Rebecka Mendelssohn

Rebecca Henriette Lejeune Dirichlet, née Mendelssohn (* April 11, 1811 in Hamburg, † December 1, 1858 in Göttingen ) was a German salonière. She was the granddaughter of Moses Mendelssohn, daughter of Abraham and Lea Mendelssohn ( Bartholdy ) and younger sister of musician and composer Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Fanny Hensel. She was married to the mathematician Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet and great-grandmother of the philosopher Leonard Nelson.

Life

Because of difficulties with the French occupiers in Hamburg in connection with the Continental System, the Mendelssohn family fled in mid 1811, a few months after the birth of Rebekah, to Berlin, where the widowed mother's grandmother lived. Rebekah, who was affectionately known as Becky, was musically trained and participated as a singer in family performances with the Royal Chapel at the court of Frederick William III. part, which led to her brother Felix. 1816 was Abraham Mendelssohn Rebecka and her siblings converted to Protestantism, with which the adoption of the Christian name and the family name Henriette additive Bartholdy was connected. The parents converted six years later.

Rebecka Mendelssohn Bartholdy was formed in Berlin with Fanny Hensel, Clara Schumann and Adelbert von Chamisso a romantic scene - circle, but developed no great effect ( during the French occupation in 1806 ) after the dissolution of the literary salons of Rahel Varnhagen von Ense.

On May 22, 1832 married the mathematician Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet, who had been introduced by Alexander von Humboldt in the Mendelssohn family. They had four children, one of whom died early. Rebecka Dirichlet brought the mathematician in contact with the romantic artist of the era often wrong in their house and played music. Rebecka Dirichlet cousin Ottilie, daughter of Nathan Mendelssohn and Henriette Izzy, also married a mathematician Ernst Eduard Kummer. In the spring of 1837 Alexander von Humboldt resulted in the salon of Princess Lucie Pueckler in the presence of Rebecka Dirichlet a conversation with Eduard Gans, a famous Hegelian and former admirer of Rebekah.

1855 attracted the Dirichlet from Berlin to Göttingen because Gustav Dirichlet there who succeeded Carl Friedrich Gauss. Karl August Varnhagen von Ense often came from Berlin and described in his diaries the house of the Dirichlet, the garden and the pavilion. On December 1, 1858 Rebecka Dirichlet died of a stroke, her husband on May 5, 1859 of heart disease. The common grave of the couple Lejeune Dirichlet in Göttingen is well preserved and is located on the St. Bartholomew Cemetery. The square surrounding sandstone balustrade contributes to the west the inscription: