Wilhelmine von Hillern (11 March 1836 Munich â€" 15 December 1916
Hohenaschau) was a German actress and novelist.She was the daughter of
the novelist Charlotte Birch-Pfeiffer. She was brought up in Berlin,
became an actress at Gotha (1854), and married the prominent jurist
von Hillern at Freiburg im Breisgau in 1857. Her husband died 8
December 1882. After that, she lived chiefly at Oberammergau and
Tutzing.Her principal novels and short stories were produced during
the 1860s and 1870s. One of them, Höher als die Kirche (Higher Than
the Church; a tale of Freiburg im Breisgau in Reformation days, 1877)
was quite well known in America by reason of the fact that it was
frequently read as a text by students of elementary German. It is a
comparatively insignificant work, however, by no means so important as
the novels, Ein Arzt der Seele (A Doctor for the Soul; a satire of
bluestockings, Berlin 1869), Die Geier-Wally (The Vulture Maiden,
Berlin 1875), Und sie kommt doch (The Hour Will Come, Berlin 1879),
and Ein Blick ins Weite (Black Forest sketches, 1897). One of her
novels, Only a Girl, was translated into English by Annis Lee Wister
in 1870.Von Hillern's Die Geyer-Wally became the subject for the
Italian composer Alfredo Catalani's last and most successful opera.
Hohenaschau) was a German actress and novelist.She was the daughter of
the novelist Charlotte Birch-Pfeiffer. She was brought up in Berlin,
became an actress at Gotha (1854), and married the prominent jurist
von Hillern at Freiburg im Breisgau in 1857. Her husband died 8
December 1882. After that, she lived chiefly at Oberammergau and
Tutzing.Her principal novels and short stories were produced during
the 1860s and 1870s. One of them, Höher als die Kirche (Higher Than
the Church; a tale of Freiburg im Breisgau in Reformation days, 1877)
was quite well known in America by reason of the fact that it was
frequently read as a text by students of elementary German. It is a
comparatively insignificant work, however, by no means so important as
the novels, Ein Arzt der Seele (A Doctor for the Soul; a satire of
bluestockings, Berlin 1869), Die Geier-Wally (The Vulture Maiden,
Berlin 1875), Und sie kommt doch (The Hour Will Come, Berlin 1879),
and Ein Blick ins Weite (Black Forest sketches, 1897). One of her
novels, Only a Girl, was translated into English by Annis Lee Wister
in 1870.Von Hillern's Die Geyer-Wally became the subject for the
Italian composer Alfredo Catalani's last and most successful opera.
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