Johann Karl August Musäus (29 March 1735 – 28 October 1787) was a German author. He was one of the first collectors of Germanfolk stories, most celebrated for hisVolksmärchen der Deutschen (1782–1787), a collection of Germanfairy tales retold as satires.
Born inJena on 29 March 1735, the only son of Joseph Christoph Musäus, a judge. In 1743 his father became a councillor and police magistrate inEisenach, and the young Musäus moved to live with his godfather and uncle Dr. Johann Weißenborn inAllstedt, who was entrusted with his education and treated Musäus like a son. He continued living with his uncle until he was nineteen years old, even when his uncle became general superintendent of Eisenach in 1744, a move which brought him to the same city as his parents again.[1][2]
Musäus entered theUniversity of Jena in 1754 to studytheology (probably the choice of his godfather rather than his own), and was admitted into GermanSociety around this time, a sign of more than ordinary merit. He received aMaster's degree after the usual three and a half years of study, to add to the degree he had receivedhonoris causa ten years earlier on 13 July 1747, and returned to Eisenach to wait for an appointment in the Church, which he was now licensed for. Despite preaching well, he was not especially devoted to religion, and received no appointment; when after several years he was offered a vacancy as pastor in the nearby countryside, the locals objected on the grounds that "he had once been seen dancing". This finished his hopes of a career in the church, and at the age of twenty-five he became an author ofsatire.[1][2]
From 1760 to 1762, Musäus published in three volumes his first work,Grandison der Zweite (Grandison the Second), afterwards (in 1781–1782) rewritten and issued with a new title,Der deutsche Grandison (The German Grandison). The object of this book was to satirizeSamuel Richardson's heroSir Charles Grandison, who had many sentimental admirers in theHoly Roman Empire.[3]
In 1763 Musäus was made tutor of the court pages inWeimar, and in 1769 he became professor of Ancient Languages and History at theWilhelm-Ernst-Gymnasium in Weimar.[3][4][5] He became aFreemason in July 1776 at the "Amalia" lodge in Weimar, and became a member of theBavarian Illuminati in August 1783, taking the names "Priscillianus" and "Dante Alighieri", and becoming presbyter that year.[6] Musäus was an amateur actor, and introduced his nephewAugust von Kotzebue to the theatre,[7] as well as acting alongsideJohann Wolfgang von Goethe in the latter's early verse comedyDie Mitschuldigen (1777).[8] Due to his sociable nature, he was held in high regard in Weimar.[5]
His second book,Physiognomische Reisen, did not appear until 1778/79. It was directed againstLavater, and attracted much favorable attention. From 1782 to 1787, he published his best work,Volksmärchen der Deutschen, a collection of Germanfairy tales. Even in this series of tales, the substance of which Musäus collected among the people, he could not refrain from satire. The stories, therefore, lack the simplicity of genuine folk-lore. In 1785, was issuedFreund Heins Erscheinungen in Holbeins Manier byJohann Rudolph Schellenberg, with explanations in prose and verse by Musäus. He was prevented from completing a collection of stories entitledStraussfedern (though one volume was published in 1787) by his death on 28 October 1787, aged 52,[3] in Weimar, where he is buried in theJacobsfriedhof.
Musäus'sNachgelassene Schriften (1791) were published posthumously, edited by his relative,August von Kotzebue.[3] TheStraussfedern continued to be published by the booksellerChristoph Friedrich Nicolai, with contributions byLudwig Tieck (1795–1798).[9]
Musäus'sVolksmärchen were an early part of the revived interest in fairy tales (which had declined since their late-17th century peak) caused by the rise ofromanticism andRomantic nationalism. This trend continued in the nineteenth century and included others, such asBenedikte Naubert and theBrothers Grimm.[10][11] They had an important influence onHans Christian Andersen.[12]
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TheVolksmärchen have been frequently reprinted (Düsseldorf, 1903, etc.) and translated. Five of the tales were translated into English byThomas Beddoes asPopular Tales of the Germans (1791),[13][14] and three were included inGerman Romance (1827) translated byThomas Carlyle.[15] They were also translated into French a number of times, including asContes populaires des Allemands (1803) by J. Lefèvre,[16] a translation of two of the stories byIsabelle de Montolieu (1803),[17] and another complete translation with an introduction byCharles Paul de Kock (1826)[18] among others.[19]
The last of the "Legenden von Rübezahl" ('Legends ofRübezahl') in theVolksmärchen was said by Henry A. Pochmann and others[20] to have inspired theHeadless Horseman ofWashington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (1820).[21]
Another of theVolksmärchen, "Der geraubte Schleier" ("The Stolen Veil"), a tale about aSwan maiden, was used byPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to provide the plot outline ofSwan Lake (1876), though the extent of Tchaikovsky's use of Musäus's story is challenged by some such as Russian ballet patriarch Fyodor Lopukhov, who argue the ballet is essentially Russian.[22]
One of theVolksmärchen translated into French ("Stumme Liebe" translated as "L'Amour Muet") was contained inJean-Baptiste Benoît Eyriès'sFantasmagoriana (1812) along with seven other German ghost-stories. This collection was read byLord Byron,Percy Bysshe Shelley,Mary Shelley,Claire Clairmont andJohn William Polidori inthe summer of 1816, and inspired them to try to write their own ghost-stories. Lord Byron wrotea fragment of a novel that is considered the first modern vampire story, Polidori wroteThe Vampyre based on this, and Mary Shelley went on to writeFrankenstein.[23] Five of the eight stories inFantasmagoriana were translated into English bySarah Elizabeth Utterson asTales of the Dead (1813), including an abridged form of "Stumme Liebe" as "The Spectre-Barber".[24]
His collected folk tales continue to be adapted, such as the story ofLibussa andPremysl in the 2009 filmThe Pagan Queen.
Anasteroid discovered on 6 April 1989 was named10749 Musäus, after him.[25]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Musäus, Johann Karl August".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 43.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help){{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
