Hermann (Ritter von) Lingg (22 January 1820 – 18 June 1905) was a German poet who also wrote plays and short stories. His cousin,Maximilian von Lingg, wasBishop of Augsburg.
He was born inLindau. Lingg studied medicine at the universities ofMunich,Freiburg,Berlin, andPrague, and became a doctor in theBavarian Army. From 1839, he was a member of theCorps Suevia München.[1] His battalion was used to quell revolutionary uprisings inBaden; forced to act against his convictions, he fell into severe depression, entered a mental hospital in 1851 and soon submitted his resignation. From that point on, he lived inMunich and devoted himself to historical and poetic studies, financially supported by KingMaximilian II. His marriage to a forester's daughter in 1854 improved hismental stability, and a pension (with occasional financial support from friends, such asMax von Pettenkofer andJustus von Liebig, and theGerman Schiller Foundation) improved their living standards.
Lingg first gained attention with a collection of poems introduced byEmanuel Geibel (Stuttgart 1853). His most famous work isDie Völkerwanderung ("The Great Migration", Stuttgart, 1866–68, 3 vols). He was ennobled in 1890.
His poem "Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer" was set by Johannes Brahms as No. 2 of hisFünf Lieder, Op. 105 andMax Bruch’s cantataSalamis is based on another of his poems.[2] His manuscripts are now located in theBavarian State Library. There are streets named after him in both Munich andLindau.
