600
Pharmacists in German Cultural History
Christoph Friedrich*
Institut für Geschichte der Pharmazie, Roter Graben 10, D-‐ 35032 Marburg
*e-‐mail: ch.friedrich@staff.uni-‐marburg.de
Recibido el 8 de octubre de 2014
An. Real Acad. Farm. Vol. 80, Nº 3 (2014), pag.600-‐613
ABSTRACT
This paper offers an overview on famous pharmacists who became well-‐known as
poets or novelists, performing artists or musicians. In the 18
th
and 19
th
centuries,
we find pharmacists as writers of natural-‐scientific works, but also of poetry and
literature, such as Johann Bartholomäus Trommsdorff (1770–1837), who also
wrote fairy tales. Other pharmacists published autobiographies and travelogues.
Among the poets coming from a pharmacist background is Ludwig Bechstein
(1801–1860), who set his mark on literature history by writing fairy tales, poems,
historical novels and travelogues. A writer of world ranking was Theodor Fontane
(1819–1898), son of a pharmacist, who started his pharmaceutical education in
Berlin. In his autobiographical works as well as in his novel “Effi Briest”, he also
writes about pharmacists. Another one of his novels, “‘All Kinds of Luck’”, in which
a pharmacist is the protagonist, remained fragmentary. Among the poets who
came from a pharmaceutical background is also the dramatist and novelist
Hermann Sudermann (1857–1928), whose “Lithuanian Stories” and his novel
“Lady Sorrow” are read in Germany even today. In his autobiography he recounts
his education in a pharmacy. The expressionist lyricist Georg Trakl (1887–1914)
was also a pharmacist, he studied pharmacy in Vienna and worked as a military
pharmacist. At the beginning of the First World War, he committed suicide. Along
with pharmacists who painted the illustrations for their scientific works
themselves, Carl Spitzweg (1808–1885) and Behrend Goos (1815–1885) became
the most famous representatives. But also on the musical field some pharmacists
became known such as Eduard Lucerna (1869–1944), who wrote an opera, ten
symphonies, chamber music and songs. Heinz Höhne (1892–1968) composed the
song “High on the Yellow Chariot” which became one of the most popular songs in
Germany. Finally, there are also some famous singers coming from the pharmacist
profession. Thus, pharmacists marked the cultural life in Germany to some extent.
Keywords:
pharmacists; cultural life; German history.
ARTÍCULO
