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He was a translator, dramatist, librettist and critic
born in Camberwell, London, England who was mainly self-taught although
studied for a time with S.T. Friend.
In 1835 his My Fellow Clerk was staged at the Lyceum Theatre
in London with his next play, Twice Killed, appearing the same
year.
In 1837 though he was writing about finance and
commerce instead of drama, which he would have much preferred, after having
been persuaded to work for a solicitor. This didn’t halt him from
reading as much British and European literature as he could though and
before long he was concentrating on his own dramatic works.
His interest in translation was also prevalent and by
1846 he had translated Dichtung und Wahrenheit by Goethe from German
to English. Two years later he
had completed his translation of Conversations of Goethe by
Eckermann.
By 1850 he had taken on the position of dramatic
critic for The Times newspaper and in 1853 he wrote an article about
the philosophy of the German, Arthur Schopenhauer, which is credited with
bringing this philosopher fame throughout Britain and elsewhere.
His translation of Francis Bacon by Fischer
appeared in 1857, his play The Porter’s Knot appeared in 1858
and 1872 he published his own version of Last Days of Pompeii, which
had previously been written and published by Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton in
1834. He also translated Tartuffe
by Moliere, and “Autobiography” by Goethe, wrote the libretto
for several operas, translated Verdi’s Rigoletto into English
and wrote a version of English lyrics to the popular Welsh songs “The
Ash Grove” and “March of the Men of Harlech”.
He died after having suffered heart failure in
Southwark, London, in 1877 when he was 64 years old and left behind him
many translations and around 100 plays, which have been translated into
various other European languages.
Sources:
1.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11364b.htm
2.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Oxenford
3.
http://www.le.ac.uk/ee/irving/papers.html
4.
http://athenaeum.soi.city.ac.uk/reviews/contributors/contributorfiles/OXENFORD,John.html
5.
http://www.gabrielleray.150m.com/ArchiveTextH/HenriettaHodson.html
6.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/5733
7.
http://www.guitarnut.com/folktablature/the101bestsongs/marchharlech.html
8.
http://biblion.co.uk/books/2686754.html
9.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ash_Grove
10.
http://www.gurman.org/ashgrove/
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