Baroness Karoline Jagemann von Heygendorff (25 January 1777, in

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

– 10 July 1848, in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

) was a major German

tragedienne Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy i ...

and singer. Her great roles included Elizabeth in '' Mary Stuart'' (1800) and Beatrice in ''

The Bride of Messina ''The Bride of Messina'' (german: Die Braut von Messina, ) is a tragedy by Friedrich Schiller; it premiered on 19 March 1803 in Weimar. It is one of the most controversial works by Schiller, due to his use of elements from Greek tragedies (which ...

'' (1803). She is also notable as a

mistress Mistress is the feminine form of the English word "master" (''master'' + ''-ess'') and may refer to: Romance and relationships * Mistress (lover), a term for a woman who is in a sexual and romantic relationship with a man who is married to a ...

Karl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach Karl August, sometimes anglicised as Charles Augustus (3 September 1757 – 14 June 1828), was the sovereign Duke of Saxe-Weimar and of Saxe-Eisenach (in personal union) from 1758, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach from its creation (as a political un ...

, the father of her three children. Both she and Karl August had their portraits painted by

Heinrich Christoph Kolbe Heinrich may refer to: People * Heinrich (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Heinrich (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) *Hetty (given name), a given name (including a list of peo ...

Life

Henriette Karoline Friedericke Jagemann was the daughter of the scholar and librarian

Christian Joseph Jagemann Christian Joseph Jagemann (1735, Dingelstädt – 5 February 1804, Weimar) was a German scholar, court-advisor and librarian. Life Against his parents' wishes Christian became a monk, entering the Augustinian monastery at Erfurt in 1752. However, ...

(1735–1804), and sister of the painter

Ferdinand Jagemann Ferdinand Jagemann (24 August 1780, Weimar – 9 January 1820, Weimar) was a German painter; known primarily for his portraits. Life He was the son of Christian Joseph Jagemann, the librarian for Duchess Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. ...

(1780–1820). She studied first at the

Weimar Princely Free Zeichenschule The Weimar Princely Free Drawing School (german: Fürstliche freie Zeichenschule Weimar) was an art and literature educational establishment. It was set up in 1776 in Weimar by the scholar and ducal private-secretary Friedrich Justin Bertuch (1747� ...

, where her brother was later a lecturer. From 1790 she trained in acting and singing in

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's ...

under August Iffland and Heinrich Beck. She made her debut in 1792 in the title role of the opera ''Oberon – The Fairy King'' by

Paul Wranitzky Paul Wranitzky (Czech: Pavel Vranický, 30 December 1756 – 29 September 1808) was a Moravian-Austrian classical composer. His half brother, Antonín, was also a composer. Life Wranitzky was born in Neureisch ( Nová Říše) in Habsburg Mora ...

at Mannheim's Nationaltheater and was engaged as a court-singer in Weimar in 1797. She and the soprano Henriette Eberwein (1790 - 1849), the tenor Carl Melchior Jakob Moltke, and the bass Karl Stromeier collectively made up the "Weimar Quartet". She was guest-singer in 1798 at

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, in 1800 at

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, and later in Stuttgart,

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

and

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

. In 1809 her lover, Grand Duke Karl August, made her "''

Freifrau (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire ...

'' (Baroness) ''von Heygendorff''" and left her

Heygendorf Heygendorf is a village and a former municipality in the district Kyffhäuserkreis, in Thuringia, Germany. Since 1 January 2019, it is part of the town Artern Artern is a town in the Kyffhäuserkreis district, Thuringia, Germany. The former ...

manor. Witnessed by the Grand Duke, their son

Karl Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer * Karl of Austria, last Austria ...

was officially granted the Heygendorff title on 16 May 1809 and he and his children entered the Saxon grand-ducal nobility. In the same year Karoline von Heygendorff was made director of the opera and – after

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as tr ...

's retirement from theatre – took over as sole director of the court theatre, from 1824 as ''Oberdirektor''. After Karl August's death in 1828, Karoline retired from the stage and lived out her last years with her son in

Issue with Karl August

# Karl Wolfgang Freiherr von Heygendorff (Weimar, 25 December 1806 – Dresden, 17 February 1895) #August von Heygendorff (Weimar, 10 August 1810 – Dresden, 23 January 1874) #Mariana von Heygendorff (Weimar, 8 April 1812 – 's Gravenhage, 10 August 1836), married on 15 October 1835 to Daniel, Baron Tindal

Bibliography

Karoline Jagemann
in the '' Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' * Hans Wahl, Anton Kippenberg, ''Goethe und seine Welt'', Insel-Verlag, Leipzig 1932

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jagemann, Karoline 1777 births 1848 deaths 18th-century German actresses 18th-century German women opera singers 19th-century German actresses German stage actresses German baronesses German opera directors Female opera directors German women singers Mistresses of German royalty Actors from Weimar 19th-century German women opera singers Jagemann family Musicians from Weimar