Countess Caroline Esterházy de Galántha (; 6 September 1811 – 14 March 1851) was a Hungarian noblewoman, and a friend and muse to

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

. A dedication of his Fantasia in F minor D 940 to her can only be found in the posthumous first edition, not in Schubert's

autograph An autograph is a person's own handwriting or signature. The word ''autograph'' comes from Ancient Greek (, ''autós'', "self" and , ''gráphō'', "write"), and can mean more specifically: Gove, Philip B. (ed.), 1981. ''Webster's Third New Intern ...

Biography

The Countess was born in 1811, in Pressburg,

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

(present-day

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

) to János Károly, Count Esterházy de Galántha and Countess Róza Festetics de Tolna. By birth she was a member of the wealthy and illustrious

Esterházy The House of Esterházy, also spelled Eszterházy (), is a Hungarian nobility, Hungarian noble family with origins in the Middle Ages. From the 17th century, the Esterházys were the greatest landowner magnates of the Kingdom of Hungary, durin ...

family. She received music lessons from

during the summers of 1818 and 1824 on her family estate at Zseliz (today

Želiezovce Želiezovce (, until 1895: ; ) is a town in Slovakia in the Nitra Region in the Levice District, near the Hron river. Districts * Jarok (Želiezovce), Jarok () * Karolína (Želiezovce), Karolína * Mikula (Želiezovce), Mikula (1967 establis ...

). To judge from her collection of music scores and the markings in them, it appears she was an accomplished pianist. After the summer of 1824, she and Schubert remained friends until his death in 1828. On 8 April 1844, she married Count Karl Folliott de Crenneville-Poutet, but the marriage broke down within a few months and the couple separated. She died in Pressburg on 14 March 1851, from an intestinal disorder.

Relationship with Schubert

The nature of Schubert's feelings for the countess has been the subject of much speculation. Schubert's friends believed him to be in unrequited love with the young countess, and there are a number of references to this in their writings.

Eduard von Bauernfeld Eduard von Bauernfeld (13 January 1802 – 9 August 1890), Austrian dramatist, was born at Vienna. Life Having studied jurisprudence at the University of Vienna, he entered the government service in a legal capacity, and after holding vario ...

wrote of his friend: ''"He was, in fact, head over heels in love with one of his pupils, a young Countess Esterházy .. In addition to his lessons there, he also visited the Count's home, from time to time, under the aegis of his patron, the singer Vogl. ..On such occasions Schubert was quite content to take a back seat, to remain quietly by the side of his adored pupil, and to thrust love's arrow ever deeper into his heart. ..Countess Caroline may be looked upon as his visible, beneficent muse, as the Leonore of this musical Tasso."'' According to Schönstein, ''“when he countessonce jokingly teased Schubert that he had never dedicated a piece of his to her he responded: 'Why do that? Everything is dedicated to you anyway.'”'' A dedication of his Fantasia in F minor (D.940) to her can only be found in the posthumous first edition, not in Schubert's

In popular culture

Moritz von Schwind image:Moritz von Schwind 2.jpg, 200px, Moritz von Schwind, c. 1860. Moritz von Schwind (21 January 1804 – 8 February 1871) was an Austrian painter, born in Vienna. Schwind's genius was lyrical—he drew inspiration from chivalry, folklore, and t ...

, in his drawing "Schubertiade at Josef von Spaun", shows a portrait of Caroline Esterházy hanging over the piano which Schubert is playing. A number of films have fictionalized Esterházy’s relationship with Schubert, including '' Gently My Songs Entreat'' (1933), ''

Unfinished Symphony An unfinished symphony is a fragment of a symphony that is left incomplete. The reason as of why and the state of the sketches themselves can vary considerably. The death of the composer is the most common cause for a symphony to be left unfi ...

'' (1934) and '' Symphony of Love'' (1954). The countess is also a main character in the French novella ''

Un été à quatre mains The United Nations (UN) is the global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and security, to develop friendly relations among sta ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Esterhazy, Caroline 1811 births 1851 deaths People from Bratislava Muses (persons) Caroline Hungarian countesses 19th-century nobility People from the Austrian Empire