The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Hoffmann, August Heinrich
HOFFMANN, August Heinrich,
ow'goost hīn'riH hŏf'män, usually known as
, German poet
and philologist: b. Fallersleben, Hanover, 2
April 1798; d. Corvei, 19 Jan. 1874. He studied
at Göttingen and Bonn, was appointed in 1823
custodian of the university library at Breslau,
and in 1830 became extraordinary, in 1835
ordinary professor of the German language and
literature in the university of that city. He
resigned his librarianship at Breslau in 1838, and
in 1842 was removed from his chair without a
pension because of the liberal political views
represented in his ‘Unpolitsche Lieder’ (1840-41).
He led a wandering life till 1845, when
he obtained the right of domicile in Mecklenburg.
In 1848 he was granted a pension by the
Prussian government, and from 1860 he was
librarian to the Duke of Ratibor. Of his original
writings the best known are his songs, not
a few of which, especially that beginning
‘Deutschland, Deutschland über Alles’ (1841),
have long received emphatic popular approval.
For several of them he composed tunes. They
were published in several volumes, among these
being ‘Gedichte’ (1827); ‘Alemannische
Lieder’ (1827); ‘Hundert Schullieder’ (1848);
‘Deutsches Volksgesangbuch’ (1848);
‘Soldatenlieder’ (1851); ‘Kinderwelt in Liedern,’ and
‘Alte und Neue Kinderlieder’ (1873). A
complete edition of his ‘Kinderlieder’ was
prepared by von Donop in 1877. ‘Mein Leben’
(1868; abridged edition continued to his death,
by Gersterberg, 1892-94), is autobiographical.
Consult also the ‘Life’ by Wagner (1869).