Marie Espérance by Schwartz

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Marie Espérance von Schwartz , née Brandt (born November 8, 1818 in Southgate in Hertfordshire , England; † April 20, 1899 in Ermatingen , Switzerland ), also Marie Esperance Kalm de Schwartz , Marie Speranza von Schwartz , known by her graced name Elpis Melena ( Greek Ελπίς Μέλαινα ), was a writer of German origin and English nationality. She was a friend of Giuseppe Garibaldi and Franz Liszt and was primarily known in the field of travel and memoir literature.

Life

In the Palais Lovatti in Rome
On the horse and with her greyhound Huney she had taken in Crete
View of Calabria and the Aeolian Islands in 1860 , 1861

Early years

Born in England as the daughter of a Hamburg banker, she was raised primarily in Geneva . Widowed to a cousin after an early short marriage, she settled in Rome . With her second husband, the Hamburg banker Ferdinand von Schwartz (* June 8, 1813, † April 14, 1883), whom she had met in Italy, she undertook adventurous journeys through Greece, Turkey, Asia Minor, Egypt and North Africa, however this marriage was divorced in 1854. In Rome, the wealthy and educated, especially linguistically talented woman (she is said to have mastered eight languages) ran a literary salon in which numerous artists and aristocrats frequented. She was friends with Franz Liszt and maintained a lively correspondence with him for many years.

In addition, she continued to indulge her desire to travel.

Garibaldi

Since 1849 Marie Esperance von Schwartz was interested in the freedom fighter Giuseppe Garibaldi . In autumn 1857 she entered into personal relationships with Garibaldi on the island of Caprera ; she lived with him, cared for his children, supported his cause financially and through her writings, and cared for him during his captivity and after he was wounded. She was generally considered to be his mistress; Garibaldi is said to have asked for her hand several times. In gratitude for her self-sacrificing friendship, Garibaldi gave her the manuscript of his memoir, which she quickly translated into German and published in 1861 before her competitor Alexandre Dumas the Elder. Ä. could bring out.

Crete

At the end of 1865 Marie Esperance von Schwartz moved her residence to Crete , where, undeterred by the fighting on the island during the Cretan uprising , she had a charming villa built in the vineyards in Chalepa near Chania . Their sympathy belonged to the insurgents. At her request, Garibaldi sent a contingent of 500 men to Crete to support the uprising. She devoted a lot of time and money to charitable institutions, founded hospitals, asylums, schools, translated German textbooks into modern Greek and Cretan folk songs, sagas and folk goods into German. She earned a high degree of respect from both Christian and Islamic Cretans.

She developed a lively commitment in the field of animal welfare that extended across Europe. In Chania she founded an animal hospital for horses and donkeys, the countless street dogs were fed daily. In numerous brochures in many languages ​​she campaigned for animal protection sponsors and, together with Ernst Grysanowski and Ernst von Weber, campaigned against animal experiments .

After 20 years in Crete, she settled in Switzerland, where she finally died at the age of 80.

Works (selection)

Translations

Secondary literature

Web links

Wikisource: Elpis Melena  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ now part of the London Borough of Barnet .
  2. ↑ Father: Emanuel Heinrich Brandt (1776-1852), (brother to Wilhelm Brandt ), mother: Susanne-Stéphanie Sylvestre (1786-1858). The educator was called: Marguerite Catherine Espérance Sylvestre (1790–1842), who was a relative of the mother, who also came from Geneva, and later also the educator of the sisters Marie and Augusta von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach . (Source: Société Genevoise de Généalogie, Pers. ID: I604396)
  3. ↑ Ferdinand von Schwartz at woydt.be
  4. ↑ Adolf Stahr, Fanny Lewald: A winter in Rome . Berlin 1869, p. 371 ( digitized versionhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3D~GB%3Ds3otAAAAYAAJ~IA%3D~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3DPA371~ double-sided%3D~LT%3D~PUR%3D )
  5. ↑ La Mara : Liszt and the women , (reprint Breitkopf & Hertel, Leipzig 1911) elv-Verlag, Berlin 2014, p. 279 ff. ( Digitized version ) http: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3D~GB%3DUpPziHikFA8C~IA%3D~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3DPA279~ double-sided%3D~LT%3D~PUR%3D
  6. ↑ Bernhard Fetz: The biography - to the foundation of their theory . Berlin 2009, p. 457 ( digitized versionhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3D~GB%3DvA4Oz7jbVl8C~IA%3D~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3DPA457~ double-sided%3D~LT%3D~PUR%3D )
  7. ↑ Cretan bee or Cretan folk songs, sagas, love, thought and moral sayings (1874)
  8. ↑ Julia Voss: From old and new horror cabinets , in FAZ from November 26, 2008
  9. ↑ Publishing information Pandora publishing house: Experiences and observations
personal data
SURNAME Schwartz, Marie Espérance from
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Melena, Elpis (pseudonym); Schwartz, Marie Esperance Kalm de; Schwartz, Marie Speranza from
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British travel writer, friend and biographer of Garibaldi
DATE OF BIRTH November 8, 1818
PLACE OF BIRTH Southgate, Hertfordshire , England
DATE OF DEATH April 20, 1899
Place of death Ermatingen , Switzerland