Franz Stelzhamer Commemmorative Plaque
Hasnerallee
Hasnerallee
Franz Stelzhamer, Upper Austria's most famous dialect poet, was born as the son of a tailor and small farmer in Groß-Piesenham near Ried im Innkreis. After attending St. Peter High School in Salzburg, he studied law in Graz and Vienna, but he never graduated. He worked as a private tutor and actor, and published poems, in High German and in German dialect. Songs in Upper Austrian Dialect (Lieder in obderenns'scher Volksmundart, first volume 1837) brought him success, but also bad reviews.
After unsteady years of travel, Stelzhamer settled in Vienna, where he wrote for various journals and contributed to the Vienna and the Viennese (Wien und die Wiener) collection, published by Adalbert Stifter. His yearslong financial difficulties were ended when he was granted an honorary salary and an artist's scholarship. In 1855, the Austrian emperor awarded him the Austrian Decoration for Science and Art. In 1952, his poem Hoamàtgsang was declared the anthem of Upper Austria.
About one hundred years earlier, Stelzhamer had written strongly antisemitic texts. His antisemitism is viewed critically throughout today.
Reference to Ischl
Stelzhamer liked to stay in Ischl. His first time was reputedly in 1842, but certainly in 1843. In 1844, he even recited his poems for the imperial family. His readings were announced in the lists of spa guests.
In 1856, Stelzhamer dedicated the poem The stony letter of Ischl (Da stoaner Brief z ́Ischl) to the people of Ischl, which alluded to the imperial villa and therefore the bright future of Ischl.
An excerpt from his obituary in Ischler Wochenblatt, the newspaper of Ischl: "From 1871, he also came regularly to Ischl, where he stayed in the former Nestroy villa. Ischl honored the memory of the outstanding poet by celebrating his 70th birthday in 1872 [...]."
About the monument
The commemorative plaque in its present shape was erected by the Municipality of Ischl in 1974 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the poet's death. However, there was a similar plaque without a portrait, which already existed in 1952. In 2014, the Stelzhamer Monument was moved a little further towards the river Traun and rebuilt on a smaller scale.
A marble portrait medallion by Matthias Loidl and a marble slab with inscription (both from 1974) are embedded in a structure made of boulders.
Stelzhamer only saw a short-term fad in the Ischler Bad and therefore wrote ironically:
"Wirer's wilderness - Wirer's portrait / Wirer's grove - Wirer's Höh' / Wirer's spring - Wirer's house / My soul - one knows it / Out of confusion - almost in need."
When the young emperor settled down permanently in the summer of the 1850s, he openly confessed his error in his Steinernen Brief z'Ischl:
"She turned the page well / But on the de sche side, / And then Franz, the fool, / prophesied wrongly."