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Ross
Publishing
The Friedrich‑RŸckert‑Autographs
in the
Schweinfurt Town Archives For many of his German
contemporaries Friedrich RŸckert (1788‑1866) was the most eminent
German-language poet. Today a wider audience knows him, above all, through the
setting to music of his "Kindertodtenlieder" by Gustav Mahler.
His merits as a scholar and translator, including his "masterly
adaptations of middle and far eastern poems" (Annemarie Schimmel) are, along
with his Qu'ran translation, widely honored in the academic world. AThe RŸckert Collection in the
Schweinfurt Town Archives@ contains 22,000 manuscripts as
well as 547 of his letters and the records of his life, such as publishers= contracts and documents. The sheer mass of this material is
overwhelming. It includes about 5,500 poems and numerous notes, for example on
the various languages that RŸckert studied, as well as the transcripts of
complete works, such as the Qu'ran translation or the dramas. A classification
of the sources into a literary genre is hardly possible because the reciprocal
interdependencies are very narrow:
poetical translations, adaptations, language studies and his own poems
flow into each other without boundaries. The majority of the RŸckert
autographs in the Archives have not yet been subjected to academic editing. In
view of the scope and the complexity of the sources, interested scholars around
the world are presented with a task that will occupy them for many years to
come. The microfiche edition and the digitization of these sources now makes
academic editing of the holdings feasible, especially as many of the originalsBoften loose sheets written in
pencil and on the verge of disintegratingBshould no longer be handled. A 300‑page printed
catalog, published by the Schweinfurt Town Archives in the 1990s, describes the
individual elements of RŸckert's literary legacy. It is provided with the
microfiches and will add advanced research information to the detailed search
options of the Download Service to this collection. Microfiche Edition with PDF‑
Download Service Combining Sustainability and
Easy Access Microfiches for long‑term
preservation; E‑books (PDF) for daily use The complete set of RŸckert
autographs is being published simultaneously in two formats: microfiches and
e-books. The price for the set
includes delivery of 304 silver halide microfiches, a copy of the printed
catalog, MARC21‑records (on a disc), and free access to the e-book edition
via the PDF-Download Service. This
new concept ensures that libraries are able to fulfill their long‑term
collection obligations and at the same time provide the electronic copies that
today's library users require. As
a physical object on the library=s shelves the microfiche edition
provides long‑term access to its contents without having to depend on
publishers, service providers or special technology. An additional download service
provides customers with e‑books (PDF) for their use. Each e‑book
may be used for up to six weeks at a time. There are no restrictions on how
often a specific work may be downloaded.
(An e-book consists of an
individual volume or selected segments of the collection as required by the
user.) With the combination of analog
and digital media the library doesn=t have to choose between online
access and permanence; no choice between the needs of today and a sustainable
collection management policy has to be made. The microfiche edition plus
download service meets both challenges. The Friedrich‑RŸckert‑Autographs
in the
Schweinfurt Town Archives RŸckert was born at
Schweinfurt, the eldest son of a lawyer. He was educated at the local gymnasium
and at the universities of WŸrzburg and Heidelberg. From 1816 to 1817 he
worked on the editorial staff of the Morgenblatt at Stuttgart. He spent nearly
the whole of the year 1818 in Rome, and afterwards he lived for several years
at Coburg (1820 ‑1826). He was appointed a professor of Oriental
languages at the University of Erlangen in 1826, and, in 1841, he was called to
a similar position in Berlin, where he was also made a privy councillor. In
1849 he resigned his professorship at Berlin, and went to live on his estate,
Neuses (near Coburg). When RŸckert began his literary
career, Germany was engaged in her life‑and‑death struggle with
Napoleon. In his first volume, Deutsche Gedichte (German Poems), published in 1814 under the
pseudonym Freimund Raimar, he gave, particularly in the powerful Geharnischte
Sonette (Sonnets in Arms/Harsh Words), vigorous expression to the prevailing
sentiment of his countrymen. During 1815 to 1818 appeared Napoleon, eine
politische Komšdie in drei StŸcken (Napoleon, a Political Comedy in Three Parts)‑‑only two parts
of which were published; and in 1817 Der Kranz der Zeit (The Wreath of Time). He issued a collection of
poems, …stliche Rosen (Eastern Roses), in 1822; and from 1834 to
1838 his Gesammelte Gedichte (Collected Poems) were published in six
volumes, a selection from which has passed through many editions. RŸckert, who was master of 30
languages, made his mark chiefly as a translator of Oriental poetry and as a
writer of poems conceived in the spirit of Oriental masters. Much attention was
attracted by a translation of Hariris Makamen in 1826, Nal und Damajanti, an Indian tale, in 1828, Rostem
und Suhrab, eine Heldengeschichte (Rostem and Suhrab, a Story of Heroes) in 1830, and Hamasa, oder
die Šltesten arabischen Volkslieder (Hamasa, or the Oldest Arabian Folk Songs) in 1846. Among his original
writings dealing with Oriental subjects are: MorgenlŠndische Sagen und
Geschichten (Oriental Myths and Poems) (1837) Erbauliches und
Beschauliches aus dem Morgenland (Establishments and Contemplations from the Orient) (1836‑1838) Brahmanische ErzŠhlungen (Brahmin Stories) (1839). The most elaborate of his works
is Die Weisheit des Brahmanen (The Wisdom of the Brahmins), published in six volumes
from 1836 to 1839. The former, and LiebesfrŸhling (Spring of Love) (1844), a cycle of love‑songs,
are the best known of all RŸckert's productions. After his death many poetical
translations and original poems were found among his papers, and several
collections were published. RŸckert had a splendor of imagination that made
Oriental poetry congenial to him, and he has seldom been surpassed in rhythmic
skill and metrical ingenuity. There are hardly any lyrical forms which are not
represented among his works, and in all of them he wrote with equal ease and
grace. RŸckert's poetry was a powerful
inspiration to composers and there are about 121 settings of his workBbehind only Goethe, Heine and
Rilke in this respect. Schubert, both Robert Schumann and Clara Schumann,
Brahms, Mahler, Richard Strauss, Zemlinsky, Hindemith, Bart—k, Berg, Hugo Wolf
and Heinrich Kaspar Schmid are probably the greatest of the composers who set
his works to music, and there are several others. The
Friedrich‑RŸckert‑Autographs in the Schweinfurt Town Archives Microfiche Edition with PDF‑Download Service ISBN 978‑3‑89131‑502‑6, 2008
(Now available) 23,640 sheets on 304 microfiches
(silver), with Catalog and MARC21‑records........................ i 3,500 Libraries are invited to contact us for free trial
access to the Download Service. Published by: Harald Fischer Verlag GmbH Authorized North American
Distributor: ROSS PUBLISHING LLC 392 Central Park West, Suite 20C,
New York, NY 10025-5878 Tel: 212‑765‑8200 $ Fax: 866‑755‑2780 |
