Heinrich Wilhelm von Gerstenberg

Heinrich Wilhelm von Gerstenberg (Tondern, 1727 – Altona, 1823) was a German-language poet, critic and amateur musician, a leading figure of the Sturm und Drang movement. His work lies on the border between the literature and the music of his time, and his interest in uniting word and sound makes him an important figure for understanding the relationship between the two arts in the eighteenth century.

After beginning law studies at Jena in 1757, where he started writing poetry in the company of other authors, he abandoned the course in 1759 to enter Danish military service. He took part in the Russian campaign of 1762 and then settled in Copenhagen for about twelve years. There he formed a friendship with Klopstock, studied music with J.A. Scheibe, and hosted musical evenings at his home attended by poets and musicians, at which he himself sometimes sang and performed. This custom continued when he moved to Lübeck as Danish resident in 1775. For financial reasons he sold that post in 1783 and, from 1785, worked as an official of a lottery in Altona.

In literature, his principal works were the tragedy Ugolino (1768) and the critical series Briefe über Merkwürdigkeiten der Literatur (1766–1770). In music, he corresponded with C.P.E. Bach, J.C.F. Bach and other musicians about how to express poetic meaning through instrumental music. He added two texts to C.P.E. Bach's Fantasia in C minor, seeking a synthesis of instrumental music, song and programme music. His Ariadne auf Naxos (1767) was set by Scheibe, J.C.F. Bach and J.F. Reichardt, and Brandes adapted it as the text of Benda's melodrama. He also wrote the melodrama Minona oder Die Angelsachsen (1786) and Das Mohrenmädchen, which J.C.F. Bach turned into a cantata in 1776, as well as articles on recitative and figured bass.

His legacy rests above all on his role as a bridge between poets and composers in eighteenth-century Germany and northern Europe, rather than on a substantial body of music of his own.