Wilhelmine of Prussia (1709–1758)

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Wilhelmine of Prussia; Pastel attributed to Jean-Étienne Liotard (1745)

Friederike Sophie Wilhelmine of Prussia or Wilhelmine of (Brandenburg-) Bayreuth (* July 3, 1709 in Berlin ; † October 14, 1758 in Bayreuth ) was the eldest daughter of ten surviving children of the "soldier king" Friedrich Wilhelm I and his wife Sophie Dorothea of ​​Hanover . She was brought up as the future Queen of England, but through marriage to Friedrich von Brandenburg-Bayreuth became Margravine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth . It achieved literary and historical importance a. a. through her correspondence with her favorite brother Frederick the Great and through the publication of her memoirs, which u. a. are of particular cultural and historical value due to their sometimes blunt descriptions of life at the Prussian court . As a patron of the arts, composer and opera director, she has shaped the cultural life of the city of Bayreuth to a significant extent up to the present day. The Margravial Opera House , which she initiated , was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2012 .

Life

Early years

Wilhelmine with her brother Friedrich ; Antoine Pesne (1714)

Wilhelmine Sophie Friederike, born on July 3, 1709, was baptized on July 12. Her godparents were the monarch Augustus the Strong of Saxony and King of Poland-Lithuania and King Frederick IV of Denmark-Norway , who were present on the occasion of the so-called Dreikönigstreffen with Friedrich I of Prussia (Wilhelmine's grandfather) in Berlin .

Wilhelmine grew up at the spartan court of her father, the soldier king Friedrich Wilhelm I, as the oldest surviving child - as her memoirs make clear, in a troubled environment. Even as a child she became the plaything of political ambitions. Initially, both parents wanted her to marry the British heir to the throne (her mother Sophie Dorothea was the daughter of King George I of England ), which is why the eight-year-old princess with her cousin Friedrich Ludwig of Hanover , the Duke of Gloucester and 15th Prince of Wales , got engaged. As a result, political and family disputes arose from which Wilhelmine increasingly suffered. The mother, who had different cultural needs than her husband, the king, consistently pursued the desire for a close connection with the Anglo-Hanoverian royal family, which was related to her , while the father decided to approach the House of Habsburg in order to be loyal to them to show the German Kaiser . Wilhelmine's first engagement was canceled shortly before the engagement and the soon following wedding to the Bayreuth Margrave Prince Friedrich. These familial and diplomatic contradictions as well as physical and emotional trauma suffered as a child by the educator Leti and as a teenager by her parents, Wilhelmine drastically reproduced in her memoirs from the immediate world of experience.

The educator Leti

Wilhelmine, portrait of the Prussian court painter Friedrich Wilhelm Weidemann , probably made in connection with her engagement to Friedrich Ludwig von Hanover in 1717.

As Margravine von Bayreuth - the time of writing the memoir is not specified - she describes the problems with Leti in detail. Since Wilhelmine was three years old, she was raised by this Italian woman (whose father was a former Italian monk), who is described as beautiful, dazzling, coquettish, malicious and vicious. The child suffered from her almost as much as from its parents.

“I was as afraid of the Leti as of the fire. She often beat me and treated me roughly. [...] Not a day went by that she did not try the dreaded strength of her fists on me. "

Wilhelmine suspected that this woman was pestering her for her Italian spirit, but there was a valid reason: the woman had been bribed by two of the king's ministers, Friedrich Wilhelm von Grumbkow and Prince Leopold von Anhalt-Dessau , both of Wilhelmine's plans to marry Mother and her father, King George I , thwarted and also influenced Wilhelmine's father in this direction. Leti tried to warm the child up for a marriage with the Margrave Friedrich Wilhelm von Schwedt , a nephew of the old man from Dessauer, and listened to the conversations between his parents. When the child finally evaded this issue on the instructions of his mother, it was beaten every day.

“She was too subtle not to notice that I had been instructed, and to find out she did me all the flattery. But when she saw that she was not doing anything good for me, she got into a terrible anger, hit me several times on the arm and threw me down the dais. Thanks to my dexterity, I didn't break my arm or leg and got away with a few bruises. "

Obviously, the Leti failed when she couldn't accomplish her mission of listening to the child:

“Punches and kicks became my daily bread; there was hardly a swear word with which she did not treat the queen: she usually called her the big donkey. "

Wilhelmine dared not confide in anyone and eventually collapsed with biliary colic . She suffered from the jaundice that followed for months. The mother did not seem to have noticed the agony of her oldest child.

The "Sonsine"

It was only when Madame de Roucoulles, an educator of the princes, explained to her mother that Wilhelmine would probably one day be completely crippled, that Leti was given to the king in 1721 by Dorothea Luise von Wittenhorst-Sonsfeld - by Wilhelmine and her brother Friedrich affectionately called "Sonsine" - replaced. She managed to calm the intimidated child and maintain his trust. She had great pedagogical skills and encouraged Wilhelmine very much in the school and musical areas. Until her death in Bayreuth in 1746, where she moved with Wilhelmine after their wedding, she was loyal to those entrusted to her as a child.

The father

From Wilhelmine's letters to her father it can be seen that she initially had a good relationship with him, but he rarely stayed with his family. Most of the time, and apparently the whole family, she suffered from his moods. She had an exceptionally close relationship with her next younger brother Friedrich , with whom she shared her interest in music and science with the support of her mother, which lasted until her death. Both children showed musical talent, Wilhelmine at the age of six (1715) by dancing and playing the harpsichord, which their mother loved. The children allied themselves against their father, who disliked artistic pursuits, especially those of the Crown Prince, and wanted with impatient severity to mold the son into his own image. The assaults against both children, which were described by Wilhelmine, such as sticking a stick and dragging the hair through the room, occupy the historians to this day.

The 1730 disaster

After the abortive attempt to escape her brother on August 5, 1730, in which he Hans Hermann von Katte was because of the increasingly intolerable becoming disagreements with his father aside, Wilhelmine was a member of the Friends trio of complicity of a " desertion Auditions - conspiracy suspected" and in their Locked up in the castle. Her brother, the "deserter", came to Küstrin as a prisoner, and Katte, "the conspirator", was arrested. It came to the state-shaking Crown Prince trial that drew circles all over Europe.

The siblings were held in strict isolation for over a year. Her father, King Friedrich Wilhelm I, threatened not only with cross-examination , imprisonment and torture (against Friedrich), but with the execution of both siblings. In the case of Hans Hermann von Katte he made use of his right to tighten the sentence after the court martial , which was for life imprisonment : Since the court martial requested the king to change the decision and "speak right" - he wanted the Death penalty - did not want to comply, he single-handedly tightened the sentence on death by beheading , which was unprecedented at the time and was discussed across Europe. His two children were spared, but they bore their life through the tragic fate of their friend.

As a result, the king enforced the marriage of his daughter Wilhelmine with more stringent measures due to this process: Minister von Grumbkow had to inform Wilhelmine's court master Dorothea Luise von Wittenhorst-Sonsfeld to process her protégé in such a way that she obeyed her father’s orders to the Restore family peace. Sonsfeld himself was threatened with imprisonment in the " spinning house for public whores" if she did not succeed. After that the king, her father, finally got her to marry Friedrich von Brandenburg-Bayreuth after years of humiliating back and forth.

Wedding and move to Bayreuth

Wilhelmine as bride; unknown artist (undated)

According to a report by the ambassador of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel, the Hereditary Prince of the Principality of Bayreuth Friedrich von Brandenburg-Bayreuth is said to have already been announced as a husband to Sophie , a younger sister of Wilhelmine, but there were also several contemporary witnesses who saw him as the bridegroom for Wilhelmine from the start designated. The engagement took place on June 3, 1731, the wedding was on November 20 in the Berlin Palace . Although the wedding was arranged, Wilhelmine and Friedrich developed a very loving relationship with one another in the first few years of their marriage. Already during the engagement time there are first indications in Wilhelmine's memoirs that she was more fond of the prince than her mother, who still wanted her to marry off to Great Britain , was right. Her husband had been appointed commander of the Old Prussian Dragoon Regiment "Schulenburg" stationed in Pasewalk (Uckermark) during the engagement time of King Friedrich Wilhelm I. The regiment has since been referred to as the "Bayreuth Dragoons". Prince Friedrich has inspected his troop several times. After he had taken office in Bayreuth, he could no longer look after his regiment. The actual command was held by a Prussian colonel. The “Bayreuth Dragoons” did not come from Bayreuth, as can sometimes be read. The regiment fought successfully in the wars of King Frederick II; it appears in the text of the Hohenfriedberger March as “Auf, Ansbach-Dragoons! Up, Ansbach-Bayreuth! "

Wilhelmine could no longer wait to leave Berlin, so that, although she was two months pregnant, she set out on the dangerous journey to Bayreuth on January 11, 1732. There, however, her hopes for the court, which she described as great, were completely disappointed. She explains about this in her memoirs, in which she describes her new subjects as peasants with no way of life. The castle also found no mercy in their eyes: Its rooms were dark, covered with cobwebs; in the rooms assigned to her, the upholstery of the armchairs would have been pierced and the four-poster bed would have no more curtains after two weeks because they would tear if touched. The Margrave's efforts to receive his daughter-in-law appropriately only made her smile with pity. The simple kitchen of her new home also pissed her off. In her letters to father, mother and brother, shortly after arrival, she took on a completely different tone and described her reception in Bayreuth positively.

Construction and government business

Margravine Wilhelmine of Bayreuth; Antoine Pesne (undated)

After the death of her father-in-law Georg Friedrich Karl, the margravine played a major role in the modernization of the country. So she supported her husband in untangling the corruption network of the Bayreuth court and forming a counterweight for the politically inexperienced margrave to the officials of the late father-in-law.

On her 24th birthday (1735) the Margrave gave her the Hermitage near Bayreuth . In the following years she developed this landscape park into a real gem. Another landscape park was created near the district of Sanspareil in the municipality of Wonsees : the Sanspareil rock garden (French: sans pareil = unparalleled ). In this natural rock grove Wilhelmine recreated the scenes of the then popular novel The Travels of Telemachus by François Fénelon . Of the buildings, only the oriental building and the ruin theater have survived. The Margravial Opera House , inaugurated in 1748 on the occasion of the wedding of her daughter Elisabeth Friederike Sophie von Brandenburg-Bayreuth , which was recognized as a World Heritage Site in 2012, is considered a jewel . She also played a decisive role in the construction of the New Palace in downtown Bayreuth . You can still see this in its equipment. The result of their brisk building activity, known as Bayreuth Rococo , is currently a magnet for tourism. She was no longer able to experience the Fantaisie Castle , which she helped design and was built as a summer residence in Donndorf (now a part of Eckersdorf ) . The construction was initially interrupted with her death in 1758, but continued in 1761.

In addition, she painted, acted and wrote on her memoirs and extensive correspondence. Their library contains around 4000 books. However, her greatest passion was music. She played the harpsichord and the lute perfectly and is one of the few German composers of her era who wrote operas . Only Argenore has survived .

In 1737 Wilhelmine was entrusted with the management of the Bayreuth Court Music from her husband, invited Italian opera artists and took care of the cultural life of the Bayreuth court with great enthusiasm. She established the Italian Opera and managed to raise the court culturally and intellectually to the same level as the large courts in Berlin or Vienna. From Voltaire was built in 1743 following description: "Bayreuth is a lovable city. You can enjoy all the amenities of the court here without the inconvenience of the big world. "

Blows of fate

In the 1740s the friendship of the siblings was compromised due to differences of opinion regarding the inheritance of Wilhelmine von der Marwitz , lady-in-waiting to the margravine and daughter of general von der Marwitz . After her marriage to Count Otto von Burghauß , which was sponsored by Wilhelmine, she went to hostile foreign countries Austria , along with her marriage , which embittered the king.

In addition to her brother's displeasure, the margravine depressed her husband's infidelity with this Marwitz daughter, because of whom she had promoted this marriage. At some point during this time Wilhelmine began with the concept and composition of her opera Argenore as well as with her memoirs. Like this, her opera is full of coded biographical allusions on the level of the libretto as well as within the score.

Austrian diplomats tried to influence Prussia through the Bayreuth court. In September 1745, during the Silesian War , Wilhelmine met with Maria Theresa of Austria , her brother's enemy. This almost broke the close relationship with her brother, especially since she made no secret of her admiration for Maria Theresa.

Sciences and Arts

Princely box of the margravial opera house

From 1737 Margravine Wilhelmine began to actively shape the music theater at the court. At first she also used the Markgrafentheater in the secondary residence in Erlangen. After expanding the orchestra and the first cantatas and ballets, she called Italian singers' troops and in 1740 the great Italian opera with Argenore moved into Bayreuth , the plot and music of which she herself originated. As a result, she wrote several opera texts which, like Argenore, she had Italians translated.

A university was founded in Bayreuth in 1742, but after a year it was moved to the secondary residence in Erlangen , today's Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg . Wilhelmine's personal physician Daniel de Superville , whom Wilhelmine allegedly bought from her father for two Lange Kerls , became their chancellor in 1743. The Margravine's memoirs were found in his estate.

After the artistic climax of the celebrations on the occasion of the wedding of her daughter Elisabeth Friederike Sophie with Duke Carl Eugen von Württemberg (1748), for which the Margravial Opera House was inaugurated with Italian operas, Wilhelmine soon experienced another one: in 1750 the Margrave couple Friedrich the Great visited in Berlin, where she met famous contemporaries such as Voltaire , Maupertuis and La Mettrie at glamorous festivals . Precious opera performances began in Bayreuth with the participation of international artists. She wrote several opera libretti for it . In 1751 she was admitted to the Roman Accademia dell'Arcadia with a diploma , which also included Metastasio , an international literary academy that made a special contribution to the design of the opera libretto. In June 1754 her brother paid a return visit, on the occasion of which she composed the Festa Teatrale L'Huomo , which Andrea Bernasconi set to music in Italian. The premiere was one of the most expensive events at the Bayreuth court.

Socrates by the court sculptor Johann Schnegg (after 1755) in the park of the Bayreuth Hermitage

Wilhelmine devoted herself to scientific studies, exchanged letters with Voltaire on philosophical topics, developed her musical talents purposefully since her arrival in the margraviate in 1732 and perfected her lute playing as an admirer and pupil of the famous Dresden court lutenist Silvius Leopold Weiss with his pupil, the Bayreuth lute virtuoso Adam Falckenhagen . Due to their influence, lute music experienced a late bloom in Bayreuth.

After Falckenhagen's death in 1754, the lutenist Paulo Carlo Durant was appointed. A complete collection of lute chamber music from this period has been preserved in the Augsburg city and state library, which may be traced back to the violinist of the court orchestra and lutenist Bernhard Joachim Hagen . It contains lute chamber music from Bayreuth and other composers, including concertos for accompanied lutes.

Trip to the south

A trip to southern France and Italy (including the Papal States ) undertaken from October 1754 to October 1755 was followed in May 1756 by the establishment of the Academy of Liberal Arts and Sciences in Bayreuth . From the trip to Italy Wilhelmine u. a. ancient sculptures , including a Socrates head , which served the court sculptor Johann Schnegg as a model for his Socrates statue.

Death and memory

Tomb in the Bayreuth Castle Church
Friendship stamp in Sanssouci ; Carl von Gontard (built 1768 to 1770)

In June 1754 the siblings saw each other for the last time in Bayreuth. Afterwards Friedrich wrote to Wilhelmine: "My self is leaving you, but the heart of him who will remain until his end remains your faithful servant."

Wilhelmine died on October 14, 1758 in Bayreuth. On the same day, her brother suffered a heavy defeat in the Seven Years' War in the Battle of Hochkirch , in which his friend, Field Marshal James Keith , also died.

Voltaire published an Ode Sur La Mort De Son Altesse Royale Madame La Markgrave De Bareith for the Margravine of Bayreuth in the appendix to the first edition of his novel Candide in 1759 . He revised it several times.

On the tenth anniversary of Wilhelmine's death, Frederick II had a friendship temple built in Sanssouci .

To commemorate the merits of the Margravine for the city in the Age of Enlightenment , Bayreuth has awarded the Margravine Wilhelmine Prize of the City of Bayreuth for tolerance and humanity in cultural diversity every year since 2008 .

“Que nous sommes aveugles, nous autres hommes, nous brocardons sur les défauts d'autrui, pendant que nous ne faisons aucune réflexion sur les nôtres.

How blind we humans are that we tease about the mistakes of others while we don't worry about ours! "

- Wilhelmine : Memoirs

progeny

The couple's only child was Elisabeth Friederike Sophie (born August 30, 1732), who was described by Giacomo Casanova as the most beautiful girl in Germany. She married Duke Carl Eugen von Württemberg (1728–1793) in 1748 . Their only child, the daughter Princess Friederike Wilhelmine Augusta Luisa Charlotte von Württemberg, was born on February 19, 1750 and died on March 12, 1751 shortly after her first birthday. The couple separated in the fall of 1756 but did not divorce. From then on she lived in Bayreuth, died on April 6, 1780 and was buried next to her parents in the Bayreuth Castle Church.

memoirs

When exactly Wilhelmine began to write down the experiences of her traumatic childhood and youth - her memoirs - is not known. It is believed that she began doing so in the early 1740s, although she initially emphasized that it should by no means be published. In 1810, 52 years after her death, her notes were published for the first time in a German translation, and in the same year another, expanded version in French was published by a second publisher. At first, Cotta / Tübingen and Viehweg / Braunschweig considered these (private) prints to be crude anti-Prussian forgery, as the description of the Berlin court seemed too hair-raising. When the Berlin chief librarian Georg Heinrich Pertz (1795–1876) discovered the French original of the memoirs from the hand of the margravine in 1848 , all doubts turned into stunned surprise about the conditions she described at the Prussian court. Nevertheless, the pros and cons of Wilhelmine come alive again and again on this point. In the process, those voices are gaining in importance who see Wilhelmine's descriptions less as an autobiography, but more as a “Roman tragique” following literary specifications.

Reputation in France

The French writer and literary critic Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve (1804-1869) wrote a portrait of the Margravine of Bayreuth in his Causeries du Lundi (Monday chats) for the newspaper Le Constitutionel . It appeared in two parts on September 1 and 8, 1856. The occasion for this was the first French publication of the correspondence between Frederick the Great and Wilhelmine, whose original language is French. According to the epilogue of the German translation of this literary portrait, which was first published in 2008, Sainte-Beuve refers in terms of content to the correspondence, the memoirs, Wilhelmine's behavior during the Seven Years' War and her relationship with Voltaire . Sainte-Beuve's assessment of the memoirs and the correspondence is remarkable , according to which France has "another French author" in Wilhelmine, although, as he says, she could have written both in German or English.

Works

memoirs

French original version:

  • Mémoires de Frédérique Sophie Wilhelmine, Margrave de Bayreuthe, soeur de Frédéric le Grand, depuis L'année 1709 jusqu'a 1742, écrit de sa main. Mercure de France, Paris 1967.

German translation:

  • Memoirs of Margravine Wilhelmine von Bayreuth, Im Insel-Verlag zu Leipzig, 1920, with an afterword by Annette Kolb
  • Ingeborg Weber-Kellermann (ed.): Wilhelmine von Bayreuth, a Prussian king's daughter. Splendor and misery at the court of the soldier king in the memoirs of Margravine Wilhelmine von Bayreuth . From the French by Annette Kolb , includes u. a. a register of persons and subjects. Insel-Verlag, Frankfurt / M. 2004, ISBN 3-458-32980-3 .
  • Günther Berger (translator and editor): Memoirs of a Prussian king's daughter. Margravine Wilhelmine of Bayreuth . Bayreuth 2007. New translation with register of persons a. a.

Texts received for musical theater

  • Gioia Universa (The general joy) 1738 (scenic cantata)?, See under Lost compositions
  • L ' Argenore , Tragedia , 3 acts. Original text unknown, Italian libretto printed in 1740 by Andrea Galletti expressly based on Wilhelmine's (text) specifications. Wilhelmine's handwritten text changes in the autograph score. For the inauguration of a new opera theater on Schlossberglein Bayreuth (interior not preserved).
  • Athalie , Azione teatrale , origin unknown, 2 acts (MS). French translation by Pietro Metastasios Gioas re di Giuda . Details of airs and choirs, setting and performance unknown.
  • Deucalion et Pyrrha , 1751/52, Festa teatrale , 1 act. Setting to music lost, performed in 1751 Erlangen and 1752 Bayreuth.
  • Semiramide 1750–1753 (after Voltaire ), Dramma per musica , 3 acts. Setting: unknown Italian, lost, performed in 1753.
  • L'Huomo , Festa teatrale, 1754. 1 act. Inspired by the philosophy of Zoroaster . Translated into Italian by Luigi Stampiglia; Setting: Andrea Bernasconi , u. a., two cavatins in it by Wilhelmine. Performance in the Margravial Opera House on the occasion of Frederick the Great's visitto Bayreuth in June 1754. Libretto in three languages: French, Italian, German.
  • Amaltea , Dramma per musica, 1756. 3 acts. Translated into Italian by Luigi Stampiglia; Setting di vari autori , lost, performance in the Margravial Opera House , libretto in three languages: French, Italian, German.

Compositions

Signed autograph

Sonata Trav: Solo [distance, signature:] Wilhelmine . Library of Baron von Fürstenberg, Herdringen Castle .

  • Sheet music for Furore Kassel 2006, ISMN M-50012-968-4, with facsimile pages.

Unsigned autograph

Opera L ' Argenore , score without title page ( Tragedia ) in 3 acts. Authorship according to the libretto: La Compositione della Musica e di sua Altezza Reale Federica Sophia Guglielmina […].

  • Score autograph facsimile with commentary, Laaber, Regensburg 1982 Hans-Joachim Bauer : Rococo opera in Bayreuth .
  • Modern score print with commentary and facsimile of the libretto in Italian / German, Wolfgang Hirschmann : Wilhelmine von Bayreuth, Argenore , Schott Mainz 1996.

Transcripts

A) No. 1 Concerto à Harpsichord Concertato, 2 Violini, Viola and Basso del Sig. Foerster [Foerster crossed out; other script:] Jaenichen . Duchess Anna Amalia Library Weimar. The title page has an old, two-line signature at the top right: (illegible) 7. G.

B) Concerto. à Harpsichord Obligato. duoi violini. Violetta. e Basso. di Wilhelmine . Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel, owned by the Duchess Philippine Charlotte of Prussia , Wilhelmine's sister. Shortened, solo part is missing. Bayreuth copist, presumably the oboist and Bayreuth organist Johann Conrad Teuert (like Cavatinen).

  • Modern music edition: Furore Kassel 2000, ISMN M-50012-439-9. With facsimile pages of notes and titles of the two different manuscripts.

Cavatines (two), contained in the score for L'Huomo by Andrea Bernasconi with the addition of Composta da Sua Altezza Reale . Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel, owned by the Duchess Philippine Charlotte of Prussia. Bayreuth copist, presumably the oboist and Bayreuth organist Johann Conrad Teuert (like harpsichord concerto B).

  • Modern sheet music edition Furore Kassel 2010, ISMN 979-0-50182-054-2.

To the opera Argenore

Wilhelmine composed her opera Argenore (1740) according to the textbook for the birthday of her husband Margrave Friedrich. At the same time, a new opera house, a predecessor of the Margravial Opera House in Bayreuth, was inaugurated. It is unclear whether the opera was actually performed. This opera poses riddles that have been discussed since the (re -?) Performance in the Erlangen Markgrafentheater in 1993. The text of the underlying plot, a tragedia about King Argenore, in the musical score differs in part considerably from the printed libretto text and raises the question of whether and to what extent the subject deals with the traumatic relationship between the siblings Wilhelmine and Friedrich II . to her father and whether this appears in the libretto of the opera, in the music and in Wilhelmine's handwriting of the score in comparison with the libretto printed for the audience.

Musical encryption

An example: In Wilhelmine's autograph score for Argenore , at the end of the second act, a text passage to the music seems to allude to the fate of Hans Hermann von Katte , the friend of the siblings, whose year of death was the tenth anniversary of the performance in 1740. He was beheaded on the orders of the king and father after Frederick II attempted to escape in 1730.

The text of Ormondo's aria in the 7th scene has come down to us in two different versions:

  • In the printed libretto from 1740 (here left column, contemporary translation)
  • In Wilhelmine's handwriting of the autograph score
A) I fall, but I am the same A) I'll fall, but you
The proud and tall oak cruel tyrant ,
That moves everything around in the end you will regret it in vain,
When they are the soil that supports them and you'll say my lot
Strikes with their tribe. Envy arouses instead of pity.
 
B) Now sees the shepherd of the enemy B) A beautiful test for the strong soul
Do the damage yourself calm and relaxed
What wonder when he cried To endure the unjust punishment
Because he cannot replace him. for a guilt you don't have.

The Ormondo recitative leading to this aria reads in the libretto:

"And that I do not want to die now does not come from any wickedness, but in the hope of seeing the terrible end of a tyrannical and infuriating king and each of you strangled by this hand."

After the aria, a summary of his (Ormondo's) state of mind (libretto text, left column; the text after the score, see right column), he is overwhelmed and put in chains in order to free himself violently at the beginning of the 3rd act by murdering his guardian.

In addition, the new text of the B part from the score forms a strange contrast (right column B: "[...] calmly and calmly to endure the unjust punishment [...]") to the thirst for revenge expressed in the recitative with the violent one that follows in the third act Liberation (see quote above). The subsequent change to the lyrics, actually a dramaturgical "oversight", cannot be seen by the audience from the libretto (text on the left column), if only because the song was sung in Italian.

Too "calm and relaxed": The literature on the Katte tragedy - as Theodor Fontane is called - repeatedly states that Hans Hermann von Katte was very composed when he went to his execution and calmly surrendered to his fate, to the consolation of his father First-born and " ancestor " he was. The picture of the "oak" ( family tree ) in the libretto (left column A) has already addressed this.

Compared to the original text version (left column A), there is a deeper, more personal aspect in the music from the core of the matter (“what wonder if he was crying”): the visualization of the condemned person's attitude (Ormondo / Katte), “the unjust punishment to endure ”(right column B), even if this emotional affect of surrendering to one's fate does not fit dramatically , as the recitative mentioned above shows.

The composer placed an encrypted message here in the opera, which can only be read in the autograph score. It can be understood as the answer to Hans Hermann von Katte's death penalty, which was pronounced by his father and is still controversial today .

Lost compositions

As is common with historical female composers, Wilhelmine's works were not collected. Your personal music collection is lost and with it your compositions. Therefore, all references that point or could point to actual compositions of her should be carefully checked.

  • Joint . See Wilhelmine's letter to the Crown Prince of December 16, 1732: “I'm up to my ears in composing. I'm at a fugue to go along with the Berlin folly ”.
  • " Mon premier coup d'essai " [in the sense of "my first opus" or first surprise for you?]. Title? According to Wilhelmine's letter of May 2, 1734, a musical work which, after months of expectation of her brother Friedrich's first visit to Bayreuth, she wanted to personally dedicate (hand over or play) to him, "l'Apolon de notre siecle". Since she could have sent it, the impression that she wanted to play it for him increases, especially since she was hosting his musicians during this time. As a result, it could have been a harpsichord piece with the accompaniment of these musicians and an indication of their harpsichord concerto.
  • Pastorale / Serenata / Cantata , summer / autumn 1738 (performed July 24, 1738?). The Crown Prince on September 16, 1738: "I would like to see your composition and hear it from you yourself". Wilhelmine on November 4, 1738: "j'ai composé une petite Pastorale qui a été Represanté au notre solitude". The whole letter, incompletely printed by Volz, is reproduced in full in: Nothing new from Bayreuth, letters from Margravine Wilhelmine
From this it can be seen that the work has been improved: “I will still make a few small changes to the music. I will put the singer [of the performance] in front of the door ”. The Crown Prince wrote, obviously with reference to this composition on March 16, 1739: "Your cantata is, without flattery, very beautiful and is worth a thousand times more than all the music of your Italian" [probably Antonio Paganelli ]. Friedrich on November 15, 1739: “I know that you previously gave Apollo the honor of appearing in his temple, not only as Euterpe [muse of music] but also as Kalliope [muse of poetry]. How things stand now, I don't know (allusion to Argenore ?), I only know this much that you succeeded in the best way back then. ”Since Friedrich Wilhelmine also describes it as“ Kalliope ”, one could, if one could read the Serenata from July 24th 1738 ("at that time"), whose text is meant and from which a new work is inferred; “Back then” would therefore be Gioia Universa (The General Joy) and “as it is now” refers to a new work that she indicated in a letter.

CD

literature

  • Theodor Hirsch :  Friderica Wilhelmine, Princess of Prussia . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 8, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1878, pp. 69-72.
  • Literature by and about Wilhelmine von Prussia in the catalog of the German National Library
  • Hans-Joachim Bauer : Baroque opera in Bayreuth (= Thurnauer writings on music theater. Vol. 7). Laaber-Verlag, Laaber 1982, ISBN 3-921518-64-4 .
  • Hans Joachim Bauer: Rococo Opera in Bayreuth. "Argenore" by Margravine Wilhelmine (= Thurnauer Schriften zum Musiktheater. Vol. 8). Laaber-Verlag, Laaber 1983, ISBN 3-921518-76-8 .
  • Günter Berger (ed.): Wilhelmine von Bayreuth today - The cultural heritage of the margravine (= archive for the history of Upper Franconia . Special volume, ISSN  1869-2176 ). (Lectures of the Bayreuth symposium “Wilhelmine von Bayreuth Today - The Cultural Heritage of the Margravine”, held in the district council room of the government of Upper Franconia from June 26th to 28th, 2008). Ellwanger, Bayreuth 2009.
  • Josef Focht: The musical aura of Margravine Wilhelmine. Music staging in the art of the Bayreuth Rococo (= Peda art guide music in pictures. Vol. 1). Kunstverlag Peda, Passau, 1998, ISBN 3-89643-090-4 .
  • Irene Hegen: Wilhelmine of Bayreuth. In: Clara Mayer (Ed.): Approach IX to seven female composers (= Furore Edition 894). Furore-Verlag, Kassel 1998, ISBN 3-927327-43-3 , pp. 126-149.
  • Sabine Henze-Döhring : Margravine Wilhelmine and the Bayreuth court music. Heinrichs-Verlag, Bamberg 2009, ISBN 978-3-89889-146-2 .
  • Irene Hegen: Musical encodings. Autobiographical traces in the compositions of Wilhelmine von Bayreuth. In: Archive for the history of Upper Franconia , special volume Wilhelmine von Bayreuth today - The cultural heritage of the Margravine , Historical Association for Upper Franconia , Bayreuth 2009, ISSN  1869-2176 .
  • Jürgen Kloosterhuis , Lothar Lambacher: Court martial in Köpenick! Anno 1730: Crown Prince - Katte - King's Word. (Catalog for the exhibition “Court Martial in Köpenick!” Of the Secret State Archive PK and the Museum of Applied Arts of the State Museums in Berlin in Köpenick Castle from October 29, 2011 to February 5, 2012). 2nd Edition. Secret State Archives Prussian Cultural Heritage u. a., Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-923579-17-4 (contains all available material on the “Crown Prince Trial” on almost 300 pages).
  • Jürgen Kloosterhuis: Katte. Order and Articles of War. File-analysis and military-historical aspects of a “technical” story. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-428-12193-7 (partial print from: Research on Brandenburg and Prussian History. ).
  • Katrin Kohl: The role of Wilhelmine von Bayreuth in Friedrich's understanding of the dynasty. In: Michael Kaiser, Jürgen Luh (Ed.): Friedrich the Great and the Hohenzollern dynasty. Contributions to the fifth colloquium in the "Friedrich300" series from September 30 / October 1, 2011. 2012. Online publication on perspectivia.net . Retrieved January 27, 2015.
  • Thea Leitner : Scandal at court. The fate of women at European royal courts (= Piper 2009). 22nd edition. Piper, Munich a. a. 2013, ISBN 978-3-492-22009-5 .
  • Ruth Müller-Lindenberg: Wilhelmine of Bayreuth. The court opera as the stage of life. Böhlau, Cologne a. a. 2005, ISBN 3-412-11604-1 .
  • Ruth Müller-Lindenberg: Wilhelmine of Bayreuth. In: Annette Kreutziger-Herr , Melanie Unseld (Ed.): Lexicon of Music and Gender. Bärenreiter u. a., Kassel 2010, ISBN 978-3-7618-2043-8 , pp. 524-525.
  • Cornelia Naumann: Shards of luck. The life of Wilhelmine von Bayreuth. A historical novel. Sutton, Erfurt 2009, ISBN 978-3-86680-460-9 .
  • Peter Niedermüller, Reinhard Wiesend (Hrsg.): Music and theater at the court of the Bayreuth Margravine Wilhelmine. Symposium for the 250th anniversary of the Margravial Opera House on July 2, 1998 (= writings on musicology. Vol. 7 = Are-Edition. 2081). Are-Musik-Verlag, Mainz 2002, ISBN 3-924522-08-1 .
  • Uwe A. Oster: Wilhelmine of Bayreuth. The life of the sister of Frederick the Great , Piper, Munich a. a. 2005, ISBN 3-492-04524-3 .
  • Georg Heinrich Pertz : About the memorabilia of the Margravine of Bayreuth. In: Treatises of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Berlin. Philological and historical treatises of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Berlin. From 1850 (1852), ZDB -ID 955708-8 , pp. 117-135 , (reports for the first time on the discovery of the original memoir, the different versions and the adaptations of the memoirs).
  • Anna Eunike Röhrig : Family Prussia. The siblings of Frederick the Great (= facts. Vol. 37/38). Tauchaer Verlag, Taucha 2008, ISBN 978-3-89772-145-6 .
  • Franz Prince zu Sayn-Wittgenstein : Wilhelmine von Bayreuth - sister and friend of Frederick the Great , Editions Rencontre, Lausanne 1971
  • Ludwig Schiedermair : Bayreuth Festival in the Age of Absolutism. Studies on the history of German opera. Kahnt, Leipzig 1908.
  • Helmut Schnitter : The dissimilar sisters. In: Helmut Schnitter (Ed.): Gestalten around Frederick the Great. Biographical sketches (= Frederick the Great in Time and History. Vol. 1 = Series of publications by the Research Center for Military History in Berlin. Vol. 1). Volume 1. Preußischer Militär-Verlag, Reutlingen 1991, ISBN 3-927292-07-9 , pp. 67-82.
  • Joachim Schultz (translator and publisher): Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve The Margravine of Bareith. Translated from French and provided with an afterword by Joachim Schultz, Verlag des Plakatmuseums, Bayreuth, 2008.
  • Gustav Berthold Volz (Ed.): Friedrich the Great and Wilhelmine of Bayreuth. 2 volumes. German by Friedrich von Oppeln-Bronikowski . Koehler, Berlin a. a. 1924-1926;
    • Volume 1: Youth Letters. 1728-1740. 1924;
    • Volume 2: Letters from the Royal Age. 1740-1758. 1926.
  • Jürgen Walter: Wilhelmine of Bayreuth. The favorite sister of Frederick the Great. Biography. Nymphenburger, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-485-00413-8 .
  • Wilhelmine von Bayreuth: Argenore. (1740) (= The legacy of German music . Vol. 121 = The legacy of German music. Department of opera and solo singing. Vol. 13). Opera in three acts. Text by Giovanni Andrea Galletti. Edited by Wolfgang Hirschmann. Schott, Mainz 1996, ISMN M-001-11297-0 (Contains the reprint of the Italian / German text book of the Bayreuth 1740 edition, facsimile pages of the autograph and detailed source report).
  • Memoirs of Margravine Wilhelmine von Bayreuth. Volume 1 ff., Leipzig 1910 ff.
  • Christina Strunck (Ed.): Margravine Wilhelmine von Bayreuth and the University of Erlangen. Arts and science in dialogue , Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2019, ISBN 978-3-7319-0898-2 .

Web links

Commons : Wilhelmine von Bayreuth  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Wilhelmine von Bayreuth  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Arno Kröniger: Children pictures of Countess Wilhelmine. In: Archive for the history of Upper Franconia , vol. 97, Historischer Verein für Oberfranken , Bayreuth 2017, pp. 185–192, ISSN  0066-6335 .
  2. ↑ The Potsdam Dreikönigstreffen 1709. (PDF; 208 kB) cuvillier.de, accessed on January 3, 2019 .
  3. ^ Wilhelmine von Bayreuth. www.preussenchronik.de, 2018, accessed on March 28, 2018 .
  4. ↑ a b c Memoirs , translated by Günter Berger, 2007, p. 29.
  5. ^ Thea Leitner: Scandal at court. Ueberreuter, 1993, ISBN 3-8000-3492-1 , pp. 133-146.
  6. ↑ Karl Müssel: Wilhelmine's youth in the mirror of letters her mother . In: Archive for the history of Upper Franconia , Vol. 39, Bayreuth 1959, pp. 176–191, ISSN  0066-6335 .
  7. ↑ The background and facts were presented extensively in 2011/2012 in an exhibition in Köpenick Castle , at the site of the court martial, and a 300-page catalog. See Jürgen Kloosterhuis and Lothar Lambacher: Court martial in Köpenick! Anno 1730: Crown Prince - Katte - King's Word .
  8. ↑ Thea Leitner: Scandal at Hof , Ueberreuter, 1993, ISBN 3-8000-3492-1 , pp. 160-161.
  9. ^ Chronology of Wilhelmine von Bayreuth, section 1731.unterhaltung.freepage.de , 2018, accessed on January 13, 2019 .
  10. ^ Text on the Hohenfriedberger March. (PDF; 42 kB) Ansbach , 2018, accessed on January 3, 2019 .
  11. ^ Wilhelmine of Bayreuth: Memoirs of the Margravine Wilhelmine of Bayreuth - Chapter 13 / Second part: The Margravine of Bayreuth 1732-1742. projekt-gutenberg.org , 2018, accessed on May 12, 2020 .
  12. ^ Memoirs , translated by Günter Berger, 2007, p. 208.
  13. ↑ a b c Karl Müssel: The great Bayreuth princely wedding 1748 - prehistory, preparations and course. In: Archive for the history of Upper Franconia , vol. 77, Historischer Verein für Oberfranken , Bayreuth 1997, pp. 7–118, ISSN  0066-6335 .
  14. ↑ Garden Art Museum Schloss Fantaisie - Eckersdorf / Donndorf near Bayreuth. Bavarian Administration of State Palaces, Gardens and Lakes , 2018, accessed on March 31, 2018 .
  15. ↑ Eckersdorf / Donndorf - Fantaisie Castle: Changing owner history. www.markgrafenkultur.de, 2018, accessed on March 31, 2018 .
  16. ^ General genealogical and state handbook. Frankfurt am Main 1811, pp. 488-489 ( online ).
  17. ↑ Dieter J. Weiß: Margravine Wilhelmine of Bayreuth between Empress Maria Theresia and King Friedrich II. In: Archive for the history of Upper Franconia , special volume Wilhelmine of Bayreuth today - The cultural heritage of the Margravine , Historical Association for Upper Franconia , Bayreuth 2009, p. 105 -118, ISSN  1869-2176 .
  18. ↑ Will of Poswik, Herbert Conrad: Bayreuth . Druckhaus Bayreuth, Bayreuth 1974, p. 13 .
  19. ↑ Richard Fester: Margravine Wilhelmine and the art , Hohenzollern yearbook 1902.
  20. ↑ See Irene Hegen: Wilhelmines Arcadian Diploma in: Peter Niedermüller and Reinhard Wiesend (eds.): Music and theater at the court of the Bayreuth Margravine Wilhelmine. Symposium on the 250th anniversary of the Margravial Opera House on July 2, 1998. , Are Edition, Mainz 2002 (Schriften zur Musikwissenschaft, Vol. 7), pp. 54–57.
  21. ↑ Karl Müssel: A Vatican source to visit Rome Margravine Wilhelmine. In: Archive for the history of Upper Franconia , vol. 55, Historischer Verein für Oberfranken , Bayreuth 1975, pp. 177–186, ISSN  0066-6335 .
  22. ^ Peter O. Krückmann: Margravine Wilhelmine's Bayreuth today - A decade of new acquisitions and museum openings by the Bavarian Palace Administration. In: Archive for the history of Upper Franconia , vol. 81, Historischer Verein für Oberfranken , Bayreuth 2001, pp. 237-300, ISSN  0066-6335 .
  23. ↑ Wilhelmine von Bayreuth and antiquity: To Italy, to Italy. Back then , October 20, 2004, accessed March 31, 2018 .
  24. ↑ Karl Müssel: The Academy of Arts and Sciences in Bayreuth (1756 to 1763). In: Archive for the history of Upper Franconia , vol. 61, Historischer Verein für Oberfranken , Bayreuth 1981, pp. 33–57, ISSN  0066-6335 .
  25. ↑ Ruth Müller-Lindenberg: Wilhelmine von Bayreuth - The Court Opera as a Stage of Life , Böhlau Verlag , Cologne 2005, ISBN 3-412-11604-1 , p. 63 ( online ).
  26. ↑ Bayreuth: Outline of the city's history. www.zum.de, 2008, accessed on March 31, 2018 .
  27. ^ According to the text of the Bavarian Palace Administration on the postcard with a picture of the statue.
  28. ↑ See Karl Müssel: Wilhelmine von Bayreuth - Mourned by kings and princes of Europe . In: Archive for the history of Upper Franconia , Vol. 78, Bayreuth 1998, pp. 269-273, ISSN  0066-6335 .
  29. ↑ Title Candite of Voltaire, in his Ode annexed Sur la mort ...
  30. ↑ Wording of Voltaire's Ode (French)
  31. ↑ Mémoires depuis l'année 1706 jusqu'a 1742. Tome premier. Braunschweig 1810. Relates to the year 1729. S. 155 ( Google Books ).
  32. ^ Memoirs , translated by Günter Berger, 2007.
  33. ↑ Castle Church / Castle Tower. www.bayreuth.de, 2018, accessed on January 3, 2019 .
  34. ^ Thea Leitner: Scandal at Hof , Ueberreuter, 1993, ISBN 3-8000-3492-1 , pp. 133-143.
  35. ^ Jürgen Kloosterhuis: Wilhelmines "Memoires": Historical source or "Roman tragique"? , in: Exhibition catalog court martial in Köpenick! Anno 1730: Kronprinz - Katte - Königswort, pp. 107-108.
  36. ↑ Joachim Schultz (translator and ed.): Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve , Die Margräfin von Bareith. Translated from French and provided with an afterword by Joachim Schultz, Verlag des Plakatmuseums, Bayreuth, 2008.
  37. ↑ Joachim Schultz (translator): Afterword in: Die Markgräfin von Bareith , p. 30.
  38. ↑ The authenticity of this sonata is questioned by Sabine Henze-Döhring: Margravine Wilhelmine and the Bayreuther Hofmusik , pp. 42/43. Compare against Nikolaus Delius: A Sonata for Brother Friedrich? The Anonymus Herdringen Fü 3595 . In: Tibia 2003, No. 4, pp. 571-577.
  39. ↑ a b See literature .
  40. ↑ The title inscription is a later addition, recognizable by the writing and different designation of the work than the parts.
  41. ↑ According to Sabine Henze-Döhring , Johann Gotthilf Jänichen is said to have composed it. (Sabine Henze-Döhring: Margravine Wilhelmine and the Bayreuther Hofmusik , Heinrichs-Verlag, Bamberg 2009, ISBN 978-3-89889-146-2 , pp. 42–52; Frank Piontek with reference to Henze-Döhring: harpsichord concert not by Wilhelmine , Nordbayerischer Kurier , December 30, 2008, p. 15.) For other results, see Johann Gotthilf Jänichen .
  42. ↑ Cavatina I sung by Scarlett-Adler-Rani. Playback on Youtube, of which the first piece
  43. ↑ Ruth Müller-Lindenberg is considering the "unprovable" authorship of a Mr. von Kurvitz based on a letter. See Ruth Müller-Lindenberg: Wilhelmine von Bayreuth, who was she, who is she? (PDF; 50 kB). Lecture on the occasion of the ceremony for the 300th birthday, p. 6.
  44. ^ Autograph in the Ansbach State Library .
  45. ^ L'Argenore, Tragedia. Libretto in Italian / German, Bayreuth University Library .
  46. ^ Right column, translation based on the score by Isabel Schröder. In: Booklet accompanying the performance of Argenore. Musical tragedy by Wilhelmine von Bayreuth , Hans-Otto-Theater Potsdam 2001.
  47. ↑ Reference: "... and that I do not want to die now does not come from any wickedness, but in the hope of seeing the terrible end of a tyrannical and infuriating king and each of you strangled by this hand."
  48. ↑ Libretto = “little book” that was sold before the opera began to allow reading along with the sung text.
  49. ↑ Irene Hegen: Musical Encodings. Autobiographical traces in the compositions of Wilhelmine von Bayreuth. In: Archive for the history of Upper Franconia , special volume Wilhelmine von Bayreuth today - The cultural heritage of the Margravine , Historical Association for Upper Franconia , Bayreuth 2009, p. 204.
  50. ↑ Gustav Berthold Volz (ed.): Friedrich the Great and Wilhelmine von Baireuth, youth letters , Leipzig 1924.
  51. ↑ L. Schiedermair: Bayreuth Festival in the Age of Absolutism. Leipzig 1908, p. 100.
  52. ↑ Compare correspondence with Gustav Berthold Volz (ed.): Friedrich der Große and Wilhelmine von Baireuth, Jugendbriefe, Leipzig 1924 from p. 165, October 27, 1733.
  53. ↑ Gustav Berthold Volz (ed.): Friedrich the Great and Wilhelmine von Baireuth, Youth Letters, Leipzig 1924, p. 385.
  54. ↑ L. Schiedermair: Bayreuth Festival in the Age of Absolutism. Leipzig 1908, p. 105.
  55. ^ Günther Berger and Julia Wassermann (eds.): Nothing new from Bayreuth, letters from Margravine Wilhelmine to Friedrich II. And Voltaire. Translated by students at the University of Bayreuth. Ellwanger Bayreuth, 2008, pp. 32-33.
  56. ^ Newly published letter in: Bagatellen from Berlin. Letters from Frederick II to Wilhelmine von Bayreuth , ed. by Günter Berger and Julia Wassermann. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2011.
  57. ↑ Gustav Berthold Volz (ed.): Friedrich der Große and Wilhelmine von Baireuth, Jugendbriefe, Leipzig 1924, p. 427.
  58. ↑ Text: Staatsarchiv Bamberg , GAB 4889. The music for Gioia Universa is lost.
personal data
SURNAME Prussia, Wilhelmine von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Friederike Sophie Wilhelmine of Prussia, Wilhelmine of Bayreuth
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian king's daughter, Margravine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth
DATE OF BIRTH July 3, 1709
PLACE OF BIRTH Potsdam
DATE OF DEATH October 14, 1758
Place of death Bayreuth