Otto Heinrich von Gemmingen-Hornberg

This article explains the diplomat and friend of Mozart; for the privy councilor and judge (1727–1790) see Otto Heinrich I. von Gemmingen-Hornberg .

Otto Heinrich Baron of Gemmingen

Otto Heinrich von Gemmingen zu Hornberg (born November 5, 1755 in Heilbronn , † March 3, 1836 in Heidelberg ) belongs to the family of the Lords of Gemmingen . He is also one of the Enlightenment writers unknown today , was a diplomat , Freemason , Illuminate and a friend of Mozart .

Life

Childhood in Wetzlar

Otto Heinrich von Gemmingen was born on November 5, 1755 during his parents' long stay in the imperial city of Heilbronn . His father, who also bore the name Otto Heinrich , was at that time judge at the Reich Chamber of Commerce in Wetzlar , where his son Otto Heinrich grew up predominantly until he was ten. It is said that the son named Heinrich received his school education from his father named Otto , presumably supported by a private tutor.

Youth in Heilbronn

After his father quit his job in Wetzlar in 1766 and moved to Heilbronn in 1767 because of the death of his grandfather, Heinrich got to know a different life there than he was used to in Wetzlar, especially from the around 900 people who lived at that time stayed there because of the Reich Chamber of Commerce. In Heilbronn he encountered a largely informal and cheerful disposition in which parties, balls, carriage and sleigh rides, fireworks and concerts illuminated the social life of the upper class of the city. His first own appearances as an actor in an amateur play group have come down to us at a young age. In the Komödiensaal (now the Great Hall) in the town hall, plays by Lessing, Schiller, Shakespeare and others were performed, in which he often took part. His father continued to pay close attention to his son's education. In particular, the French language, important for diplomacy, and law were on the curriculum. But literature and music were also part of it, whereby not only the extensive library of his father, but also the municipal library offered the young Heinrich good opportunities to acquire knowledge. He mastered the cello and the piano and frequented the house of the then mayor Gottlob Moriz Christian von Wacks , whose culture-loving wife influenced him significantly. He later worked through a short-lived fall in love with a Heilbronn bourgeois daughter in the play Der Deutschen Hausvater, with which he became famous almost overnight.

First successes in Mannheim

Otto Heinrich Baron of Gemmingen (silhouette)

At the age of 19 he came to Mannheim, but continued to return frequently to Heilbronn to take part in the local amateur actors. In the royal seat of Mannheim he got to know another world. Whereas in Heilbronn most of the cultural impulses came from the bourgeoisie, in Mannheim there was great splendor in the palace, and the absolutist ruler graciously allowed his subjects to attend cultural events from the lowest ranks. This is said to have caused some astonishment in Heinrich and brought him to the scene of the Enlightenment. He obviously felt at home in Mannheim and quickly attracted attention. After almost six months he was appointed chamberlain, although he never wanted to be a courtier. He read a lot and attended the cultural events taking place in Mannheim and Schwetzingen, including the first opera sung in German, which moved him deeply. He made the decision to use his free time in future to systematically prepare for a writing activity. He wanted to enlighten and free the common people from ignorance.

As early as 1777, the elector gave the 21-year-old, in addition to the duties in the court chamber and court, the supervision of education and schools as well as of the German stage (later the national theater ), which had previously been offered to Gotthold Ephraim Lessing , who refused .

Gemmingen and Mozart become friends

Mozart's second stay in Mannheim was on October 30, 1777. Probably Mozart and Gemmingen got to know and appreciate each other through their common interest in culture and theater. Mozart mentioned Gemmingen several times in letters to his father, for example on December 3, 1778: I am now writing to H. v. Gemmingen, and to love myself the Estonian Act of the Declaimed Opera: I should have written it: / Free, take it with me and then do it at home. You see, that is how great I am for this type of composition. The H. v. Gemmingen is the poet, of course, and the duodrama is called: "Semiramis". Unfortunately, the piece Semiramis is now considered lost. During this time, Mozart and Gemmingen were often seen together, for example at the rehearsal of the opera Günter von Schwarzburg, also on November 6, 1777, when Mozart was introduced to the Elector, and on December 3, when Mozart was the illegitimate children of the Elector of Josepha Seyffert, who later became Countess von Heydeck, taught. Although he had only been a member of the Electoral Palatinate German Society since 1776 , Gemmingen had attracted a lot of positive attention there through many lectures and finally introduced Mozart to this group of people, whereupon many discussions unfolded about how to promote the German language and establish a national stage.

On March 15, 1778, Mozart and his mother went on a trip to Paris . Before that, he had to sell his carriage to finance the trip, and Gemmingen topped up Mozart's travel budget with a few Louis d'or .

Gemmingen and the Mannheim National Theater

The new Mannheim National Theater was meanwhile playable, and on September 1, 1778 Wolfgang Heribert von Dalberg was won as artistic director . In recognition of his services in founding the Mannheim National Theater, Gemmingen was asked to take over the dramaturgical direction. He also made a name for himself as a theater critic .

In the same year, Mozart returned to Mannheim after his mother died in Paris. Gemmingen invited him to Schwetzingen, read to him the translation he had begun of Rousseau's Pygmalion and told him about the intention of Richard III. from Shakespeare translate. But a letter from his father ordered Mozart to go to Vienna on December 9th, about which Mozart is said to have let his anger run free.

The success with the "housefather"

The German householder

In 1779 Gemmingen had processed his childhood sweetheart in the play The German House Father and presented this in a lecture to the Electoral German Society in the autumn . The play was very political and denounced the demarcation between the nobility and the bourgeoisie and the practices against the peasants. Gemmingen passionately advocated tearing down the barriers between the stands. In the audience there were not only his friends, but also critics, who had perceived his lectures of the past few years as a bit too brash. At the end there was great applause; however, some of the aristocrats were also a little disgruntled, but could not prevent the success of the piece. The well-known actor Friedrich Ludwig Schröder , Gemmingen's later friend, immediately accepted the play for his stage and performed it on October 4, 1779 in Hamburg. Just a few months after its publication, Der deutsche Hausvater had been performed in Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, Vienna, Prague and other cities; the play was part of the repertoire in some cities for years and was translated into Italian. Friedrich Schiller read the piece and wrote to the Mannheim director, Dalberg, on December 12, 1781: I hear that a Baron von Gemmingen is the author of the householder and I wished to have the honor of assuring this man that I was the very housefather thought well invented and admired an excellent man and a very beautiful spirit. Schiller's play Kabale und Liebe is said to have been influenced by Gemmingen's housefather , which at least the critics of the time saw.

First contact with Freemasonry

It is believed that Gemmingen joined Freemasonry in 1779, at the earliest possible age of 24 at the time, although several Masonic lodges in Mannheim, Vienna, Heidelberg and Worms are associated with him. It is also claimed that he brought Mozart to Freemasonry during his time in Mannheim, for which there does not seem to be any evidence. It is assumed that in 1779 he became a member of the Mannheim Lodge Carl zur Eintracht (light brought in: January 18, 1756), which in turn belonged to the Berlin Grand Lodge Royal York for Friendship . In 1782 he is said to have already achieved the master's degree, and between 1782 and 1787 he is named in Vienna as one of the most important Freemasons there.

wedding

At the time of his marriage, Gemmingen lived in Schwetzingen Castle

Since the court chamber that he directed was housed in Schwetzingen Castle , Gemmingen also lived in the castle for “reasons of economy”, as he wrote to his father. He dined at the elector's table, and in the palace gardens he often met the elector with her court ladies, including Countess Charlotte von Sickingen (1756–1826). The two married on September 8, 1779 in Mannheim, probably in Sickingen's Palais. Due to the relocation of the electoral court from Mannheim to Munich, Gemmingen had to move to Munich shortly after his wedding. However, his wife stayed with the Electress as a lady-in-waiting, who did not follow to Munich. In Munich, Gemmingen then saw the premiere of his play Die Erbschaft und des Hausvater in version B, which had been adapted to Bavarian conditions. In 1780 he returned to Mannheim for the birth of his son Karl.

Departure to Vienna

Presumably because in 1781 the elector transferred the school supervision, which had previously been headed by Gemmingen, back to the Catholic Church - which he probably perceived as a setback and a restriction of his ability to work in the interests of Enlightenment - gave Gemmingen his service, which was worth 950 guilders per month plus allowances in Mannheim and moved to Vienna, where he hoped to be able to continue his work under better conditions. In Vienna they quickly found access to the Countess von Thun's house. The nobility , writers, musicians and the emerging middle class frequented the city . Emperor Joseph II also frequented there incognito regularly. Friedrich Münter wrote that Gemmingen: ... secretly had a lot of influence through his connections with Kaunitz , Swieten and Countess Thun . To the best of his ability and with the support of other Freemasons, Gemmingen tried to support the reform policy of Joseph II through publications in the weekly papers Weltmann and Die Wochen Wochen truths , where he had been editor from 1783. As the editor of the enlightened man of the world, whose articles he is said to have written largely himself, he used the pseudonym O. H. Edler von Hoffenheim, after the manor in Hoffenheim , which his father had acquired in 1771. However, many Freemasons wrote for this, and also some ideas of the Illuminati (of which he is also said to have been a member, is named as head of a Minerval Church and was well known to Johann Christoph Bode ) resonated there. His publications not only brought him friends in aristocratic and especially church circles. The latter in particular saw themselves attacked by texts in Weekly Truths, which became famous for its criticism of the church Sunday sermons in Vienna. Gemmingen wrote z. B .: Man creates mediocre beings between himself and God, forgetting God about them ... and: Patron saints, saints in general and Mary in particular: What are these other than mediocre beings? ... Another common feature of superstition is excessive worship of the priesthood.

Freemasonry in Vienna

Master survey of a journeyman
engraving, late 18th century

At that time there was also a struggle for direction within the Freemasons, which was triggered by the new type of teaching of strict observance and the associated introduction of the higher degrees , against which it was directed because of their occult-mystical orientation. Among other things, this led to his intention to found a new lodge whose goals were to revert to old duties and limit them to the degrees of apprentice, journeyman and master as well as enlightenment, fight against superstition, support of the imperial reforms in writing and deed, charity and Tolerance etc. can be circumscribed. Thus, the lodge was to charity in Orient Vienna founded by letter dated 14 February 1783 at the lodge to True Harmony announced. The new lodge, in which he himself was master of the chair, received considerable support from the lodge Zur Wahren Eintracht . After a short time he became secretary of the Vienna District Lodge with the task of drawing up its statutes. Under these statutes, the Grand State Lodge of Austria was founded on April 22nd, 1784 under the direction of Count Dietrichstein . This is considered a great success for von Gemmingen, as he is said to have led Freemasonry in Vienna at the peak of its success. At the end of 1784, the Zur Charity Lodge had around 40 members, the highlight is the admission of Gemmingen friend Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He was always impressed by the conversations in the house of Countess Thun on the subject of enlightenment and the support of the Freemasons for the reform-loving Emperor Joseph II. When one day he received confidential knowledge that his friend von Gemmingen was also a member of the then secret league, he trusted he looks at him. After von Gemmingen was able to dispel some concerns, Mozart then entered the charity box on December 14, 1784 .

Setbacks

Maudacher Castle

After he was appointed editor of the Weekly Truths on higher orders in 1783 and at about the same time Der Weltmann, which was a little more explicit in terms of church politics, was also hired from above at the request of Leopold Alois Hoffmann , the founder and editor of Gemmingen of the weekly newspaper Die Wochenchte Truths as well as other magazines published by the Schönfeld publishing house . He accused Gemmingen of not paying him fees and of not keeping promises to ensure Hoffmann's happiness. In fact, Gemmingen had ensured that Hoffmann received a dispensation so that the not yet 24-year-old could join the Lodge for Charity . Hoffmann also worked as his secretary and Gemmingen got him a job as a professor at the University of Pest through his friend von Swieten . Hoffmann later became known as a spokesman in the literary struggle against the Freemasons. But it may be that Gemmingen, after the truths had been set on June 10, 1784, could no longer afford his secretary and Hoffmann fell out with Gemmingen over this.

Since 1783 at the latest, he is said to have toyed with the idea of publishing a weekly for the enlightened bourgeoisie in addition to the Weltmann aimed at aristocrats . This happened in 1784 with the magazine for science and literature, which was discontinued at the latest in 1785 because the level for the bourgeoisie was set too high. In 1784 he is said to have tried in vain for a job at the Viennese court for financial reasons. Shortly thereafter, on August 22, 1784, he was placed under police surveillance, which was accompanied by previously unfamiliar censorship. He then made another attempt to publish the Vienna Ephemeris , which took on a popular character from which he hoped to be more popular. These are said to have appeared by 1787. In 1787 he left Vienna, suddenly and under unexplained circumstances. It was said: ... he had enemies here. Certain things in his home environment gave rise to this. What exactly was meant by this is not known, but financial problems can safely be assumed. The financial problems should at least have been caused by the mountain of debts of his brother-in-law Franz von Sickingen. His wife always had a close relationship with her brother, who was described as reckless.

After the death of his father on February 3, 1790, Gemmingen lived with his family on his Hoffenheim estate for a short time. There he issued the following ordinance on March 26, 1790:

Hoffenheim Castle

“The local ward council is supposed to meet every Sunday evening after evening church to discuss the income and expenses of the week. The income comes in a box with two keys, the mayor may only have a small amount in his hands for the week. "

“At these meetings it is also necessary to decide on the compulsory labor that is necessary during the week. Four foremen and the two mayors are to supervise the Fronen. At the first bell, the compulsory must meet at the Rottenmeister. He reads out the names, whoever is absent pays half a day's wage without any indulgence, which the gang benefits. At the second bell, everything goes to work. The contract of 1618 applies to the compulsory labor. "

“Every week there is a court day on Monday, with the official school and a court person negotiating small outrages. The mayor and the two mayors have to deal with the crime in the field. For a decision from the court day, 30 crowns must be paid. Complaints should not be protracted and should, if possible, be dealt with in one sitting. It is important to ensure that an asset is not sold while a mortgage is on it. In the event of marriage, the goods brought in by both partners must be precisely recorded. In the case of auctions, no wine may be served during the auction. Only after her could some wine be served to the delight of the shopper. This order turned out to be necessary because the bidder often completely drunk and completely irresponsible. "

“Of the conventional wine purchase, which amounts to 1 kreuzer per guilder, 1/3 can be consumed by the buyers, 2/3 fell into the municipal treasury. Anyone who is in the area without a permit must be ruthlessly expelled. But day laborers are allowed to stay. Each member of the rulers has to pay 12 kreuzers a month in alms. This money is used to support the old, poor, sick and biting people. The rulers must hold a dysentery court at candlestick. Any positions have to be filled, the invoices have to be listened to and justified. "

“For playing in the pub, the musician pays a rate of 15 kreuzers for 24 hours. At weddings this fee is waived out of leniency. Only one hiker is allowed to come into the village, he has to pay rent to the community. This is to keep rabble away. If foreign carpenters work here, they have to give the 10th pfennig to their local colleagues. "

In the same year he sold Hoffenheim Castle to his underage brother Sigmund for 40,000 guilders. On May 11, 1791, he bought Maudach Castle and Estate for 36,000 guilders and moved in with his family. From Maudach he could reach Mannheim, Heidelberg, Schwetzingen or Speyer in an hour, which may have been a reason for the choice, especially since he was often in Mannheim in the following period. Shortly afterwards, Maudach Castle was badly damaged by French revolutionary troops, as a result of which it also lost part of its library. Around 1795 he and his brother-in-law Franz von Sickingen exchanged Maudach Castle for Mühlbach Castle near Karlstadt am Main and moved in with his family.

Diplomatic heyday in Vienna

In 1799 he took over a special order from the Badischer Hof in Vienna. At first he was received in Vienna with a cool reception because any incidents from his early days in Vienna had not yet been forgotten. However, his diplomatic skills soon found recognition at the imperial court. The margrave of Baden was more than satisfied with von Gemmingen and appointed him extraordinary envoy and plenipotentiary minister at the Viennese imperial court . He received an annual salary of 22,000 guilders. With Napoleon's victory in the Kaiserschlacht von Austerlitz, Baden became thanks for the assistance to the Grand Duchy of Baden with a significant increase in territory, in whose creation Gemmingen took "no small part".

Last phase of life

From 1806 he was back with his family in Schloss Mühlbach. During this time he had very high debts, presumably because he loaned his brother-in-law substantial amounts of money and made excessive financial assurances that drew him into the maelstrom of his brother-in-law's financial troubles. He then tried through strengthened commitment by the farmer on his estate to compulsory labor to increase its income. There were repeated problems in Hoffenheim . Once even the military had to be used against the farmers. The problems probably made him forget his previous commitment to the farmers who were treated unfairly. In 1817 he had to leave Mühlbach Castle because of seizures, moved to Hoffenheim and then to Heidelberg, where he had to declare his insolvency in 1819 and the Gant was opened. He had debts of over 200,000 guilders and his previous job, the court court in Mannheim, now had to take action on this matter. In 1826 his wife died in Heidelberg and on March 15, 1836, completely impoverished, he succumbed to an illness. His only possession until the end was a small library. In the last years of his life, the once esteemed and well-known enlightener , writer and diplomat fell more and more into oblivion, which has not changed until today.

Caesar Flaischlen wrote a biography about Otto Heinrich von Gemmingen in 1889 as part of his dissertation .

progeny

From 1779 he was married to Maria Karoline Charlotte Countess von Sickingen (1756-1826).

Progeny:

• Karl Theodor Joseph (1780–1849) ⚭ N. Wehr († 1846), had no descendants, the property in Hoffenheim then fell to the Treschklingen branch of the family
• Elisabetha († 1857), 67 years old
• Johanna († 1823) ⚭ Andreas Freiherr von Recum
• Reinhard (1792–1812), Würzburg first lieutenant, died in the besieged Modlin fortress
• Marie Antonie († 1835), 38 years old
• Auguste († 1857), 67 years old, remained single and looked after his father in old age
• Therese, lived with her father

Works

• A first attempt was Sidney and Silly , but his authorship has not been confirmed.
• 1778 translation of Pygmalion by JJ Rousseau
• 1778 translation Richard III. from Shakespeare
• 1778 Together with Mozart, the duodrama Semiramis, now lost
• 1778/79 Mannheim dramaturgy, theater journal (Sturm und Drang) with theater criticism and theater theory contributions
• 1779 The inheritance, drama
• 1779 The German householder, drama ( digitized version )
• Work of the Mannheim dramaturgy collected in 1780
• 1781 Translation Allegro and Penseroso by J. Milton
• 1782 brings Gemmingen the weekly magazine The man of the world out
• 1782 Richard II, a tragedy for the Deutsche Schaubühne
• 1782 Weltmann, weekly magazine, Vienna, publisher
• 1782 The weekly truths, weekly magazine, Vienna from 1783 editor
• 1784 magazine for science and culture, Vienna
• 1785 Viennese ephemeris

Individual evidence

1. ↑ In Stocker (1895) p. 293 the year of marriage is incorrectly given as 1799.
2. ↑ Stocker 1895, pp. 294/295.

literature

• Caesar Flaischlen : Otto Heinrich von Gemmingen . Göschen, Stuttgart 1890, full text in the Google Book Search USA
• Carl Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig Stocker : Family chronicle of the barons of Gemmingen, Heidelberg 1895, p. 293-295.
• Bernd Röcker: Between Enlightenment and Storm and Stress. Otto Heinrich von Gemmingen's "The German House Father" . In: Kraichgau. Contributions to landscape and local research, volume 17, 2002, pp. 215–229.
• Helmut Seel: Otto Freiherr von Gemmingen, biography . Bayreuth 2001 ( source study no. 40 of the research lodge Quatuor Coronati no. 808).
• Erich Schmidt:  Gemmingen-Hornberg, Otto Freiherr von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 8, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1878, p. 557 f.
• Gustav Gugitz :  Gemmingen, Otto Heinrich Frhr. v. G. Hornberg. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1964, ISBN 3-428-00187-7 , p. 179 f. ( Digitized version ).

Web links

Wikisource: Otto Heinrich von Gemmingen  - Sources and full texts

• Literature by and about Otto Heinrich von Gemmingen-Hornberg in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by Otto Heinrich von Gemmingen-Hornberg at Zeno.org .