Hermann (Ritter von) Lingg (22 January 1820 – 18 June 1905) was a German poet who also wrote plays and short stories. His cousin, Maximilian von Lingg, was Bishop of Augsburg.
He was born in Lindau. Lingg studied medicine at the universities of Munich, Freiburg, Berlin, and Prague, and became a doctor in the Bavarian Army. From 1839, he was a member of the Corps Suevia München.[1] His battalion was used to quell revolutionary uprisings in Baden; forced to act against his convictions, he fell into severe depression, entered a mental hospital in 1851 and soon submitted his resignation. From that point on, he lived in Munich and devoted himself to historical and poetic studies, financially supported by King Maximilian II. His marriage to a forester's daughter in 1854 improved his mental stability, and a pension (with occasional financial support from friends, such as Max von Pettenkofer and Justus von Liebig, and the German Schiller Foundation) improved their living standards.
Lingg first gained attention with a collection of poems introduced by Emanuel Geibel (Stuttgart 1853). His most famous work is Die Völkerwanderung ("The Great Migration", Stuttgart, 1866–68, 3 vols). He was ennobled in 1890.
His poem "Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer" was set by Johannes Brahms as No. 2 of his Fünf Lieder, Op. 105 and Max Bruch’s cantata Salamis is based on another of his poems.[2] His manuscripts are now located in the Bavarian State Library. There are streets named after him in both Munich and Lindau.
Works
Catilina, 1864
Die Walküren, 1865
Vaterländische Balladen und Gesänge, 1868
Liebesblüten aus Deutschlands Dichterhain, lyrical collection, 1869
Gedichte, 3rd book, 1870
Zeitgedichte, 1870
Wanderungen durch die internationale Kunstausstellung in München, 1870
Violante, tragedy, 1871
Dunkle Gewalten, epic poetry, 1872
Die Besiegung der Cholera, play, 1873
Der Doge Candiano, 1873
Berthold Schwarz, 1874
Die Sizilianische Vesper, 1876
Macalda, tragedy, 1877
Schlusssteine, poems, 1878
Byzantinische Novellen, stories, 1881
Von Wald und See, stories, 1883
Clytia. Eine Szene aus Pompeji, 1883
Skaldenklänge, collection of ballads by contemporary poets (with Gräfin Ballestrem), 1883
Högnis letzte Heerfahrt. Nordische Szene, 1884
Lyrisches, poems, 1885
Die Bregenzer Klause, 1887
Meine Lebensreise, autobiography, 1899
Bibliography
Emil Pfaff: Hermann Lingg als epischer Dichter. Ebering, Berlin 1925.
Frieda Port: Hermann Lingg. Eine Lebensgeschichte. Beck, München 1912.
Walter Knote: Hermann Lingg und seine lyrische Dichtung. Mayr, Würzburg 1936.
Arnulf Sonntag: Hermann Lingg als Lyriker. Lindauer, München 1908.
Manfred Zschiesche: Hermann Lingg. Eine Erscheing des deutschen Spätklassizismus. Mit besonderer Berücksichtigung seiner Dramen. Korn, Breslau 1940.
