Walther von Goethe
Walther Wolfgang Freiherr von Goethe (born April 9, 1818 in Weimar ; † April 15, 1885 in Leipzig ) was a German chamberlain and composer . He was a grandson and the last descendant of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe .
Life
Goethe was the oldest child of August and Ottilie von Goethe . In his honor, his grandfather composed the “Lullaby for the Young Mineralogist” on April 9th for his birth, which his later life did not do justice to. Always weak, he grew up without attending a public school. He received his first music lessons at the age of fifteen from Weimar Kapellmeister Carl Eberwein , who also set Goethe poems to music. Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy later taught him the piano , as he showed a pronounced musical talent. Robert Schumann dedicated his Davidsbündlertänze to him . Later, however, Goethe did not achieve success either in song or in opera and bore the weight of his name. In 1825 the Weimar City Council granted him, together with his father and brother Wolfgang Maximilian, citizenship of the residential city of Weimar for perpetuity.
Above all, it was he who opposed the request of the German Confederation to acquire the Weimar Goethehaus and the poet's estate for the nation in 1842 . He mostly lived in the attic of the Goethe House. In 1859, Grand Duke Carl Alexander and his brother raised him to the status of hereditary baron.
Death and legacy
Goethe died on a trip in Leipzig. His grandfather's legacy - in particular Goethe's house in Weimar, his library and its extensive collections - had been assigned to the state of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach in his will of September 24, 1883 in the event of his death , which made the creation of the Goethe National Museum possible .
Goethe was the last descendant of the poet and like his brother Wolfgang Maximilian and his sister Alma had no descendants. On his grave it says:
"With him, Goethe's family, whose name has survived all times, died out."
Afterlife
In the novel Goethe's Last Journey , published in 2007, Sigrid Damm processed a journey by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe with his grandsons Walther and Wolfgang to Ilmenau in 1831.
Today, some compositions and manuscripts by and about Goethe are stored in various archives. The Walther von Goethe Foundation of the Berlin conceptual artist Wolfgang Müller publishes the "Writings of the Walther von Goethe Foundation".
Works (selection)
- Anselmo Lancia . Opera, in Szczecin
- Alessandro Stradella . Opera
- Four chants ; op.01, Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig.
- Allegro for the pianoforte ; op.02, Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig.
- Four impromptus for the pianoforte ; op.06, N. Simrock, Bonn, ca.1840.
- Six songs , op.07, N. Simrock, Bonn.
- Poésie pour le Piano ; op.08, N. Simrock, Bonn, ca.1840.
- Six songs for a voice with accompaniment of the fortepiano , op.14, Tobias Haslingers Witwe & Sohn, Vienna, approx. 1842.
- Love rehearsal for a singing voice ; op.15, N. Simrock, Bonn.
- Six old German songs by JP Kaltenbaek ; op.20, Adolph Nagel, Hanover, ca.1842.
- Four chants for one voice with accompaniment of the pianoforte ; op.21, Pietro Mechetti, Vienna, ca.1847.
- Slavic songs , op.22, N. Simrock, Bonn.
- Meine Grüße , song for voice and piano (text by Siegfried Kapper); WoO, T. Trautwein, Berlin, 1847.
- Nachsommer , song for voice and piano (text by Eduard Vogt); WoO, T. Trautwein, Berlin, 1847.
Literary work
In addition to his work as a composer, Walther von Goethe was also active in literature. In 1848 he published the book Fährmann, hol über . It contains 3 stories:
- In the cradle and in the grave or: poor Fanny
- Down from the roof
- It's just that one day
Economically, the book was not a success. Only 163 copies were sold.
literature
- Hartmut Schmidt, Irmgard Kräupl-Mohamed: Walther von Goethe on the 100th anniversary of his death on April 15, 1985 . Font no.43 , Goethe-Museum Düsseldorf 1985, DNB 21027512X .
- Dagmar von Gersdorff : Goethe's grandsons Walther, Wolfgang and Alma . Insel Verlag, Frankfurt and Leipzig 2009
- Wolfgang Vulpius : Walther Wolfgang von Goethe and his grandfather's estate . (Contributions to German Classical Music, Volume 14). Arion Verlag, Weimar 1962, DNB 455327386 .
- Ulrich Konrad : Walther von Goethe's obituary for Alfred Julius Becher. An unnoticed testimony to Viennese music history . In: History of music as a history of understanding. Festschrift for Gernot Gruber on his 65th birthday , Verlag H. Schneider, Tutzing 2004, pp. 39–47.
- Karsten Hein: Ottilie von Goethe (1796–1872). Biography and literary relationships of Goethe's daughter-in-law (= European university publications. Series 1: German Language and Literature , Volume 1782). Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 2001, ISBN 3-631-37438-0 (dissertation University of Düsseldorf 2000, 398 pages).
- Karsten Hein: Ottilie von Goethe. Insights into the house on Frauenplan . In: Andreas Remmel, Paul Remmel (Ed.): Goethe-Blätter. Series of publications by the Goethe Society Siegburg e. V. Volume IV. Bernstein, Bonn 2008, ISBN 978-3-9809762-4-4 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b The control room. Supplement to the Luxemburger Wort . January 13, 2011, pp. 7-10.
- ^ Karl Robert Mandelkow : Goethe's letters. Hamburg edition in four volumes. Vol. 4: Letters from 1821–1832. 2nd Edition. Christian Wegner Verlag, Hamburg 1976, p. 575.
- ↑ FAZ from April 12, 2018 Goethe's grandson
- ^ Digital Library - Munich Digitization Center .
- ^ Dagmar von Gersdorff: Goethe's grandchildren Walther, Wolfgang and Alma . Insel Verlag, Frankfurt and Leipzig 2009, pp. 200–206.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Goethe, Walther von |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Goethe, Walther Wolfgang von (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German chamberlain and composer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 9, 1818 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Weimar |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 15, 1885 |
| Place of death | Leipzig |