BAUMBACH, RUDOLF (1840--19o5), German poet, was born at Kranichfeld on the Ilm, in Thuringia, on Sept. 28, 184o, and acted as a private tutor in various Austrian towns. In Trieste he caught the popular taste with an Alpine legend, Zlatorog (1877), and songs of a journeyman apprentice, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (1878), both of which ran into many editions. In 1885 he returned to Germany and was appointed ducal librarian at Meiningen, where he died on Sept. 14, 1905.
Baumbach was a poet of the vagabond school, and wrote, in imitation of his greater compatriot, Victor Scheffel, many excellent drinking songs, among which Die Lindenwirtin has endeared him to the German student world. But his real strength lay in narra tive verse, especially when he had the opportunity of describing the scenery and life of his native Thuringia. Special mention may be made of Frau Holde (i 881), Spielmannslieder (1882), Von der Landstrasse (1882 ), and Thiiringer Lieder (1891).