Born: May 2, 1772, on his fa­ther’s es­tate of Ober-Wie­der­städ (near Eis­le­ben), Ger­ma­ny.

Died: March 25, 1801, at his par­ents’ home in Weiss­en­fels, Ger­ma­ny.

Pseudonym: No­val­is (ap­par­ent­ly tak­en from the name one of his fam­i­ly’s es­tates).

Friedrich’s fa­ther was Bar­on Hein­rich Ul­rich Eras­mus von Har­den­berg, di­rect­or of the Sax­on Salt Works at Weiss­en­fels. In the fall of 1790, Fried­rich en­tered the Un­i­ver­si­ty of Je­na, then went to Leip­zig, and fin­al­ly to Wit­ten­berg. Af­ter con­clud­ing his stu­dies, he went, at the end of 1794, to Tenn­städt, near Er­furt, to learn ad­min­is­tra­tion un­der Kreis­amt­mann Just. In the au­tumn of 1797, he en­tered the School of Mines at Frei­berg, Sax­o­ny, and in 1799 went to Ar­tern, at the foot of the Kyff­haus­er-Berg, to work at the Salt Works there. Soon af­ter, he be­gan to spit blood, and while vi­sit­ing Dres­den the news of the sud­den death of his young­er brother brought on a hem­or­rhage which de­stroyed all hopes of a re­co­ve­ry. In Jan­u­a­ry 1801, he was moved to his par­ents’ home in Weiss­en­fels, where he died two months lat­er.

Von Hardenberg’s hymns rose from a time of deep sorrow upon the death of his fiancée, Sophie von Kühn, when his thoughts turned to the faith of his childhood. His parents were his Moravians, and his early educa­tion came from a Moravian pas­tor. His works in­clude:

Sources

Hymns

  1. Es giebt so bange Zeiten
  2. Fern im Osten wird es helle
  3. Ich sag’ es jedem, dass er lebt
  4. Ich sehe dich in tausen Bildern
  5. Ich weiss nicht was ich suchen könnte
  6. Unter tausen frohen Stunden
  7. Was wär ich ohne dich gewesen
  8. Weinen muss ich, immer weinen
  9. Wenige wissen das Geheimniss der Liebe
  10. Wenn alle untreu werden
  11. Wenn ich Ihn nur habe
  12. Wenn in bangen, trüben Stunden
  13. Wer einmal, Mutter dich erblickt
  14. Wer einsam sitzin seiner Kammer
  15. Wo bleibst du Trost der ganzen Welt

If you know von Har­den­berg’s bur­i­al place