Johann Konrad Grübel, Das Stekenpferd (The Hobbyhorse)

The Nuremberg craftsman Johann Konrad Grübel (1736-1809) continued the old tradition of bourgeois literature with his Franconian dialect poetry. The great contemporary Goethe saw Grübel as the last descendant of the Nuremberg Meistersingers (cf. Cgm 5103). Partly written in letter or dialogue form, his dialect poems vividly and humorously depict everyday things and draw a realistic picture of his time.

The longer poems, among them "Das Stekenpferd", were often published in individual prints and complete editions. They had changes that resulted from Grübel's new handwritten models. In his own words, poetry was also a "hobbyhorse" for the town smith, which he devoted a great deal of time and care to.

The "two squadrons hobbyhorses" (Rar. 279-2,1/2), to which Grübel later added a third "squadron" (Rar. 279-1,12), were the subject of Goethe's review of Grübel's poems in Nuremberg dialect in 1798: "There is a great deal of knowledge of human inclinations and hobbies and they are not only described in general but one is convinced by individual traits that the poet knew them from individual people; by the way, the twist that everything is disguised in a kind of cavalry does not always have a fortunate effect."

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