Wilhelm Müller
| Wilhelm Müller | |
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Wilhelm Müller
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| Born | 7 October 1794 |
| Died | 30 September 1827 (aged 32) |
| Notable works | Die Schöne Müllerin, Winterreise |
Johann Ludwig Wilhelm Müller (7 October 1794 – 30 September 1827) was a German lyric poet, most well known as the author of Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise, the famous Franz Schubert song cycles.
Wilhelm Müller was born on 7 October 1794 at Dessau, the son of a tailor. He was educated at the gymnasium of his native town and at the University of Berlin, where he devoted himself to philological and historical studies. In 1813-1814 he took part, as a volunteer in the Prussian army, in the national rising against Napoleon. He participated in the battles of Lützen, Bautzen, Hanau and Kulm. In 1814 he returned to his studies at Berlin. From 1817 to 1819, he visited southern Germany and Italy, and in 1820 published his impressions of the latter in Rom, Römer und Römerinnen. In 1819, he was appointed teacher of classics in the Gelehrtenschule at Dessau, and in 1820 librarian to the ducal library. He remained there the rest of his life, dying of a heart attack aged only 32. His grandson Wilhelm Max Müller was an American Oriental scholar.
Müller's earliest lyrics are contained in a volume of poems, Bundesbluten, by several friends, which was published in 1816. That same year he also published Blumenlese aus den Minnesängern (Flowers harvested from the minnesingers). His literary reputation was made by the Gedichte aus den hinterlassenen Papieren eines reisenden Waldhornisten (2 vols., 1821–1824), and the Lieder der Griechen (1821–1824). The latter collection was Germany's chief tribute of sympathy to the Greeks in their struggle against the Turkish yoke, a theme which inspired many poets of the time. Two volumes of Neugriechische Volkslieder, and Lyrische Reisen und epigrammatische Spaziergänge, followed in 1825 and 1827. Many of his poems imitate the German Volkslied.
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