Caroline Rudolphi (also ''Karoline''; 1753–1811) was a German educationist and poet. Born to a poor family in

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebur ...

and growing up in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

(

Margraviate of Brandenburg The Margraviate of Brandenburg (german: link=no, Markgrafschaft Brandenburg) was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806 that played a pivotal role in the history of Germany and Central Europe. Brandenburg developed out o ...

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Re ...

), she was discovered by composer

Johann Friedrich Reichardt Johann Friedrich Reichardt (25 November 1752 – 27 June 1814) was a German composer, writer and music critic. Early life Reichardt was born in Königsberg, East Prussia, to lutenist and ''Stadtmusiker'' Johann Reichardt (1720–1780). Johann Fr ...

, who in 1781 set to music and published a number of her poems. From 1778, Rudolphi served as educator to the daughters of the von Röpert family of

Trollenhagen Trollenhagen is a municipality in the district Mecklenburgische Seenplatte, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous cou ...

. In 1783, she opened her own educational institute at

Trittau Trittau (; West Low German: ''Trittow'') is a municipality in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, located 30 km east of Hamburg. It is the economical and administrative center of Amt Trittau, which is part of the Stormarn district. Other villages ...

. Over the following years, Rudolphi became a widely known and respected educationist for girls. She became friends with Elise Reimarus, and at her institute she established a

literary salon A salon is a gathering of people held by an inspiring host. During the gathering they amuse one another and increase their knowledge through conversation. These gatherings often consciously followed Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "ei ...

, attracting a circle of intellectuals such as

Matthias Claudius Matthias Claudius (15 August 1740 – 21 January 1815) was a German poet and journalist, otherwise known by the pen name of “Asmus”. Life Claudius was born at Reinfeld, Holstein, Reinfeld, near Lübeck, and studied at Jena. He spent the gre ...

Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (; 2 July 1724 – 14 March 1803) was a German poet. His best known work is the epic poem ''Der Messias'' ("The Messiah"). One of his major contributions to German literature was to open it up to exploration outside ...

Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi (; 25 January 1743 – 10 March 1819) was an influential German philosopher, literary figure, and socialite. He is notable for popularizing nihilism, a term coined by Obereit in 1787, and promoting it as the prime faul ...

Jens Baggesen Jens Immanuel Baggesen (15 February 1764 – 3 October 1826) was a major Danish poet, librettist, critic, and comic writer. Life Baggesen was born at Korsør on the Danish island of Zealand on February 15, 1764. His parents were very poo ...

. Rudolphi moved her institute to

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

in 1803 (in the newly formed

Electorate of Baden The Electorate of Baden was a State of the Holy Roman Empire from 1803 to 1806. In 1803, Napoleon bestowed the office of Prince-elector to Charles Frederick, but in 1806, Francis II dissolved the Empire. Baden then achieved sovereignty, and C ...

), where she became socially involved with the circle of Romanticist intellectuals there (

Achim von Arnim Carl Joachim Friedrich Ludwig von Arnim (26 January 1781 – 21 January 1831), better known as Achim von Arnim, was a German poet, novelist, and together with Clemens Brentano and Joseph von Eichendorff, a leading figure of German Romanticism. ...

Clemens Brentano Clemens Wenzeslaus Brentano (also Klemens; pseudonym: Clemens Maria Brentano ; ; 9 September 1778 – 28 July 1842) was a German poet and novelist, and a major figure of German Romanticism. He was the uncle, via his brother Christian, of Franz ...

Sophie Mereau Sophie Friederike Mereau (née Schubart) (27 March 1770 – 31 October 1806) was a writer associated with German Romanticism. Her maiden name was Schubart, but she did most of her work under the married name of Mereau. She also later married ...

, Friedrich Creuzer

Ludwig Tieck Johann Ludwig Tieck (; ; 31 May 177328 April 1853) was a German poet, fiction writer, translator, and critic. He was one of the founding fathers of the Romantic movement in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Early life Tieck was born in B ...

) and a close friend of the family of classicist

Johann Heinrich Voß Johann Heinrich Voss (german: Johann Heinrich Voß, ; 20 February 1751 – 29 March 1826) was a German classicist and poet, known mostly for his translation of Homer's ''Odyssey'' (1781) and ''Iliad'' (1793) into German. Life Voss was born at ...

. Rudolphi published collections of her poems in 1781, 1787 and 1796, and she published her principles on the education of girls in form of an

epistolary novel An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of letters. The term is often extended to cover novels that intersperse documents of other kinds with the letters, most commonly diary entries and newspaper clippings, and sometimes considered ...

, ''Gemälde weiblicher Erziehung'' (1807). Her poem ''Ode an Gott'' ("Ode to God") was set to music by Johann Heinrich Tobler in 1825, and was sung as the unofficial "national anthem" of the Swiss canton of

Appenzell Ausserrhoden Appenzell Ausserrhoden (; in English sometimes Appenzell Outer Rhodes) (german: Kanton Appenzell Ausserrhoden; rm, Chantun Appenzell Dadora; french: Canton d'Appenzell Rhodes-Extérieures; it, Canton Appenzello Esterno) is one of the 26 canton ...

at the

Landsgemeinde The ''Landsgemeinde'' ("cantonal assembly"; , plural ''Landsgemeinden'') is a public, non-secret ballot voting system operating by majority rule, which constitutes one of the oldest forms of direct democracy. Still at use – in a few places � ...

since 1877.

Bibliography

* ''Gedichte von Karoline Christiane Louise Rudolphi. Hg. u. m. einigen Melod. begl. v. Johann Friederich Reichardt''. Berlin 1781 (2nd ed. Wolfenbüttel 1787). * ''Gedichte von Karoline Christiane Louise Rudolphi. Zweite Sammlung. Nebst einigen Melodien.'' ed. Joachim Heinrich Campe. Braunschweig 1787. * ''Neue Sammlung von Gedichten von Caroline Rudolphi.'' Leipzig 1796. * ''Der Karoline Rudolphi sämtliche Gedichte.'' 1805. *''Gemälde weiblicher Erziehung'' (1807, 2nd ed. 1815, 3rd ed. 1838, 4th ed. 1857), reprinted from the first (anonymous) publication in as ''Briefe über weibliche Erziehung.'' in:''Journal für deutsche Frauen von deutschen Frauen geschrieben.'' (1805). * ''Ist auch Freundschaft unter den Weibern?'' s ''Helena S.'' In: ''Journal für deutsche Frauen von deutschen Frauen geschrieben.'' 1 (1805). osthumously edited in '' Schriftlicher Nachlaß von Caroline Rudolphi.'' ed. Abraham Voß. Heidelberg 1835. 67-80.* ''Weiblichkeit. Ein Gespräch.'' s ''Helena S. ''In: ''Journal für deutsche Frauen von deutschen Frauen geschrieben.'' 2 (1806).

References

* *Otto Rüdiger, ''Caroline Rudolphi. Eine deutsche Dichterin und Erzieherin, Klopstocks Freundin'', 1903. *Carl Wilhelm Otto August von Schindel,
"Rudolphi (Karoline Christiane Louise)"
in ''Die deutschen Schriftstellerinnen des 19. Jahrhunderts'' vol. 2, Leipzig: Brockhaus, 1825. 228–234.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rudophi, Caroline 1753 births 1811 deaths Writers from Magdeburg People from the Duchy of Magdeburg 18th-century German poets 18th-century German women writers 19th-century German poets 19th-century German novelists 19th-century German women writers Writers from Saxony-Anhalt German educational theorists German salon-holders Women educators German women novelists German women poets