Hoffmann, AUGUST HEINRICH

Hoffmann, AUGUST HEINRICH, commonly called HOFFMANN VON FALLERSLEBEN, poet and philologist, was born 2d April 1798, at Fallersleben, in the district of Lüneburg. At Göttingen and Bonn he occupied himself with philological and literary studies, especially the study of his native language and literature. From 1830 to 1838 he was keeper of the university library of Breslau, and professor of the German Language there from 1835. The publication of his Unpolitische Lieder (Unpolitical Lays) in 1842 cost him his professorship. For some years he led a wandering life in Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, until in 1860 he became librarian to the Duke of Ratibor at the castle of Korvei, on the Weser, where he died on 19th January 1874. His principal philological and antiquarian works are Horæ Belgicæ (1830–62), Reineke Vos (1834), Geschichte des Deutschen Kirchentlieds (1832; 3d ed. 1861), collections of ancient German Political (1843) and Social (1844) songs, Spenden zur Deutschen Literaturgeschichte (1844), Die Deutsche Philologie (1836), and Findlinge (1859–60). Hoffmann's own poetry often approaches good Volkslieder in its simplicity, tenderness, and playful banter; and for these songs he produced many admirable tunes. His political poetry contributed to the preparation of the political fermentation of 1848. The Gedichte appeared in 1834 (8th ed. 1875), and he published numerous collections of songs, as Allemannische Lieder, Soldatenlieder, Kinderlieder, &c. He wrote an autobiography in 6 vols. (Mein Leben, 1868–70). See Wagner's Hoffmann von Fallersleben (1869–70), and Gottschall, Porträts, vol. v. (1876).