Christian Felix Weiße (1726–1804) was a German writer and

pedagogue Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...

. Weiße was among the leading representatives of the Enlightenment in Germany and is regarded as the founder of German

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

Life

Weiße was born as twin on 28 January 1726 in Annaberg in the Ore Mountains as the son of Christian Heinrich Weiße and his wife, Christian Elisabeth. His father was rector at a Latin school and teacher for oriental and modern European languages. When Weiße was one year old, the family moved to

Altenburg Altenburg () is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located south of Leipzig, west of Dresden and east of Erfurt. It is the capital of the Altenburger Land district and part of a polycentric old-industrial textile and metal production region betw ...

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and lar ...

, 45 km south of

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

, where he then attended the Gymnasium and made his first attempts at writing poetry. His father had died in 1730. His family moved then to Leipzig, where he studied

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as ...

and

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing th ...

from 1745 until 1750 at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December ...

. During this time, he became acquainted with

Christian Fürchtegott Gellert Christian Fürchtegott Gellert (4 July 171513 December 1769) was a German poet, one of the forerunners of the golden age of German literature that was ushered in by Lessing. Biography Gellert was born at Hainichen in Saxony, at the foot of ...

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (, ; 22 January 1729 – 15 February 1781) was a philosopher, dramatist, publicist and art critic, and a representative of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the develop ...

Friederike Caroline Neuber Friederike Caroline Neuber, née Friederike Caroline Weissenborn, also known as Friedericke Karoline Neuber, Frederika Neuber, Karoline Neuber, Carolina Neuber, Frau Neuber, and ''Die Neuberin'' (9 March 1697 – 30 November 1760), was a German ...

Gottlieb Rabener Gottlieb Wilhelm Rabener (17 September 1714 – 22 March 1771), was a German writer of prose satires and publicist of the Enlightenment. He was born at Wachau near Leipzig, and he died at Dresden. In 1741 he made his debut as satirist in ...

and Ewald Christian von Kleist. After he finished his studies, Weiße became a private tutor to the Count Geyersberg, also a student in Leipzig.

Friedrich Nicolai Christoph Friedrich Nicolai (18 March 1733 – 11 January 1811) was a German writer and bookseller. Life Nicolai was born in Berlin, where his father, Christoph Gottlieb Nicolai (d. 1752), was the founder of the bookseller ''Nicolaisc ...

asked Weiße in 1759 to become editor of the magazine ''Bibliothek der schönen Wissenschaften'' (''Library of the Beautiful Sciences'') which Nicolai had founded two years before; Weiße published this magazine and its successor until 1788. The same year, 1759, Weiße travelled to Paris; on his return, he relinquished the tutor position and became social companion to Count Schulenburg on the count's

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

in Burgscheidungen. Weiße became district tax collector in Leipzig in 1762 and married in the following year Christiane Platner, the daughter of a renowned Leipzig surgeon and sister of

Ernst Platner Ernst Platner (; ; 11 June 1744 – 27 December 1818) was a German anthropologist, physician and Rationalist Frederick Beiser, ''The Fate of Reason: German Philosophy from Kant to Fichte'', Harvard University Press, 2009, p. 214. philosophe ...

. In 1790, the

patronage Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...

of Count Schulenburg allowed him to acquire the castle in Stötteritz (today part of Leipzig). He redesigned it completely and established an English garden. The property changed from an estate to a summerhouse and garden where a

salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon ( ...

sees guests like Christian Garve,

Christoph Martin Wieland Christoph Martin Wieland (; 5 September 1733 – 20 January 1813) was a German poet and writer. He is best-remembered for having written the first ''Bildungsroman'' (''Geschichte des Agathon''), as well as the epic ''Oberon'', which formed the ba ...

, Moritz August von Thümmel and Jean Paul. Apart from his poetry and plays, Weiße had great success with his magazine ''Der Kinderfreund'' (''The Children's Friend'') which he published from 1775 until 1782 in 24 volumes; it is regarded as the first magazine for children in Germany. Four of his poems were set to music by

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

. Weiße was not appreciated by the literary representatives of the then new movement, Sturm und Drang. His most lasting success were the

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major li ...

s to Johann Adam Hiller's ''

Singspiel A Singspiel (; plural: ; ) is a form of German-language music drama, now regarded as a genre of opera. It is characterized by spoken dialogue, which is alternated with ensembles, songs, ballads, and aria In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plur ...

e''. Weiße died on 16 December 1804 in Stötteritz; he is buried in the

Alter Johannisfriedhof The Alter Johannisfriedhof ("Old St. John's Cemetery") is the oldest burial ground in the city of Leipzig, Germany. It began in 1278, as part of the ''Johannishospital'' (St. John's Hospital) in Leipzig, a leper hospital. It was later attached ...

in Leipzig. He was survived by his wife who died in 1813. A notable child from this marriage was the historian and jurist Christian Ernst Weiße.

Works

;Librettos Almost all of the works by Johann Adam Hiller are set to librettos by Weiße, in particular: * ''

Die verwandelten Weiber ''Die verwandelten Weiber, oder Der Teufel ist los, erster Teil'' (''The Metamorphosed Wives, or The Devil to Pay, Part 1'') is a three-act german: comische Oper by the German composer Johann Adam Hiller, incorporating 14 musical numbers from th ...

'' (1766) * '' Lottchen am Hofe'' (1767) * '' Die Jagd'', (1770) Works by other composers include: * ''Der Dorfbarbier'', music (1771) by Christian Gottlob Neefe and Johann Adam Hiller * '' Romeo und Julie'' by

Georg Benda Georg Anton Benda ( cz, Jiří Antonín Benda, italic=no, link=no; 30 June 17226 November 1795) was a composer, violinist and Kapellmeister of the classical period from the Kingdom of Bohemia. Biography Born into a family of notable musicia ...

is based on Weiße's translation of Shakespeare's ''

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with ''Ham ...

'' ;Comedies * ''Die Freundschaft auf der Probe'' (1768) (''Friendship Tested'') * Collection in 3 volumes (1783) Daniel Chodowiecki Briefwechsel

;Tragedies * ''Die Befreyung von Theben'' (1764) (''The Liberation of Thebes'') * Collection in 5 volumes (1776–1780) ;Children's books and non-fiction * ''Beytrag zum deutschen Theater'' (5 volumes, 1759–1768) (''Contribution to the German Theatre'') * ''Kleine Lieder für Kinder'' (1766) (''Little Songs for Children'') * ''Neues ABC-Buch'' (1772) (''New Alphabet Book'') * ''Der Kinderfreund'' (24 volumes, 1775–1782) (''The Children's Friend'') * ''Briefwechsel der Familie des Kinderfreundes'' (12 volumes, 1784–1792) (''Letters from the Family of the Children's Friend'') * ''Achthundert neue noch nie gedruckte Räthsel'' (1791) (''Eight hundred Never-Before Printed Riddles'') * ''Christian Felix Weißens Selbstbiographie'' (1806) (Autobiography)

References

External links

*
Christian Felix Weisse
at zeno.org
Poems
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weisse, Christian Felix 1726 births 1804 deaths People from Annaberg-Buchholz Writers from Leipzig German children's writers 18th-century German poets German opera librettists German male poets German male dramatists and playwrights 18th-century German dramatists and playwrights 18th-century German male writers