Hermann Freiherr von Friesen

* 27.02.1802 ; ✝ 23.02.1882 in Dresden

Scholar, Writer, Translator

Biography

Friesen was ‘Oberhofmarschall’ (chief court administrator) in Saxony, and was the descendant of a noble family. His father, Johann Georg Friedrich v. F, was a privy councilor and director of the Dresden arts collections and library, his elder brother was the politician Friedrich v. F. He devoted himself periodically to literary studies in rural isolation. Friesen was a friend of Ludwig Tieck, who encouraged him to write short stories (Der Hofmann, 1835), and whose enthusiasm for Shakespeare he shared.

Among the published results of his engagement with the latter are, along with a few essays and short pieces, Briefe über Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1864), three volumes of Shakespeare Studien (1874-1876), not to mention a complete translation of Shakespeare’s Sonnets (1869). 

Treatises

• Briefe über Shakespeare's Hamlet. Leipzig, 1864.
• Shakspere-Studien. 3 vols. Wien, 1874-76.

Translations

• Shakspere’s Sonette. Dresden, 1869.

Literature

Primary Literature

• Der Hofmann. Novelle. Bunzlau, 1835.
• Ludwig Tieck; Erinnerungen eines alten Freundes aus den Jahren 1825-42. 2 vols. Wien, 1871.

Secondary Literature

• Friesen, Ernst von: Geschichte der reichsfreiheitlichen Familie von Friesen. Dresden, 1899. Pp. 308-314.

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