Johann Baptist Mayrhofer (22 October[Michael Lorenz: "Johann Mayrhofer's Real Date of Birth", michaelorenz.blogspot.com] 17875 February 1836) was an Austrian poet and librettist. He is best known for his close friendship with the composer Franz Schubert.
Biography
Mayrhofer was born in
Steyr, Austria, educated at
Novitiate in St. Florian's Priory,
Upper Austria. In 1810 he began to study
jurisprudence and
theology at the University of Vienna, both of which courses he finished. He worked as a censor at the Zentral-Bücher-Revisions-Amt in Vienna.
In 1814 he met the young composer Franz Schubert and his friends (Joseph von Spaun, Franz von Schober).
From 1818 to 1821 he lived with Schubert in a one-room apartment in a house on Wipplingerstrasse 4.
After Schubert moved out, he wrote the poem "An Franz" for him:
You love me! Deeply I have felt it,
You faithful boy, tender and good;
So steel yourself, beautifully bound,
The noble, youthful courage!
However life presses on,
We hear the kindred sounds. (1997). 388377572X 388377572X
Most scholars agree that he was homosexual.
In 1829 he published his Memories of Franz Schubert in the journal Neues Archiv für Geschichte,
Mayrhofer was a hypochondriac all his life: in 1836, during a cholera epidemic, he committed suicide by jumping from the window of his office in Vienna.[Susan Youens, Schubert's Poets and the making of Lieder, p. 152]
Libretti
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Die Freunde von Salamanca (1815)
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Adrast (1819)
Works
Further reading
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Davidson, Michael; Hillenaar, Henk (2008), Schubert and Mayrhofer. London 2008.
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Dürhammer, Ilija (March 1997), " 'Was ich gefühlt, hast Du gesungen' – Neue Dokumente zu Johann Mayrhofers Leben und Schaffen", Mitteilungen der österreichischen Gesellschaft für Musikwissenschaft 31, pp. 13–45.
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Dürhammer, Ilija (1999), Schuberts literarische Heimat. Dichtung und Literatur-Rezeption der Schubert-Freunde. Vienna, Cologne, Weimar.
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Michael Kohlhäufl (1999), Poetisches Vaterland. Dichtung und politisches Denken im Freundeskreis Franz Schuberts. Kassel 1999.
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List, Fritz (1921), Johann Mayrhofer, ein Freund und Textdichter Franz Schuberts. Munich 1921. Print: Nittenau: Kangler: 1991: 226 Bl.
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Lorenz, Michael (2000), "Dokumente zur Biographie Johann Mayrhofers", Schubert durch die Brille 25, June 2000, 21–50.
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Norman McKay, Elizabeth: "Schubert and Classical Opera: The promise of Adrast", Erich Wolfgang Partsch (ed.): Der vergessene Schubert: Franz Schubert auf der Bühne. Böhlau, Wien 1997, , p. 61–76.
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Rabenlechner, Michael Maria (1938), Johann Mayrhofers Gedichte mit einem Lebensbild des Dichters. Wiener Bibliophilen-Gesellschaft 1938.
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Rita Steblin (2001), "Schubert’s Problematic Relationship with Johann Mayrhofer: New Documentary Evidence". Essays on Music and Culture in Honor of Herbert Kellman, 2001, 465–495.
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Susan Youens (1999), Schubert’s Poets and the Making of Lieder. Cambridge University Press 1999.
External links
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"Mayrhofer, Johann" in Constant von Wurzbach: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich. Vol. 17. Verlag L. C. Zamarski, Vienna 1856–1891, 186–190
