Gustav Falke (11 January 1853 – 8 February 1916) was a German writer.

Life

Falke was born in

Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...

to merchant Johann Friedrich Christian Falke and his wife Elisabeth Franziska Hoyer. The historians

Johannes Johannes is a Medieval Latin form of the personal name that usually appears as " John" in English language contexts. It is a variant of the Greek and Classical Latin variants (Ιωάννης, '' Ioannes''), itself derived from the Hebrew name '' Y ...

and were his uncles, and the translator Otto Falke was his cousin. He worked in a bookstore in Hamburg from 1868, then moved to

Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

, and

Hildburghausen Hildburghausen () is a town in Thuringia in central Germany, capital of the Hildburghausen district. Geography It is situated in the Franconian part of Thuringia south of the Thuringian Forest, in the valley of the Werra River. The town centre ...

. He returned to Hamburg in 1878, where he was educated in music by Emil Krause, to become a piano teacher. In 1888 he married his former piano student Anna Theen. They had two daughters and a son. Falke started to publish his works in the 1890s and was introduced into the Hamburg

literary society A literary society is a group of people interested in literature. In the modern sense, this refers to a society that wants to promote one genre of writing or a specific author. Modern literary societies typically promote research, publish newslet ...

around , , , and

Detlev von Liliencron Baron Detlev von Liliencron born Friedrich Adolf Axel von Liliencron (3 June 1844 in Kiel22 July 1909) was a German poet and novelist from Kiel. Biography Liliencron was the son of Louis (Ludwig) Freiherr von Liliencron and Adeline von Harten. ...

. Much of his work was impressionistic

lyric poetry Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person. The term for both modern lyric poetry and modern song lyrics derives from a form of Ancient Greek literature, t ...

inspired by Liliencron,

Richard Dehmel Richard Fedor Leopold Dehmel (18 November 1863 – 8 February 1920) was a German poet and writer. Life A forester's son, Richard Dehmel was born in Hermsdorf near Wendisch Buchholz (now a part of Münchehofe) in the Brandenburg Province, ...

, and

Paul Heyse Paul Johann Ludwig von Heyse (; 15 March 1830 – 2 April 1914) was a German writer and translator. A member of two important literary societies, the '' Tunnel über der Spree'' in Berlin and '' Die Krokodile'' in Munich, he wrote novels, poetry ...

. He also wrote conservative, "folk" pieces, following

Eduard Mörike Eduard Friedrich Mörike (; 8 September 18044 June 1875) was a German Lutheran pastor who was also a Romantic poet and writer of novellas and novels. Many of his poems were set to music and became established folk songs, while others were used b ...

and

Theodor Storm Hans Theodor Woldsen Storm (; 14 September 18174 July 1888), commonly known as Theodor Storm, was a German-Frisian writer and poet. He is considered to be one of the most important figures of German realism. Life Storm was born in the small t ...

, and children's books in rhyme and prose. With the advent of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he volunteered to write war propaganda as well, for which he was awarded the

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n ''Roter Adlerorden''. Composers such as

Pauline Volkstein Pauline Volkstein (19 January 1849 – 6 May 1925) was a German composer of more than 1,000 songs. Biography Volkstein was born in Quedlinburg, Germany. She had little formal music training, but came from a musical family. Her mother had studied ...

set Falke’s texts to music. Falke died in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

Works

* ''Aus dem Durchschnitt'', Berlin 1892 * ''Mynheer der Tod und andere Gedichte'', Dresden u.a. 1892 * ''Tanz und Andacht'', München 1893 * ''Harmlose Humoresken'', München 1894 * ''Der Kuß'', München 1894 * ''Zwischen zwei Nächten'', Stuttgart 1894 * ''Landen und Stranden'', Berlin ** 1. ''Hamburger Kinder'', 1895 ** 2. ''Neben der Arbeit'', 1895 ** 3. ''Hab ich nur deine Liebe'', 1901 * ''Zwei'', 1896 * ''Neue Fahrt'', Berlin 1897 * ''Der Mann im Nebel'', Hamburg 1899 * ''Mit dem Leben'', Hamburg 1899 * ''Gustav Falke als Lyriker'', Hamburg 1900 * ''Vogelbuch'', Hamburg 1901 (together with

Otto Speckter Otto Speckter (9 November 1807, in Hamburg – 29 April 1871, in Hamburg) was a German etcher and illustrator. Life and work He was the son of Johannes Michael Speckter, whose lithographic company he took over in 1834. His brother was the pai ...

) * ''Katzenbuch'', Hamburg 1900 (together with Otto Speckter) * ''Hohe Sommertage'', Hamburg 1902 * ''Putzi'', Hamburg 1902 * ''Aus Muckimacks Reich'', Hamburg 1903 * ''Zwischengerichte'', Leipzig 1903 * ''Der gestiefelte Kater'', Hamburg 1904 * ''Ausgewählte Gedichte'', Hamburg 1905 * ''Bübchens Weihnachtstraum''. Melodramatisches Krippenspiel. Musik (1906): Engelbert Humperdinck. UA 1906 * ''Eichendorff'', Berlin u.a. 1906 * ''En Handvull Appeln'', Hamburg 1906 * ''Timm Kröger'', Hamburg 1906 * ''Frohe Fracht'', Hamburg 1907 * ''Heitere Geschichten'', Berlin u.a. 1907 * ''Drei gute Kameraden'', Mainz 1908 * ''Hamburg'', Stuttgart u.a. 1908 * ''Die Kinder aus Ohlsens Gang'', Hamburg 1908 * ''Dörten und andere Erzählungen'', Leipzig 1909 * ''Ein lustig Jahr der Tiere'', München 1909 (together with Th. Huggenberger) * ''Tierbilder'', Mainz (together with Eugen Osswald) ** 1 (1909) ** 2 (1909) * ''Winter und Frühling'', Leipzig 1909 * ''Die Auswahl'', Hamburg 1910 * ''Geelgösch'', Leipzig u.a. 1910 * ''Klaus Bärlappe'', Mainz 1910 * ''Der Spanier'', Berlin 1910 * ''Drei Helden'', Mainz 1911 (together with Arpad Schmidhammer) * ''Das Schützenfest. Im Fischerdorf'', Reutlingen 1911 * ''Unruhig steht die Sehnsucht auf'', Hamburg u.a.] 1911 * ''Gesammelte Dichtungen'', Hamburg u.a. ** 1. ''Herddämmerglück'', 1912 ** 2. ''Tanz und Andacht'', 1912 ** 3. ''Der Frühlingsreiter'', 1912 ** 4. ''Der Schnitter'', 1912 ** 5. ''Erzählende Dichtungen'', 1912 * ''Herr Henning oder Die Tönniesfresser von Hildesheim'', Leipzig 1912 * ''Die neidischen Schwestern'', Berlin 1912 * ''Der Schnitter'', Hamburg 1912 * ''Die Stadt mit den goldenen Türmen'', Berlin 1912 * ''Anna'', Hamburg 1913 * ''Herr Purtaller und seine Tochter'', Mainz 1913 * ''Kunterbunt'', Mainz 1914 (together with Eugen Osswald) * ''Vaterland heilig Land'', Leipzig 1915 * ''Viel Feind, viel Ehr'', Leipzig 1915 * ''Das Leben lebt'', Berlin 1916

Translations

Holger Drachmann Holger Henrik Herholdt Drachmann (9 October 1846 – 14 January 1908) was a Danish poet, dramatist and painter. He was a member of the Skagen Painters, Skagen artistic colony and became a figure of the Scandinavian Modern Breakthrough Movem ...

: ''Verschrieben'', Leipzig 1904 (translated together with Julia Koppel) * John Brymer mit Zeichnungen von Stewart Orr: ''Zwei lustige Seeleute'', Köln am Rhein 1905 Original: ''Two Merry Mariners''

Editor

* ''Steht auf ihr lieben Kinderlein'', Köln 1906 (published together with Jakob Loewenberg) * Friedrich Hebbel: ''Meine Kindheit'', Hamburg 1903 * ''Das Büchlein Immergrün'', Cöln 1903 * ''Kriegsdichtungen'', Hamburg ** 1. ''Hoch, Kaiser und Reich!'', 1914 ** 2. ''Unsere Helden'', 1915 ** 3. ''Wir und Österreich'', 1915 ** 4. ''Zu Wasser und zu Lande'', 1915 ** 5. ''Feinde ringsum'', 1915 ** 6. ''Von Feld zu Feld'', 1915 ** 7. ''Fern vom Krieg'', 1916 ** 8. ''Zum blutig frohen Reigen'', 1917

Literature

German language

* Oscar Ludwig Brandt: ''Gustav Falke''. Enoch Verlag, Hamburg 1917. * Friedrich Castelle: ''Gustav Falke. Ein deutscher Lyriker''. Hesse und Becker, Leipzig 1909. * Joachim Müller (ed.): ''Die Akten Gustav Falke und Max Dauthendey'', Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 1970 (Aus dem Archiv der Deutschen Schillerstiftung; 15/16) * Kurt Oppert: ''Gustav Falke. Darstellung seiner Persönlichkeit und Formanalyse seiner Gedichte nach allgemeinen Gesichtspunkten und im Vergleich zu andersartiger Lyrik''. Dissertation, Universität, Bonn 1925. * Jens Resühr: ''Verskunstprobleme in der Lyrik Gustav Falkes''. Hamburg 1967. * Ernst Ludwig Schellenberg: ''Gustav Falke''. Verlag für Literatur, Kunst und Musik, Leipzig 1908 (Beiträge zur Literaturgeschichte; H. 55) * Heinrich Spiero: ''Gustav Falke. Ein Lebensbild''. Westermann, Braunschweig 1928. * Gerhard Steiner: ''Stille Dächer, zarte Liebe. Die Jugendzeit des Dichters Gustav Falke in Hildburghausen''. Verlag Frankenschwelle Salier, Hildburghausen 1994, .

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Falke, Gustav 1853 births 1916 deaths Writers from the German Empire Writers from Lübeck German poets German male poets German-language poets