Dorothea Friederike von Schlegel (; 24 October 1764 – 3 August 1839) was a German novelist and translator.

Life

She was born as Brendel Mendelssohn in 1764 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 ...

,In older literature and on her gravestone one finds the date 1763, but this is the birthyear of her elder sister Sara (May 23, 1763 – April 15, 1764) whose death was one of the reasons Moses Mendelssohn wrote the

Phaedon ''Phaedon'' (), published in 1767, is a book by the Jewish Enlightenment philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, in which Mendelssohn offers a defense of immortality. Summary ''Phaedon'' is a defense of the simplicity and immortality of the soul. The f ...

. Cf. Alexander Altmann, Moses Mendelssohn, London 1973, Moses Mendelssohn, Jubilaeumsausgabe, Bd. 12,1, p. 43; letter to Thomas Abbt, May 1, 1764 oldest daughter of the philosopher

Moses Mendelssohn Moses Mendelssohn (6 September 1729 – 4 January 1786) was a German-Jewish philosopher and theologian. His writings and ideas on Jews and the Jewish religion and identity were a central element in the development of the ''Haskalah'', or 'J ...

, a leading figure in the

German Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment (also the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment) was a European intellectual and philosophical movement active from the late 17th to early 19th century. Chiefly valuing knowledge gained through rationalism and empirici ...

(Aufklärung). In 1783, she married the merchant and banker

Simon Veit Simon Veit (25 May 1754, Brandenburg? - 1 October 1819, Berlin?) was a German merchant and banker of Jewish ancestry. Life and work His father, Juda Veit (1710–1786), was a wool merchant and founder of a bank. At Simon was several brothes an ...

(1754–1819), brother of the physician

David Veit David Veit (8 November 1771, in Breslau – 15 April 1814) was a medical doctor and writer from the Kingdom of Prussia. Life His father, Juda Veit (1716–1786), was a banker, and his brother, Simon Veit, was the husband of Moses Mendelssohn's d ...

(1771–1814). Their son,

Philipp Veit Philipp Veit (13 February 179318 December 1877) was a German Romantic painter and one of the main exponents of the Nazarene movement. It is to Veit that the credit of having been the first to revive the nearly forgotten technique of fresc ...

, would later become part of a circle of German Christian painters called " the Nazarenes", who influenced the English painters in the

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB), later known as the Pre-Raphaelites, was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossett ...

. She met the poet and critic

Friedrich von 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 ...

in the salon of her friend

Henriette Herz Henriette Julie Herz (née de Lemos) (September 5, 1764 – October 22, 1847) was a German writer, best known for the "salonnieres" or literary salons that she started with a group of emancipated Jews in Prussia. Biography She was the daughter ...

in July 1797, after which Dorothea divorced Simon on 11 January 1799. She obtained custody of her younger son, Philipp, and lived with him in an apartment on Ziegelstraße in

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...

. This apartment became a salon frequented by Tieck, Schelling, the Schlegel brothers, and

Novalis Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg (2 May 1772 – 25 March 1801), pen name Novalis (; ), was a German nobility, German aristocrat and polymath, who was a poet, novelist, philosopher and Mysticism, mystic. He is regarded as an inf ...

. In 1801, Schlegel anonymously published Dorothea's novel Florentin. Dorothea and Friedrich lived in Paris from 1802 until 1804, and after her divorce, they married as

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

s. In 1807, she translated "Corinne" by

Madame de Staël Madame may refer to: * Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French * Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel * ''Madame'' ( ...

from French. In 1808, Friedrich and Dorothea converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. (She may have adopted the name "Dorothea" from a 17th-century Dorothea von Schlegel who composed Catholic

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' d ...

s). They continued to visit the salons of

Rahel Levin Rahel Antonie Friederike Varnhagen () (née Levin, later Robert; 19 May 1771 – 7 March 1833) was a German writer who hosted one of the most prominent salons in Europe during the late-18th and early-19th centuries. She is the subject of a celebr ...

and Henriette Herz, as well as the constellation which surrounded

. Friedrich died in 1829, after which Dorothea moved to

Frankfurt am Main 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 ...

. There, she lived with her son Philipp (also a convert to a medieval style of Catholicism) until she died in 1839.

Importance in cultural history

As the daughter of a member of the German literary establishment,

, Dorothea was surrounded throughout her life by poets, critics, musicians, novelists, and philosophers of Europe.

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (; ; 22 January 1729 – 15 February 1781) was a German philosopher, dramatist, publicist and art critic, and a representative of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the dev ...

was her father's closest friend and colleague, and the

Emancipation Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure Economic, social and cultural rights, economic and social rights, civil and political rights, po ...

and

secularization In sociology, secularization () is a multilayered concept that generally denotes "a transition from a religious to a more worldly level." There are many types of secularization and most do not lead to atheism or irreligion, nor are they automatica ...

of the Jews and Jewish culture was a direct outcome of their work. (Mendelssohn was the model for Nathan der Weise in Lessing's play of the same name.) Dorothea's brother,

Joseph Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...

, was a friend and sponsor of

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 1769 – 6 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, natural history, naturalist, List of explorers, explorer, and proponent of Romanticism, Romantic philosophy and Romanticism ...

, the naturalist and ethnologist.

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions inc ...

, the composer, and his sister

Fanny Mendelssohn Fanny Mendelssohn (14 November 1805 – 14 May 1847) was a German composer and pianist of the early Romantic era who was known as Fanny Hensel after her marriage. Her compositions include a string quartet, a piano trio, a piano quartet, an or ...

, also a gifted musician, were her nephew and niece. Most of her work, letters, biographies, etc. seem to be available only in German. And there, with the legacy of the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

, she would seem to have an ambiguous status. The emancipation of European Jewry, in which she and her family played a significant role, became the main target of the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

and its

Nuremberg Laws The Nuremberg Laws (, ) were antisemitic and racist laws that were enacted in Nazi Germany on 15 September 1935, at a special meeting of the Reichstag convened during the annual Nuremberg Rally of the Nazi Party. The two laws were the Law ...

. For some Jews, she may be a less than admirable figure as well, having left her Jewish husband, violated her divorce settlement, and converted first to Protestantism, and finally to Catholicism. Most of her later friends were Christians, assimilated or intermarried Jews (like

), or secular Deists and materialists. Her association with Germaine de Staël was obviously of the greatest importance since Mme de Staël was also the patron and literary companion of Dorothea's second husband, Friedrich Schlegel. The daughter of

Jacques Necker Jacques Necker (; 30 September 1732 – 9 April 1804) was a Republic of Geneva, Genevan banker and statesman who served as List of Finance Ministers of France, finance minister for Louis XVI of France, Louis XVI. He was a reformer, but his innov ...

Louis XVI Louis XVI (Louis-Auguste; ; 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. The son of Louis, Dauphin of France (1729–1765), Louis, Dauphin of France (son and heir- ...

's finance minister, de Staël witnessed the collapse of the

Bourbon Bourbon may refer to: Food and drink * Bourbon whiskey, an American whiskey made using a corn-based mash * Bourbon, a beer produced by Brasseries de Bourbon * Bourbon biscuit, a chocolate sandwich biscuit * Bourbon coffee, a type of coffee ma ...

s and the French Revolution. (See Christopher Herrold's "Mistress to an Age.") It was probably through de Staël's husband, a Swedish Count, that the Schlegels were granted a title of

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...

in the Swedish court.

Works

*''Florentin''. Lübeck and Leipzig, 1801. *"Gespräch über die neueren Romane der Französinnen" onversation about recent novels of French women writersin: ''Europa: Eine Zeitschrift'' (journal edited by Friedrich Schlegel), 1803, vol. 1, part 2, pp. 88–106 *''Geschichte des Zauberers Merlin'' tory of the Magician Merlin Leipzig, 1804. Translated and adapted from French sources

Notes

External links

*
Literatur von und über Dorothea Schlegel
im Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schlegel, Dorothea Von 1764 births 1839 deaths 18th-century German Jews 18th-century German novelists 19th-century German novelists 19th-century German women writers Burials at Frankfurt Main Cemetery Converts to Roman Catholicism from Lutheranism English–German translators French–German translators German Roman Catholics Mendelssohn family People of the Haskalah

Life

Importance in cultural history

Works

Notes

Further reading

External links