Gottlieb Konrad Pfeffel (28 June 1736 – 1 May 1809) was a French-German writer and translator from the Pfeffel family.
His texts were put to music by Ludwig van Beethoven, Joseph Haydn and Franz Schubert. He is sometimes also known as Amédée or Théophile Conrad Pfeffel, which is the French translation of Gottlieb ("Godlove").
Biography
Gottlieb Konrad Pfeffel was born in Colmar. His father, Johann Konrad Pfeffel (1682–1738), was the mayor of Colmar and a legal consultant of the French king, but died when Gottlieb was only two years old. His mother was Anna Katharina Pfeffel, née Herr (1694–1773), daughter of patrician of Colmar Johann Georg Herr. His father was the son of a pastor Johann Konrad Pfeffel (1636–1701). He was raised by his brother Christian Friedrich Pfeffel von Kriegelstein (1726–1807), who was ten years older.
He went in 1751 to the University of Halle to study law, with the intention of becoming a diplomat. There, he was a student of the philosopher Christian Wolff.
In 1752, Pfeffel translated Johann Joachim Spalding's Gedanken über den Werth der Gefühle in dem Christenthum into French.
In 1754, he went to Dresden for treatment of an eye problem; there, he met the poet Christian Fürchtegott Gellert. His eye condition deteriorated, and in 1758, after an operation, he became completely blind and had to abandon his studies.
In February 1759, Pfeffel married Margaretha Cleophe Divoux (1738–1809), a merchant's daughter from Strasbourg. They had thirteen children together, of whom seven died before adulthood.
His son Gottlieb Conrad August Pfeffel (b. 1759), who studied law in Göttingen, was admitted to the Golden Circle Lodge there in 1781. The other son was Carl Friedrich Pfeffel (1775–1858) who subsequently became Banker and member of Parliament.