Elisabeth von Berge

Elisabeth von Berge (born March 12, 1838 in Oberullersdorf near Sorau , † January 1, 1909 in Bernried ) was a German writer who was mainly successful as a playwright .

Life

Elisabeth von Berge was born as the daughter of an old aristocratic, wealthy landowner on the Oberullersdorf estate (today: Gmina Żary ) in the province of Brandenburg . She was interested in poetry from a very early age. However, her talent was not encouraged by her parents, who died early, nor by her siblings.

At the age of 18, Elisabeth von Berge was declared of age according to her father's will and inherited part of her parents' property. This allowed her, among other things, to take a trip to Italy with her aunt . Her aunt promoted her literary talent and supported her on her way to publish her works. In the years that followed, Elisabeth von Berge taught herself a knowledge of literature, philosophy and history and learned Greek and Latin. Her first work was the tragedy Charlotte Corday , which, like the following plays Konradin and Marie Antoinette, only appeared in later years without a year. Elisabeth von Berge concentrated her work mainly on tragedies with historical reference. Two comedies were also successfully performed in Koblenz, the tragedy of Heinrich von Kleist was staged on the day of the poet's death in 1902 in his hometown of Frankfurt am Main .

Elisabeth von Berge lived at the Marksburg near Braubach from 1880 and, after it had passed into the possession of the Association for the Preservation of German Castles in 1901 , moved to Bernried am Starnberger See , where she died in 1909.

Works

• Charlotte Corday (tragedy, undated)
• Konradin (drama, n.d.)
• Marie Antoinette (drama, n.d.)
• Christine of Sweden (tragedy, 1873)
• New World Era (Poems, 1877)
• Henry IV tragedy in five acts. Kiepert, Breslau 1880.
• Pausanias. Tragedy in five acts. Kiepert & Bolschwing, Freiburg i. Br. 1885.
• Alexei. Tragedy in five elevators. Mutze, Leipzig 1888.
• Heinrich von Kleist. Tragedy in five acts. Pierson, Dresden 1902
• Only one day of truth (comedy, no year)
• The cousins (comedy, no year)
• The Queen of Scotland (undated)

literature

• Berge, Miss Elisabeth v. . In: Sophie Pataky (Hrsg.): Lexicon of German women of the pen . Volume 1. Verlag Carl Pataky, Berlin 1898, p. 54 ( digitized version ).
• Franz Brümmer : Lexicon of German poets and prose writers from the beginning of the 19th century to the present . Reclam, Leipzig 1913, p. 191.
• Susanne Kord: Behind the scenes. German-speaking playwrights in the 18th and 19th centuries . Metzler, Stuttgart 1992, p. 333.