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Friedrich Hebbel

Born

in Wesselburen, Dithmarschen, Holstein, Germany

March 18, 1830

Died

December 13, 1863

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The Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums educated German poet and dramatist Christian Friedrich Hebbel, the son of a bricklayer. He sent verses to Amalie Schoppe (1791–1858), a popular journalist and author of nursery tales; his manifest talent for poetry despite his humble origins resulted in the publication of these verses in the Hamburg Modezeitung. Through her patronage, he ably went to the University of Hamburg.

A year later, Hebbel went to Heidelberg to study law but then went to the University of Munich, where he devoted to philosophy, history, and literature. In 1839, he left Munich and walked all the way back to Hamburg, where he resumed his friendship with Elise Lensing, whose self-sacrificing assistance had helped him over the darkest The Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums educated German poet and dramatist Christian Friedrich Hebbel, the son of a bricklayer. He sent verses to Amalie Schoppe (1791–1858), a popular journalist and author of nursery tales; his manifest talent for poetry despite his humble origins resulted in the publication of these verses in the Hamburg Modezeitung. Through her patronage, he ably went to the University of Hamburg.

A year later, Hebbel went to Heidelberg to study law but then went to the University of Munich, where he devoted to philosophy, history, and literature. In 1839, he left Munich and walked all the way back to Hamburg, where he resumed his friendship with Elise Lensing, whose self-sacrificing assistance had helped him over the darkest days in Munich. In the same year, he wrote his first tragedy, Judith (1840, published 1841), which in the following year was performed in Hamburg and Berlin and made his name known throughout Germany.

He in 1840 wrote the tragedy Genoveva . Hebel at Munich began Der Diamant , a comedy, which he finished in 1841. In 1842, he visited Copenhagen, obtained a small travelling studentship from Christian VIII, king, and thus ably spent some time in Paris and two years (1844–1846) in Italy. In Paris, he wrote his fine "tragedy of common life," Maria Magdalena (1844). On return from Italy, Hebbel at Vienna met two Polish noblemen, the brothers Zerboni di Sposetti, who in their enthusiasm for his genius urged him and supplied him with the means to mingle in the best intellectual society of the Austrian capital.

Old precarious existence of Hebbel then horrified him, who in 1846 married the beautiful and wealthy actress Christine Enghaus, giving up the faithful Elise Lensing (faithful until her death), on the grounds that "a man's first duty is to the most powerful force within him, that which alone can give him happiness and be of service to the world": in his case the poetical faculty, which would have perished "in the miserable struggle for existence". This "deadly sin," which, "if peace of conscience be the test of action," was, he considered, the best act of his life, established his fortunes. Elise, however, still provided useful inspiration for his art. As late as 1851, shortly after her death, he wrote the little epic Mutter und Kind, intended to show that the relation of parent and child is the essential factor which makes the quality of happiness among all classes and under all conditions equal.

Long before this Hebbel had become famous, German sovereigns bestowed decorations upon him; in foreign capitals he was feted as the greatest of living German dramatists. From the grand-duke of Saxe-Weimar he received a flattering invitation to take up his residence at Weimar, where several of his plays were first performed. He remained, however, at Vienna until his death.
Besides the works already mentioned, Hebbel's principal tragedies are:
Herodes and Mariamne (1850)
Julia (1851)
Michel Angelo (1851)
Agnès Bernauer (1855)
Gyges and His Ring (1856)
Die Nibelungen (1862), his last work (a trilogy consisting of a prologue, Der gehörnte Siegfried, and the tragedies, Siegfrieds Tod and Kriemhilds Rache), which won for the author the Schiller prize.

Of his comedies Der Diamant (1847), Der Rubin (1850) and the tragi-comedy Ein Trauerspiel in Sizilien (1845), are the more important, but they are heavy and hardly rise above mediocrity. All his dramatic productions, however, exhibit skill in characterization, great glow of passion, and a true feeling for dramatic situation; but their poetic effect is frequently marred by extravagances which border on the grotesque, and by the introduction of incidents the unpleasant character of which is not sufficiently relieved. In many of his lyric poem ...more

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Friedrich Hebbel’s books

Average rating: 3.1 · 1,239 ratings · 90 reviews · 738 distinct works • Similar authors

	Maria Magdalena 2.83 avg rating — 701 ratings — published 1844 — 58 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Judith: Eine Tragödie in Fünf Akten by Friedrich Hebbel, Helmut Bachmeier (Afterword) 3.65 avg rating — 146 ratings — published 1840 — 49 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Die Nibelungen 3.65 avg rating — 139 ratings — published 1861 — 101 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Agnes Bernauer 2.93 avg rating — 74 ratings — published 1851 — 50 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Gyges ve Yüzüğü by Friedrich Hebbel, Sabahattin Ali (Translator) 3.45 avg rating — 31 ratings — published 1854 — 29 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Herodes und Mariamne by Friedrich Hebbel, Edna Purdie (Editor) 3.50 avg rating — 12 ratings — published 1848 — 61 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Maria Magdalena. EinFach Deutsch Textausgaben: Gymnasiale Oberstufe by Friedrich Hebbel, Yomb May 2.38 avg rating — 13 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Tagebücher 3.71 avg rating — 7 ratings — published 1903 — 25 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Giudizio Universale con pause by Friedrich Hebbel, Alfred Brendel (Editor), Elisabetta Dell'Anna Ciancia (Translator) 3.83 avg rating — 6 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Anna 1.90 avg rating — 10 ratings — published 2011	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Friedrich Hebbel…

Quotes by Friedrich Hebbel (?)

“Sleep is death enjoyed.”
― Friedrich Hebbel

tags: life, literature, personal, quotes

8 likes

“We are as small as our joy (the sum of all ) and as big as our pain (the sum of all )
Somos tan pequeños como nuestra dicha y tan grandes como nuestro dolor”
― Christian Friedrich Hebbel

tags: dicha, dolor, joy, moral-size, pain

4 likes

“Es ist jedenfalls besser, ein eckiges Etwas zu sein als ein rundes Nichts.”
― Christian Friedrich Hebbel

3 likes

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