Elisabeth "Elisa" Charlotte Constanzia von der Recke (née von Medem; 20 May 1754 – 13 April 1833) was a Baltic German writer and poet.

Family

Elisa von der Recke was born in

Schönberg Schönberg (german: beautiful hill) may refer to: Places Austria *Schönberg im Stubaital, a municipality in the district of Innsbruck-Land, Tyrol * Schönberg am Kamp, a town in the district of Krems-Land, Lower Austria Belgium * Schönber ...

Skaistkalne parish Skaistkalne Parish ( lv, Skaistkalnes pagasts) is an administrative unit of Bauska Municipality in the Semigallia region of Latvia. Prior to the 2009 administrative reforms it was part of Bauska District. History The present territory of Skai ...

Courland Courland (; lv, Kurzeme; liv, Kurāmō; German and Scandinavian languages: ''Kurland''; la, Curonia/; russian: Курляндия; Estonian: ''Kuramaa''; lt, Kuršas; pl, Kurlandia) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia. ...

(present-day Skaistkalne,

Vecumnieki Municipality Vecumnieki Municipality ( lv, Vecumnieku novads) is a former municipality in Semigallia, Latvia. The municipality was formed in 2009 by merging Bārbele parish, Kurmene parish, Skaistkalne parish, Stelpe parish, Valle parish and Vecumnieki par ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

), the daughter of Graf (later

Reichsgraf Imperial Count (german: Reichsgraf) was a title in the Holy Roman Empire. In the medieval era, it was used exclusively to designate the holder of an imperial county, that is, a fief held directly ( immediately) from the emperor, rather than from ...

) Johann Friedrich von Medem (1722-1785) and his wife, Luise Dorothea von Korff (1736-1757). Her younger half-sister was Dorothea von Medem, for whom she carried out

diplomatic Diplomatics (in American English, and in most anglophone countries), or diplomatic (in British English), is a scholarly discipline centred on the critical analysis of documents: especially, historical documents. It focuses on the conventions, p ...

work. In 1771 she married

Kammerherr A chamberlain (Medieval Latin: ''cambellanus'' or ''cambrerius'', with charge of treasury ''camerarius'') is a senior royal official in charge of managing a royal household. Historically, the chamberlain superintends the arrangement of domestic ...

Georg Peter Magnus von der Recke (1739-1795), living with him at Neuenburg Castle (now

Jaunpils Castle Jaunpils Castle (german: Schloß Neuenburg) is a castle in Jaunpils Parish, Tukums Municipality in the Semigallia region of Latvia. More of a manor house than properly a fortified castle, it has now been converted into a hotel. History The c ...

). She separated from him in 1776 and divorced in 1781. Their daughter, Frederika von der Recke, died in 1777.

Life

In 1787 her first book, ''Nachricht von des berüchtigten Cagliostro Aufenthalt in Mitau im Jahre 1779 und dessen magischen Operationen'', a memoir-exposé of the months when she studied magic with "Count"

Alessandro di Cagliostro Count Alessandro di Cagliostro (, ; 2 June 1743 – 26 August 1795) was the alias of the Italian occultist Giuseppe Balsamo (; in French usually referred to as Joseph Balsamo). Cagliostro was an Italian adventurer and self-styled magician. ...

, made a great impact right across Europe, with

Catherine the Great , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...

even granting Elisa lands in Russia in recognition of the work (making Elisa financially independent). She got to know Goethe,

Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friendsh ...

, Wieland,

Herder A herder is a pastoral worker responsible for the care and management of a herd or flock of domestic animals, usually on open pasture. It is particularly associated with nomadic or transhumant management of stock, or with common land grazing. ...

and other European literary figures, and intensified their relationships through prolific correspondence. From 1798 she lived almost exclusively in Dresden, and from 1804 cohabited there with her friend Christoph August Tiedge. Their meetings were religio-

sentimentalist Sentimentality originally indicated the reliance on feelings as a guide to truth, but in current usage the term commonly connotes a reliance on shallow, uncomplicated emotions at the expense of reason. Moral sense theory, Sentimentalism in phil ...

in tone, with the singing of chorales by Johann Gottlieb Naumann. Her works consisted mainly of pietist-sentimentalist poems, journals and memoirs. Elisa von der Recke looked after thirteen foster daughters. She died in Dresden and is buried at the in Dresden.

Works

* ''Nachricht von des berüchtigten Cagliostro Aufenthalt in Mitau im Jahre 1779 und dessen magischen Operationen'', 1787 * Johann Lorenz Blessig (Hrsg.): ''Leben des Grafen Johann Friedrich von Medem nebst seinem Briefwechsel hauptsächlich mit der Frau Kammerherrinn von der Recke, seiner Schwester'', 1792
Digitalisat
* ''Familien=Scenen oder Entwickelungen auf dem Masquenballe'', ca. 1794, published in 1826
Digitalisat
* ''Über Naumann, den guten Menschen und großen Künstler'', article in ''Neuen Deutschen Merkur'', 1803

Posthumously published

*''Geistliche Lieder, Gebete und religiöse Betrachtungen'', Teubner, Leipzig 1841 *''Elisa von der Recke. Band 1. Aufzeichnungen und Briefe aus ihren Jugendtagen'', hrsg. von Paul Rachel, 2. Auflage 1902 *''Elisa von der Recke. Band 2. Tagebücher und Briefe aus ihren Wanderjahren'', hrsg. von Paul Rachel, 1902 *''Herzensgeschichten einer baltischen Edelfrau. Erinnerungen und Briefe'', Lutz, Stuttgart 1921 *''Tagebücher und Selbstzeugnisse'', hrsg. v. Christine Träger, Köhler und Amelang, Leipzig / Beck, München 1984,

Gallery

File:Tischbein - Elisa von der Recke.jpg , by Tischbein, 1775 File:1784 Darbes Elisa von der Recke anagoria.JPG , by , 1784 File:ReckeECK.jpg , by Ernst Gottlob, 1785 File:Elisa von der Recke by Anton Graff 1790.jpg, by Anton Graff, 1790 Gerhard von Kügelgen Elisa von der Recke 1.jpg , by

Gerhard von Kügelgen Franz Gerhard von Kügelgen (6 February 1772 – 27 March 1820) was a German painter, noted for his portraits and history paintings. He was a professor at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts and a member of both the Prussian and Russian Imperial ...

, 1812

Notes

References

* Michelle S. James and Rob McFarland: "Collaborating with Spirits: Cagliostro, Elisa von der Recke, and the Phantoms of ''Unmündigkeit''" in Laura Deiulio and John Lyon (Eds.) ''Gender, Collaboration, and Authorship in German Culture: Literary Joint Ventures 1750-1850,'' New York: Bloomsbury, 2019. 101-138.

External links

*
Nachweis von digitalisierten Zeitschriftenbeiträgen
at Litlinks * Article o
Stadtwiki Dresden
about Elisa von der Recke
The Sophie Project
Elisa von der Recke {{DEFAULTSORT:Recke 1754 births 1833 deaths People from Bauska Municipality People from the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia Baltic-German people German women poets Baltic nobility 18th-century Latvian people 19th-century Latvian people European salon-holders