Susette Gontard

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Susette Gontard

Susette Gontard b. Borkenstein (* approx. February 9, 1769 in Hamburg ; † June 22, 1802 in Frankfurt am Main ), daughter of Hinrich Borkenstein , came from a Hamburg merchant family and was the great love of the poet Friedrich Hölderlin , who called her " Diotima " in his Poems and immortalized in his novel Hyperion .

Life

Susette (or, as she herself wrote her first name, Suzette) married the Frankfurt banker Jakob Friedrich Gontard, five years her senior , on July 9, 1786 in the house of the Reformed congregation in Königstrasse in Altona (today in Hamburg ) and gave birth to four children (Henry, Henriette, Helene, Amalie). In January 1796, Hölderlin took up his position as private tutor or “court master” in the Gontards' house of Weißer Hirsch . In September 1798, Hölderlin left the house after a quarrel broke out with his husband about his relationship with Susette. Until at least May 1800, Hölderlin and Susette still had contact by letter, and there were (rare) meetings about which Jakob Friedrich Gontard was not allowed to know.

The news of Susette's illness (of rubella and consumption ) could have caused Hölderlin to leave his private tutor in Bordeaux in May 1802. Soon afterwards, probably at the beginning of July 1802, he was likely to have found out about her death in Stuttgart . In the poem fragment “When from afar” he lets the deceased beloved say: “Think / of those who are still happy, because of that / Because the delightful day shone on us, / The one with confession or the pressure of the hands / Lifting up, who is us united. Oh! woe to me! / It was a nice day. But / sad twilight followed afterwards. "

Three letters (as well as a fragment) from Hölderlin to Susette Gontard have survived, some (probably not all) letters from her to Susette Gontard have been preserved in the secret compartment of his suitcase. In one of the last surviving letters (perhaps from March 5, 1800) she writes: “I cannot go on writing, farewell! Goodbye You are immortal in me! And stay as long as I stay - - "

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Friedrich Hölderlin: Complete works, letters and documents. Bremen edition, ed. by DE Sattler. 12 volumes. Luchterhand Literaturverlag, Munich 2004, vol. 12, p. 30.
  2. ↑ Friedrich Hölderlin: Complete Works and Letters, Volume II (Munich 1992, pages 758, 779, 824, 833).
  3. ↑ Friedrich Hölderlin: Complete works, letters and documents. Bremen edition, ed. by DE Sattler. 12 volumes. Luchterhand Literaturverlag, Munich 2004, vol. 8, p. 174; on the secret compartment cf. Sattler's Commentary, Vol. 8, p. 172.

Web links

Wikiquote: Susette Gontard  - Quotes
personal data
SURNAME Gontard, Susette
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Borkenstein, Susette
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German banker's wife, great love of the poet Friedrich Hölderlin
DATE OF BIRTH on February 9, 1769
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH June 22, 1802
Place of death Frankfurt am Main