Theodore Ulrike Sophie von Levetzow, known as

Baroness Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher th ...

Ulrike von Levetzow (4 February 1804 in

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 wel ...

– 13 November 1899 in Třebívlice) was a friend and the last love of

Johann Wolfgang von 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 trea ...

Life

She was born in

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

, the daughter of the ducal

Mecklenburg-Schwerin The Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was a duchy in northern Germany created in 1701, when Frederick William and Adolphus Frederick II divided the Duchy of Mecklenburg between Schwerin and Strelitz. Ruled by the successors of the Nikloting Hous ...

chamberlain and later ''

Hofmarschall The ''Hofmarschall'' (plural: Hofmarschälle) was the administrative official in charge of a princely German court, supervising all its economic affairs. Historically, every civil service was regarded as court service (e.g. the Russian nobility is ...

'' Joachim Otto Ulrich von Levetzow and his wife Amalie. The seventeen-year-old girl first met Goethe in 1821 at

Mariánské Lázně Mariánské Lázně (; german: Marienbad) is a spa town in Cheb District in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 12,000 inhabitants. Most of the town's buildings come from its Golden Era in the second half of the 19th centu ...

and again at

Karlovy Vary Karlovy Vary (; german: Karlsbad, formerly also spelled ''Carlsbad'' in English) is a spa town, spa city in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 46,000 inhabitants. It lies on the confluence of the rivers Ohře and Teplá. ...

in 1822 and 1823. The poet, then 72, was so carried away with her wit and beauty that he thought for a time of marrying her and urged Grand Duke

Karl August of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach 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 ...

to ask for her hand in his name. Rejected, he left for Thuringia and addressed to her the poems which he afterward called ''Trilogie der Leidenschaft''. These poems include the famous ''

Marienbad Elegy The "Marienbad Elegy" is a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It is named after the spa town of Marienbad (now Mariánské Lázně) where Goethe, 73 years old, spent the summer of 1821. There he fell in love with the 17-year-old Ulrike von Levetz ...

''. Ulrike later confessed she was not prepared to marry and angrily denied a liaison with Goethe. She remained unmarried all her life and died at the age of 95 at Třebívlice Castle in

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

, which she inherited after the death of her mother.

Publications

* Suphan, ''Goethe Jahrbuch'', volume xxi (Frankfort, 1900) * Kirschoer, ''Erinnerungen an Goethes Ulrike und an die Familie von Levetzow-Rauch'' (Aussig, 1904) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Levetzow, Ulrike von 1804 births 1899 deaths German women People from Leipzig Johann Wolfgang von Goethe German baronesses