Vera G. Sibirtseva, PhD in Philo- logy, Associate Professor, Research University Higher School of Economics, Bolshaya Pecherskaya Street, 25/16, 603155, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2559-2538
The article traces the reception of the 18th-century German poet Klopstock, focusing on his ode “Die Frühlingsfeier” (Spring Festival). The text demonstrates how the poet, once perceived in Germany almost as a national prophet, eventually became a little-read “school classic”. Particular attention is paid to the symbolic episode in The Sorrows of Young Werther, in which Klopstock’s name and the reference to his ode become key to understanding the characters’ emotional affinity, as well as to the problems of translating this passage into Russian. This highlights the difficulties of adapting German cultural tradition in Russia. In Thomas Mann’s 20th-century work Doktor Faustus, the ode “Die Frühlingsfeier” comes to life in Adrian Leverkühn’s musical embodiment. It becomes part of a reflection on the role of the artist, his right to resist society, and even dare to make a pact with the devil. In each new context, “Spring Festival” continually generates new meanings: philosophical reflections on humanity’s place in the universe or the subtle interplay of intertexts in Thomas Mann. This makes Klopstock appear not as an “outdated classic”, but as an author capable of entering into dialogue with subsequent eras.
F.G. Klopstock; J.W. Goethe; Thomas Mann; sentimentalism; N.M. Karamzin; romanticism.
15.10.2025
25.11.2025
Sibirtseva, V.G. “Klopstock’s ‘Frühlingsfeier’ in the Works of Goethe and Thomas Mann and Their Translations: German and Russian Reception”. Literaturovedcheskii zhurnal, no. 2(72), 2026, pp. 138–156. (In Russ.)
1. Baldin, A., Prokop’ev, A. “Garmonist. Kon’kobeg” [“The Harmonica Player. Skating”]. Oktyabr’, no. 12, 2002, pp. 142–170. (In Russ.)
2. Vitkovskii, E. Vek perevoda [The Century of Translation], vol. 2. Moscow, Vodolei Publishers, 2006, p. 337. (In Russ.)
3. Vyazemskii, P.A. Staraya zapisnaya knizhka [Old Notebook], comp., introd. and comm. by L. Ya. Ginzburg. Leningrad, Izdatel’stvo pisatelei v Leningrade Publ., 1927, 341 p. (In Russ.)
4. Goethe, J.W. von. “Poehziya i pravda: iz moei zhizni” [“Poetry and Truth: From My Life”]. Sobranie sochinenii [Collected Works]: in 10 vols. Moscow, Khudozhestvennaya literatura Publ., 1976, vol. 3, 722 p. (In Russ.)
5. Zhirmunskii, V.M. Gete v russkoi literature [Goethe in Russian Literature]. Leningrad, Goslitizdat Publ., 1937, 674 p. (In Russ.)
6. Eckermann, J.P. Razgovory s Gete [Conversations with Goethe], transl. from German by N. Man; introd. and notes by V.A. Zlydnev. Moscow, Khudozhestvennaya literatura Publ., 1986, 672 p. (In Russ.)
7. Karamzin, N. “Poslanie k zhenshchinam” [“Epistle to Women”]. Aonidy, ili Sobranie raznykh novykh stikhotvorenii [The Aonides, or Collection of Various New Poems]. Moscow, 1796, book 1, pp. 218–249. (In Russ.)
8. Karamzin, N.M. “Zhizn’ Klopshtoka” [“The Life of Klopstock”]. Moskovskii zhurnal, vol. 6, 1792, pp. 74–98. (In Russ.)
9. Karaulov, Yu. N. Russkii yazyk i yazykovaya lichnost’ [Russian Language and Linguistic Personality], 6th ed. Moscow, LKI Publ., 2007, 265 p. (In Russ.)
10. Klopshtok, F.G. Messiya: poehma [The Messiah: A Poem], trans. from German by A. Kutuzov. Moscow, Tipograficheskaya kompaniya, tip. I. Lopukhina Publ., 1785–1787, 483 p. (In Russ.)
11. Mann, Th. Doktor Faustus. Zhizn’ nemetskogo kompozitora Adriana Leverkyuna, rasskazannaya ego drugom [Doctor Faustus: The Life of the German Composer Adrian Leverkühn, as Told by a Friend]. Moscow, Gosudarstvennoe izdatel’stvo khudozhestvennoi literatury Publ., 1960, 345 p. (In Russ.)
12. Mann, Th. Lotta v Veimare [Lotte in Weimar]. Moscow, Kniga Publ., 1983, 304 p. (In Russ.)
13. Rabinovich, V.S., Babkina, M.I. “Dialog muzyki i literatury v tvorchestve Oldosa Khaksli” [“The Dialogue of Music and Literature in the Works of Aldous Huxley”]. Vestnik Permskogo universiteta. Rossiiskaya i zarubezhnaya filologiya, vol. 9, issue 2, 2017, pp. 90–96. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.17072/2037-6681-2017-2-90-96
14. Rozanov, I.N. Literaturnye reputatsii: raboty raznykh let [Literary Reputations: Works of Different Years], introd., comp. and ed. by L.A. Ozerov. Moscow, Sovetskii pisatel’ Publ., 1990, 385 p. (In Russ.)
15. Sinilo, G. “Bibleiskaya ‘sleznost'’ i osobennosti stilya sentimentalistov (Na primere poehzii F.G. Klopshtoka)” [“Biblical ‘Tearfulness’ and Features of the Sentimentalist Style (On the Example of F.G. Klopstock’s Poetry)”]. XVIII vek: Smekh i slezy v literature i iskusstve ehpokhi Prosveshcheniya: kollektivnaya monografiya [The 18th Century: Laughter and Tears in the Literature and Art of the Enlightenment: A Collective Monograph], ed. by N.T. Pakhsar’yan. St Petersburg, Aleteiya Publ., 2018, pp. 324–348. (In Russ.)
16. Turaev, S.V. “Viland. Klopshtok” [“Wieland. Klopstock”]. Istoriya vsemirnoi literatury [History of World Literature]: in 8 vols; Academy of Sciences of the USSR, A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1988, vol. 5, pp. 210–213. Available at: https://lit-prosv.niv.ru/lit-prosv/ivl-18-vek/turaevviland-klopshtok.htm (date of access: 30.08.2025). (In Russ.)
17. Utz, I.P. Novaya nauka naslazhdat’sya zhizn’yu: poehma v chetyrekh pis’makh. S prisovokupleniem luchshikh sochinenii barona de Kroneka, Gallera, Kramera, Klopshtoka, Vilanda i Kleista, slavneishikh nemetskikh pisatelei [A New Science of Enjoying Life: Poem in Four Letters. With the Addition of the Best Works of Baron de Kroneck, Haller, Cramer, Klopstock, Wieland, and Kleist, the Most Famous German Writers], transl. from foreign lang. by P. Pobedonostsev. Moscow, Universitetskaya tipografiya, u Ridigera i Klaudiya Publ., 1799, 328 p. (In Russ.)
18. Birken, S. von. Pegnesis oder der Pegnitz Blumengenoß-Schäfere Feld-Gedichte. Nurnberg, Wolf Eberhard Felßecker, 1673, 534 S. (In German)
19. Gundolf, F. Goethe. Berlin, Bondi, 1916, VIII, 796 S. (In German)
20. Kauffmann, K. Klopstock! Eine Biographie. Göttingen, Wallstein, 2024, 420 S.
(In German)
21. Klopstock, F.G. Oden. Bd 1. Leipzig, 1798, S. 157–163. (In German)
22. Klopstock, F.G. Werke und Briefe: Epigramme. Berlin, W. de Gruyter, 1981, 931 S. (In German)
23. Kohl, K. Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock. Stuttgart, Metzler 2000, 212 S. (In German)
24. Kohl, K. “Rhetorik”. Klopstock-Handbuch, ed. by M. Auer. Stuttgart, J.B. Metzler, 2023, S. 259–265. (In German) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-476-05355-8_21
25. Marszalkowski, T. “Fuck you, Goethe: Faust fliegt aus dem Landesabitur”. Neuer Prüfungsstoff für Jahrgang 2026. Available at: https://www.hessenschau.de/kultur/fuck-you-goethe-faust-fliegt-in-hessen-aus-landesabitur-v2,faustmacht-pause-100.html (date of access: 22.02.2026). (In German)
26. Redlich, K. “Klopstock”. Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie. Auf Veranlassung und mit Unterstützung Seiner Majestät des Königs von Bayern Maximilian II. Hrsg. durch die Historische Commission bei der Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften [München]. Bd 16. Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875–1912, S. 211–225. (In German)
27. Reich-Ranicki, M. Meine Geschichte der deutschen Literatur: Vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart. Munich, DVA Publ., 2014, 577 S. (In German)