Clemens Brentano | |
|---|---|
 Portrait byEmilie Linder, painted in 1835; printed in fromMeyer's Encyclopedia, 1906 | |
| Born | (1778-09-09)9 September 1778 Ehrenbreitstein nearKoblenz (today in Koblenz),Electorate of Trier,Holy Roman Empire |
| Died | 28 July 1842(1842-07-28) (aged 63) Aschaffenburg,Germany |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | German |
| Alma mater | University of Halle |
| Period | Romantic |
| Genre | Poetry |
| Notable works | Des Knaben Wunderhorn |
| Relatives | Bettina von Arnim (sister) Christian Brentano (brother) Sophie von La Roche (grandmother) Franz Brentano (nephew) Lujo Brentano (nephew) Gisela von Arnim (niece) |
Clemens Wenzeslaus Brentano (alsoKlemens; pseudonym:Clemens Maria Brentano/brɛnˈtɑːnoʊ/;German:[bʁɛnˈtaːno]; 9 September 1778 – 28 July 1842) was a German poet and novelist, and a major figure ofGerman Romanticism. He was the uncle, via his brotherChristian, ofFranz andLujo Brentano.
Clemens Brentano was born to Peter Anton Brentano andMaximiliane von La Roche,[1] a wealthy merchant family in Frankfurt on 9 September 1778.[2] His father's family was ofItalian descent. His maternal grandmother wasSophie von La Roche. His sister was writerBettina von Arnim, who, at a young age, lionised and corresponded withGoethe, and, in 1835, published the correspondence asGoethes Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde (Goethe's correspondence with a child). Clemens Brentano studied inHalle andJena, afterwards residing atHeidelberg,Vienna andBerlin. He was close toWieland,Herder,Goethe,Friedrich Schlegel,Fichte andTieck.[3]
From 1798 to 1800 Brentano lived in Jena, the first center of the romantic movement. In 1801, he moved toGöttingen, and became a friend ofAchim von Arnim. He married writerSophie Mereau on 29 October 1803. In 1804, he moved toHeidelberg and worked with Arnim onZeitungen für Einsiedler andDes Knaben Wunderhorn. After his wife Sophie died in 1806 he married a second time in 1807 to Auguste Bussmann (whose half-sister, Marie de Flavigny, later by marriage the CountessMarie d'Agoult, would become the companion of pianist and composerFranz Liszt). In the years between 1808 and 1818, Brentano lived mostly inBerlin,[3] and from 1819 to 1824 inDülmen,Westphalia.
In 1818, weary of his somewhat restless and unsettled life, he returned to the practice of theCatholic faith and withdrew to the monastery of Dülmen, where he lived for some years in strict seclusion.[4] He took on there the position of secretary to the Catholic visionary nun, theBlessedAnne Catherine Emmerich.[3]
It was claimed that from 1802 until her death she bore the wounds of theCrown of Thorns, and from 1812 the fullstigmata, a cross over her heart and the wound from the lance. Clemens Brentano made her acquaintance in 1818 and remained at the foot of the stigmatist's bed copying her dictation until 1824. When she died, he prepared an index of the visions and revelations from her journal,The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ (published 1833). One of these visions made known by Brentano later resulted in the identification of the putativeHouse of the Virgin Mary inEphesus by Abbé Julien Gouyet, a French priest, during 1881. However, some posthumous investigations in 1923 and 1928 made it uncertain how much of the books he attributed to Emmerich were actually his own creation and the works were discarded for herbeatification process.[5][6]
The latter part of his life he spent inRegensburg,Frankfurt andMunich, actively engaged in promoting the Catholic faith. Brentano assisted Ludwig Achim von Arnim, his brother-in-law, in the collection of folk-songs formingDes Knaben Wunderhorn (1805–1808),[4] whichGustav Mahler drew upon for his song cycle. In 1835, Swiss painterEmilie Linder, painted the famous portrait of him.[7] He died inAschaffenburg.
Brentano, whose early writings were published under the pseudonym Maria, belonged to the Heidelberg group of Germanromantic writers, and his works are marked by excess of fantastic imagery and by abrupt, bizarre modes of expression. His first published writings wereSatiren und poetische Spiele (Leipzig, 1800), a romanceGodwi oder Das steinerne Bild der Mutter (2 vols., Frankfort, 1801), and a musical dramaDie lustigen Musikanten (Frankfort, 1803). Of his dramas the best arePonce de Leon (1804),Victoria und ihre Geschwister (Berlin, 1817) andDie Grundung Prags (Pesth, 1815).[4]
On the whole his finest work is the collection ofRomanzen vom Rosenkranz (published posthumously in 1852); his short stories, and more especially the charmingGeschichte vom braven Kasperl und dem schönen Annerl (1817), which has been translated into English, were very popular.[4]
Brentano's collected works, edited by his brother Christian, appeared at Frankfurt in 9 vols. (1851–1855). Selections have been edited by J. B. Diel (1873), M. Koch (1892), and J. Dohmke (1893). See J. B. Diel andWilliam Kreiten,Klemens Brentano (2 vols, 1877–1878), the introduction to Koch's edition, and R. Steig,A. von Arnim und K. Brentano (1894).[4]
In his honor theClemens Brentano prize is awarded for German literature.
Richard Strauss set six poems by Brentano inSechs Lieder, Op. 68, in 1918, which are also known as his Brentano Lieder.
Brentano's work is referenced inThomas Mann's novelDoctor Faustus. A cycle of thirteen songs, based on Brentano's poems, is noted in Chapter XXI as one of the composer protagonist's most significant early works.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Brentano, Klemens".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 496.
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