Charlotte von Stein

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Charlotte von Stein
The house of Frau von Stein , Ackerwand 25–27 in Weimar
Memorial plaque on house Ackerwand 25–27
Kochberg Castle
Grave of Charlotte von Stein in the historical cemetery in Weimar

Charlotte Albertine Ernestine Freifrau von Stein , née von Schardt (also mentioned as Charlotta Ernestina Bernardina ; *  December 25, 1742 in Eisenach ; † January 6, 1827 in Weimar ), was a lady in waiting of Duchess Anna Amalia and close confidante of Duchess Luise of Saxony -Weimar-Eisenach (born from Hessen-Darmstadt) , also a close friend of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , Johann Gottfried von Herder's family and Friedrich von Schillerwhose work and life were greatly influenced by them. She was an older sister of Ernst Carl Constantin von Schardt .

Life

Charlotte von Stein - entered German literary history through her relationship with Goethe - was the daughter of the Ducal Saxon Chamberlain and later Court Marshal Johann Wilhelm Christian von Schardt and the Konkordia Elisabeth von Irving. She married as the lady-in-waiting of the Duchess Anna Amalia on May 8, 1764 with the ducal stable master of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach , Gottlob Ernst Josias Friedrich Freiherr von Stein (born March 15, 1735, † December 27, 1793 in Großkochberg ). As an enthusiastic admirer of Goethe, she got to know him personally in November 1775 and, almost seven years older than he and already the mother of seven children, was soon deeply loved by him. Goethe's love for Charlotte von Stein is documented in around 1,700 letters: he desperately fought for the favor of the lady-in-waiting who, despite her fascination with Goethe, initially reacted with reserve to his assaults.

When Goethe set out on an almost two-year trip to Italy in 1786, the relationship broke out, which even after Goethe's return could no longer be repaired. In addition, Goethe's relationship with Christiane Vulpius made a later rapprochement more difficult : Charlotte von Stein could not cope with the fact that the poet preferred Vulpius, who came from a humble background, to her.

In her play Dido , which was only published after her death (Leipzig 1867), there are allusions to her relationship with Goethe and other members of the court.

The question of whether this love was only of an erotic-platonic or also sexual kind has been investigated by numerous speculations, all of which were equally sterile. What is certain is that this love affair was of enormous importance in the history of both Goethe and Charlotte von Stein.

The fact that the husband Josias von Stein (presumably) did not react to this relationship is nothing unusual within the aristocratic Weimar Circle: Since marriages were primarily concluded for economic reasons, the husbands Wilhelm von Wolhaben and Heinrich von Kalb , for example, also reacted to them Their wives don't have affairs.

Only after many years did a certain friendship develop again between the two, which lasted until the death of Frau von Stein, who had already become a widow in 1793. This can also be seen in Goethe's correspondence with his wife. The Goethes had often sent their son August von Goethe to her for lessons and games.

Charlotte von Stein's letters indicate a personality that was also characterized by cool reserve and sagacity as well as a high degree of sensitivity. A similarity to Goethe's sister is unmistakable.

Charlotte's most beautiful memorial remains Goethe's letters to Frau von Stein from the years 1776–1820 . They have received a valuable addition from the letters addressed to them by Goethe from Italy but requested back by him for the preparation of his Italian journey , which, previously stored in the Goethe house archive in Weimar, published by the Goethe Society (Weimar 1886) were. Frau von Stein had her own letters to Goethe returned to her, but nothing is known of her whereabouts. Numerous letters are contained in the work Charlotte von Schiller and her friends .

Works

  • Rino (1776)
  • Dido (1794)
  • New system of freedom or the conspiracies against love (1798)
  • The Two Emily (1800)

Charlotte von Stein wrote four dramas whose authorship is not in doubt. One of these was published during her lifetime. In 1803 Die zwei Emilien appeared anonymously, but with Schiller's name on the front page. In 1923 the text was reprinted under the name of the author.

A second lost drama, The Probe, was published in 1809 and could be attributed to Charlotte von Stein. She also wrote two other unnamed and now lost works: a story that may have been an adaptation of a French story, and another comedy.

Others

In his book Goethe and Anna Amalia - A Forbidden Love , Ettore Ghibellino claims that there was an "affair" between Duchess Anna Amalia and Goethe. Charlotte von Stein only helped to disguise this from the public. Goethe's letters to her were addressed to Anna Amalia. However, this thesis is rejected by the majority of experts.

On the other hand, in an investigation into Goethe in the madness of love based on a confession by Goethe, his letters and his behavior , Veit Noll comes to the conclusion that Goethe originally escaped from Weimar in 1786 with Charlotte and Fritz von Stein and "without status or name" in the free World wanted to live. Charlotte von Stein had to refuse with deep love for internal and personal reasons. So Goethe turned his escape into a trip to Italy. In view of Goethe's silence about his absence, the few, vague letters from an unknown place and her ignorance of the travel diaries that Goethe wrote for her up to December 1786, the frustration she felt is understandable. She was of the opinion that with her refusal he had now left her forever (cf. To the Moon in my manner ). Goethe, for his part, complied with the “platonic loving relationship” on the trip and struggled for her love, as can be seen in the travel diaries. It can also be considered almost certain that Charlotte von Stein would not allow Goethe's desire for sensuality, for which the lover also strived again and again, and could not allow it. This is clear from Noll's remarks on the harsh, contemporary penal rules for adultery as well as from the competitive situation he portrays of the respectful Princess Anna Amalia, who strives for Goethe. For Charlotte von Stein, a divorce was unthinkable and impractical. Since she fulfilled her crucial marital task with several children, a divorce came into consideration only for highly malicious reasons with appropriate proceedings. Non-harmony between the spouses or love for another person was insufficient for a divorce. A marriage was made for life, love had marriage to follow, not marriage of love. Moreover, divorce or adultery would have caused considerable disadvantages for the reputation of both the Stein family, including their children, and their family of origin in an absolutist society. Charlotte von Stein's behavior is therefore not a personal-psychological cold, but a head-directed adaptation to what is socially required. Veit Noll also analyzes how Goethe reflects on his conflicting relationship with Charlotte and Josias von Stein in Iphigenia . In this context, both Charlotte von Stein's commitment to marriage and Josias von Stein's - not indifferent - acceptance of a friendly relationship between Goethe and Charlotte von Stein becomes understandable. Apparently he was not familiar with Goethe's letters to his wife in this context. The conflicts in life and behavior as well as the reflection in and through Goethe's literature become deeply human with the inclusion of contemporary ways of thinking about law and morality.

The Klassik Stiftung Weimar showed from September 25th to December 17th 2017 the exhibition “Charlotte von Stein. Writer, friend and mentor ”. In honor of her 275th birthday, the Goethe and Schiller Archive presented memorabilia, manuscripts and portraits as well as letters from the extensive correspondence with friends and family members. The testimonials reflect the diversity of their intellectual and artistic interests and convey a memorable, but surprisingly sober, unsentimental portrait of their time.

posterity

In 1976, the poet Peter Hacks wrote the world bestseller A Conversation in the Stein House about the absent Herr von Goethe . It is a monodrama in which Charlotte von Stein speaks in all five acts to the audience alone or occasionally to her own husband. The first performance of Charlotte von Stein was created in 1976 by the Dresden actress Traute Richter , who played the role over 300 times. This extremely successful piece is a subtle examination of the fate of Charlotte von Stein in her relationship with Goethe.

children

It should be noted that Charlotte von Stein had four daughters in addition to these sons and lost them early.

niece

Letters

  • Ludwig Rohmann (Ed.): Letters to Fritz von Stein. Leipzig 1917.
  • Ludwig von Urlichs (ed.): Charlotte von Schiller and her friends. 3 vol., Stuttgart 1860.
  • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Lotte my Lotte Volume 1, letters 1776–1781, Volume 2, letters 1782–1786, Berlin: AB - The Other Library 2014 (letters from Goethe to Charlotte von Stein)

literature

Web links

Commons : Charlotte von Stein  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Charlotte von Stein  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wilhelm Bode: Charlotte von Stein. 3rd, revised edition, Ernst Siegfried Mittler Verlag, Berlin 1912., p. 8.
  2. ↑ The following is stated in the Charlotte v. Stein biography of Bode on the frequently mentioned place of birth Weimar : “The previous information, according to which Charlotte v. Stein was born in Weimar, are wrong. ”Wilhelm Bode: Charlotte von Stein. 3rd, revised edition, Ernst Siegfried Mittler Verlag, Berlin 1912, p. 8f.
  3. ^ Jan Ballweg: Josias von Stein: Stallmeister at the Musenhof Anna Amalias. A forgotten aspect of the Weimar Classic , MatrixMedia Göttingen 2012 ISBN 978-3-932313-51-6
  4. ↑ The life data of Baron Gottlob Ernst Josias Friedrich von Stein , online-ofb.de, accessed on December 26, 2013.
  5. ↑ Richard Friedenthal: Goethe. 15th edition Piper, Munich 2005, p. 230.
  6. ↑ A. Schöll (Ed.): Goethe's letters to Frau von Stein from the years 1776–1820. Weimar 1848-1851, 3 vol .; 2nd completed edition by Fielitz, Frankf. a. M. 1883–1885, in which Dido is also printed.
  7. ↑ Volume 2, Stuttgart 1862.
  8. ↑ Susanne Kord: Introduction. In: Charlotte von Stein: Dramas. Complete edition. G. Olms, Hildesheim / New York 1998, ISBN 978-3-48710331-0 , pp. 11-12.
  9. ↑ Charlotte von Stein exhibition . Writer, friend and mentor in the Goethe and Schiller Archives in Weimar
  10. ↑ See Peter Biele : That's it, my dear ones. Trust Richter, the Dresden actress in her letters. Dingsda-Verlag, Querfurt 1999.
  11. ↑ http://www.goethezeitportal.de/wissen/illustrationen/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/frau-von-stein-und-kochberg.html
personal data
SURNAME Stein, Charlotte von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stein, Charlotte Albertine Ernestine von; Stein, Charlotta Ernestina Bernardina from
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Lady-in-waiting and close friend of Friedrich Schiller and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
DATE OF BIRTH December 25, 1742
PLACE OF BIRTH Eisenach
DATE OF DEATH January 6, 1827
Place of death Weimar