Johann Gabriel Seidl
Encyclopedia
was an Austrian
Austrians
Austrians are a nation and ethnic group, consisting of the population of the Republic of Austria and its historical predecessor states who share a common Austrian culture and Austrian descent....
archeologist, poet, storyteller and dramatist. He wrote the lyrics to "Gott erhalte, Gott beschütze unsern Kaiser, unser Land!" This was the 1854 version of the Austrian Imperial Anthem, music by Joseph Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
(Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser
Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser
Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser was an anthem to Francis II, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and later of Austria. Lorenz Leopold Haschka wrote the lyrics, and Joseph Haydn composed the melody...
).
Born in Vienna, Johann Gabriel Seidl was the son of a lawyer and studied law himself. In 1829, he began to teach at a gymnasium in Celje
Celje
Celje is a typical Central European town and the third largest town in Slovenia. It is a regional center of Lower Styria and the administrative seat of the Urban Municipality of Celje . The town of Celje is located under Upper Celje Castle at the confluence of the Savinja, Ložnica, and Voglajna...
, Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
. In 1840 he became curator at the coin and antiquities museum (Münz- und Antikenkabinett) in Vienna. From 1856 until 1871, he was responsible for the treasury. He spent most of his life in Vienna and died there in 1875.
Besides his scientific studies, Seidl published numerous poems and short stories, including the first poems by Nikolaus Lenau
Nikolaus Lenau
Nikolaus Lenau was the nom de plume of Nikolaus Franz Niembsch Edler von Strehlenau , was a German language Austrian poet.-Biography:...
. Many of his poems were set to music by Franz Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
(e.g. "Die Taubenpost" from Schwanengesang
Schwanengesang
Schwanengesang is the title of a posthumous collection of songs by Franz Schubert.Unlike the earlier Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise, it uses poems by three poets, Ludwig Rellstab , Heinrich Heine and Johann Gabriel Seidl . Schwanengesang has the number D 957 in the Deutsch catalogue...
) and Carl Loewe (e.g. "Die Uhr"). Besides having written poems in standard German, Seidl also wrote in the Austrian dialect.