Helmina von Chézy (26 January 178328 January 1856), née Wilhelmine Christiane von Klencke, was a German journalist, poet and playwright. She is known for writing the
libretto
A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...
for
Carl Maria von Weber
Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (5 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, virtuoso pianist, guitarist, and Music criticism, critic in the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Best known for List of operas by Carl Maria von Weber, h ...
's
opera
Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...
''
Euryanthe'' (1823) and the play ''
Rosamunde
''Rosamunde, Fürstin von Zypern'' (''Rosamunde, Princess of Cyprus'') is a play by Helmina von Chézy, which is primarily remembered for the incidental music which Franz Schubert composed for it. Music and play premiered in Vienna's Theater a ...
'', for which
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 ...
composed
incidental music
Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as th ...
.
Life
Helmina was born in
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
, the daughter of
Prussian
Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, the House of Hohenzoll ...
officer Carl Friedrich von Klencke and his wife Caroline Louise von Klencke (1754–1802), daughter of
Anna Louisa Karsch and herself a poet. The marriage of her parents had already broken up at her birth and she was partly raised by her grandmother. She started writing at the age of 14.
Married the first time in 1799, she divorced the next year and upon the death of her mother moved to
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, where she worked as a
correspondent
A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...
for several German papers. From 1803 to 1807 she edited her own ''Französische Miszellen'' ("French Miscellanea") journal, commenting on political issues, which earned her trouble with the ubiquitous censors.
In Paris, she befriended
Friedrich Schlegel
Karl Wilhelm Friedrich (after 1814: von) Schlegel ( ; ; 10 March 1772 – 12 January 1829) was a German literary critic, philosopher, and Indologist. With his older brother, August Wilhelm Schlegel, he was one of the main figures of Jena Roma ...
's wife
Dorothea, who introduced her to the French orientalist
Antoine-Léonard de Chézy
Antoine-Léonard de Chézy (15 January 177331 August 1832) was a French orientalist and one of the first European scholars of Sanskrit.
Biography
He was born at Neuilly. His father, Antoine de Chézy (1718–1798), was an engineer who finall ...
. In 1805 they married and Helmina subsequently gave birth to two sons: the later author Wilhelm Theodor von Chézy (1806–1865) and Max von Chézy (1808–1846), who became a painter. In 1810, together with
Adelbert von Chamisso
Adelbert von Chamisso (; 30 January 1781 – 21 August 1838) was a German poet, writer and botanist. He was commonly known in French as Adelbert de Chamisso (or Chamissot) de Boncourt, a name referring to the family estate at Boncourt.
Life
...
, she translated several of Friedrich Schlegel's lectures from
French into
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
. They had a short romantic fling, followed by another extramarital affair of Helmina with the Austrian orientalist
Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall, probably the father of another son who died shortly after his birth in 1811.
As her second marriage, too, turned out to be an unhappy one, Helmina finally parted from her husband in 1810. She returned to Germany, where she alternately lived in
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...
,
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
,
Aschaffenburg
Aschaffenburg (; Hessian: ''Aschebersch'', ) is a town in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg, despite being its administrative seat, is not part of the district of Aschaffenburg.
Aschaffenburg belonged to the Archbishopric ...
and
Amorbach
Amorbach () is a town in the Miltenberg district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany, with some 4,000 inhabitants. It is situated on the small river Mud, in the northeastern part of the Odenwald.
...
. In 1812 she settled in
Darmstadt
Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...
. She witnessed the
German campaign of the Napoleonic Wars as a military hospital nurse in
Cologne
Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
and
Namur
Namur (; ; ) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is the capital both of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration.
Namur stands at the confl ...
. After she had openly criticised the miserable conditions in the field, she was accused of libel, but was acquitted by the Berlin
Kammergericht court under presiding judge
E. T. A. Hoffmann.
From 1817, she lived in
Dresden
Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...
, where she wrote the libretto of
Carl Maria von Weber
Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (5 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, virtuoso pianist, guitarist, and Music criticism, critic in the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Best known for List of operas by Carl Maria von Weber, h ...
's opera ''
Euryanthe''. Weber appreciated her writing but disliked her unbound ambition, speaking of her as a "suave poetess but unbearable woman". Several of her
Romantic poems were set to music and
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 ...
wrote incidental music for her play ''
Rosamunde
''Rosamunde, Fürstin von Zypern'' (''Rosamunde, Princess of Cyprus'') is a play by Helmina von Chézy, which is primarily remembered for the incidental music which Franz Schubert composed for it. Music and play premiered in Vienna's Theater a ...
'', which however flopped when it premiered in 1823 at the Vienna
Theater an der Wien
The is a historic theatre in Vienna located on the Left Wienzeile in the Mariahilf district. Completed in 1801, the theatre has hosted the premieres of many celebrated works of theatre, opera, and symphonic music. Since 2006, it has served prim ...
. Living in
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
from 1823, she again became politically involved, calling attention to the inhumane working conditions at the saltworks in the Austrian
Salzkammergut
The Salzkammergut (, ; ) is a resort area in Austria, stretching from the city of Salzburg eastwards along the Alpine Foreland and the Northern Limestone Alps to the peaks of the Dachstein Mountains. The main river of the region is the Traun (r ...
region. She met
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...
who was one of her heroes growing up and became good friends with Beethoven and attended his funeral in 1827.
In 1828/29, her son Max left to live with his father in Paris, which was a grievous blow, exceeded by the message of her husband's death in 1832 and the loss of her annual alimony payment. While Max returned to live with his mother in
Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
, her elder son Wilhelm ultimately fell out with Helmina. Upon Max's death in 1846, she remained alone and in despair. Nevertheless, during the 1848
March Revolution she met exiled poet
Georg Herwegh in
Strasbourg
Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...
and encouraged him to fight for democracy in nonviolence and by the waiver of radical actions.
Unsuccessfully trying to find another employment as a journalist in order to earn a bare living, she finally retired to
Geneva
Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...
, where she received a modest pension by an artists' charitable foundation. She was by now nearly blind and dependent on care by her niece Bertha Borngräber, who also recorded her memoirs which were revised by
Karl August Varnhagen von Ense. She died in Geneva at the age of 73.
Published works
Helmina von Chézy's published works as cited by ''An Encyclopedia of Continental Women Writers''.
A selection of her works follows.
*''Geschichte der schönen und tugendsamen Euryanth'', 1804.
*''Leben und Kunst in Paris'', 2 volumes, 1805-1807.
*''Gedichte der Enkelin der Karschin'', 2 volumes, 1812.
*''Blumen in die Lorbeeren von Deutschlands Rettern gewunden'', 1813.
*''Die Silberlocke im Briefe'', play 1815.
*''Gemälte von Heidelberg'', 1816.
*''Taschenbuch für Reisende und Einheimische in Heidelberg'', 1816.
*''Emma, eine Geschichte'', 1817.
*''Neue auserlesene Schriften der Enkenlin der Karschin'', 1817.
*''Blumen der Liebe'', 1818.
*''Erzählungen und Novellen'', 2 volumes, 1822.
*''Euryanthe von Savoyen'', 1823.
*''Studenblumen'', 3 volumes, 1824.
*''Der Wunderquell. Eine dramatische Kleinigkeit'', 1824.
*''Jugendgeschichte, Leben und Ansichten eines papiernen Kragens'', 1829.
*''Herzenstöne aud Pilgerwegen'', 1833.
*''Norika. Neues und ausführliches Handbuch für Alpenwanderer und Reisende durch das Hochland und Österreich'', 1833.
*''Unvergessenes'', 2 volumes, 1858.
Editorial work
*''Französische Miscellen'', 1803-1807.
*''Leben und romantische Dichtungen der Tochter der Karschin'' works of Chézy's mother, Caroline v. Klencke, 1805.
*''Aurikeln'' with autobiography, 1818.
*''Altschottische Romanzen'', 1818.
*''Iduna. Schriften deutscher Frauen gewidmet den Frauen'', 1820.
References
:''This article uses material from the German version of Wikipedia''
External links
A selection of works by Chézyfrom the Sophie database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chezy, Helmina von
German opera librettists
1783 births
1856 deaths
Journalists from the Kingdom of Prussia
Dramatists and playwrights from the Kingdom of Prussia
Poets from the Kingdom of Prussia
German women poets
German women dramatists and playwrights
19th-century German women writers
19th-century German journalists
19th-century German poets
19th-century German dramatists and playwrights
Women opera librettists
Writers from Berlin
19th-century German women journalists