Bode, Johann Joachim Christoph (1730-1793)

Bode, Johann Joachim Christoph

MUSICIAN, COMPOSER, TRANSLATOR, PUBLISHER, JOURNALIST (GERMANY)

BORN 16 Jan 1730, Barum, Niedersachsen (near Braunschweig) - DIED 13 Dec 1793, Weimar, Thüringen
GRAVE LOCATION Weimar, Thüringen: Jakobskirchhof (Cranach-Crypt)

Johann Joachim Bode was the son of an invalid soldier from Braunschweig who worked as a brickworks worker. After his father's death his uncle apprenticed him to the musician Kroll and for a while he worked as a military musician. In 1749 he married Johanne Marie Reinecken, the daughter of an instrumenent maker from Braunschweig. In 1752 he was employed in Celle and there he created several compositions. In 1756 his wife died. From 1759 he worked for the theatre in Hamburg that was directed by Heinrich Gottfried Koch at the time. There he met Kloppstock and Lessing who both became friends.

From 1761 he was active as a Freemason. His second marriage in 1765 to Simonetta Tamm, the daughter of the merchat Simon Tamm (1710-1761). brought him a fortune and in 1765 he bought a printing company in Hamburg. He printed works by Lessing, Herder and many others. Simonette died in 1766 and he married Metta Maria Bohn in 1768. She was the daughter of the bookseller Johann Karl Bohn (1712-1777) from Hamburg.

In 1775 he met Countess Charitas Emilie von Bernstorff and he followed her to Weimar in 1779, where he had previously met Goethe and Wieland in 1776. His third wife had died in 1777. In Weimar he often visited Duke Carl August, befriended Sophie de la Roche and met Friedrich Schiller. He died in Weimar in 1793.

Related persons
• knew Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
• was a friend of Klopstock, Friedrich Gottlieb
• was a friend of Lessing, Gotthold Ephraïm
• met Schiller, Friedrich von
• met Wieland, Christoph Martin

Images

Gravestone of Johann Joachim Christoph Bode at the Jakobskirchhof in Weimar, where he was buried in the Cranach-crypt.
Picture by Androom (04 Feb 2005)