürnberger's novel "Der Amerika-Müde" (1855). With this trip, Lenau tried to escape from the political and intellectual narrowness of contemporary Germany. Departures have accompanied him since his childhood and also in later years. This homelessness was transferred to his poetic work, in which he moved between melancholy and commitment. In 1833 Lenau fell in love with the married Viennese woman Sophie von Löwenthal, in whose house he lived intermittently from 1837 to 1841. He began a restless life traveling between Württemberg and Vienna.
Lenau entered into several engagements, which he saw as a way out of his unhappy love - but none of them led to a happy ending. In 1836 he met the Danish theologian Hans Lassen Martensen. He and his reading of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel influenced his thinking and work. Between 1833 and 1842, Nikolaus wrote his three major hybrids "Faust" (1836), "Savonarola" (1837) and "The Albigensians" (1842). These dramatic works with an epic tone are characterized by distinctly lyrical elements that can also be found in other dramatic pieces and in his verse epics. Lenau's poetic productivity focused primarily on nature poetry. His images of nature are associated with death, isolation, transience and loss. Lenau strikes a tone of sadness and melancholy.
This contrasts with his political, often aggressive and accusatory poems, which propagate European freedom, emancipation, liberalism and democracy. These two sides make up the ambivalence in Nikolaus Lenau's poetic work. His lyrical works are characterized not only by rich images and metaphors, but also by an onomatopoeic language that appeals to all the senses. In 1844, the physical and mental collapse followed, from which Nikolaus Lenau never recovered. The sensitive poet went mad, suffered a stroke and attempted suicide several times. He was sent to closed sanatoriums in Stuttgart and Vienna, where he spent a total of six years. His work on "Don-Juan" was never completed.
Nikolaus Lenau died on August 22, 1850 in Oberdöbling/Vienna.
