Christoph Martin Wieland
Biography
Christoph Martin Wieland, born in Oberholzheim near Biberach on 5 September 1733, was the first of Weimar's classical writers to arrive: Duchess Anna Amalia called him in 1772 to educate her sons Carl August and Constantin, three years before Goethe came. In Weimar he founded Der Teutsche Merkur in 1773, the journal in which almost everything he wrote appeared first, and published Oberon in it in 1780, the verse epic Goethe called a masterpiece. He had translated twenty-two of Shakespeare's plays into German prose before any of it. From 1797 to 1803 he lived as a poetic country squire on his estate at Oßmannstedt, ten kilometres from the town, where Heinrich von Kleist read him Robert Guiskard from the manuscript. He died in Weimar on 20 January 1813 and is buried in the park at Oßmannstedt beside his wife and Sophie Brentano.
Oberholzheim 1733, Biberach 1760: the Shakespeare translator
Wieland was born on 5 September 1733 in Oberholzheim near Biberach an der Riß. In 1760 he returned to Biberach, was elected to the town's council on 30 April and became its Kanzleiverwalter, and from 1762 worked in parallel on the translation of Shakespeare's plays — eight volumes, published in Zürich between 1762 and 1766, the first German Shakespeare of any size.
Erfurt 1769: professor of philosophy
In the spring of 1769 he followed a call of the Elector of Mainz to Erfurt as professor of philosophy. Three years later the call that mattered came from Weimar.
Weimar, September 1772: tutor to the princes Carl August and Constantin
In 1772 the widowed duchess Anna Amalia called Wieland to Weimar to educate her two sons, Carl August and Constantin. He arrived in the small residence town in September 1772 with the title of Hofrat, and when the princes' education ended in 1775 the court kept him with a pension for life. He stayed for the rest of his days, the first of the writers who made the town's name.
1773–1789: Der Teutsche Merkur, and Oberon in 1780
In 1773 he founded Der Teutsche Merkur and edited it until 1789, and under a promise given in 1773 in the fight against pirate printing, everything he wrote except the translations appeared there first until 1796. The 1780 volume carried the fourteen cantos — later twelve — of Oberon, the romantic verse epic on which his fame rests. Goethe's verdict on it is on record: as long as poetry stays poetry, gold gold and crystal crystal, Wieland's Oberon will be loved and admired as a masterpiece of poetic art.
1775: Goethe arrives, a lasting regard
When Goethe followed Duke Carl August's call to Weimar in 1775, a lasting relationship of mutual recognition grew between him and Wieland, forty-two years old and long established. Wieland was among the guests Anna Amalia received at Tiefurt, and the court's circle of writers formed around the two of them, Herder joining in 1776.
Oßmannstedt 1797–1803: the poetic country squire
A collected edition of his works, published by Göschen in Leipzig from 1794, let him buy the estate of Oßmannstedt near Weimar in 1797. He called himself a poetischer Landjunker and the place his Osmantium, and the baroque manor and its park gave him six productive years. His former fiancée Sophie von La Roche visited with her granddaughter Sophie Brentano, who became a close friend and died at Oßmannstedt in 1800, aged only twenty-four; Heinrich von Kleist came in the winter of 1802 and read him Robert Guiskard from the manuscript. The death of his wife Anna Dorothea on 8 November 1801 and the estate's cost moved him to sell it in 1803 and live in Weimar again.
October 1808: Napoleon's guest at the Weimar ball
In October 1808, with the Congress of Erfurt in session, an invitation to an audience with Napoleon reached the poet in Weimar. The meeting came on 6 October, on the evening the French actors played in Weimar: the Swiss historian Johannes von Müller led Wieland up to the emperor, and Napoleon, who called him Germany's Voltaire, kept him in conversation for a long while. Wieland wrote it all down that same night and ended with the line that made the evening famous — it seemed to him he had been talking with a man of bronze. Eight days later he and Goethe received the Légion d'honneur.
20 January 1813: death in Weimar, the grave at Oßmannstedt, the monument of 1857
At seventy-six he joined the Weimar Freemasons' lodge Anna Amalia zu den drei Rosen. He died in Weimar on 20 January 1813 of the after-effects of a cold and, as he had wished, was buried in the park at Oßmannstedt beside his wife and Sophie Brentano, under a three-sided sandstone obelisk with his own line: Liebe und Freundschaft umschlang die verwandten Seelen im Leben. Weimar's monument to him, the bronze by Hanns Gasser on the Wielandplatz, was unveiled in 1857. The manor is a museum today, with the Wielandakademie and the Wieland research centre, its permanent exhibition titled with his contemporaries' name for him, Der erste Schriftsteller Deutschlands; it opens Wednesday to Monday from 11 to 17 in the season, and entry is free.
Questions visitors ask
- Why did Wieland come to Weimar?
- Duchess Anna Amalia called him in 1772 to educate her sons Carl August and Constantin. He arrived in September 1772, received a pension for life when the princes' education ended in 1775, and stayed in Weimar until his death in 1813 — three years before Goethe and four before Herder arrived.
- What is Der Teutsche Merkur?
- The journal Wieland founded in Weimar in 1773 and edited until 1789. Everything he wrote except his translations appeared there first until 1796, including the fourteen cantos of Oberon in 1780.
- What is Oberon?
- Wieland's romantic verse epic of 1780, first printed in Der Teutsche Merkur in fourteen cantos, later twelve. Goethe called it a masterpiece of poetic art that would be loved and admired as long as poetry stays poetry.
- Where is Wieland buried?
- In the park of his former estate at Oßmannstedt, ten kilometres north-east of Weimar, beside his wife Anna Dorothea and Sophie Brentano, under a three-sided sandstone obelisk. He died in Weimar on 20 January 1813 and was buried there at his own wish.
- Can the Wielandgut Oßmannstedt be visited?
- Yes. The baroque manor, Wielandstraße 16 in Oßmannstedt, is a museum of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar with partly original interiors, open Wednesday to Monday from 11 to 17 in the season, entry free; the graves are in the park.
- Did Wieland know Goethe?
- Yes. When Goethe came to Weimar in 1775, three years after Wieland, a lasting relationship of mutual recognition grew between them, and Goethe's praise of Oberon is the best-known verdict on Wieland's work.
Notable Works & Achievements
Oberon (1780)
Der Teutsche Merkur (1773–1789)
Shakespeare translations (Zürich 1762–1766, 8 volumes)
Connected Places in Weimar
Hauptstraße 14, 99425 Weimar-Tiefurt
Among the guests the house names as received here.
Wielandplatz, 99423 Weimar
The monument is to him, on the square that carries his name.
Wielandstraße 16, 99510 Ilmtal-Weinstraße OT Oßmannstedt
He lived and wrote here from 1797 to 1803 and is buried in the park, in 1813.
Historical Context
The first of the four to arrive: called in 1772, three years before Goethe, and in Weimar until his death in 1813.
For roughly sixty years a duchy of a few thousand people held the centre of German literature, because its ruler kept inviting writers to live there and then gave them jobs. That is the whole mechanism, and it ran from Goethe's arrival in 1775 to his death in 1832.
Read more about this period →Quick Facts
1733
1813
German
On stage
On stage
The other half, and the one the house makes its case for — elegance and lightness in German.
Historical figures
Historical figures
1739–1807 • duchess • regent • patron • composer
She called him to Weimar in 1772 to educate her sons, and received him among her guests at Tiefurt.
1757–1828 • duke • grand duke • patron
His pupil from 1772 to 1775 — the prince he was called to educate, and the duke who later called Goethe.
In Weimar's history
In Weimar's history
From 27 September to 14 October 1808 Napoleon and Tsar Alexander I met in Erfurt with the princes of the Rhine Confederation — and on 6 October the congress came to Weimar.
At the Weimar court ball of 6 October 1808 Napoleon asked for Wieland and talked with him at length, and the congress ended with the Légion d'honneur for him.
Around Weimar
20 km West
Wieland lectured at the University of Erfurt from 1769 to 1772 and was invited to an audience with Napoleon here in 1808.