Johann Mayrhofer
Encyclopedia
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and librettist. He is best known for his close friendship with the composer 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...
.
Biography
Mayrhofer was born in SteyrSteyr
Steyr is a town, located in the Austrian federal state of Upper Austria. The town is situated at the confluence of the rivers Steyr and Enns. Steyr is Austria's 12th most populated town and simultaneously the 3rd largest town in Upper Austria....
, educated and Novitiate
Novitiate
Novitiate, alt. noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a novice monastic or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether they are called to the religious life....
in St. Florian's Priory
St. Florian's Priory
St. Florian's Priory is a monastery in the town of Sankt Florian, Upper Austria, Austria.-History:The monastery, named after Saint Florian, was founded in the Carolingian period. From 1071 it has housed a community of Augustinian Canons, and is thus is one of the oldest operational monasteries in...
Upper Austria
Upper Austria
Upper Austria is one of the nine states or Bundesländer of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders on Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as on the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg...
. In 1810 he began to study Jurisprudence
Jurisprudence
Jurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...
at the University of Vienna
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
and in 1814 he met the young composer 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...
and his friends (Joseph von Spaun
Joseph von Spaun
Joseph Ritter von Spaun after 1859 Joseph Freiherr von Spaun was an Austrian nobleman, an Imperial and Royal Councillor, lottery director, and honorary citizen of Vienna and Cieszyn. He is best known for his friendship with the composer Franz Schubert...
, Franz von Schober
Franz von Schober
Franz Adolf Friedrich Schober, since 1801 von Schober was an Austrian poet, librettist, lithographer, actor in Breslau and Legationsrat in Weimar....
).
Mayrhofer wrote a lot of lyric poetry and published it in 1824.
47 Schubert songs and two of his operas are based on Mayrhofer’s lyric poems.
As a young man Mayrhofer had been hopelessly in love with Mina (Wilhelmina Watteroth). In his late years Mayrhofer (like Schubert) fell in love with a young 15 year old girl, the daughter of his landlord Doctor Strauss.
Works
- Edition 1824
- Ernst von FeuchterslebenErnst, Baron von FeuchterslebenBaron Ernst von Feuchtersleben, fully Ernst Maria Johann Karl Freiherr von Feuchtersleben was an Austrian physician, poet and philosopher....
’s Edition 1843 - Mayrhofer’s Schubert songs
Weblinks
- Mayrhofer, Johann in Constant von Wurzbach: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich. Vol. 17. Verlag L. C. Zamarski, Vienna 1856–1891, 186-190