David Schirmer
David Schirmer was a German poet born in 1623 in Pappendorf bei Freiberg, Saxony. As the second son in a large family of eleven children, his early life was influenced by the tumultuous backdrop of the Thirty Years' War, which affected his education and upbringing. He received instruction at home and later attended the gymnasium in Freiberg before moving to Halle, where he studied under Christian Gueintz. Schirmer began his formal education at the University of Leipzig in 1641, where he started writing poetry. He later studied at the University of Wittenberg, falling in love with a woman referred to as Marnia, who passed away before 1650.
In 1649, he was appointed court poet and master of ceremonies by the elector of Saxony. Among his notable works was a ballet-opera-drama celebrating royal marriages. Throughout his career, Schirmer published various poetry collections, including his first in 1650, and he collaborated with musicians to set his poetry to music. He married Anna Maria Leschke in 1668, but she died shortly afterward. Schirmer continued to serve as court librarian until his dismissal in 1683, and he passed away in Dresden around 1686. His contributions to poetry reflect the cultural and literary milieu of 17th-century Germany.
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David Schirmer
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- Born: May 29, 1623
- Birthplace: Pappendorf bei Freiberg, Saxony, Germany
- Died: c. 1686
- Place of death: Dresden, Germany
Biography
Seventeenth century German poet David Schirmer was born in 1623 in Pappendorf bei Freiberg, Saxony, Germany. Schirmer was the second son of eleven children born to pastor Magister David Schirmer and Barbara (Wagner) Schirmer. The beloved Saxony of his childhood would later be featured in much of Schirmer’s poetry. His childhood and education were complicated by the Thirty Years’ War, in which Swedish troops invaded Saxony, so much of his early education came from tutors in the family home. Later, he briefly attended the gymnasium in Freiberg until 1640, when he and his brother, Melchior, were sent to live with their cousin, Arnold Mengering, in Halle. Here they attended a school headed by revered grammarian Christian Gueintz. In the summer of 1641, Schirmer began studies at the University of Leipzig, where he wrote his earliest extant dated poems.
In 1643, Schirmer returned to Halle to celebrate the end of the Swedish siege of Freiberg, and for the occasion he recited his poem Jesv Christi triumph. In November, 1645, Schirmer entered the University of Wittenberg, where poetics professor Augustus Buchner was among the prominent faculty. While at Wittenberg, he fell in love with a woman he referred to in his writings as Marnia, but it appears that she died sometime before 1650, when Schirmer’s first poetry collection appeared: David Schirmers Erstes [-Vierdtes] Rosen- Gepüsche.
On October 6, 1647, Schirmer was admitted to the Zesen’s Deutschgesinnte Genossenschaft (German-Minded Guild) as its forty-first member. Two years later, the elector of Saxony, Johann Georg I, on the advice of Buchner, chose Schirmer as the new court poet and master of ceremonies. One of the works he composed in this capacity, Ballet von dem Paride und Helena, was a combination ballet, opera, and drama occasioned by the simultaneous marriages of Dukes Christian and Moritz in 1650. Schirmer, who did not receive a regular salary as court poet, prepared to leave Dresden in 1653 to again take up his education, but the elector’s son convinced him to stay by offering an acceptable salary. Schirmer then worked with musician Phillip Stolle to set some of the poems from Rosen- Gepüsche to music, and the result was Singende Rosen, published in 1654.
In late 1655, Schirmer was selected as the new court librarian, and he was confirmed in this more prestigious and prosperous position in March, 1656. The next year, Schirmer released an expanded, two-part edition of Poetische Rosen- Gepüsche, with the second part containing new poems, and he continued to publish other works during subsequent years. Schirmer married Anna Maria Leschke, daughter of the court’s bookbinder, in 1668, but she died just two years later. Schirmer continued as court librarian until he was granted sick leave in 1682 and was dismissed from the job in 1683. He died in Dresden around 1686.