Anton Ulrich
Anton Ulrich was a notable figure from the 17th century, born to Duke August the Younger of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Dorothea von Anhalt-Zerbst. Following his mother's early death, he was raised in a culturally rich environment, receiving an education that included grammar, logic, languages, and the arts under esteemed tutors. Demonstrating a talent for writing and the arts from a young age, Ulrich composed his first significant work at age fifteen—a manuscript of poems for his father. He later married Elisabeth Juliana, Duchess of Holstein-Norburg, and their union produced thirteen children. He became an integral part of the literary community, joining the Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft, where he adopted the name "Der Siegprangende." Throughout his life, Ulrich was prolific, producing numerous ballets, poems, and two major novels: the five-volume "Die durchleuchtige Syrerinn Aramena" and the extensive "Octavia: Römische Geschichte." His works reflect the cultural vibrancy of his time and his deep engagement with the artistic traditions of his era.
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Anton Ulrich
Writer
- Born: October 4, 1633
- Birthplace: Hitzacker an der Elbe, Germany
- Died: March 27, 1714
- Place of death: Salzdahlum bei Wolfenbuettel, Germany
Biography
Anton Ulrich was the son of Duke August the Younger of Brunswick-Lüneburg and his second wife, Dorothea von Anhalt- Zerbst. Ulrich’s mother died before his first birthday, during the birth of her seventh child. The duke moved his family to Brunswick the following year (the family then moved to their “watercastle” in Wolfenbüttel in 1643). Famed grammarian Justis Georg Schottelius tutored Ulrich and his siblings from 1638 to 1646, and in 1645, poet Sigmund von Birken began working with the children as well. The children studied logic, geography, languages, and religion as well as the Latin classics and also acted out plays and learned music. Young Urlich was particularly interested in painting and drawing, and he was close to his siblings, particularly to his oldest sister, Sibylle Ursula, who also was a skilled writer and translator.
Uhlrich’s father was himself a writer, and in 1655, the young man gave his father a gift he would appreciate—a carefully crafted and presented manuscript of thirty-four religious and meditative poems written by Ulrich himself. That year, Ulrich left home for Paris, where he was received by King Louis XIV and visited with Jules Cardinal Mazarin and Madeleine de Scudéry. After a five-year engagement, Ulrich married Elisabeth Juliana, Duchess of Holstein-Norburg, in 1656 in Wolfenbüttel. For their wedding Ulrich composed the ballet Frühlings-Ballet: Oder, Dy Vermählung des Phoebus mit der Flora (spring ballet: or, the marriage of Phoebus and Flora); between 1657 and 1672, the couple had seven sons and six daughters.
The wedding composition was to be the first of many court event-inspired works by Ulrich. The next such work, the pastoral allegory Amelinde: Oder, Dy triumphirende Seele (Amelinde: or, the triumphant soul), appeared in 1657 to commemorate Duke August’s seventy-ninth birthday. Ulrich also wrote a singspiel (ballad opera) titled Orpheus aus Thracien for the birthday of Sophie Elisabeth, Ulrich’s stepmother since 1635, when Ulrich was two years old. The presentation of Orpheus aus Thracien marked the first time Ulrich indicated a work’s musical composer, who was Johan Jacob Löwe, official court composer.
Ulrich was welcomed into Germany’s esteemed literary society, the Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft, or Fruit-Bearing Society, in 1659, and he took the society name of Der Siegprangende, meaning the Triumphant One. Ulrich continued to present ballets for weddings and events and particularly for his father’s birthdays; in 1660 guests enjoyed his Ballet der Natur, and the next year, Ulrich prepared two works to honor his father: Masquerade der Hercinie and Iphigenia: Singspiel.
Aside from his many ballads and ballets, Ulrich also wrote, and is known for, two great novels. The first was Die durchleuchtige Syrerinn Aramena (the illustrious Syrian woman Aramena), set in biblical times, which appeared in five volumes and four thousand pages between 1669 and 1673. Four years after the final volume of this first novel appeared, Ulrich released the first volume of the novel Octavia: Römische Geschichte, the composition of which would consume the rest of Ulrich’s life; over the course of thirty years, six volumes were published, and a seventh fragmented volume appeared in 1712.