# Wilhelm Gerhard > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Wilhelm_Gerhard > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Wilhelm_Gerhard.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Gerhard > Source revision: 1323555857 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|German merchant, playwright and poet (1780–1858)}} [[File:Wilhelm Gerhard.jpg|thumb|Wilhelm Gerhard noframe|centre|128px]] '''Christoph Wilhelm Leonhard Gerhard''' (b. 29 November 1780 at [Weimar](/source/Weimar); d. 2 October 1858 at [Heidelberg](/source/Heidelberg)) was a German merchant, playwright and poet. == Life == Gerhard was a merchant's son. He completed a four-year-long apprenticeship as a merchant's assistant at [Zittau](/source/Zittau) and then went to work at a firm in [Leipzig](/source/Leipzig); in 1805 he became a citizen there. With a business partner he founded a firm dealing fabrics and millinery supplies. In 1807 the writer [Siegfried August Mahlmann](/source/Siegfried_August_Mahlmann) brought him to the [Masonic lodge](/source/Masonic_lodge) in Leipzig, ''Minerva zu den Drei Palmen'', where he became a member; his career as a poet was initiated with the composition of several Masonic chants. In some time he had given up his business and devoted himself to writing poems, as well as plays and dramatic adaptations of other poets' work. He was the [dramaturge](/source/dramaturge) of the [Leipziger Stadttheater](/source/Altes_Theater_(Leipzig)). He also translated material from English and other languages. In 1827 he purchased a house with expansive gardens in Leipzig; the gardens he redesigned in the [English style](/source/English_landscape_garden) and were known afterwards as "''Gerhards Garten''". At his new home he received important intellectuals and personalities of the 19th century, including [Ludwig Tieck](/source/Ludwig_Tieck), [Friedrich Rückert](/source/Friedrich_R%C3%BCckert), [Heinrich Marschner](/source/Heinrich_Marschner), [Albert Lortzing](/source/Albert_Lortzing) and [Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy](/source/Felix_Mendelssohn_Bartholdy). Well-known artists such as [Bertel Thorvaldsen](/source/Bertel_Thorvaldsen) and [Johan Christian Clausen Dahl](/source/Johan_Christian_Clausen_Dahl) also visited. He was a friend of [Goethe's](/source/Johann_Wolfgang_von_Goethe).''Stadtlexikon Leipzig von A bis Z'', p. 177 Gerhard grew to be an important patron of intellectual activity at Leipzig. In 1853 he had an open-air theatre erected in his garden. Besides his literary career he was also an enthusiast of mineralogy and botany.[http://zs.thulb.uni-jena.de/receive/jportal_jparticle_00102070 Tauschangebot Gerhards über Pflanzenpräparate] Gerhard distributed the [exsiccata](/source/exsiccata)-like duplicate specimen series ''Plantae exsiccatae''.{{cite web |title=Plantae exsiccatae: IndExs ExsiccataID=916921984 |website=IndExs – Index of Exsiccatae |publisher=Botanische Staatssammlung München |url=https://www.botanischestaatssammlung.de/DatabaseClients/IndExs/Exsiccatae_IndExs_Details.jsp?ExsiccataID=916921984 |access-date=2 August 2024}} He was married to Caroline, née Richter (1797–1879). In 1832 he was appointed to the Duchy of Sachsen-Meiningenschen Legationrat. He died at Heidelberg while returning from Switzerland. == Selection of works == thumb|Title page of ''Sakontala'' thumb|Title page of ''Sophronia'' * ''Das Maurerlicht und der flammende Stern'', 1812 * ''Maskenkalender auf das Jahr 1817'', 1817 * ''Anakreon und Sappho'', free translation in German song, 1818 * ''Sakontala oder Der verhängnisvolle Ring'', Indian Drama for the stage, 1820 * ''Sophronia oder Die Eroberung des heiligen Grabes'', Drama, 1822 * ''Spaziergang über die Alpen'', 1824 * ''Gedichte'', 4 volumes, 1826–1828 * ''Wiegenweihe'', festival play, 1828 * ''Blick auf einige Steuerverhältnisse im Königreich Sachsen'', 1831 * ''Der Jahrmarkt zu Borgo di Trastullo'', festival play, 1835 * ''Prologus, der Narrenfresser und Narrenauszug'', Masque for the benefit and amusement of all carnival fools, given on 18 February 1840 by the company Concordia * ''Frühlings Erwachen'', Festival scene with song and dance, 1846 * Numerous translations == Legacy == * Since 1897, ''Gerhardstraße'' in the [Plagwitz](/source/Plagwitz) locality of Leipzig has been named after him.{{Cite book |title=Lexikon Leipziger Straßennamen |last=Griebsch |first=Gernot |publisher=Verlag im Wissenschaftszentrum |year=1995 |isbn=3-930433-09-5 |location=Leipzig |pages=81/82 |language=de |last2=Klank |first2=Gina}} == References == {{Reflist}} == Further reading == * Horst Riedel, ''Stadtlexikon Leipzig von A bis Z''. ''PRO'' LEIPZIG, Leipzig, 2005, ISBN 3-936508-03-8, p. 177 * Andreas Priever, ''Welch freudige Ueberraschung - Zu Bertel Thorvaldsens Besuch in Leipzig.'' in Thorvaldsen Museum Buelletin, 1997, pp. 163–172 == External links == {{Wikiquote|Wilhelm Gerhard|Wilhelm Gerhard}} * Wilhelm Gerhard at [http://www.thueringer-literaturrat.de/index.php?pageid=14&unitid=5643&PHPSESSID=e3jcotg2998vuskminv10tp716 Thüringer Literaturrat] * Wilhelm Gerhard at [http://www.zeno.org/Pierer-1857/A/Gerhard+%5B2%5D Zeno] * Wilhelm Gerhard at [http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/c.asp?c=C1394 hyperion] {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Gerhard, Wilhelm}} Category:1780 births Category:1858 deaths Category:18th-century German poets Category:German dramatists and playwrights Category:German poets Category:Writers from Leipzig --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Wilhelm Gerhard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Gerhard) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Gerhard?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.