Fanny from Ickstatt

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Egid Verhelst : silhouette of Fanny von Ickstatt and her mother Maria Franzisca von Heppenstein

Maria Franzisca Magdalena Freiin von Ickstatt , called Fanny (* May 11, 1767, probably in Ingolstadt ; † January 14, 1785 in Munich ) gained notoriety through a leap into death from the Munich Frauenkirche and is traded as the female version of Goethe's Werther .

Adolescent years

Reconstruction of the fall on a contemporary leaflet

Maria Franzisca was the first child of Peter von Ickstatt, professor of both rights at the University of Ingolstadt , and Maria Franzisca von Weinbach was born in Ingolstadt (but according to older voices in Hirschberg Beilngries ). After the early death of her father, she moved with her mother and sister to Munich , where the mother entered into a second marriage. Fanny received an excellent upbringing from her mother and showed excellent talents even as a little girl. She wrote poetry, sang and played and composed on the piano. The girl was particularly fond of dramatic subjects. At the age of nine, she is said to have written a plan for a tragedy that was published after her death.

Fanny stood out in society for the richness of her nature and the breadth and depth of her disposition. In one and the same minute she could laugh and cry, contemporaries reported. She mentioned several times that she would die an unusual death. Like her mother, she was beautiful and unconventional. Both women appeared like a double star in fine Munich society. Through the friend of the house Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart , Fanny von Ickstatt became acquainted with the works of Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock , for which she raved. At the age of just 17, those around her expected great things from her.

First love and conflict with the mother

During a stay in Ingolstadt, Fanny met the young officer Franz von Vincenti at a ball. Both fell violently in love, so that Franz was transferred to the body regiment in Munich. Mother Maria Franzisca von Heppenstein, however, had higher things in mind with Fanny and opposed the couple's marital union. Franz was an attractive young man from a good family, but without much wealth. Nevertheless, the suitor frequented the family home, which led to gossip and rumors: the mother should have kept an eye on the daughter's lover. This went on for months. When the rumors got out of hand, Franzisca finally declared that marriage was out of the question. There were tumultuous scenes in the house, which in turn were whispered in the city.

Suicide

Due to the previous events, Fanny's mother planned to remove her daughter from Munich for the time being. But on January 14, 1785, Fanny climbed the north tower of the Frauenkirche, under a pretext, and threw herself down. This event rocked the city for weeks, but not a single newspaper reported about it. The tower keeper and the chambermaid confirmed the suicide: Fanny had jumped out of the tower room with a goodbye. Nevertheless, the bishop and the police and electoral investigations decided on a tragic accident. However, public opinion remained that Fanny had committed suicide because of treason and domestic pressures. The family's attempts to silence such voices and enforce the accident version failed. Two years passed through unsuccessful attempts at justification and defamation lawsuits before the case finally fell into oblivion.

Works

Some of the works left behind by the young woman were printed after her death in 1785/1786 in the Pfalzbaierisches Museum edited by Anton von Klein , together with letters from her mother, as part of a defensive letter by the editor against the generally held view that Fanny von Klein had committed suicide and hers It was mother's fault. These included, among other things, the draft of a drama ("Vaterländische Trauerspiels") with the title Ludwig der Strenge and a story The Last Count of Dachau .

Literary processing

In 1785 a novel by letters, The Sorrows of Young Fanni, was published. A history of our times in letters from FG Freiherr von Nesselrode to Hugenboett, a chamberlain of the Electorate of Bavaria in Munich, who had produced dramas and other fiction products since 1773. From a literary point of view, the novel obviously referred to Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther and, as far as the names and circumstances were concerned, just as obviously to Fanny von Ickstatt. For example, heroine and hero were called Fanni and Franz, they made an appointment in the Frauenkirche, and the heroine threw herself at the end of the church tower. This novel received sharp reactions from the family, culminating in public statements and several lawsuits for defamation, but a number of writers and editors also turned violent against it. In the letters of Nesselrode's literary figures it was said, among other things, that the mother had wanted to marry “Fanni” with an “elderly cold man”, an “old country official”, and even threatened to have her locked up in the monastery if she did they do not revoke their disobedience. The whole thing was mixed with a moral message that the author explicitly expressed not only in the letters of “Franz”, but also outside the actual novel in his preface and in his closing remarks, also in a footnote: It was the suicide about "the consequences of a weak soul" and a "disease of the mind", as they are caused by "exaggerated passions" in sensitive girls. In addition, the girl's reading, not least Werther , is made directly responsible for her condition.

Goethe

Goethe knew the Ickstatt case. When he spent the night in Munich on September 6, 1786 (the following year) at the beginning of the Italian trip , he climbed one of the towers and then wrote to Charlotte von Stein : "I climbed the tower from which the young lady fell."

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Georg Christoph Hamberger , Johann Georg Meusel : The learned Teutschland or Lexicon of the now living German writers. Fifth volume. 5th edition. Meyersche Buchhandlung, Lemgo 1797, p. 399.
  2. ^ FG von Nesselrode: The suffering of the young Fanni. A story of our times in letters . Conrad Heinrich Stage, Augsburg 1785. Online
  3. ↑ Werner Felber: A dramatic Werther suicide in broad daylight in Munich? Suicide prophylaxis 01/2010; 37 (2). researchgate.net
personal data
SURNAME Ickstatt, Fanny von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ickstatt, Maria Franziska Magdalena Freiin von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German writer
DATE OF BIRTH May 11, 1767
PLACE OF BIRTH uncertain: Ingolstadt
DATE OF DEATH January 14, 1785
Place of death Munich