Johann Nordmann


Johann Nordmann was an Austrian journalist and travel writer.

Life

Little is known about his life, as much of his work was published under pseudonyms. It is possible he was related to the Austrian-Hungarian architect Viktor Rumpelmayer.

Works

Nordmann's most enduring work is the poem/serenade "Kling leise, mein Lied" set by several composers including Franz Liszt in 1848.
It is unclear if Nordmann is the author behind the 1861 work "Jews and the German State," published under the pseudonym H. Naudh. The work was one of the few overtly anti-semitic works of the 1860s and was regarded as a classic in the genre. It went through twelve editions before 1820 and was adopted and revised by anti-semitic publisher Theodor Fritsch. Fritsch questioned Nordmann's authorship of the book, believing it to be written at the behest of or perhaps revised by Lothar Bucher, soon to become an aide to Otto von Bismarck and Hermann Wagener, a ranking member of the Prussian Conservative party. The work argued against Jewish emancipation.