1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Müllner, Amandus Gottfried Adolf

MÜLLNER, AMANDUS GOTTFRIED ADOLF (1774–1829), German dramatic poet, nephew of Gottfried August Bürger, (q.v.), was born at Langendorf near Weissenfels on the 18th of October 1774. After studying law at Leipzig he established himself as advocate at Weissenfels and made his début as an author with the novel Incest, oder der Schutzgeist von Avignon (1799). He next wrote a few comedies for an amateur theatre in Weissenfels; these were followed by more pretentious pieces: Der angolische Kater (1809) and Der Blitz (1814, publ. 1818), after French models. With his tragedies, however, Der neun-und-zwanzigste Februar (1812), and especially Die Schuld (1813, publ. 1816), Müllner became the representative of the so-called Schicksalsdramatiker, and for several years “fate-tragedies” on the model of Die Schuld dominated the German stage. His later plays, König Yngurd (1817) and Die Albaneserin (1820), were less important. Notwithstanding his literary success, Müllner did not neglect his profession, and was given the title of Hofrat; he also edited various journals, and had a reputation as a vigorous if somewhat acrimonious critic He died at Weissenfels on the 11th of June 1829.

Müllner’s Vermischte Schriften appeared in 2 vols. (1824–1826); his Dramatische Werke in 8 vols. (1828; 2nd ed., 1832). In 1830 four supplementary volumes were published containing mainly criticism. See F. K. J. Schütz, Müllners Leben, Charakter und Geist (1830); Minor, Die Schicksalstragödie in ihren Hauptvertretern (1883), and the same author’s volume, “Das Schicksalsdrama” (1884), in Kürschner’s Deutsche Nationalliteratur, vol. 151.