Anna Katharina Schönkopf
Encyclopedia
Anna Katharina Schönkopf (ˈanaː kataːˈriːnaː ˈʃøːnkɔpf; also called „Käthchen“ ([ˈkɛːtçən]) and „Annette“ ([aˈnɛtə]); * 22 August 1746 Leipzig
- 20 May 1810 ibidem) was the daughter of the pewterer and wine merchant Christian Gottlieb Schönkopf ([ˈkrɪstiːaːn ˈgɔtliːp...]; 1716-1791) and his wife Katharina Sibylla ([...zyːˈbɪlaː...]), born Hauck ([ˈhaʊk]; 1714-1790). The young Johann Wolfgang Goethe
, who studied in Leipzig from 1765 to 1768, fell in love with her in 1766.
play Die Laune des Verliebten (The Lover’s Caprice, 1768), to cure himself.
Anna Katharina appeared to Goethe as a perfect, charming and elegant being. She liked the love-poems which Goethe dedicated to her and which he published as Annettenlieder (songs to Annette). These poems are considered the first of bigger meaning within Goethe's oeuvre.
Goethe introduced the jurist and later vice mayor of Leipzig Christian Karl Kanne, Anna Katharina's bridegroom, to his sweetheart. He continued the friendship to Anna Katharina by sending her letters till 1770, in which he still felt bound to her. Kanne and Anna Katharina married in 1770. Goethe visited Anna Katharina in 1776, when he had moved to Weimar.
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
- 20 May 1810 ibidem) was the daughter of the pewterer and wine merchant Christian Gottlieb Schönkopf ([ˈkrɪstiːaːn ˈgɔtliːp...]; 1716-1791) and his wife Katharina Sibylla ([...zyːˈbɪlaː...]), born Hauck ([ˈhaʊk]; 1714-1790). The young Johann Wolfgang Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
, who studied in Leipzig from 1765 to 1768, fell in love with her in 1766.
Käthchen Schönkopf as a figure in Goethe's life
Anna Katharina was three years older than Goethe, who moved to her parents' hotel in 1766. She reacted rather reserved to his declarations of love, in the beginning. Her parents were kept in the dark about the unfolding love-affair, also because a liaison of a girl of Anna Katharina's plain origin and the son of a Patrician could not pass for suitable to Goethe's station. Goethe communicated his wishes and feelings to his friend Ernst Wolfgang Behrisch (1738-1809), and sought Behrisch's advice in the issue. He felt strong jealousy of real or imaginary rivals, during his relationship to Käthchen, and wrought the inner problems connected to this into his pastoralPastoral
The adjective pastoral refers to the lifestyle of pastoralists, such as shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasturage. It also refers to a genre in literature, art or music that depicts such shepherd life in an...
play Die Laune des Verliebten (The Lover’s Caprice, 1768), to cure himself.
Anna Katharina appeared to Goethe as a perfect, charming and elegant being. She liked the love-poems which Goethe dedicated to her and which he published as Annettenlieder (songs to Annette). These poems are considered the first of bigger meaning within Goethe's oeuvre.
Goethe introduced the jurist and later vice mayor of Leipzig Christian Karl Kanne, Anna Katharina's bridegroom, to his sweetheart. He continued the friendship to Anna Katharina by sending her letters till 1770, in which he still felt bound to her. Kanne and Anna Katharina married in 1770. Goethe visited Anna Katharina in 1776, when he had moved to Weimar.