Homage to Lord Byron

Two hundred years ago, just like today, on April 19, 1824, Lord Byron died in the heroic city of Messolonghi from the effects of a cold. He was 36 years old. Just a few months earlier, on January 22, 1824, he wrote the poem "On This Day I Complete My Thirty-Sixth Year" for his birthday. Sadly, he realized that he could no longer awaken the feelings of his love interest and spurred his spirit on to awaken himself for battle and, as a soldier, choose a grave on the battlefield to rest in.

He had had enough. In these last years, and especially after the death of his young illegitimate daughter, the poet wanted to change his life and do something "important" for the world. He participated in the Italian Revolution, but it came to nothing. Then he decided to participate in the Greek Revolution and invested his entire fortune in the Greek struggle against the Ottoman Empire. He was welcomed like a messiah in Messolonghi, yet everything that followed disappointed him. The Greeks were disorganized, ununited, and dishonest, always demanding money instead of uniting around the ideal of liberating their homeland. As if all this weren't enough, he fell in love again with a child, his servant Luke, who rejected him. He no longer felt beautiful, no longer desirable. The twin spirits of lover and soldier battled in his soul until the last moment. But Lord George Byron had been lucky. After his death, his fame as a poet achieved everything he could not achieve while alive. His contribution to the liberation of Greece from Muslim rule was decisive. Were he not who he was—not the lover and rebel known throughout the world—his influence on the revolutions of that time in Europe would not have been so great. His Orientalism, his interest in Armenian culture, his Hebrew songs inspired the liberation movements in the Orient, and his love affairs with women and men inspired the emancipation movements of the 20th century.

Now I would like to pay, George, a small, humble tribute. I wanted to organize a reading or a concert in your honor, but unfortunately, none of the people I had gathered around me wanted to help me realize this wish. This allowed me to understand your loneliness in the last years of your life even better. I felt your disappointment for our fellow human beings in my own skin: We are alone with the fire in our chests that burns us and that we would gladly put at the service of dear humanity: fire that illuminates or burns.

Let us bear it resolutely and like fools and carry it on, expecting nothing from our fellow human beings.

And yet, I found a friend who helped me pay you this small tribute. Peter Müller, my partner's brother and an English teacher, helped me edit and translate Lord Byron's very first poem. "Leaving Newstead Abbey"

In this poem, Lord Byron communes with the spirits of his ancestors as he leaves the crumbling family estate. He senses his past, the soul of the knights of the Crusades or wars, his fathers, and promises them that he will not disappoint them.

He has not disappointed them.

This poem is very important to me. So my homage begins with the translation of this poem into German. Later in the year, I will also translate "Today I End My 36th Year."

On the same day (Friday, April 19), I will also present a compilation of all the "Maid of Athens" from the 2022 Bolko von Hochberg International Song Competition.

And finally, the day ends with an "Ode to Byron," which I will write myself, my first literary attempt.

I wish you another 100 happy years of remembrance in the universe where you are, beloved poet.