Johann August Apel (17 September 1771 – 9 August 1816) was a German writer and

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Un ...

. Apel was born and died in

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 ...

Influence

''Die Jägerbraut'' was his version of "Der Freischütz", and it was published as the first story of the first volume of his and Friedrich Laun's '' Gespensterbuch'' horror anthology (1810).

Friedrich Kind Johann Friedrich Kind (4 March 1768, in Leipzig – 24 June 1843 in Dresden) was a German dramatist, most famous for writing the libretto for Carl Maria von Weber's opera ''Der Freischütz'' (1821). Biography He studied law, and began his law p ...

and

Carl Maria von Weber Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (18 or 19 November 17865 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, virtuoso pianist, guitarist, and critic who was one of the first significant composers of the Romantic era. Best known for his operas, ...

drew on this version as the main source for the story of their opera ''

Der Freischütz ' ( J. 277, Op. 77 ''The Marksman'' or ''The Freeshooter'') is a German opera with spoken dialogue in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Friedrich Kind, based on a story by Johann August Apel and Friedrich Laun from their 1 ...

'' (1821). On recommendation of

Carl von Brühl Carl (or Karl) Friedrich Moritz Paul von Brühl (1772–1837) was a friend of Goethe, who, as the Superintendent general of the Prussian royal theatres, was of some importance in the history of the development of the drama in Germany. He was a m ...

they abandoned their

working title A working title, which may be abbreviated and styled in trade publications after a putative title as (wt), also called a production title or a tentative title, is the temporary title of a product or project used during its development, usually ...

''The Hunter's Bride'' to the better known title of Apel's tale. Two of his other short stories ("Die Bilder der Ahnen" and "Die schwarze Kammer") were included in Jean-Baptiste Benoît Eyriès' '' Fantasmagoriana'' (1812), which was read by

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

Mary Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel '' Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an early example of science fiction. She also ...

Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 17928 July 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his ach ...

, John William Polidori and Claire Clairmont at the

Villa Diodati The Villa Diodati is a mansion in the village of Cologny near Lake Geneva in Switzerland, notable because Lord Byron rented it and stayed there with John Polidori in the summer of 1816. Mary Shelley and Percy Bysshe Shelley, who had rented a hou ...

Cologny Cologny () is a municipality in the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. History Cologny is first mentioned in 1208 as ''Colognier''. The oldest trace of a settlement in the area is a Neolithic lake side village which was discovered near the village ...

, Switzerland during the

Year Without a Summer The year 1816 is known as the Year Without a Summer because of severe climate abnormalities that caused average global temperatures to decrease by . Summer temperatures in Europe were the coldest on record between the years of 1766–2000. Thi ...

, inspiring them to write their own ghost stories, including " The Vampyre" (1819), and ''

Frankenstein ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific exp ...

'' (1823), which went on to shape the Gothic horror genre. "Die Bilder der Ahnen" (translated by

Sarah Elizabeth Utterson Sarah Elizabeth Utterson (3 November 1781 – 22 September 1851) was a British translator and author. She anonymously translated most of '' Fantasmagoriana'' (1812) as '' Tales of the Dead'' (1813), which also included her own short story " The ...

in '' Tales of the Dead'' (1813) as "The Family Portraits") especially influenced Mary Shelley, who described it in her introduction to the 1831 edition of ''Frankenstein'':

Works

* ''Die Aitolier'' (1806) * '' Gespensterbuch'' (1810–1815) with Friedrich Laun * ''Wunderbuch'' volumes 1–2 (1815–1816) with Friedrich Laun * ''Kalliroe'' (1806) * ''Metrik'' (1814–1816) * ''Polyidos'' (1805)

References

External links

* * * 1771 births 1816 deaths People from the Electorate of Saxony Jurists from Saxony 19th-century German novelists Writers from Leipzig German male novelists 19th-century German male writers 19th-century German jurists People educated at the St. Thomas School, Leipzig {{Germany-law-bio-stub