August Hermann Niemeyer (1 September 1754 in Halle (Saale) – 7 July 1828 in Magdeburg) was a German Protestant theologian, [1] teacher, a librettist, a poet, a travel writer, a Protestant church song poet and a Prussian political educator. He was professor of theology in 1780, then vice-chancellor of the University of Halle-Wittenberg.
Halle (Saale) is a city in the southern part of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. It is the largest city of the state and the fourth-largest of former East Germany.
Magdeburg is the capital city and the second largest city of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the Elbe River.
A libretto is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term libretto is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as the Mass, requiem and sacred cantata, or the story line of a ballet.
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He studied at the University of Halle, where his teachers included Johann August Nösselt (1734-1807), Johann Jakob Griesbach (1745-1812) and Johann Salomo Semler (1725-1791). In 1775 he published a highly regarded work, titled Charakteristik der Bibel (Characteristics of the Bible). In 1778 he met with Johann von Goethe, with whom he established a friendship that lasted until Niemeyer's death in 1828. Around 1802, Niemeyer translated Terence’s Andria for Goethe under the title Die Fremde aus Andros. Soon afterwards the play was performed by the Weimar theatre.
Johann August Nösselt was a German Protestant theologian.
Johann Jakob Griesbach, German biblical textual critic, was born at Butzbach, a small town in the state of Hesse-Darmstadt, where his father, Konrad Kaspar (1705–1777), was pastor. Griesbach's fame rests upon his work in New Testament criticism, in which he inaugurated a new epoch. His solution to the synoptic problem bears his name, but the Griesbach hypothesis has been modernly referred to as the Two-Gospel hypothesis.
Johann Salomo Semler was a German church historian, biblical commentator, and critic of ecclesiastical documents and of the history of dogmas. Sometimes known as "the father of German rationalism".
In 1807, after Halle fell to French forces, Napoleon ordered the closure of the university, with Niemeyer being deported to Paris. During this time, the city of Halle was incorporated into the Kingdom of Westphalia. On 1 January 1808, Jérôme Bonaparte re-opened the University of Halle and appointed Niemeyer chancellor.
Paris is the capital and most populous city of France, with an area of 105 square kilometres and an official estimated population of 2,140,526 residents as of 1 January 2019. Since the 17th century, Paris has been one of Europe's major centres of finance, diplomacy, commerce, fashion, science, as well as the arts. The City of Paris is the centre and seat of government of the Île-de-France, or Paris Region, which has an estimated official 2019 population of 12,213,364, or about 18 percent of the population of France. The Paris Region had a GDP of €709 billion in 2017. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit Worldwide Cost of Living Survey in 2018, Paris was the second most expensive city in the world, after Singapore, and ahead of Zurich, Hong Kong, Oslo and Geneva. Another source ranked Paris as most expensive, on a par with Singapore and Hong Kong, in 2018. The city is a major railway, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports: Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the city's subway system, the Paris Métro, serves 5.23 million passengers daily, and is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro. Gare du Nord is the 24th busiest railway station in the world, but the first located outside Japan, with 262 million passengers in 2015.
The Kingdom of Westphalia was a kingdom in Germany, with a population of 2.6 million, that existed from 1807 to 1813. It included territory in Hesse and other parts of present-day Germany. While formally independent, it was a vassal state of the First French Empire and was ruled by Napoleon's brother Jérôme Bonaparte. It was named after Westphalia, but this was a misnomer since the kingdom had little territory in common with that area; rather the kingdom mostly covered territory formerly known as Eastphalia.
Jérôme-Napoléon Bonaparte was the youngest brother of Napoleon I and reigned as Jerome I, King of Westphalia, between 1807 and 1813. From 1816 onward, he bore the title of Prince of Montfort. After 1848, when his nephew, Louis Napoleon, became President of the French Second Republic, he served in several official roles, including Marshal of France from 1850 onward, and President of the Senate in 1852.
Among Niemeyer's 125 known publications is Grundsätze der Erziehung und des Unterrichts für Eltern, Hauslehrer und Erzieher (Principles of education and teaching for parents, tutors and schoolteachers), being published over numerous editions and translated into several languages. [2]
