Therese Brunsvik

Therese Brunsvik, portrait drawing

Bust of Therese Brunsvik

Countess Therese Brunsvik de Korompa , Hungarian Brunszvik Teréz [spelling in the lit. also: Therese von Brunswick] (born July 27, 1775 in Pressburg ; † September 23, 1861 in Vácduka, Pest county ) was a Hungarian noblewoman, confidante of Ludwig van Beethoven and founder of the kindergartens in Hungary . She was the sister of Josephine Brunsvik and Franz Brunsvik .

Live and act

Theresia Josepha Anna Johanna Aloysia Brunsvik came from an old, respected Hungarian family. She was the eldest of four children of Anton Brunsvik de Korompa (* 1746, † 1793) and his wife Elisabeth Freiin Wankel von Seeberg (* 1752, † 1830), who was the court lady of Empress Maria Theresa . The marriage came about through the intercession of the Empress, which is why the girl was baptized with the name 'Theresia' and Maria Theresa herself took over the sponsorship. Therese grew up with her siblings as long as the father lived (he died in 1793),

in a regulated but free upbringing, integrated into the season. During the winter months, the family and the servants mostly lived in their large town house, up on the Königsberg in Ofen ... There the children received regular lessons. In the summer months, however, the siblings enjoyed more freedom in the castle and Gut Martonvasar : they were allowed to choose their own reading, make music, ride their horses or enjoy the quiet of the small lake in the boat.

Countess Theresia was very talented musically. At the age of six she was allowed to take part in palace concerts and play Antonio Rosetti on the piano. Since she had a beautiful alto voice, she sang at song and concert evenings in her parents' castle. In addition, she was fluent in several languages, both spoken and written. a. French, English and Italian and also showed an above-average talent in painting and drawing. Since the summer of 1799, she and her younger sister Josephine were in close contact with Ludwig van Beethoven . When they first met, Therese had impressed the pianist and composer, who was only five years older than her, so deeply with her piano skills that he spontaneously established close contact with the von Brunsvik family and taught the two sisters free of charge on the piano: "Er, der actually hated teaching, went to the Brunsviks every afternoon [of summer 1799] and spent hours improving the two young women’s piano playing. " The fact that his advances, which were also determined by amorous feelings, did not lead to a marriage, was due to the mother's family policy, who initiated contacts with more financially strong applicants belonging to the nobility in order to secure her daughters appropriately. Regardless of this, Therese, her brother Franz and especially Josephine remained in close contact with Beethoven, which was reflected not least in the dedication of works such as the Sonata op. 57 (“Appassionata”) to Franz and the Sonata op. 78 to Therese.

On June 1st, 1828, Therese founded Hungary's first toddler school in Buda under the name Angyalkert , d. H. "Angel Garden". In this one teacher worked as a child carer: Mattäus Kern. Doubts arose immediately about this new institution, founded by a woman and subordinated to her; the government feared support for revolutionary ideas: it was believed that little 'carbonari' could be raised in the angel's gardens ... Countess Bunszvik's influence on the development of the school for young children in her homeland was very much inhibited. She suffered as a result, but never gave up on her efforts.

Brunsvik spent many years abroad. Her path led her to Bavaria, Italy, Dresden , Geneva and Paris . In Munich and Augsburg , she took an active part in setting up infant care institutions (also known as early childhood schools, later known as kindergartens). In 1834, for example, she was instrumental in founding the women's association for toddler care institutions in the royal seat of the Kingdom of Bavaria, which took over the sponsorship of two newly built kindergartens.

For some time she stayed in Geneva, where she was also involved in the small children's homes. In Switzerland she met Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi , whose institute near Yverdon she attended for a long time. She wrote about this in her memoir:

So the six-week stay in Yverdon was again a chain of inescapable fate that the ruler of souls had predetermined for us. There I got to know what my spirit needed: an effect on the people.

This encounter was crucial for their future. She became a pioneer in education for women and young children in Hungary. She herself founded eleven kindergartens, a vocational school, a higher education institution for girls (in collaboration with her niece, Blanka Countess von Teleki) and a home economics school, and in 1836 founded an association for the establishment of kindergartens.

By the time she died, the number of preschool institutions in Hungary rose to 80. She called on the government to regulate the education of kindergarten teachers and wrote several specialist books on the importance of early childhood education. Since 1837 there has been training for kindergarten teachers in Hungary, since September 1, 1959 as a university course.

In addition to her commitment to the spread of infant care institutions, she has been passionately committed to the Hungarian ethnic group since 1848 and for Hungary to break away from the tutelage of Austria. Thus, by founding institutions for small children, she also pursued national goals: dissemination of Hungarian art, the Hungarian language, and the education of a purely Hungarian generation. Their patriotic contemporaries expected the same from these institutions.

Therese Brunswick never married and to the end of her days she remained an avid music lover and great admirer of Ludwig van Beethoven and his music. She left a large written legacy and numerous diary entries, which are of great importance for today's Beethoven research.

Therese Brunsvik spent the last part of her life with her cousin Julia Brunsvik (* 1786, † 1866), widowed Forray, on their small estate in Vácduka. There she died on September 23, 1861, very old, at the age of 86. Her remains were transferred to Martonvásár and buried there on September 27, 1861.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Vácduka is a small village 7 km from the city of Waitzen , the place is in the former Pest county.
2. ^ Paul Mies:  Brunswik v. Korompa, Theresia. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 689 ( digitized version ).
3. ↑ The baptism was performed in St. Martin's Cathedral in Pressburg ( birth register at St. Martin, Pressburg 1769 - 1775, p. 530, matriculation number 527)
4. ↑ Beichler 1993, p. 21.
5. ↑ Jaen Caeyers: Beethoven - The lonely revolutionary; from Dutch ex. v. Andreas corner; Munich (Beck) 2012, p. 213 ff.
6. ^ Gary 2006, p. 45
7. ↑ Hoffmann 1944, pp. XXII f.
8. ↑ http://www.kindergartenpaedagogik.de/1089.html
9. ↑ Quoted from Beichler 1993, p. 50.
10. ↑ Beichler 1993, p. 19
11. ↑ Quoted from Benes 1932, p. 78
12. ↑ Julia Brunsvik was the eldest daughter of Count Joseph (* 1750, † 1827). She was married to Andreas Forray (* 1780, † 1830), the kk chamberlain and chief provost of the Csanád county . In 1848 she bought a small estate in Vácduka, where she lived until the end of her life.
13. ↑ Quoted from Maria Hornyák: Countess Therese Brunswick ... , p. 27 (see web links)

swell

• Erika Hoffmann (Ed.): Friedrich Froebel to Countess Brunszvik. From the early days of kindergarten. Berlin 1944.

literature

• La Mara : Beethoven's Immortal Beloved . Countess Brunsvik's secret and her memoirs. Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig 1909.
• La Mara: Beethoven and the Brunsviks. Siegel, Leipzig 1920.
• Marianne Czeke : Brunszvik Teréz grófno naplói és feljegyzései [Countess Therese Brunsvik's diary and notes], Volume 1, Budapest 1938.
• Proska Benes: Countess Brunsvik and the upbringing of young children of her time. Szeged 1932.
• Paul Mies:  Brunswik v. Korompa, Theresia. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 689 ( digitized version ).
• Christa Beichler: Therese von Brunswick and her life mission between Beethoven and Pestalozzi. Lohengrin-Verlag, Rendsburg 1993.
• Lars Hendrik Riemer (ed.): The network of 'prison friends' (1830–1872). Karl Josef Anton Mittermaier's correspondence with European law enforcement experts. Klostermann, Frankfurt am Main 2004, ISBN 3-465-03405-8 , p. 1491.
• Gisela Gary: We are not aunts! The kindergarten teacher: On the history of a women's profession in Austria. Strasshof 2006.
• Klaus Martin Kopitz , Rainer Cadenbach (Eds.) A. a .: Beethoven from the point of view of his contemporaries in diaries, letters, poems and memories. Volume 1: Adamberger - Kuffner. Edited by the Beethoven Research Center at the Berlin University of the Arts. Henle, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-87328-120-2 , no. 133-161.

Web links

Commons : Therese Brunsvik  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Austria Lexicon
• Women of History Therese Brunsvik

• "Anygyalkert" biography (Hungarian)

• Therese Brunsvik, Martonvásár 2002 (Mária Hornyák: Countess Therese Brunswick, 1777 - 1861, Martonvásár 2002)