Julius Mosen

Julius Mosen (1803-1867), German poet and author, was born at Marieney in the Saxon Vogtland on July 8, 1803. He studied law at Jena, and, after two years in Italy, at Leipzig.

In 1834 he settled in Dresden as an advocate. He had meanwhile shown great literary promise by his "Lied vom Ritter Wahn" (1831). This was followed by the more philosophical "Ahasvar" (1838), and by a volume of poems, "Gedichte" (1836, 2nd ed., 1843), among which "Andreas Hofer" and "Die letzten Zehn vom vierten Regiment" became popular. He wrote the historical plays "Heinrich der Fünfte" (Leipzig, 1836), "Cola Rienzi, Die Bräute von Florenz, Wendelin und Helene" and "Kaiser Otto III" (the four last being published in his "Theater" 1842), and a politico-historical novel, "Der Kongress von Verona" (1842), which was followed by a charming collection of short stories ("Bilder im Moose", 1846).

In 1844 Mosen accepted the appointment of dramaturge at the Court Theatre in Oldenburg, but he was soon afterwards stricken with paralysis, and after remaining an invalid for many years, died at Oldenburg on October 10 1867. Of his later works may be mentioned "Die Dresdner Gemäldegallerie" (1844), and the tragedies "Herzog Bernhard" (1855) and "Der Sohn des Fürsten" (1858).

A collection of his works, "Sämtliche Werke", appeared in 8 vols. (1863; new ed, by his son, with a biography; 6 vols., 1880).