Johann Christian Trömer

Johann Christian Trömer, also called Jean Chrétien Toucement, (1697–1756) was a French-German dialect poet and entertainer at the court of Prince-Elector Augustus the Strong, who was also King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania.

Life

Trömer is the historical archetype of the "German-Frenchman" who Gotthold Ephraim Lessing helped achieve immortality in the comedy, Minna von Barnhelm. Although he was born in Dresden in 1697, almost nothing is known about his youth, other than that he trained as a storekeeper. Apparently he was the son of a French soldier in Saxon service. He studied at Wittenberg and Leipzig. Later, he worked in several bookstores, where he was able to acquire some self-taught knowledge of the world. He worked as a valet at the Saxon court in Weissenfels early on and then moved constantly, living at Vienna, Breslau, Saint Petersburg, Danzig and Potsdam before returning to his native Dresden, where his first literary work, Ehn curieuse Brief, made him an instant popular figure in 1728 at the court of Augustus the Strong.

From then on he remained permanently at the Dresden court, although only in a subordinate position among the servants, but always present at court, even when travelling. In a consistently consistent style, in comical Alexandrines in the German-French dialect, he continually contributes to the entertainment of court society. After every court festival, every hunt, every state visit, the amusing "German-Frenchman" reported the events as a pure, comment-free record, without any picaresque criticism.