Ludwig Christoph Heinrich Hölty (December 21, 1748 – September 1, 1776) was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

, known especially for his ballad

Ballad

A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...

s.

Hölty was born in the village of Mariensee in Hanover

Electorate of Hanover

The Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg was the ninth Electorate of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation...

, where his father was pastor

Pastor

The word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....

. In 1769 he went to study theology

Theology

Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

 at the University of Göttingen. There he formed a close friendship with Johann Martin Miller

Johann Martin Miller

Johann Martin Miller was a German theologian and writer.- Life :Miller was the son of an Evangelical pastor, Johann Michael Miller...

, Johann Heinrich Voss, Heinrich Christian Boie

Heinrich Christian Boie

Heinrich Christian Boie was a German author.He was born at Meldorf in Holstein...

, the brothers Stolberg, and others, and became one of the founders of the famous society of young poets known as the Hain, or Göttinger Dichterbund. By the time he left the university in 1774 he had abandoned all intention of becoming a clergyman, but he was not to enter any profession. He died of consumption

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

 at Hanover.

Hölty was the most gifted lyric poet of the Göttingen circle. He was influenced both by Johann Peter Uz and Gottlieb Friedrich Klopstock, but his love for the Volkslied and his delight in nature preserved him from the artificiality of the former and the unworldliness of the latter. A strain of melancholy runs through all his lyrics. His ballads are the pioneers of the rich ballad literature on English models, which sprang up in Germany over the next few years. Among his most familiar poems are: Üb' immer Treu' und Redlichkeit, Tanzt dem schönen Mai enigegen, Rosen auf dem Weg gestreut, and Wer wollte sich mit Grillen plagen?

Hölty's Gedichte was published by his friends Count Friedrich Leopold zu Stolberg and J. H. Voss (Hamburg, 1783). A new edition, enlarged by Voss with a biography, came out in 1804, followed by a more complete but still imperfect edition by F. Voigts (Hanover, 1857). The first complete edition was that of Karl Halm (Leipzig, 1870), who had access to manuscripts not hitherto known. See H. Ruete, Hölty, sein Leben und Dichten (Guben, 1883), and A. Satier, Der Göttinger Dichterbund, vol. ii (Stuttgart, 1894), in which an excellent selection of Hölty's poetry will be found.

In addition to his exemplary poems in their own right, perhaps Hölty is best known for his poems which were set by such famous 19th-century composers as Schubert, Mendelssohn

Felix Mendelssohn

Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...

, and Brahms.