Otto Carl Erdmann von Kospoth

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Otto Carl Erdmann Freiherr von Kospoth (born November 25, 1753 in Mühltroff ; † June 23, 1817 there ) was a Prussian chamberlain and composer .

Life

He was the oldest of five surviving children of Baron Carl Erdmann von Kospoth († August 6, 1779) and Baron Ottonia Eleonora von Bodenhausen (three died in childhood). Otto Carl Erdmann von Kospoth "... counted among his baptismal witnesses the high-born Mr. Heinrich XII., Count Reuss zu Schleiz."

Otto Carl Erdmann von Kospoth attended the Knight Academy in Liegnitz and completed his studies in Leipzig . Employed by the Saxon bodyguard " Garde du Corps ", he advanced to an officer and at this time met his future wife Christiane Wilhelmina von Schönberg, daughter of Captain Heinrich Wilhelm von Schönberg, whom he married in 1776 in Pirna .

A childless marriage followed, which was later separated probably because of "marital rifts".

In fact, he was appointed to the high court office of a royal Prussian chamberlain in Berlin and, before Frederick II, took part in concerts as a violin and cello player. His musical abilities quickly made him the “ Maitre des plaisirs ” at court, a friend of the music-loving Crown Prince couple.

In the following years he established himself as a composer of numerous operas at court. He is already very interested in all kinds of sciences, but also in occultism , theosophy , mysticism , alchemy and Kabbalism . This was particularly popular and widespread in Berlin at that time and especially at court.

When he embarked on a long journey south with valet in 1783, he carried numerous compositions of his own with him and gained access to the music-loving nobility everywhere. He restricted his dealings almost exclusively to musicians, singers and composers. On July 23, he reached Venice, the destination of his journey.

He worked a lot there and some evenings he couldn't write anything more in his diary than: “I composed so diligently all day that I didn't go out at all, but wrote until twelve o'clock at night” …… “I'm the one again I didn't come out of the room all day, but worked hard on my opera. ”He got the idea of ​​learning to blow the horn, and the diary gives evidence of his hard work:“ I spent the whole day calmly and exercised strongly on the English horns "...

In 1787 he was solemnly sworn into the "Order of St. John Knights" in Berlin, to which he belonged from now on, and on October 2nd, 1790 he was even raised to the rank of imperial count in the Chursächsischen Reichsvikariat .

Turning to the fine arts, he later had a pleasure palace built in the Italian style around 1790 near the town of Mühltroff, on the Lämmerhügel. “It consisted of a large summer pavilion with 13 rooms, four small pavilions with one room each and a light residential building on two floors. The count had the whole charming area transformed into a kind of English garden, overgrown with all sorts of woods, in which there was a pond with an island, which could be reached by gondola, and he had the idea of ​​adding many other buildings to this area beautify. ”As early as 1817 the large, dilapidated summer pavilion was completely demolished.

Count Otto Carl Erdmann von Kospoth showed great interest in the natural sciences and did not have much success digging for silver, alum, vitriol and coal in order to increase his income. “Anyone who wants to build needs money. The count hadn't even considered that building costs so murderously high. The count's undertakings devoured mountains of gold ... "

He married again on February 4, 1790, this time with Luise Marie Wilhelmine Sichart-von-Sichartshoff.

It is known that he and his friends undertake dubious alchemical experiments to extract precious metals in one of the old castle kitchens. These lead to accusations of necromancy, treasure digging and other jokes, seditious speeches in the presence of many people and the suspicion of manufacturing and distributing false coins.

In 1794 the count entered into a settlement with the wealthy residents of Langenbach , Langenbuch , Thierbach and Ranspach . In return he received a sum of 3620 thalers, as well as a capital of 30,000 thalers, which was registered as the owner's mortgage.

“Because of his treasure hunt and spirit seerry, because of his dealings with all kinds of morally disreputable personalities who had been acquainted with prisons and penitentiaries for many years, the count incurred a whole series of lawsuits. He had to experience the shame that his own local jurisdiction filed criminal motions against him, that the entire council, the craftsmen's guilds and many respected citizens of Mühltroff appeared before the bar of the court as witnesses, that he was sentenced to fifty talers and to pay the court costs and almost completely lost public respect. "

As a result, in 1799, after endless judicial processes, the castle was placed under dictatorship. Count von Kospoth only retained the right of residence. His wife separated from him after a childless marriage around 1808 and later died in Dresden. "In addition, his wife, who had long since been an abomination to mismanagement, separated from him and left the spendthrift and enthusiast to his fate." "In complete seclusion he lived here for a decade (lost in) his alchemical dreams. His relatives had to support him with food. By writing occasional poems for Mühltroffer citizens, he earned a few groschen to support himself. ... He accepted gifts of money from his former subjects, and when potatoes were given to the poor people free of charge in the two years of inflation, 1816 and 1817, the royal Prussian chamberlain Otto Karl Erdmann, Count von Kospoth, sent over to get his share . "

On June 23, 1817 a fire broke out in the adjacent manor, which spread to the castle. Despite being asked, Count von Kospoth did not leave his room because he "had the blessing of fire and no flame could come too close to him, let alone harm him". The castle burned down completely, with the count perishing in the flames.

Works

  • The friend of German customs (premiered on September 25, 1778, Berlin)
  • Adrast and Isidore, or The Serenate (premiered on October 16, 1779, Berlin)
  • The Irrwisch, or at last he found it (premiered on October 2, 1780, Berlin)
  • Timante ed Emirene, or The Power of Love (Performed in Venice in 1783)
  • Karoline, or Die Parforcejagd
  • The Festival of Shepherds (premiered on October 18, 1787, Berlin)
  • The wise Jacob (premiered on February 26, 1788, Berlin)
  • Bella and Fernando, or The Satyr (Performed 1790)
  • The girls' market at Nineveh (performed 1793)
  • Il trionfo d'Arianna

literature

  • Otto Carl Erdmann von Kospoth, Carl Christian Graf von Kospoth (Hrsg.): From Berlin to Munich and Venice. Diary of a musical journey from Berlin via Dresden, Bayreuth and Nuremberg to Augsburg, Munich, Innsbruck and Venice, April to December 1783 . Konrad Verlag, 2006. ISBN 3-87437-488-2

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ August Schumann : Complete State, Post and Newspaper Lexicon of Saxony, containing a correct and detailed geographical, topographical and historical representation of all cities, towns, villages, castles, courtyards, mountains, forests, lakes, rivers, etc., the entire royal . and Prince. Saxon country including the Principality of Schwarzburg, the Erfurt area, as well as the Reussian and Schönburg possessions . 6th volume, Schumann, Zwickau 1819, p. 816 digitized


personal data
SURNAME Kospoth, Otto Carl Erdmann from
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kospoth, Otto Carl Erdmann Freiherr von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian chamberlain and composer
DATE OF BIRTH November 25, 1753
PLACE OF BIRTH Mühltroff , Vogtland
DATE OF DEATH June 23, 1817
Place of death Mühltroff , Vogtland