Waiblinger, Wilhelm (1804-1830)

Waiblinger, Wilhelm

POET, RACONTEUR, PUBLICIST (GERMANY)

BORN 21 Nov 1804, Heilbronn, Baden-Württemberg - DIED 17 Jan 1830, Roma, Lazio: via Giulia
BIRTH NAME Waiblinger, Wilhelm Friedrich
GRAVE LOCATION Roma, Lazio: Cimitero Acattolico, Via Caio Cestio 6 (Zona Prima, 15.12 (568))

Wilhelm Wablinger moved with his family to Stuttgart in 1806 and to Reutlingen in 1817. In 1819 he became assistant clerk at the Higher District Court in Urach. In 1820 he returned to Stuttgart where he entered the Obere Gymnasium. At this time he wrote his first poems and he had an love affair with Philippine Heim, the younger sister of the wife of his cousin Christoph Friedrich Waiblinger. The affair ended in 1823. From 1822 he studied theology and philology in Tübingen. On 3 July 1822 he first met Friedrich Hölderlin and he continued to visit him often at the Hölderlinturm. He used these meetings in his novel "Phaëton" (1823). Among his close friends in Tübingen was his fellow student Eduard Mörike.

His affair with Julie Michaels, who was Jewish, five years his senior and the sister of the lawyer Adolph Michaelis, was put to an end by Adolph. For three weeks he drank his sorrows away with his friend Hardegg and then he said goodbye to Julie and left for Italy. A scandal followed in 1824 when their relationship became public during a trial after the Michaelis house was set on fire twice. The first time Waiblinger had been in Italy, but he felt guilty because it had possibly happened because of his affair with Julie.

After the scandal he was allowed to continue his studies, but when he broke with Christian morals in his "Lieder der Verirrung" and "Drei Tage in der Unterwelt" he was expelled. On instigation of the publisher J.F. Cotta he travelled to Italy. In Rome he continued his writings and from 1827 he with Nena Carlenza who had been left by her husband. In 1828 he completed a biography on Hölderlin. After a trip to Sicily in the autumn of 1829 he returned to Rome in bad health. He died on 17 January 1830 from pneumonia in poor circumstances. At the time Nena Carlenza was pregnant for the second time.

On his deathbed he named his friend Karl Wilhelm Schluttig as the administrator of his estate. But Schluttig died in 1830 as well and was buried next to him at the Cimitero Acattolico in Rome.

Related persons
• was a friend of Hölderlin, Friedrich
• was a friend of Mörike, Eduard
• was pupil of Schwab, Gustav

Images

The grave of Wilhelm Friedrich Waiblinger at the Cimitero Acattolico, Rome.
Picture by Androom (23 Jan 2010)