Heinrich Leopold Wagner (19 February 1747 – 4 March 1779) was a German

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between characters and is intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. Ben Jonson coined the term "playwri ...

of the ''

Sturm und Drang (, ; usually translated as "storm and stress") was a proto-Romanticism, Romantic movement in German literature and Music of Germany, music that occurred between the late 1760s and early 1780s. Within the movement, individual subjectivity an ...

'' movement. Wagner was born in

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

as the eldest son of a merchant. After his school years in Strasbourg, he studied Law. In 1773, he went to

Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; Rhenish Franconian: ''Sabrigge'' ; ; ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken has 181,959 inhabitants and is Saarland's administrative, commerci ...

, where he worked as a tutor at the court. From there in 1774 he travelled to

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

via

Zweibrücken Zweibrücken (; ; , ; literally translated as "Two Bridges") is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Schwarzbach (Blies), Schwarzbach River. Name The name ''Zweibrücken'' means 'two bridges'; older forms of the name include Middl ...

and

Gießen Giessen, spelled in German (), is a town in the German state () of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 university students. Th ...

. In 1776, he resumed his studies in Strasbourg and finished with his doctoral examination. From the 21 September 1776 he worked as a lawyer in Frankfurt. He married a widowed woman 18 years older than him and died on the 4 March 1779 at the young age of 32, probably from

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

. Wagner had contact with several important writers of the Sturm und Drang movement, such as

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

, Friedrich Maximillian Klinger, (1752–1831), Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz, (1753–1795), Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart (1739–1791) and Johann Friedrich Müller, known as Maler Müller, (1749–1825). Together with Klinger and Lenz Wangner was known by his contemporaries as a ''Goethianer'', since these authors were among Goethe's closest friends. He was seen nonetheless as the least important of the ''Goethianer.'' His most important work was a play written in 1776 titled ''The Child Murderess'', a societal critique typical of the ''Sturm und Drang'' movement. The work was reworked by Peter Hacks in 1957.Johannes Werner: ''Gesellschaft in literarischer Form. H. L. Wagners „Kindermörderin“ als Epochen- und Methodenparadigma'' (= ''Literaturwissenschaft-Gesellschaftswissenschaft, Bd. 28''). Stuttgart 1977

Works

* ''Prometheus, Deukalion und seine Rezensenten'', 1775 * ''Der wohltätige Unbekannte'', 1775 * ''Die Reue nach der Tat'', 1775 * ''Neuer Versuch über die Schauspielkunst'', 1776, a translation of Louis-Sébastien Mercier's ''Du Théâtre ou nouvel essai sur l'art dramatique'' * ''Leben und Tod Sebastian Silligs'' * '' Die Kindermörderin'', 1776 * ''Briefe, die Seylersche Gesellschaft betreffend'', 1777 * ''Evchen Humbrecht oder Ihr Mütter merkts Euch!'', 1778, a reworking of ''Die Kindermörderin''

References

External links

1747 births 1779 deaths People from the Province of Alsace Writers from Strasbourg Alsatian-German people German male dramatists and playwrights 18th-century German dramatists and playwrights French writers in German 18th-century French male writers {{Germany-writer-stub