Johan Sebastian Welhaven
Encyclopedia
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
author, poet, critic and art theorist.
Background
Johan Welhaven was born in Bergen, Norway in 1807. His grandfather, Johan Andrew Welhaven (1748–1811) was a teacher and later assistant to the pastor at St Mary's ChurchSt Mary's Church, Bergen
St Mary's Church is a church in Bergen, Norway. The construction of the church is believed to have started in the 1130s or 40s and completed around 1180, making the church the oldest remaining building in Bergen.-History:...
(Mariakirken), which served the city's German community. The author's father, Johan Ernst Welhaven (1775–1828), was a pastor at St. George's Hospital, (St. Jørgens spedalskehospital), while his mother, Else Margaret Cammermeyer, was the daughter of Johan Sebastian Cammermeyer
Johan Sebastian Cammermeyer
Johan Sebastian Cammermeyer was a Norwegian priest.He was born in Copenhagen, and studied at the University of Copenhagen. He graduated with the cand.theol. degree, and moved to Norway in 1754. He was a staunch Pietist and was influenced by Erik Pontoppidan...
, resident chaplain of The Cross Church
Korskirken
Korskirken is a cruciform church in Bergen, Norway.-Description:Korskirken is located at the intersection of the streets Kong Oscars gate and Nedre Korskirkeallmenning and dates back to the latter half of the 12th century. The name of the church refers to the True Cross, and is usually rendered in...
(Korskirken).
Johan Welhaven was the member of an accomplished family which included his sister socialite Maren Sars
Maren Sars
Maren Cathrine Sars was a Norwegian socialite.-Personal life:She was born in Bergen as a daughter of priest Johan Ernst Welhaven and Else Margrethe Cammermeyer...
, the wife of theologian and biologist Michael Sars
Michael Sars
Michael Sars was a Norwegian theologian and biologist.-Biography:Sars was born in Bergen, Norway. He studied natural history and theology at Royal Frederick University from 1823 and completed a cand.theol. degree in 1828. For several years he taught at a number of different schools, firstly in...
(1805–1869), and mother of historian, Ernst Sars
Ernst Sars
Johan Ernst Welhaven Sars was a Norwegian historian, publicist and editor. His main work was Udsigt over den norske Historie, four volumes issued from 1873 to 1891. He co-edited the magazines Nyt norsk Tidskrift from 1877 to 1878, and Nyt Tidsskrift from 1882 to 1887...
(1835–1917), marine biologist Georg Ossian Sars (1837–1927) and mezzosoprano singer Eva Nansen
Eva Nansen
Eva Helene Nansen was a celebrated Norwegian mezzosoprano singer. She was also a pioneer of women's skiing.-Personal life:...
(1858–1907). Johan Welhaven was himself the father of Norwegian architect Hjalmar Welhaven
Hjalmar Welhaven
Hjalmar Welhaven was a Norwegian architect, palace manager, and sportsman.-Personal life:Welhaven was born in Christiania as the son of writer Johan Sebastian Welhaven and Josephine Angelica Bidoluac. He married painter Margrethe Petersen Backer in 1876...
.
Welhaven attended Bergen Cathedral School from 1817-25. He first studied theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
. However, after his final exams at the University of Christiania in 1827, he devoted himself to literature. In 1836 he had visited France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
; and in 1858 he went to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
to study archaeology
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
.
In 1840, he was appointed lecturer in philosophy at the Royal Frederik's University
University of Oslo
The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...
in Christiania
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
and delivered a series of lectures on literary subjects. He was employed in 1843 and became professor in 1846. Welhaven spent 26 years lecturing in philosophy at the University from 1840 to 1866. His influence was extended by his appointment as director of the Society of Arts. He died in Christiania in 1873.
Career
Welhaven made his name as a representative of conservatism in Norwegian literature in the 19th century. As shown by an attack on Henrik WergelandHenrik Wergeland
Henrik Arnold Thaulow Wergeland was a Norwegian writer, most celebrated for his poetry but also a prolific playwright, polemicist, historian, and linguist...
's poetry, he opposed the theories of the extreme nationalists. He desired to see Norwegian culture brought into line with that of other European countries, and he himself followed the romantic tradition, being influenced by J.L. Heiberg
Johan Ludvig Heiberg (poet)
Johan Ludvig Heiberg , Danish poet and critic, son of the political writer Peter Andreas Heiberg , and of the novelist, afterwards the Baroness Gyllembourg-Ehrensvärd, was born in Copenhagen....
. He is known for his feud with Wergeland and for the poem Republikanerne ("The Republicans"). Welhaven was also romantically involved with Wergeland's younger sister Camilla Collett
Camilla Collett
Jacobine Camilla Collett was a Norwegian writer, often referred to as the first Norwegian feminist. She was also the younger sister of Norwegian poet Henrik Wergeland, and is recognized as being one of the first contributors to realism in Norwegian literature...
.
He gave an exposition of his aesthetic creed in the 1834 sonnet cycle Norges Dæmring ("The Dawn of Norway"). He published a volume of Digte ("Poems") in 1839; and in 1845 Nyere Digte ("Newer Poems"). Other poems followed in 1848, 1851 and 1859.
In the 1840s, Welhaven was a figure of the Norwegian national romanticism movement. Welhaven helped in beginning the career of Hans Gude
Hans Gude
Hans Fredrik Gude was a Norwegian romanticist painter and is considered along with Johan Christian Dahl to be one of Norway's foremost landscape painters...
— a romanticist painter — as it was Welhaven who first recommended that Gude should attend the Academy of Art in Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf School
The Düsseldorf school of painting refers to a group of painters who taught or studied at the Düsseldorf Academy in the 1830s and 1840s, when the Academy was directed by the painter Wilhelm von Schadow...
.
Selected works
- Til Henrik Wergeland! (1830)
- Henrik Wergelands Digtekunst og Polemik ved Aktstykker oplyste, (1832)
- Norges Dæmring. Et polemisk Digt, (1834)
- Digte, (1839)
- Nyere Digte, (1845)
- Halvhundrede Digte, (1848)
- Reisebilleder og Digte, (1851)
- En Sjel i Vildmarken, (1856)
- En Digtsamling, (1860)
- Ewald og de norske Digtere, (1863)
- Samlede Skrifter, (1867–68)
- Samlede Digterværker, Jubilæumsutgave I-VI (1907, reissued in 1921)
- Samlede Digterverker I-III, (1945)
- Metaphysik i 100 Paragrafer (lecture manuscript published with comments by A. Aarnes and E.A. Wyller, 1965)
- Samlede verker 1–5 (with introduction and commentary by Ingard Hauge, 1990–1992)
Other sources
- Hauge, Ingard Demringens tolker, en essaysamling om Johan Sebastian Welhaven (with Asbjørn Aarnes og Paul Grøtvedt. 1990) ISBN 82-588-0604-1
- Vassdal, Tore Bastian, Johan Sebastian Cammermeyer Welhaven som bergenser og vestlending (2006) ISBN 82-7916-041-8
- Seip, Anne-Lise Demringstid, Johan Sebastian Welhaven og nasjonen (Aschehoug, 2007) ISBN 978-82-03-19237-1
External links
- Johan Sebastian Welhaven liv og skrifter by Arne Løchen.