Marianne von Willemer

Marianne von Willemer ( born November 20, 1784 in Linz (); † December 6, 1860 in Frankfurt am Main; native likely than Marianne Pirngruber; well: Marianne Jung) was a native of Austria actress and dancer. At the age of 14, she moved to Frankfurt on Main, where she became the third wife of the Frankfurt banker Johann Jakob von Willemer. This friendly relationship, met Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Marianne in the years 1814 and 1815 and immortalized it in the "Book Suleika " of his late work " West-Eastern Divan ". Among the many muses Goethe Marianne was the only co-author of one of his works, as the " Divan " also contains - as posthumously became known - some poems from her pen.

Origin and childhood

Marianne was the daughter of the actress Elisabeth Pirngruber. This was one of twelve children of an estate manager and grew up in Upper Austria. At age 23, she gave birth to an illegitimate child. About the biological father and the birthplace Marianne there are different assumptions that could not be documented until now. According to her own account she had been born in Linz on 20 November 1784 was christened Maria Anna Katharina Theresia; a corresponding entry in Linz baptismal registers but still not be found.

In contrast, they found the marriage document their mother in the Trauungsmatrik the Cathedral of St. Pölten: Not an instrument maker named Matthias Jung, the Marianne himself admitted as a father, but the theater director Joseph M. George Young and Elizabeth Pirngruber were married in church on March 31, 1788 been. From that time on the then four- year-old received the name Marianne Young, probably in order to conceal the illegitimate birth.

To earn a living, the mother Elisabeth Pirngruber moved to Vienna, where she appeared on suburban stages. Four of her siblings living in Vienna took care of the little Marianne. It developed into a lively and trainable child and received private lessons by a local priest. Marianne also received early drama and ballet lessons and was already was eight years old on stage, a year later she was on a list of a program Pressburger Theatre.

Moves to Frankfurt

When the mother, whose husband had died in 1796 in Bratislava, Vienna received no commitment, she followed in 1798 with her daughter a fellow dancer couple named Traub to Frankfurt am Main. The income of the now 38 -year-old and her daughter must have been low, so that Elisabeth Young casually executed handicrafts to secure their livelihood. The prospect of a commitment in the Far Frankfurt they saw as an opportunity to put an end to their plight.

But the mother only got a job as a theater servant. Marianne itself, however, was on December 26, 1798 for the first time at the Frankfurt playbill. The fourteen- year-old took on roles in operas (Der Spiegel Ritter), musical comedies ( The little sailor ) and ballets ( The Stolen Bride). Her early appearances caused a sensation, and it was soon noted in theater reviews. So wrote the " spectacle customer " in May 1799:

When they celebrated a great success in the spring of 1800 in the ballet "Harlequin from the egg ," sat in the audience next to Catharina Elisabeth Goethe, the mother of the poet Clemens Brentano, who spontaneously fell by its own account in the young actress. He wrote her thirty years later:

The relationship with Johann Jakob Willemer

Another admirer was Johann Jakob Willemer (* March 29, 1760; † October 1838 ), a just selected only in the Chief Directorate of the theater Frankfurt banker. He came from a humble background, had worked his way up as a 29 -year-old to the Privy Council and as a 33 -year-old his patent for " Royal. Preuss. Hofbanquier " get. About his origins and his arduous climb he wrote to Goethe on December 11, 1808:

That Willemer grew up poor and without education, but so not true. His father Johann Ludwig Willemer had led the bank Franck & Co. until his early death. Although then went back the business, but his mother forwarded the company until it was able to take the young Johann Jakob Willemer. Not least because of the dowry of his first wife Meline, who came from a wealthy Berlin merchant's house, he was already the age of 24, a wealthy man. He could afford to rent a country house on the river Main, the Gerber mill. In addition, he bought after selling the family home in the Töngesgasse 49 the house " Zum Roten males " on Fahrtor.

Willemer was twice a widower. From his first marriage with Magdalena Long, called Meline, the four daughters Katherine, Rosina, Meline and Maximiliane had emerged. After the sudden death of his wife in 1792 he married nine months later, the younger by seventeen years, Jeanne Mariane Chiron. The second marriage lasted only three years; Jeanne Mariane died at the age of only 20 years in childbirth. From this connection came the son of Abraham, called Brami. Willemer felt called to be a writer and wrote next to pedagogical and moral writings including five dramas, however, was with his own work is always dissatisfied.

The theater lovers Willemer had observed a long time Marianne. He persuaded Marianne's mother, let him have the daughter against a sum of 2,000 guilders and pensions as a foster child. for he gave the promise to take care of Marianne's education and a musical education. Elisabeth Jung accepted the offer and traveled back to Linz. It seems odd at first glance that a mother leaves her 16- year-old daughter with strangers; of course, this step when considering the situation of theater actresses holds at this time in mind; Elisabeth Jung knew from his own experience: they were handed over to the desires of the theater owners and received only up to a certain age roles, their social and social status was low. The penniless Elisabeth Jung appeared the offer Willemers well as an opportunity that was taken care of so that at least for the future of their daughter.

On April 25, 1800 Marianne stood for the last time on stage. It was recorded in the will of Merschen house in Frankfurt as a foster daughter and educated alongside his daughters. Probably two years later, the 18 -year-old and 42 -year-old became a couple. Marianne received guitar lessons from Clemens Brentano and guitarist Christian Gottlieb Scheidler, an education in piano and singing and drawing classes. In addition, she learned Latin, Italian and French. For a further acting career Willemer undertook, however, nothing in this profession should never return Marianne. Marianne saw her mother again at least three times: in the years 1803 and 1812 she traveled to her hometown, and in 1824 visited Elisabeth Jung in Frankfurt.

First encounters with Goethe

Johann Jakob Willemer was Goethe first met as a seventeen -year-old bank apprentice and had visited him four years later with his wife Melina again. Willemer, who had with his own literary works found no recognition, Goethe saw in his idol and kept in touch with him through letters upright.

Goethe traveled in the summer of 1814 for the first time after 17 years back to the Main. He had last visited his mother in 1797 to her funeral in 1808 he had not come into the area occupied by the French city of Frankfurt. It was only after Napoleon's troops were defeated in the Battle of Leipzig was to think back to a visit to his hometown. Goethe wanted there to visit friends and take a cure in Wiesbaden. The invitation to him and Christiane - Goethe traveled on July 25, 1814, however, without his wife from - went back to Sulpiz Boisserée: Would you seriously once visit the Rhine ... Do it yourself and for my sake! .

Shortly before his departure, the publisher Johann Friedrich Cotta had sent a collection of Persian poetry, which he had published in a German translation, entitled " The Divan of Hafez Mohammed Schemseddin ". This compilation of ghazals ( Persian diwan ديوان = collection ) by the poet Hafiz, who had lived 500 years before him, immediately pulled him under her spell. He mentions the work in his diary the first time on June 7, 1814, and fourteen days later, he wrote the first poem of the later " Divan " - " creating and animating " -, and on 25 July 1814, he wrote, as he would foreshadow what is to come:

As Willemer learned that Goethe was staying in Wiesbaden, he took the opportunity to visit him there on August 4. He introduced him to his partner Marianne and invited him to visit the Gerber mill. In his diary entry of the same date Goethe mentions the encounter of protocol:

A few days later, he reported in a letter to his wife Christiane, that Willemer visited him with his "little companion". Impressed, he showed up after he had accepted the invitation, and the couple had visited on August 12th on the Gerber mill; he wrote then:

The encounter took place at a time when the nearly 30 -year-old Marianne lived with Willemer been twelve years in " concubinage ". Goethe himself knew such a situation from their own experience with Christiane Vulpius. It has not been established, but very likely that his friend Goethe Willemer for legal legitimacy of the relationship advised because the wedding at short notice - and took place without banns - September 27, 1814. On the occasion of another visit on 12 October quoted Goethe:

On October 20, Goethe traveled in the direction of Weimar. In the next few months set up a regular correspondence between him and Marianne.

The summer on the Gerber mill and in Heidelberg (1815 )

Jakob Johann Willemer invited Goethe in a letter of 10 April 1815 a new trip to the homeland:

Willemer played here on the disease of Goethe's wife Christiane, who had suffered a stroke earlier this year.

On May 24, 1815 Goethe traveled - alone again - from Weimar in the Rhine -Main region, where he mostly resided until 21 July 1815 in Wiesbaden. He wanted to end his trip with a visit to the Willemers on August 12 on their remote estate. He stayed longer than intended: By 17 September he was staying on the Gerber mill, from a temporary stay in Willemers townhouse apart from 8 to 15 September. In addition to the Willemers Goethe and the young architect Sulpiz Boisserée was in these days on the Gerbermuhle guest. Morning Goethe worked mainly on the " West-Eastern Divan ", which he had begun in the previous year and should be first published in 1819. At noon we dined together and strolled in the afternoon in the countryside. Goethe was the evening his verses came on the day before, and Marianne did not only sing his songs, but increasingly came to him in a lyrical dialogue.

In this serene atmosphere not only Goethe's new work quickly gained in size, the German literature owes her some love poems of Goethe. Shortly before the end of his visit, the affection Goethe also suggested for the first time down in writing. In his first Hatem song he confessed:

Marianne replied a few days later, she received by his words and paraphrased:

On September 18, Goethe traveled to Heidelberg. Already on 23 September, the couple Willemer surprised him with a visit there. Marianne had a friend brought a poem that should be included as a song by the east wind in the " Divan ":

In these lines the impending departure of Goethe is indicated, and Marianne knew well that they would not soon see again. In these days in which you undertook Walks - "Just over the bridge then to Carlsthor. The Neckar up. "As Goethe wrote - came other " Divan " poems, including Goethe's Ode " recovery ", which with the verses " Is it possible. I start Star of Stars / push you again to my heart. " September 27, 1815 was the last day on which the two met, they never saw each other again after that.

From the subsequent correspondence which was to last until the death of Goethe, Goethe adopted the following verses of Marianne in the " Divan " on:

He tells her later, also in the " Divan ":

For Goethe it was the only time in his life and work that a woman co-creator of his poetry was. Marianne von Willemer was not only the lines of " Suleika ", Goethe also had three of her poems in his work incorporated:

• "High Delighted in your love " (title in the book Zuleika: " Suleika " )
• "What does the movement " ( " East Wind " )
• "Oh, your moist wings " (the title in the book Zuleika: "West Wind " )

On October 21, 1815 now returned to Weimar, he told a friend in a letter that he could " report with pleasure that for the Divan new, rich sources opened up so that it has been extended to a very brilliantly. ". Both Goethe and Marianne were silent about the true authorship of Marianne's share. Even in his memoirs, " Poetry and Truth ", he revealed the circumstances under which large parts of the " Divan " was inspired, no. They were posthumously known by the German scholars Hermann Grimm ( son of Wilhelm Grimm ), which Marianne had confided shortly before her death.

Once more, in June 1816, shortly after the death of his wife Christiane, Goethe set off on a journey to the Rhine, had the ride but after two hours of hiking to cancel because of a Radbruch to his car.

After 1832 years of parting

Goethe died on March 22, 1832 Marianne said, after she had been delivered the message. " God has given me this friendship. He has taken them unto me. I must thank God that it was me so long time to part. "How much Goethe her, and what she had meant to him, Marianne kept until her death in itself.

You undertook, together with Willemer few trips to Italy. Her husband suffered in 1836 - 77 years - a stroke. Marianne nursed him in his last two years of life until his death in 1838. On October 22, 1838 Johann Jakob Willemer was buried beside his first wife at the church in Frankfurt- Oberrad. Marianne von Willemer survived her husband by 22 years.

After spending 38 years at Willemers page, Marianne felt lonely after his death. The marriage remained childless, and one year after her husband's death, she wrote:

They moved into an apartment in the Old Mainzer Gasse 42, and gave lessons in piano and voice. Become silent, they nonetheless maintained contacts with artists and supported them; so she made, for example, that the art collection of the brothers Melchior and Sulpiz Boisserees was sold for 240,000 florins to the Bavarian king. This forms the basis of the Alte Pinakothek in Munich.

Marianne died of Willemer 76 -year-old a heart attack on December 6, 1860 and was buried in the family grave Andreae at Frankfurt 's main cemetery.

Reception

Marianne von Willemer was among the many muses Goethe's the only one that can be called a co-author of one of his works. She never published under his own name, but her poems that went into the West-Eastern Divan found already in their lifetime than their authorship was unknown, attention. Franz Schubert, the number of Goethe's poems set to music, composed in March 1821 What is the motion ( Suleika I, D.720, Opus 14) and 1828 Ah, your moist wings ( Suleika II, D.717, Opus 31).

In memory of Marianne von Willemer initiated the Women's Office of the City of Linz, the Marianne - of - Willemer price.