Caroline Esterházy

Countess Caroline Esterházy de Galántha (Hungarian: galánthai grófnő Esterházy Karolina; 6 September 1805 – 14 March 1851) was a Hungarian noblewoman, and a friend and muse to composer Franz Schubert. His Fantasia in F minor D 940 is dedicated to her.

Caroline Esterházy
Born(1805-09-06)6 September 1805
Pressburg, Kingdom of Hungary, Austrian Empire
Died14 March 1851(1851-03-14) (aged 45)
Pressburg, Kingdom of Hungary, Austrian Empire

Biography

The Countess was born in 1805,[1] in Pressburg, Kingdom of Hungary (present-day Bratislava in Slovakia) to János Károly, Count Esterházy de Galántha and Countess Róza Festetics de Tolna. By birth she was a member of the wealthy and illustrious Esterházy family.

She received music lessons from Franz Schubert during the summers of 1818 and 1824 on her family estate at Zseliz (today Želiezovce).[2] To judge from her collection of music scores and the markings in them, it appears she was an accomplished pianist. After the summer of 1824, she and Schubert remained friends until his death in 1828.

On 8 April 1844, she married Count Karl Folliott de Crenneville-Poutet,[3] but the marriage broke down within a few months and the couple separated. She died in Pressburg on 14 March 1851, from an intestinal disorder.

Relationship with Schubert

The nature of Schubert's feelings for the countess has been the subject of much speculation.[4]

Schubert's friends believed him to be in unrequited love with the young countess, and there are a number of references to this in their writings.[5][6][7]

Eduard von Bauernfeld wrote of his friend:

"He was, in fact, head over heels in love with one of his pupils, a young Countess Esterházy [...]. In addition to his lessons there, he also visited the Count's home, from time to time, under the aegis of his patron, the singer Vogl. [...] On such occasions Schubert was quite content to take a back seat, to remain quietly by the side of his adored pupil, and to thrust love's arrow ever deeper into his heart. [...] Countess Caroline may be looked upon as his visible, beneficent muse, as the Leonore of this musical Tasso."[8]

According to Schönstein, “when [the countess] once jokingly teased Schubert that he had never dedicated a piece of his to her he responded: 'Why do that? Everything is dedicated to you anyway.'”[9][10][11] Shortly before his death, Schubert nonetheless dedicated his Fantasia in F minor to her.

"Schubertiade at Josef von Spaun", by Moritz von Schwind. A portrait of Caroline Esterházy can be seen hanging over the piano.

Moritz von Schwind, in his drawing "Schubertiade at Josef von Spaun", shows a portrait of Caroline Esterházy hanging over the piano which Schubert is playing.

A number of films have fictionalized Esterházy’s relationship with Schubert, including Gently My Songs Entreat (1933),[12] Unfinished Symphony (1934) and Symphony of Love (1954).

The countess is also a main character in the French novella Un été à quatre mains.[13]

References
  1. "Franz Schubert in search of lost time". figures-of-speech.com. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  2. Badura-Skoda, For Royalties and Contract Only Eva (23 September 1982). Schubert Studies: Problems of Style and Chronology. CUP Archive. ISBN 9780521226066.
  3. "Gräfin Karoline Esterházy de Galántha (1811 - 1851) – EsterhazyWiki". de.esterhazy.net. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  4. Rockstro, William Smith (27 June 2013). A General History of Music: From the Infancy of the Greek Drama to the Present Period. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781108064798.
  5. Steblin, Rita; Rosen, Charles (20 October 1994). "Schubert à la Mode". New York Review of Books. ISSN 0028-7504. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  6. Messing, Scott (2006). Schubert in the European Imagination. University of Rochester Press. ISBN 9781580462136.
  7. Newbould, Brian (5 July 2017). Schubert Studies. Routledge. ISBN 9781351549943.
  8. Newbould, Brian (5 July 2017). Schubert Studies. Routledge. ISBN 9781351549943.
  9. Frost, Henry (1 February 2019). Franz Schubert: A Biography. A Distant Mirror.
  10. Vulliamy, Ed (9 January 2011). "Paul Lewis: 'Schubert writes something that comes from another planet' | interview". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  11. Haweis, Hugh Reginald (1873). Music and Morals. Strahan.
  12. Bodley, Lorraine Byrne; Horton, Julian (5 August 2016). Rethinking Schubert. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190200121.
  13. "" Un été à quatre mains " de Gaëlle Josse, les amours inachevées". La Croix (in French). 23 March 2017. ISSN 0242-6056. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
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