Wilhelmine (story)
Wilhelmine or the wed pedant. A prosaically comic poem is a story by Moritz August von Thümmel , which was published in 1764 by MG Weidmanns Erben und Reich. The text is divided into six chapters called "chants".
content
The 16-year-old Wilhelmine lives as the daughter of an estate manager in a small village. The village pastor Sebaldus falls in love with her, but before he can confess this to her, the court marshal of the nearby royal court learns of the girl's beauty and brings her to the court as a maid . Her father agrees, especially since the court marshal presents this as a special grace. The pastor falls into melancholy.
Years later, on New Year's Eve, Martin Luther visits the pastor in a dream. He announces that Wilhelmine will visit her father the next day and encourages him to take this opportunity to confess his love to her. Sebaldus is skeptical, but goes to Wilhelmine's father the next morning before the New Year's sermon and tells him about the dream. Wilhelmine later appears and tells her father and the pastor about court life: she is tired of the many admirers she has to fend off and the ever-changing pleasures. Inspired by the champagne that Wilhelmine brought, Sebaldus tells of his dream and confesses his love for her. Wilhelmine sees the dream as a sign of fate and now wants to "swap the restless life of the court for the quiet joys of [her] place of birth". Both leave for the court so that Sebaldus can speak to the court marshal the next day. Wilhelmine's father goes to the tavern, where he is fascinated by a traveling theater troupe who perform various historical and mythological scenes.
The next day, Sebaldus almost overslept the audience with the court marshal and is also threatened by his dog. The court marshal already knows and gives his consent to the wedding - on the condition that he and his lover, the daughter of Count von Nimmer, are invited. Wilhelmine is bid farewell to the other ladies-in-waiting who seem to mourn her but secretly envy her.
Sebaldus makes his way to the countess to invite her to the wedding. But since he doesn't arrive until the evening and the count is already in bed, he should stay the night and ask the count the next morning. The next morning the count does not find out that the court marshal will also be present, so he sees no danger for his daughter's virtue and agrees.
When Sebaldus finally arrives at home, the wedding preparations are already under way: the court marshal has sent food, wine and servants in advance. The guests arrive in the afternoon: At this point, the narrator describes the carriages and the clothes and behavior of the various courtiers in a detailed and satirical way. The pastor of the neighboring village trusts the couple, whereupon they all sit down at the richly set table. Everyone is in a good mood, but at some point the time will be too long for the groom: Because the guests stay late into the night, Sebaldus fears that there will be no time for his wedding night. He goes into his study and asks Luther for help. He wants to drive away the guests with a trick: He suddenly lets a side of bacon lying on the stove catch fire, causing the chimney to burn. The guests flee in panic, and when Sebaldus is finally alone with his bride, the fire is put out again.
reception
Wilhelmine was Thümmel's first published work and quickly made him famous. In the preface to the second edition from 1766, Thümmel explains that after the first edition he received not only praise but also the criticism that his work lacks respect for religion and its dignitaries. Thümmel rejects this, but makes changes anyway: The subtitle "or the married pedant" was dropped and Luther was replaced by the love god Amor .
For the third edition he wrote a new preface in which Wilhelmine is criticized for the fact that as a pastor's wife she still dresses as extravagantly as at court. A fourth edition followed in 1769. Wilhelmine was translated into several European languages, but after Thümmel's death his work was more and more forgotten.
expenditure
- Moritz August von Thümmel: Wilhelmine . Kraus, Nendeln, 1968. (First edition printed in 1764).