Bidermann, Jakob

Bidermann, Jakob (yä'kôp bē'durmän) [key], 1578–1639, German Jesuit dramatist and poet. Based on saint and martyr legends, Bidermann's plays were among the finest artistic expressions of the Counter Reformation in Germany. His chief work, Cenodoxus (1602), was a Faustian drama about mortality. Professor of rhetoric in Munich, later assistant to the Jesuit general in Rome, he also wrote Belisar (1607), Marcarius (1613), and Himmelsglöcklein [heavenly bells] (1620), a collection of songs.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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