Friederike Brion
Encyclopedia
Friederike Elisabetha Brion (probably 19 April 1752 Niederrœdern
, Alsace
– 3 April 1813 Meißenheim
near Lahr
) was a parson's daughter who had a short, but intense love-affair with the young Johann Wolfgang Goethe
.
on St. Martin's Day of 1760. Friederike—nice, jolly, but a little sickish—grew up in the village.
The young Johann Wolfgang Goethe
from Frankfurt am Main
visited the hospitable parsonage, like several other young people, while studying the law in Strasbourg
. He first reached Sessenheim in October 1770 and met Friederike there, for the first time, the same month, when he was exploring the region on horseback with an Alsatian friend, the medical student Friedrich Leopold Weyland (1750-1785). His depiction of Friederike, whom he liked most of the parson's three daughters, contains a lot of fantastical additions, but shows the situation vividly and lovingly, mentioning Friederike's slenderness and lightness, her way to walk "as if she did not have to bear anything at herself", the impression that the neck nearly was too tender for the dainty head with its mighty tresses, the clearly brisk glance of her serene blue eyes, and the nice snub-nose "searching as freely in the air as if there could be no sorrow in the world". The description is counted a literary masterwork that shows an enchanting scene with the help of modest colors.
Goethe, beginning already in winter, rode to Sessenheim many times, over the following months, and used to stay with the Brions for periods of up to several weeks. He roamed the surrounding area with Friederike, undertook boat trips with her, in the waters of the Rhine, and visited acquaintances with her. For the ensuing time, Sessenheim became the “center of the Earth” for the poet. He experienced an idyll that brought about things new and unknown to him and was inspirited by this to verse, after a longer time, again. In spring 1771, he wrote a couple of poems and songs, which he sometimes sent to Friederike with painted ribbons. These Sesenheimer Lieder (among them Maifest, Willkommen und Abschied and Heidenröslein
) became crucial for the Sturm und Drang
and founded Goethe's fame as a poet.
But Goethe already in early summer 1771 thought of ending the liaison. On 7 August 1771, he saw Friederike for the last time before he returned to Frankfurt. Only from Frankfurt, he sent the beloved a letter by which he definitely severed the love-affair. Friederike answered him in a heart-rending letter.
Goethe at least one time—on a trip to Switzerland in 1779—returned to the Sessenheim parsonage. Some unsure sources mention a further visit in 1782, when Friederike's older sister Maria Salomea married Gottfried Marx from Strasbourg, who had just become parson in Diersburg (today Hohberg
).
In summer 1772, Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz
courted Friederike, who was still strongly suffering from her lover's grief. Friederike, but, stayed unmarried till the end of her life and lived in the house of her parents up to the death of her mother in 1786 and her father in 1787. After that, she and her younger sister Sofie went to live with their brother Christian at the parsonage of Rothau
(Bas-Rhin), where they stayed when Christian was transferred. They earned their living by selling weaving, earthenware, pottery and handicraft produce and operated a boarding-house for girls from Sessenheim and the village's surroundings who were thought to learn French at a school erected for that sake in Rothau.
Friederike moved to the Diersburg parsonage in 1801 to support her sickish older sister Salomea, and stayed there, afterwards, with some interruptions. In 1805, she followed the family to Meißenheim
. Salomea died in 1807. In 1813, Friederike had to ask her sister Sofie for providing for her. After her death on 5 April of the same year, she was buried on the Meißenheim cemetery. The grave's tombstone by Wilhelm Hornberger was put in its place only in 1866.
The enthusiasm of many for Goethe—among them Johann Gottfried Herder
—has been dampened by the impression his behavior had broken the heart of an all-too tender girl, in the case of Friederike Brion.
Friederike has, together with Herder and the Alsatian nature and landscape, widened Goethe's spirit and fired the poet's creative power. Willkommen und Abschied and Maifest unite deep inner feelings with the atmosphere out in nature as German poetry has not done that before, since Walther von der Vogelweide
, while Heidenröslein most clearly shows how well Goethe knew to follow the character of the popular ballad and, at the same time, most lively and concisely represents the poet's adventure with Friederike.
Friederike was the prototype of the figures of Maria, the sister of the hero of Goethe's drama Goetz von Berlichingen (1773), and of Marie Beaumarchais in the poet's five-act tragedy Clavigo
(1774). The figure of Margarete in Goethe's tragic play Faust
has even more directly been given Friederike's traits outwardly and inwardly.
has composed an operetta Friederike on the foundation of the love-affair (1928).
Niederrœdern
Niederrœdern is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.-References:*...
, Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
– 3 April 1813 Meißenheim
Meißenheim
Meißenheim is a town in the district of Ortenau in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....
near Lahr
Lahr
Lahr is a city in western Baden-Württemberg, Germany, approximately 38 km north of Freiburg in Breisgau and 100 km south of Karlsruhe...
) was a parson's daughter who had a short, but intense love-affair with the young Johann Wolfgang Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
.
Life
The date of birth of Friederike is unsure because the parish registers were destroyed during the French revolution. Friederike was the third of five surviving children of the married couple Brion. The father, Jakob Brion, took over a post as the parson of the village of SessenheimSessenheim
Sessenheim is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.-References:*...
on St. Martin's Day of 1760. Friederike—nice, jolly, but a little sickish—grew up in the village.
The young Johann Wolfgang Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
from Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
visited the hospitable parsonage, like several other young people, while studying the law in Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
. He first reached Sessenheim in October 1770 and met Friederike there, for the first time, the same month, when he was exploring the region on horseback with an Alsatian friend, the medical student Friedrich Leopold Weyland (1750-1785). His depiction of Friederike, whom he liked most of the parson's three daughters, contains a lot of fantastical additions, but shows the situation vividly and lovingly, mentioning Friederike's slenderness and lightness, her way to walk "as if she did not have to bear anything at herself", the impression that the neck nearly was too tender for the dainty head with its mighty tresses, the clearly brisk glance of her serene blue eyes, and the nice snub-nose "searching as freely in the air as if there could be no sorrow in the world". The description is counted a literary masterwork that shows an enchanting scene with the help of modest colors.
Goethe, beginning already in winter, rode to Sessenheim many times, over the following months, and used to stay with the Brions for periods of up to several weeks. He roamed the surrounding area with Friederike, undertook boat trips with her, in the waters of the Rhine, and visited acquaintances with her. For the ensuing time, Sessenheim became the “center of the Earth” for the poet. He experienced an idyll that brought about things new and unknown to him and was inspirited by this to verse, after a longer time, again. In spring 1771, he wrote a couple of poems and songs, which he sometimes sent to Friederike with painted ribbons. These Sesenheimer Lieder (among them Maifest, Willkommen und Abschied and Heidenröslein
Heidenröslein
"Heidenröslein" or "Heideröslein" is a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, published in 1799. It was written in 1771 during Goethe's stay in Strasbourg when he was in love with Friederike Brion, to whom the poem is addressed...
) became crucial for the Sturm und Drang
Sturm und Drang
Sturm und Drang is a proto-Romantic movement in German literature and music taking place from the late 1760s through the early 1780s, in which individual subjectivity and, in particular, extremes of emotion were given free expression in reaction to the perceived constraints of rationalism...
and founded Goethe's fame as a poet.
But Goethe already in early summer 1771 thought of ending the liaison. On 7 August 1771, he saw Friederike for the last time before he returned to Frankfurt. Only from Frankfurt, he sent the beloved a letter by which he definitely severed the love-affair. Friederike answered him in a heart-rending letter.
Goethe at least one time—on a trip to Switzerland in 1779—returned to the Sessenheim parsonage. Some unsure sources mention a further visit in 1782, when Friederike's older sister Maria Salomea married Gottfried Marx from Strasbourg, who had just become parson in Diersburg (today Hohberg
Hohberg
Hohberg is a town in the district of Ortenau in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....
).
In summer 1772, Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz
Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz
Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz was a Baltic German writer of the Sturm und Drang movement.-Life:...
courted Friederike, who was still strongly suffering from her lover's grief. Friederike, but, stayed unmarried till the end of her life and lived in the house of her parents up to the death of her mother in 1786 and her father in 1787. After that, she and her younger sister Sofie went to live with their brother Christian at the parsonage of Rothau
Rothau
Rothau is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.-References:*...
(Bas-Rhin), where they stayed when Christian was transferred. They earned their living by selling weaving, earthenware, pottery and handicraft produce and operated a boarding-house for girls from Sessenheim and the village's surroundings who were thought to learn French at a school erected for that sake in Rothau.
Friederike moved to the Diersburg parsonage in 1801 to support her sickish older sister Salomea, and stayed there, afterwards, with some interruptions. In 1805, she followed the family to Meißenheim
Meißenheim
Meißenheim is a town in the district of Ortenau in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....
. Salomea died in 1807. In 1813, Friederike had to ask her sister Sofie for providing for her. After her death on 5 April of the same year, she was buried on the Meißenheim cemetery. The grave's tombstone by Wilhelm Hornberger was put in its place only in 1866.
Influence onto Goethe's work and authority
Goethe's Sessenheim time was rather only superficially an idyll, while the prevailing tone of the poet's liaison with Friederike remained a tragic one. The love-affair grew on the basis of a general feeling to be moving towards a higher human existence that coined life throughout Europe in those times and made possible an especially liberal intercourse of young people. Goethe, thus, was more or less counted Friederike's fiancé without having talked the thing over with her, let alone with her parents. The love-affair was slowly broken up, again, without a palatable transition.The enthusiasm of many for Goethe—among them Johann Gottfried Herder
Johann Gottfried Herder
Johann Gottfried von Herder was a German philosopher, theologian, poet, and literary critic. He is associated with the periods of Enlightenment, Sturm und Drang, and Weimar Classicism.-Biography:...
—has been dampened by the impression his behavior had broken the heart of an all-too tender girl, in the case of Friederike Brion.
Friederike has, together with Herder and the Alsatian nature and landscape, widened Goethe's spirit and fired the poet's creative power. Willkommen und Abschied and Maifest unite deep inner feelings with the atmosphere out in nature as German poetry has not done that before, since Walther von der Vogelweide
Walther von der Vogelweide
Walther von der Vogelweide is the most celebrated of the Middle High German lyric poets.-Life history:For all his fame, Walther's name is not found in contemporary records, with the exception of a solitary mention in the travelling accounts of Bishop Wolfger of Erla of the Passau diocese:...
, while Heidenröslein most clearly shows how well Goethe knew to follow the character of the popular ballad and, at the same time, most lively and concisely represents the poet's adventure with Friederike.
Friederike was the prototype of the figures of Maria, the sister of the hero of Goethe's drama Goetz von Berlichingen (1773), and of Marie Beaumarchais in the poet's five-act tragedy Clavigo
Clavigo (play)
Clavigo is a five-act tragedy written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in 1774. The lead role is taken by Beaumarchais. The play was written in just eight days in May 1774. It was published by July 1774 and is the first printed work to which Goethe put his own name, although the play was received...
(1774). The figure of Margarete in Goethe's tragic play Faust
Goethe's Faust
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust is a tragic play in two parts: and . Although written as a closet drama, it is the play with the largest audience numbers on German-language stages...
has even more directly been given Friederike's traits outwardly and inwardly.
Friederike Brion in art
Franz LehárFranz Lehár
Franz Lehár was an Austrian-Hungarian composer. He is mainly known for his operettas of which the most successful and best known is The Merry Widow .-Biography:...
has composed an operetta Friederike on the foundation of the love-affair (1928).