Klamer Eberhard Karl Schmidt

Klamer Eberhard Karl Schmidt (29 December 1746 – 8 January 1824) was a jurist and a popular German poet-lyricist.^[1][2]

Klamer Eberhard Karl Schmidt

Ernst Gottlob, 1774

Life

Klamer Eberhard Karl Schmidt was born in the Harz region between Hannover and Leipzig, in the little Prussian town of Halberstadt, which is also where he grew up and lived out most of his life, employed for some years as a " Domänenrat" (middle-grade government administrative official). His father, about whom sources are somewhat disparaging, was a writer-clerk with some form of legal training. His parents were adequately networked locally, however. While he was growing up his mother, strongly supported by the rector at the Halberstadt cathedral school, was keen that he should study Theology and make his career as a churchman.^[1]

Between 1764 and 1767 Schmidt studied Jurisprudence at Halle. During his time at Halle or shortly after returning to Halberstadt, he became a member of the Halberstadt Poets' Circle around the popular enlightenment poet Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim.^[1][3]

Like his mentor Gleim, Schmidt became a prominent member of the Halberstadt Literary Society which existed between 1785 and 1810. The society was created through the coming together of around 40 Halberstadt citizens representing, primarily, the intellectual classes. They included government officials, ministers of religion, teachers, physicians, army officers and minor aristocrats. Its presence and activities in the town reflected and contributed to Halberstadt's status as a centre of progressive philosophy during the later enlightenment years, which coincided with the period of Schmidt's literary career.^[1][4]

On 1788 he teamed up with Gleim to publish a volume of poems by Caroline Louise von Klencke. In 1802, following her death, they had a further volume privately printed which was dedicated to the memory of von Klencke, whose life had been a difficult one. Among other compositions, this book included two of Schmidt's own poems.^[5]

In 1820 he published "Klopstock und seine Freunde", a book of Klopstock's correspondence in Halberstadt. Between 1826 and 1828 three volumes were published under the title "Leben und auserlesene Werke", containing a selection of Schmidt's own works.^[2]

Although his own poems were popular during his lifetime, they fell rapidly out of fashion after his death. One reason that he was not completely forgotten is the extent to which his verses appealed to composers on the look-out for song lyrics. His "Trennungslied" ("Song of Separation")^[6] survives in a 1787 setting by Mozart.^[7] There is also a Beethoven setting of his poem "Meine weise Mutter spricht".^[8]

Personal

In 1781 Klamer Eberhard Karl Schmidt married Louise Magdalena Justina Abel (1754–1832).^[9] She came from a family noted for erudition and was a daughter of the distinguished Halberstadt physician, literary scholar and associate of Gleim, Friedrich Gottfried Abel (1714–1794) .^[10] Her grandfather had been the Theologian-Historian and Plattdeutsch poet, Caspar Abel (1676–1763). Through his marriage Schmidt also acquired the physician and Collector Johann Gotthelf Leberecht Abel as a brother-in-law.

The marriage was followed by the births of the couple's five recorded children.^[11]

Notes

References

1. Heinrich Pröhle (1890). "Schmidt: Clamor Eberhard Karl S., Dichter und Domcommissarius in Halberstadt". Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie. Historische Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, München. pp. 716–719. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
2. Dr. Hermann Alex. Müller (original compiler) (1882). "... 15) Klamer Eberhard Karl, Dichter, geb. 29. Dez. 1746 zu Halberstadt, ward Kriegs-, später Domkommissar". Die bekanntesten Zeitgenossen auf dem Gesamtgebiet der bildenden Künste aller Länder mit Angabe ihrer Werke. .... 14.Band: Rüböl–Sodawasser .... Schmidt (Naturforscher, Dichter). .... Dichter und Schriftsteller. Verlag des Bibliographischen Instituts (original publisher of the printed version): Die Retro-Bibliothek: Nachschlagewerke zum Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts. p. 560. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
3. "Porträt Klamer Eberhard Karl Schmidt". Porträtsammlung Freundschaftstempel. museum-digital:sachsen-anhalt. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
4. "Die Literarische Gesellschaft zu Halberstadt 1785–1810". Der Aufklärerzirkel wurde 1785 gegründet, sich gegenseitig durch die Mitteilung nützlicher und angenehmer Kentnisse zu erbauen und zu belehren sowie für das Gemeinwohl zu wirken. Museum-digital, Berlin: Aufklärung in Sachsen-Anhalt. 11 June 2018. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
5. Klamer Schmidt & J. W. L. Gleim (co-compilers and producers); Antiquariat-Trauzette (digitised reproduction) (1802). "Blumen auf's Grab der Frau C.L. von Klenke, geb. Karschin. Aus ihren eigenen und ihrer Freunde Gedichten. Als Manuscript für Freunde" (PDF). Halberstadt (ohne Verlag). Retrieved 18 June 2021.
6. "Trennungslied". Köchel-Verzeichnis 519. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
7. Dr. Martin Hentrich (December 2011). "Mozarts "Trennungslied" KV 519" (PDF). aus der Zeitschrift Zwischen Harz und Bruch: Heimatzeitschrift für Halberstadt und Umgebung (Erhältlich in den Buchhandlungen und Museen der Stadt Halberstadt). Geschichtsverein für Halberstadt und das nördliche Harzvorland e.V., Halberstadt. pp. 3–7. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
8. George Chaldezos & Peter Rastl (co-researchers). "Meine weise Mutter spricht". LiederNet Archive. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
9. Friedrich von Matthisson (2007). Das Stammbuch Friedrich von Matthissons. Wallstein Verlag. p. 367. ISBN 978-3-8353-0002-6.
10. Klamer Eberhard Karl Schmidt (1827). Leben und auserlesene Werke. Cotta.
11. Joachim Scherf (26 November 2019). Liednummer 348. BoD – Books on Demand. p. 342. ISBN 978-3-7494-3758-0. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)