Christiane Apitzsch

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Johanne Christiane Apitzsch (born June 21, 1806 in Wehlitz ; † February 11, 1838 in Leipzig ) was possibly Robert Schumann's lover and muse from 1830/31 to 1837 as well as the mother of a daughter.

Life

Christiane Apitzsch was the eldest daughter of the fisherman Johann Gottfried Apitzsch (1782–1846) from his marriage to Johanna Sophia Stange (1779–1839). She was born on June 21, 1806 at the Wehlitz manor near Schkeuditz and baptized on June 24 in the Albanus Church there.

In 1830/31 she probably worked as a maid in the house of the Leipzig piano teacher Friedrich Wieck at Reichsstrasse 579, where she made the acquaintance of Robert Schumann , who was sublet with Wieck from October 16, 1830 to the beginning of October 1831. But for that and that it was Christiane Apitzsch who appeared in Schumann's diaries from May 1831 under the name “Christel” as his lover, there is “no proof in the narrower sense [...]. Corresponding records have not survived. ”On June 8, 1831, his 21st birthday, Schumann gave“ Christel ”the Davidsbündler name“ Charitas ”, just as other people from this imaginary circle of artists were given corresponding names. Schumann continued the relationship with "Charitas" even when he was already wooing his future wife Clara Wieck .

On January 2, 1837, Christiane Apitzsch gave birth to an illegitimate daughter in the Jacobshospital in Leipzig , who was baptized with the name Louise Ernestine four days later in the St. Thomas Church. As the father, the pastor noted that "David Veit, Hausmann " was not documented by any other documents . The child was probably given to the grandparents in Wehlitz shortly before or after the baptism.

Schumann's diary entry from January 1837 may refer to this birth: “A maiden. (a. 5th, I think) ". It is also uncertain whether a lost letter from Schumann's closest confidante Henriette Voigt (Davisbündler name: "Eleonore"), which Schumann mentions in a diary note from October 4, 1836, relates to "Christel's" pregnancy: "Letter from Eleonore with hopes that I don't want to know about. ”At this point he had apparently already ended his relationship with“ Christel ”. The fact that she gave birth to a child of his could indicate a note in which he noted in retrospect about the year 1836: "Charitas sought and the consequences of it in January 1837".

The last encounter with “Charitas” (“Christel”) as well as the payment of 2 thalers “[a] n Charitas for Christmas” was recorded by Schumann on December 27, 1837. After that, she was no longer mentioned in his notes.

Christiane Apitzsch died of typhus just six weeks later . In the Leipzig council corpse books she is referred to as a "maid".

Influence on Schumann's disease?

For a long time, Schumann research believed that “Charitas” was a prostitute and infected Schumann with syphilis , which later - allegedly - led to his early death. If she is actually identical to Christiane Apitzsch, this assumption seems rather doubtful.

literature

  • Robert Schumann: Diaries . Volume 1, ed. by Georg Eismann, Leipzig 1971.
  • Robert Schumann: Diaries . Volume 2, ed. by Gerd Nauhaus , Leipzig 1987.
  • Robert Schumann: Diaries . Volume 3, ed. by Gerd Nauhaus, Leipzig 1982.
  • John Worthen: Robert Schumann: Life and Death of a Musician , New Haven and London 2007.
  • Klaus Martin Kopitz : Christiane Apitzsch (1806–1838), Robert Schumann's lover “Charitas”. An identification . In: Thoughts. Journal of the Saxon Academy of Sciences , Issue 13 (2014), pp. 26–54. ( PDF )

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Klaus Martin Kopitz: Christiane Apitzsch (1806–1838), Robert Schumann's lover “Charitas”. An identification . In: Thoughts . Journal of the Saxon Academy of Sciences, Issue 13 (2014)
  2. ↑ Klaus Martin Kopitz: Christiane Apitzsch (1806–1838), Robert Schumann's lover “Charitas”. An identification . In: Thoughts . Journal of the Saxon Academy of Sciences, Issue 13 (2014), p. 53.
  3. ^ Leipzig, Church Archives, Baptism Book of St. Thomas 1837–1839, fol. 3v – 4r, No. 22.
  4. ↑ Klaus Martin Kopitz: Christiane Apitzsch (1806–1838), Robert Schumann's lover “Charitas”. An identification . In: Thoughts . Journal of the Saxon Academy of Sciences, Issue 13 (2014), p. 39.
  5. ^ Robert Schumann: Diaries . Volume 2, ed. by Gerd Nauhaus, Leipzig 1987, p. 31.
  6. ^ Robert Schumann: Diaries . Volume 2, ed. von Gerd Nauhaus, Leipzig 1987, p. 459, note 53 on this note: "The fact that Schumann could have been the father of the child appears to be impossible due to the temporal relationships."
  7. ^ Robert Schumann: Diaries . Volume 2, ed. by Gerd Nauhaus, Leipzig 1987, p. 28.
  8. ^ Robert Schumann: Diaries . Volume 1, ed. by Georg Eismann, Leipzig 1971, p. 422.
  9. ^ Robert Schumann: Diaries . Volume 3, ed. by Gerd Nauhaus, Leipzig 1982, p. 34.
  10. ↑ Leipzig, city archive Rats body Books, Volume 40 (1835 to 1840). Worthen (2007) had already suspected that Schumann's “Charitas” was not a prostitute but was temporarily part of the Wieck family's staff.
  11. ↑ See, for example, Franz Hermann Franken's remarks in Bernhard R. Appel (ed.), Robert Schumann in Endenich (1854–1856): medical records, letters and contemporary reports (= Schumann research , volume 11), Mainz 2006, p. 442 -447
  12. ↑ Cf. Klaus Martin Kopitz: Christiane Apitzsch (1806–1838), Robert Schumann's beloved “Charitas”. An identification . In: Thoughts . Journal of the Saxon Academy of Sciences, Issue 13 (2014), pp. 47–50

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Apitzsch, Christiane
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Apitzsch, Johanne Christiane (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Perhaps Robert Schumann's lover (1830 / 31–1837), muse and mother of his daughter Ernestine
DATE OF BIRTH June 21, 1806
PLACE OF BIRTH Wehlitz
DATE OF DEATH February 11, 1838
Place of death Leipzig