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E-BookEPUBePub WasserzeichenE-Book
208 Seiten
Englisch
Books on Demanderschienen am05.09.20231. Auflage
This book was first published in 1961 under the title "Wilhelm Herschel - Leben und Werk". Günther Buttmann has written the first comprehensive German biography of the famous German-born astronomer, who spent most of his life in England. The book also covered the immense astronomical work of William Herschel (1738-1822), assisted by his talented sister Caroline and continued by his son John. In 1781 Herschel famously discovered the planet Uranus, and over decades of observations with large, self-constructed telescopes, he found about 2500 nebulae and star clusters, many double stars and determined the structure of the Milky Way. This important book has now been translated by the German astrophysicist and historian of astronomy Wolfgang Steinicke, with Günther Buttmann's blessings. It is unfortunate though that the original author passed away in Spring 2023 and was unable to see the English edition of his work.

Günther Buttmann was born in 1929 in Solln, a suburb of Munich, Germany. As a librarian, he worked in various departments of the Bavarian State Library. His interest in science, primarily astronomy, was awakened at an early age which he studied throughout his life. His publications on William and John Herschel document this interest, as does his biographical work on the geographer Friedrich Ratzel. Günther Buttmann was married with three sons and lived in Stockdorf near Munich until his death in April 2023.mehr
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KlappentextThis book was first published in 1961 under the title "Wilhelm Herschel - Leben und Werk". Günther Buttmann has written the first comprehensive German biography of the famous German-born astronomer, who spent most of his life in England. The book also covered the immense astronomical work of William Herschel (1738-1822), assisted by his talented sister Caroline and continued by his son John. In 1781 Herschel famously discovered the planet Uranus, and over decades of observations with large, self-constructed telescopes, he found about 2500 nebulae and star clusters, many double stars and determined the structure of the Milky Way. This important book has now been translated by the German astrophysicist and historian of astronomy Wolfgang Steinicke, with Günther Buttmann's blessings. It is unfortunate though that the original author passed away in Spring 2023 and was unable to see the English edition of his work.

Günther Buttmann was born in 1929 in Solln, a suburb of Munich, Germany. As a librarian, he worked in various departments of the Bavarian State Library. His interest in science, primarily astronomy, was awakened at an early age which he studied throughout his life. His publications on William and John Herschel document this interest, as does his biographical work on the geographer Friedrich Ratzel. Günther Buttmann was married with three sons and lived in Stockdorf near Munich until his death in April 2023.
Details
Weitere ISBN/GTIN9783756831548
ProduktartE-Book
EinbandartE-Book
FormatEPUB
Format HinweisePub Wasserzeichen
Erscheinungsjahr2023
Erscheinungsdatum05.09.2023
Auflage1. Auflage
Seiten208 Seiten
SpracheEnglisch
Artikel-Nr.12361845
Rubriken
Genre9200

Inhalt/Kritik

Leseprobe

Organist in Bath. The siblings. The Musician Astronomer.

Bath, within whose walls Herschel s life would take place for the next decade and a half, was one of the most beautiful and elegant cities in England in the 18th century. Stretching either side of the River Avon and framed by gentle hills, it formed a gathering place for the noble with its magnificent buildings, shopping streets, facilities and, above all, its famous mineral springs. In Herschel s time, Bath was at the height of its expansion. During the musical season, which lasted from October to March, there was a sumptuous life and bustle everywhere.15 The weekly concerts and theatre, then the best outside of London, were crowded and everyone who had rank and name met in the city s game rooms and exclusive clubs.

Herschel rented a house in Beaufort Square with the Bulmans, his friends from Leeds. Soon many pupils flocked to him - mostly the sons and daughters of the spa guests of Bath - and it was not uncommon for him to have to give 35 to 40 music lessons a week. Since his position as organist at the newly built Octagon Chapel was not to commence until the autumn, he accepted an offer from the concert director of Bath, Derrick,16 and worked for a time as violinist and oboist in the municipal orchestra, which played every week in the Pump Room, the famous concert hall of Bath, in front of a renowned audience. Herschel s employment in this orchestra, however, does not seem to have lasted long. Presumably, it was the need to subordinate himself to routine orchestral business, which did not appeal to Herschel, who was accustomed to independence. One day there was dissent between him and Thomas Linley, the conductor, and Herschel left the orchestra. In the daily press of Bath, a rather unpleasant squabble developed. However, relations between the two musicians seem to have soon improved and even in later years, when both had left Bath, they maintained a friendly correspondence with each other. Linley s son even became a good friend of the musician and astronomer and, as already mentioned, an enthusiastic admirer of Herschel s compositions.

During the summer months, when musical operations were suspended and the number of students decreased, Herschel was busy composing choral music for the upcoming dedication of the Octagon Chapel and setting up and rehearsing a church choir. Occasional concert engagements took him outside of Bath, sometimes even as far as Winchester and Salisbury. He undertook these long journeys mostly - as in his first years in England - on horseback. So, he seems to have continued the old wandering life at least for some time after his settlement in Bath. This only changed when the new church opened on 4 October 1767, and Herschel was increasingly taken up with his duties as organist, choirmaster and music teacher.

The Octagon Chapel was the first of a series of private churches in Bath. Its owner was a wealthy citizen of the city, Mr de Chair, whose wife had invited Herschel to take up the position of organist.17 The chapel was built specifically for the religious needs of the distinguished tourist audience and was not allowed to be used by the inhabitants of the city of Bath. Those visitors to Bath who wanted to attend the service had to register beforehand for the duration of their stay. To increase comfort, the chapel was even heated in winter - an unusual comfort in churches at the time. The whole thing was a highly exclusive affair for rich people. Visitors could hear important preachers and church concerts there, and felt more comfortable in this feudal ecclesiastical milieu than in the large gloomy and cold space of the parish churches of Bath, where the masses gathered for services.

His new position offered him much freedom, because the chapel was closed outside the musical season during the summer months so that he could pursue his other obligations and inclinations during this time.

In the summer of 1767, Jacob Herschel came to Bath. He had no longer felt comfortable in the Hanoverian narrowness and uniformity, which had become particularly noticeable after the death of his father in spring. Jacob wanted to try his luck a second time in England. A year later, Dietrich also came to England. Although Dietrich was only 13 years old and his mother had been reluctant to let the youngest go, Jacob, whom his father had recommended on his deathbed to take care of Dietrich s musical education, did not want to neglect this task. It was decided to let Dietrich come to Bath so that he could be trained by the two brothers to become a capable musician. However, Dietrich s stay lasted only one year. Their mother insisted on sending him home since he had not yet been confirmed and had not yet finished school. So, Dietrich returned home in the summer of 1769, accompanied by Jacob.

Soon after, Jacob brought back another family member with him: Alexander Herschel. It had become too cramped for him at home in Hanover. With the death of the father, as often happens in families, the strong ties of the children to the parental home loosens. The centre was missing and now the family structure threatened to fall apart. Mother Herschel, the dear woman, knew no other wants but good linen and clothing, as William Herschel once wrote of her, was unable to fill the gap. She was completely absorbed in the daily running of her household, had not the slightest intellectual interests and consequently showed no understanding of the professional and private interests of the children. No wonder, then, that they soon went their own way. With Alexander, Bath offered something else. His brother-in-law Griesbach, in whose house in Coppenbrügge near Hanover the young man had acquired his musical education, had been an excessively strict schoolmaster, under which Alexander suffered greatly. Now his training was behind him and he had a job as a finished musician in the Hanoverian court orchestra, he believed that he had to make up for all the pleasures that had been withheld from him, and plunged head over heels into a fast-paced, reckless life. Caroline writes that she was very distressed that Alexander was interacting with young people who led him to all sorts of costly pleasures which would put him in debt ⦠and that although he knew that I could not help him, he made me an accomplice of the fear that our mother might know of these pranks.

William Herschel, who had had a cordial relationship with his siblings since his childhood, may have regarded it as a fraternal duty to help Alexander away from these dangers and to pave the way for a dignified professional life. At that time, of course, he had no idea what invaluable help Alexander would give him a few years later in the pursuit of his own goals, with telescope construction.

Jacob Herschel stayed in Bath for only a few years. He finally returned to Hanover, where he remained as a court musician until his death in 1792. Alexander, on the other hand, seems to have settled down in England quite quickly. Through William, he got a job as a cellist and gave private lessons at the same time. He moved into his brother s new apartment on New King Street.

The stories Alexander told of the life of the siblings in Hanover seem to have soon awakened in William Herschel the decision to bring his sister Caroline to Bath. Here she would be trained as a singer, but also release her from the Cinderella existence she led in her mother s household, which lay like a dark shadow over her entire youth. In her memoirs, Caroline complains bitterly: My father wished to give me something like a polished education, but my mother was particularly determined that it should be a rough, but at the same time a useful one; and nothing farther she thought was necessary but to send me two or three months to a seamstress. She was harnessed from childhood onto the treadmill of the household and the thought of being nothing more than a housemaid was unbearable to her.

The suggestion of her brother, whom she had always adored and loved enthusiastically, therefore seemed to her a salvation. Their mother s initial misgivings were dispelled by the fact that William Herschel undertook to return Caroline after two years if she did not meet his expectations with her vocal art. He also promised the mother an annual sum of money so that she could keep a servant to replace Caroline.

In the summer of 1772, Herschel travelled via Paris to Hanover to fetch his sister. It was the second visit to his old homeland since his permanent settlement in England. However. He didn t stay for long. After only 14 days, Caroline s great journey to England began. She was a 22-year-old girl, with no life experience, anxious and somewhat clumsy. Only at the age of seventy would she see her native city again, after half a century of restless work and faithful selfless devotion to her brother s work, in whose success and completion she was to play a decisive role.

After an arduous journey in an open mail car through Holland and a stormy sea crossing, during which the ferry almost sank, the siblings arrived in London. William did not allow his sister much rest. Caroline reports: My brother having business at the West-end of the town, left me under the care of our fellow travellers; but after his return, in the evening when the shops were lighted up, we went to see all that was to be seen in that part of London, of which I only remember the opticians shops, for I do not think we stopped at any...
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