Sophie Wilhelmine Bertha Ørsted (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Oehlenschläger; 16 July 1782 – 9 February 1818) was a Danish

socialite A socialite is a person, typically a woman from a wealthy or aristocratic background, who is prominent in high society. A socialite generally spends a significant amount of time attending various fashionable social gatherings, instead of having ...

and

muse In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...

. Brought up in a literary environment in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, she was the sister of writer

Adam Oehlenschläger Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger (; 14 November 177920 January 1850) was a Danish poet and playwright. He introduced romanticism into Danish literature. He wrote the lyrics to the song ''Der er et yndigt land'', which is one of the national anthe ...

(1779–1850) and was married to jurist

Anders Sandøe Ørsted Anders Sandøe Ørsted (21 December 1778 – 1 May 1860) was a Danish lawyer, politician and jurist. He served as the Prime Minister of Denmark in 1853–1854. Biography He studied philosophy and law at the University of Copenhagen and was ...

(1778-1860). She became an inspiration for others, including the poet

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 ...

(1764–1826). She died of abdominal complications when she was only 35.

Biography

Born in

Frederiksberg Palace Frederiksberg Palace () is a Baroque architecture, Baroque residence, located in Frederiksberg, Denmark, adjacent to the Copenhagen Zoo. It commands a view over Frederiksberg Gardens, originally designed as a palace garden in the Baroque style. ...

in the Copenhagen district of

Frederiksberg Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the region of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of less tha ...

, Sophie Wilhelmine Bertha Oehlenschläger was the daughter of the palace keeper and organist (1748–1827), who stemmed from the

Duchy of Schleswig The Duchy of Schleswig (; ; ; ; ; ) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km (45 mi) south of the current border between Germany and Denmark. The territory has been div ...

, and Martha Marie Hansen (1745–1800). She was brought up in the palace with her elder brother, the writer

who introduced

romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

into Danish literature. The two siblings benefited from the cultural interests of their father and the rather strict religious influence of their mother, participating in literature readings and play acting in both Danish and German while they were still young. They also enjoyed playing together in the extensive palace gardens. She had no formal education but her brother conveyed to her much of what he had learnt in school. When her mother died in 1800, it was she who took care of the household. When he began to study, her brother introduced her to the Ørsted brothers; the physicist

Hans Christian Ørsted Hans Christian Ørsted (; 14 August 1777 – 9 March 1851), sometimes Transliteration, transliterated as Oersted ( ), was a Danish chemist and physicist who discovered that electric currents create magnetic fields. This phenomenon is known as ...

(1777–1851) and Anders Sandøe Ørsted (1778–1860), a lawyer who later became prime minister. Widely recognized as a budding beauty, Sophie became engaged to Anders Ørsted in 1801 and they married on 10 July 1802. She spent a number of happy years with him in their small residence at Vestergade 22 in central Copenhagen, listening to the poetry her brother Adam had written for her and reading mainly German poetry herself. She maintained a close relationship with her brother-in-law as well as with the physician (1772–1818) who served as chief physician at

Frederiks Hospital The royal Frederiks Hospital was Denmark's first hospital in the present-day meaning of the word. It was founded by king Frederik V and financed by the earnings from the Norwegian Postal Service. The buildings, situated in Bredgade in Copen ...

in Copenhagen. As a result of rather poor health and her inability to have children, Sophie Ørsted sought other distractions, especially during the lengthy absence of her husband who from 1805 to 1809 was away on a study trip. Thanks to her natural charm, she had no difficulty in encouraging young men to visit her, inviting them to replace her husband by reading contemporary literature to her, above all

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

whom she particularly admired. Among those who showed interest in her were the writer Andreas Christian Gierlew (1774–1845) and the entomologist Martin Christian Gottlieb Lehmann (1775–1856). In particular, she cultivated a relationship with the writer

(1764–1826) who spent seven months living in her home from November 1806, as recorded in his diaries. When he left her to travel abroad, she wrote to him but her letters received no reply. He later dedicated other works to her but when he returned in 1811 she turned her back on him. Thereafter, the philosopher (1785–1872) became a frequent visitor to Vestergade, falling hopelessly in love with Ørsted, as recounted in his ''Gabrielis Breve'' (Letters of Gabrielis). He read them to her in 1814 but first published them after her death in 1826. She showed great interest in Sibbern and shared her enthusiasm for Goethe with him in the letters she wrote when she was feeling well enough. Sophie Ørsted died at 36 years of age in Copenhagen, after suffering from abdominal cancer. She is buried in Frederiksberg Cemetery.

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Sophie Ørsted og fejden med Oehlenschläger
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orsted, Sophie 1782 births 1818 deaths People from Frederiksberg Muses (persons) 19th-century Danish writers 19th-century Danish women writers Women letter writers Danish socialites Adam Oehlenschläger

Biography

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