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

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; ) is the Capital city, capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is on the Elbe river. Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archbishopric of Mag ...

and growing up in

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

(

Margraviate of Brandenburg The Margraviate of Brandenburg () was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806 that, having electoral status although being quite poor, grew rapidly in importance after inheriting the Duchy of Prussia in 1618 and then came ...

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

), 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 F ...

, 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, in north-eastern Germany. Formerly the home of an East German Air Force base. History During World War II, the Nazis operated a forced labour ...

. 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 a host. These gatherings often consciously followed Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "either to please or to educate" (Latin: ''aut delectare aut prodesse''). Salons in the tradition of the Fren ...

, 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, near Lübeck, and studied at Jena. He spent the greater part of his life i ...

Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (; 2 July 1724 – 14 March 1803) was a German poet. His best known works are the epic poem ''Der Messias'' ("The Messiah") and the poem ''Die Auferstehung'' ("The Resurrection"), with the latter set to text in the ...

Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi (; ; 25 January 1743 – 10 March 1819) was a German philosopher, writer and socialite. He is best known for popularizing the concept of nihilism. He promoted the idea that it is the necessary result of Enlightenment th ...

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 ...

. Rudolphi moved her institute to

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 ...

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, the Imperial diet bestowed the office of Prince-elector to Charles Frederick, but in 1806, Francis II dissolved the Empire. Baden then achieved sovere ...

), 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 a ...

, Sophie Mereau,

Friedrich Creuzer Georg Friedrich Creuzer (; 10 March 1771 – 6 February 1858) was a German philologist and archaeologist. Life He was born at Marburg, the son of a bookbinder. After studying at Marburg and at the University of Jena, he went to Leipzig as a ...

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 Romanticism, Romantic movement in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Early life Tieck w ...

) and a close friend of the family of classicist Johann Heinrich Voß. 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 between the fictional characters of a narrative. The term is often extended to cover novels that intersperse other kinds of fictional document with the letters, most commonly di ...

, ''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 Canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden ( ; ; ; ), in English sometimes Appenzell Outer Rhodes, is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of twenty municipalities. The seat of the gove ...

at the

Landsgemeinde The ''Landsgemeinde'' ("cantonal assembly"; , plural ''Landsgemeinden'') is a public, non-secret ballot voting system operating by majority rule. Still in use – in a few places – at the subnational political level in Switzerland, it was fo ...

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 German women novelists German women poets 18th-century German educators 18th-century German women educators 19th-century German educators 19th-century German women educators 18th-century German novelists