Achim von Arnim

Achim von Arnim , 1781-1831, German writer of the romantic school. He is best remembered for his work with his brother-in-law, Clemens Brentano , on the folk-song collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn [the boy's magic horn] (1806-8). Arnim's novels include Gräfin Dolores (1810) and the unfinished Die Kronenwächter [the guardians of the crown] (1817). He was at his best in his historical novels, notably in Isabella of Egypt (1812, tr. 1927) and Owen Tudor (1809). Arnim had a predilection for the fantastic and the supernatural. Like Herder, he helped to create a popular German literary tradition. His wife, Bettina von Arnim, 1785-1859, whose maiden name was Elisabeth Brentano, was also a writer. She corresponded with Beethoven and Goethe and published the letters, not as historical documents but in the light of her own highly poetic imagination, as in Goethe's Correspondence with a Child (1835, tr. 1837). She was an ardent literary supporter of liberal Young Germany.

Arnim, Achim [Joachim] (Ludwig) von (b Berlin, 1781; d Wiepersdorf, 1831). Ger. poet who can claim inclusion in a music dictionary because of his co-editorship with his future brother-in-law Clemens Brentano of the anthology of German folk poetry Des Knaben Wunderhorn (Youth's Magic Horn), 1805–8, extracts from which have been set by several composers, notably Mahler. In 1811 he married Elisabeth (Bettina) Brentano, a friend of Beethoven.