Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein
Carolyne (also Caroline) Elisabeth Princess zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg-Ludwigsburg , b. von Iwanowska (born February 7, 1819 in Monasterzyska near Ternopil / Western Ukraine, † March 10, 1887 in Rome , ± Campo Santo Teutonico ) was Franz Liszt's partner.
Life
origin
Carolyne von Iwanowska was born as the daughter of Peter von Iwanowski and Pauline. von Podowska was born into a wealthy old Polish noble family. The parents separated during their childhood. Carolyne, who grew up firmly in the Catholic faith, was an imaginative and stubborn child who read a lot and took firm standpoints early on; twelve governesses tried in vain to educate themselves.
At her father's request, she married Prince Nikolaus zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg-Ludwigsburg (1812–1864), son of Field Marshal Ludwig Adolf Peter zu Sayn-Wittgenstein (1769–1843), who was in Russian service and served as adjutant to the Imperial Russian Governor served in Kiev . A year later he accepted her request to leave, and they moved to rural Woronice in southern Ukraine , where Carolyne owned goods from her dowry . Here she devoted herself almost exclusively to her intellectual and spiritual interests, studied literature and philosophy, but also took care of the management of her property.
The marriage between her and the prince, later Prince Wittgenstein, was not a happy one; both for emotional reasons and because Carolyne's highly developed intellectuality and musical inclinations made little appeal to her husband. In addition, the rural seclusion could not satisfy its social demands in the long term.
At Liszt's side
In 1847 Princess Carolyne met Franz Liszt at a benefit concert in Kiev . By agreeing to Liszt, whose music she was immediately enthusiastic about, her social and material support for his project to stage the Divine Comedy as a musical theater, the two came closer to each other. After Liszt had visited Gut Woronice twice, Carolyne, who had previously raised a million rubles through a sale of land, fled Russia with her young daughter in April 1848 and soon met Liszt again at Prince Felix Lichnowsky's country estate whom she now loved ardently.
Liszt, whose relationship with Marie d'Agoult had just dated, returned her feelings and both moved to the Grand Ducal Weimar , where Liszt had just been appointed conductor. For thirteen years they lived in seclusion in the Weimar Altenburg - a time in which Carolyne Liszt stood by and supported in every way possible. Historians argue about the range of their influence; Among other things, it was speculated that Liszt's Chopin biography actually came from the princess. What is certain is that she inspired Liszt to write numerous compositions and also gave his lifestyle a new direction. Liszt, who previously toured for years, was entangled in numerous love adventures and more of a magical virtuoso than a hardworking composer, turned under her influence into a conscientious worker with clear spiritual and emotional goals. Sunday matinees with artist friends were also initiated by Carolyne: Here they made music together with Richard Wagner and Hector Berlioz , who had a special friendship with Carolyne; among other things, he dedicated his opera Les Troyens to the princess .
But although the grand duchess widow Maria Pawlowna was patronized by art and was influential across Europe , Liszt and Carolyne had a difficult social situation because of their “wild marriage”, which was also improper; so both urged an early marriage. Prince Nikolaus, who had stayed behind in Russia, initially refused to agree to a divorce due to financial concerns; but in 1855 an amicable agreement was reached, as a result of which the two were divorced under both Protestant and Russian Orthodox law. Prince Nikolaus remarried as early as 1857, while their daughter Marie, who grew up with her mother, married Prince Konstantin Hohenlohe in Weimar in 1859 , who later became the first chief steward at the Austrian imperial court in Vienna.
To get married at last, needed Liszt and Carolyne, both devout Catholics, additionally the annulment of her first marriage by the Pope . So Carolyne went to Rome in May 1860 , where she achieved the cancellation on September 24 of the same year. She immediately planned the next step and organized Liszt's wedding, which was scheduled for his 50th birthday on October 22, 1861 in the church of San Carlo al Corso . But at the last moment - Liszt had only traveled to Rome from Weimar in the fall of 1861 - envious relatives of the princess obtained from Pope Pius IX. a revision of his decision; the marriage project had failed.
This failure quickly affected the relationship between the two. While Carolyne began to occupy himself more and more with spiritual questions, the decision matured in Liszt that led him to receive the minor ordinations in 1865 . Although his ordination did not include a vow of chastity, the two had drifted apart. Carolyne spent the rest of her life doing theological research and spiritual practice in her domicile in Via Babuino in Rome, where most of her posthumous writings were also written. She died there in 1887 after having been in contact with Liszt by letter until his death in 1886.
Works
Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein was also active as a writer, but did not have her works published, although privately printed. Her main work is:
- Des causes intérieures de la faiblesse extérieure de l'Église , 24 vols.
As soon as it became known, the book was placed on the Librorum Prohibitorum index .
She decided to publish only one book:
- La vie chrétienne au milieu du monde et en notre siècle. Entretiens pratiques recueillis et publiés par Henri Lasserre , Paris 1895 (French).
- She wrote the first list of Franz Liszt's works; it remained MS.
swell
- Francesco Barberio, Liszt e la Principessa de Sayn-Wittgenstein , Rome: Unione Editrice 1912.
-
Hector Berlioz , Lettres à la princesse , Paris: L'Herne 2001 (correspondence with Princess Sayn-Wittgenstein, French).
- Letters from Hector Berlioz to Princess Caroline Sayn-Wittgenstein (published by La Mara), Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel 1903.
- Ideal friendship and romantic love. Letters to Princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein and Mrs. Estelle Fornier (ed. By La Mara; = Literary Works , Vol. 5), ad Frz. v. Gertrud Savić, Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel 1903.
- Marcel Herwegh, Au Soir des dieux; Des derniers reflets Wagneriens à la mort de Liszt , Paris: Peyronnet 1933.
- La Mara (i.e. Marie Lipsius , ed.), Franz Liszt's Letters to Princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein , Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel 1899 (French).
- this., From the heyday of the Weimar Altenburg. Pictures and letters from the life of Princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein , Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel 1906.
- this., On the threshold of the hereafter. Last memories of Princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein, Liszt's friend , Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel 1925.
- Émile Ollivier , Correspondance. Emile Ollivier et Carolyne de Sayn-Wittgenstein , Paris: Presse univérsitaire 1984.
- Collection of hand drawings from the possession of Princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein (1819-1889) , Munich: Emil Hirsch, Antiquariat, 1922.
- Adelheid von Schorn (ed.), Two generations. Memories and Letters , Berlin: S. Fischer 1901.
literature
- Entry in the German Biographical Encyclopedia
- Adelheid von Schorn , Franz Liszt et la Pcesse de Sayn-Wittgenstein , Paris: Dujarrin 1905 ( new edition Boston: Adamant Media 2003; French).
- La Mara ( i.e. Marie Lipsius ), Carolyne Fürstin Sayn-Wittgenstein , in: Liszt and the women , Leipzig 1911, pp. 180–198.
- Lina Ramann , Franz Liszt as artist and person , 3 volumes in 5 books, Leipzig 1880–1894.
- Astrid Stempnik, Franz Liszt or Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein. On the controversial authorship of the Chopin biography , Berlin 1978 (also Mag. Thesis, FU Berlin 1979).
- Alan Walker , Franz Liszt , London: Faber & Faber 1971 ( Ithaca new edition : Cornell University Press 1987).
- ders., Gabriele Erasmi, Liszt, Carolyne, and the Vatican. The Story of a Thwarted Marriage , Stuyvesant / New York: Pendragon 1991.
Web links
- Literature by and about Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein in the catalog of the German National Library
- The Catholic Muse : Portrait at WDR , March 8, 2007.
Individual evidence
- ↑ See Index librorum prohibitorum from 1948.
- ↑ Listed in MGG2, article Franz Liszt.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Sayn-Wittgenstein, Carolyne too |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Sayn-Wittgenstein, Caroline too |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Franz Liszt's partner |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 7, 1819 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Monasterzyska |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 10, 1887 |
| Place of death | Rome |