Elise Polko

Elise Polko (born bird, born January 31, 1823 Wacker Ruh ' ( Naundorfer hall), today Radebeul, † May 15, 1899 in Munich) was a German poet and singer.

Life and work

Elise Polko was the first child of the rector Carl Vogel, who led the 1816 Wacker Ruh ' furnished boys boarding school together with his father Carl Lang. In 1824 the family moved to Krefeld, where her father until 1832, the Higher Town School (later secondary school ) initiated. After 1832, the family moved to Leipzig.

Your born 1829 in Krefeld brother Eduard Vogel, the fifth child of the bird family, was a well-known astronomer and explorer, who in the Sultanate Wadei, was to the east of Lake Chad, were executed on the orders of the local ruler in 1856. The youngest brother Hermann Carl Vogel (1841-1907) was director of the Astrophysical Observatory Potsdam.

Elise Polko was a personal friend of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy; in the house of Mendelssohn's sister Fanny Hensel, she found recording. This round also included Jenny Lind, Wilhelmine Schröder- Devrient and Rahel Varnhagen von Ense on. Polkos voice and her talent aroused the interest of Mendelssohn. On his advice, she could be a singer (mezzo-soprano ) form. As an opera singer, she has tried successfully; she completed her studies in Paris. Your plan to go on the stage, was prevented by changing family circumstances. In 1849 she married the railway engineer and later director of the railway the Cologne-Minden Railway Company, waived a stage career as a singer and devoted himself thenceforth to writing.

With her husband, she lived in Duisburg, from about 1851/52 for about 25 years in Minden in Westphalia, where they moved into an apartment in the station, from 1877 in Wetzlar and 1880 in ( Cologne ) Deutz. In February 1887, shortly after the death of her terminally ill son, and her husband died - leaving behind debts. In addition, her husband had neglected to let them get in touch with the pension based on the nationalization of the railway company. And she had to support her family. At first they lived in Hanover, she had to leave for health reasons again, then in Wiesbaden, from where she moved to Frankfurt for cost reasons, most recently in Munich. They moved into a small pension on the mercy paths, earned a living by writing and by uptake mostly older boarders, including at times even a young daughter of the poet Theodor Storm, and was singing (? ) Classes, also it was with cash gifts and loans supported by Marianne Rhodius, the 1.8 million mark, leaving the city of Krefeld in addition to numerous legacies as a foundation.

Elise Polkos works were mostly in Minden, where she also Carl Wilhelm August Krüger met, who had assembled a well-known art collection. In her book Important personalities. Portrait sketches, memoirs and short stories by 1895 is a story of art collector again. Your subjects took Polko but mostly from the field of music. Her most famous works are the novels memories of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Faustina Hasse, Nicolo Paganini and the luthier as well as musical fairy tale, fantasies and sketches in three volumes, a work which saw 25 runs. The three volumes Musical fairy tales tell of past and present stories from the musical life of past centuries. There are memories of famous musicians. In the story A double star in the sky Art Clara and Robert Schumann play the main role. And in Porpoto in Dresden in 1744, the readers at the court of Frederick Augustus II, the son of Augustus the Strong, out.

These works were mostly very successful and were read primarily by women like. Nevertheless Elise Polko did not come out from the financially cramped conditions, although they to pay off loans, so to speak, constantly wrote. In a letter to Marianne Rhodius she complained: " The popularity of my spring and the ease with which I work, I would have been able to fulfill the obligations mentioned expensive without much effort than English or French writer, but the fees charged by the German writer is yes just such a low in comparison to those - and so I have to because honestly torment and almost all those works, Madam, at which enjoys so many hearts bear, the secret motto, ( painted in pain) in doloribus pinxit '. " they also had bad luck, so they had to buy their books at their choice of publishers who went bankrupt.

Today their works are very little known and usually have only second-hand bookshops. A detailed bibliography of the works, essays and short stories is in the Westphalian Author lexicon. Further material can be found at the Krefeld city archives.

Works (selection)

  • Small paintings for the nursery, Leipzig 1854
  • Toys for girls: pictures of flowers, Leipzig 1856
  • Musical fairy tale: fantasies and sketches, 3 volumes, Leipzig 1857-59 ( etl. editions)
  • New stories, Leipzig 1861
  • Our pilgrimage from the nursery to your own stove: Loose Leaves, Leipzig 1862
  • Memories of a missing person. Records and letters by and about Edward Vogel, collected by his sister EP, Leipzig 1863
  • Notes and letters about and from Dr. Carl Vogel, director of the citizens and junior high school in Leipzig, Leipzig 1863
  • The Beggar's Opera: a picture of life from the poets and musicians of the world time George I, Hannover 1864
  • Genzianen: sketch sheets, Münster 1865
  • Tales for the New Years Eve, together with a couple Ottilie Wildermuth and Louise Ash, Hamm 1865
  • At the tea-table of a beautiful woman: Memories of the Emperor Alexander I, Berlin 1866 ( Based born on the experiences of sister Emilie her godmother Elise Hundeiker with the Russian Tsar Alexander I, see also Johann Peter Hundeiker ).
  • Letter sheets and women's images, Münster 1866
  • Memories of Felix Mendelssohn- Bartholdy: A Artists' lives, Leipzig 1868 (English edition Reminiscences of Felix Mendelssohn -Bartholdy at Longmans, Green & Co., London 1869 )
  • Verklungene chords: commemorative sheets, Leipzig 1869
  • She writes novel, Leipzig 1869
  • A German princess, Pauline of Lippe. Leipzig 1870 ( LLB Detmold ).
  • Chats, Bremen 1872
  • In flight: travel sheets and sketches, Vol 2, Leipzig & Vienna 1874
  • Neither happiness nor star: a simple story, Leipzig 1876
  • In vain, novel, Wroclaw 1878
  • At the Villa Diodati: From the memories of the deceased, Münster 1878
  • Sites in the memory of Queen Louise in the context of oral traditions. Recorded by Caspar Scheurenstraße and E. P. - Dusseldorf 1878 Digitized edition of the University and State Library Dusseldorf
  • "Nice Rothtraut " in " Vesta " Paperback for Germany's women and virgins; ed. by Elise Polko, Leipzig, Eckstein, 1879
  • The Queen Luise: portrait sketches, Leipzig, 1881
  • Separately, novel, two parts in one volume, Wroclaw 1882
  • Heart and rose spring time, novellas, Wroclaw 1884
  • New Storybook: musical sketches and musings. - Minden iW: . Bruns, 1884 Digitized edition of the University and State Library Dusseldorf
  • Con amore! Latest stories, Wiesbaden 1892
  • Pampers. The family friend. If walls are talking, three novellas, Wroclaw 1893
  • Light and dark, New stories, Cologne 1895
  • Puppy Love, novel, Schleswig, before 1898

Papers

Letters from Elise Polko are in stock at the Leipzig music publisher CF Peters in Leipzig State Archives.

Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie Integrated Authority File
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