
Johann Gottfried Seume (29 January 176313 June 1810) was a German author.
Biography
Seume was born in
Poserna
Poserna is a village and a former municipality in the Burgenlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.
Since 1 January 2010, it is part of the town Lützen.
References
Former municipalities in Saxony-Anhalt
Lützen
{{Burgenlandkre ...
(now part of
Lützen
Lützen () is a town in the Burgenlandkreis district of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.
Geography
Lützen is situated in the Leipzig Bay, approximately southwest of the Leipzig city limits and northeast of Weißenfels. The town has access to the Bun ...
,
Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a States of Germany, state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of
and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the List of German states ...
). He was educated first at Borna, then at the Nikolai school and
University of Leipzig
Leipzig University (), 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 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...
. The study of
Shaftesbury
Shaftesbury () is a town and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is on the A30 road, west of Salisbury, Wiltshire, Salisbury and north-northeast of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester, near the border with Wiltshire. It is the only significant hi ...
and
Bolingbroke wakened his interest in
theology
Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...
, and, breaking off his studies, he travelled to
Hesse-Kassel
The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (), spelled Hesse-Cassel during its entire existence, also known as the Hessian Palatinate (), was a state of the Holy Roman Empire. The state was created in 1567 when the Landgraviate of Hesse was divided upon t ...
to join the military.
Seume later wrote that he was traveling to study in Paris when he was seized by Hessian recruiting officers and sold to England, whereupon he was drafted to
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
. (Multiple historians dispute this account, suggesting Seume voluntarily enlisted.
)
After his return in 1783 he deserted at
Bremen
Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...
, but was captured and brought to
Emden
Emden () is an Independent city (Germany), independent town and seaport in Lower Saxony in the north-west of Germany and lies on the River Ems (river), Ems, close to the Germany–Netherlands border, Netherlands border. It is the main town in t ...
; a second attempt at flight also failed. In 1787, however, a citizen of Emden became surety for him to the amount of 80
talers, and he was allowed to visit his home. He did not return, but paid off his debt in Emden with the remuneration he received for translating an English novel.

He taught languages for a time in
Leipzig
Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...
, and became tutor to a Graf
Igelstrom, whom, in 1792, he accompanied to
Warsaw
Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
. Here he became secretary to General von Igelstrom, and, as a Russian officer, experienced the terrors of the Polish insurrection (
Kościuszko Uprising
The Kościuszko Uprising, also known as the Polish Uprising of 1794, Second Polish War, Polish Campaign of 1794, and the Polish Revolution of 1794, was an uprising against the Russian and Prussian influence on the Polish–Lithuanian Common ...
). In 1796 he was again in Leipzig and, resigning his Russian commission, entered the employment of the publisher
Georg Joachim Göschen
Georg Joachim Göschen (22 April 1752Several sources list 22 December 1752 as his date of birth; while others list 22 April 1752 as the date he was baptised. – 5 April 1828) was a German publisher and bookseller in Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony, ...
.
In December 1801, he set out on his famous nine months' walk to
Sicily
Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...
, described in his ''Spaziergang nach Syrakus'' (1803). Some years later he visited Russia,
Finland
Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
,
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
and
Denmark
Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
, a journey which is described in ''Mein Sommer im Jahr 1805'' (1807). His health now began to fail, and he died on 13 June 1810, in
Teplitz
Teplice (, until 1948 Teplice-Šanov; , ''Teplitz-Schönau'') is a city in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 51,000 inhabitants. It is the most populous Czech spa town, followed by Karlovy Vary. The historic city cen ...
(now also known as Teplice).
His reputation rests on the two books just mentioned, to which may be added his autobiography, ''Mein Leben'' (1813, continued by
C.A.H. Clodius). These works reflect Seume's sterling character and sturdy patriotism; his style is clear and straightforward; his descriptions realistic and vivid. As a dramatist (''Miltiades'', 1808), and as a lyric poet (''Gedichte'', 1801), he had but little success.
Seume's ''Gesammelte Schriften'' were first edited by J. P. Zimmermann (1823–1826); his ''Sämtliche Werke'' (1826–1827) passed through seven editions. The most recent edition as of 1911 was J. G. Seume's ''Prosaische und poetische Werke'' (10 volumes, 1879). See Oskar Planer and Camillo Reißmann, ''J. G. Seume. Geschichte seines Lebens und seiner Schriften'' (1898).
Seume and Beethoven
Seume died in Teplitz in June 1810.
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...
spent three weeks in August 1811 and another short period during the summer of 1812 at Teplitz. He is known to have visited Seume's grave, and wrote to a music teacher from Cassel, Georg Christoph Grosheim (1764–1841), telling him of the feelings of admiration for Seume that that occasion had produced in him. In his letter to Beethoven of 10 November 1819, Grosheim talks of a "marriage" of Seume's poem "Die Beterin" ("The Pleader") with Beethoven's
"Moonlight" Sonata. It is unclear whether this was a reference to an idea that had been previously discussed between the two men, or a new idea of Grosheim's.
Thayer also reports that Grosheim had tried to persuade Beethoven to arrange the slow opening movement of the "Moonlight" Sonata for voice and piano, to the words of Seume's poem ''Die Beterin''. Beethoven is said to have agreed to the idea, but nothing ever came of it.
Nevertheless, in the minds of some writers the association between "Die Beterin" and the sonata came to assume more solidity than it ever had in reality. "Die Beterin" was also sometimes said to be a painting. In the 1954 edition of ''
Grove's Dictionary of Music
''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...
'', it is specifically denied that the "Moonlight" Sonata has any connection with "a picture, ''Die Beterin'' (''The Pleader'')".
[Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th edition, 1954, Vol. V, p. 863, "Moonlight" Sonata]
Beethoven had two volumes of Seume's works in his possession when he died.
[Theodore Albrecht, Letters to Beethoven and other correspondence]
/ref>
References
*
Further reading
* J. G. Seume, ''A Stroll to Syracuse'' (Oswald Wolff, 1964), translated by Alexander & Elizabeth Henderson
External links
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Seume, Johann Gottfried
1763 births
1810 deaths
People from Lützen
People from the Electorate of Saxony
German male writers
Leipzig University alumni
18th-century German writers