Helmina von Chézy (26 January 1783 â€" 28 February 1856), née
Wilhelmine Christiane von Klencke, was a German journalist, poet and
playwright. She is known for writing the libretto for Carl Maria von
Weber's opera Euryanthe (1823) and the play Rosamunde, for which Franz
Schubert composed incidental music.Helmina was born in Berlin, the
daughter of Prussian officer Carl Friedrich von Klencke and his wife
Caroline Louise von Klencke (1754â€"1802), daughter of Anna Louisa
Karsch and herself a poet. The marriage of her parents had already
broken up at her birth and she was partly raised by her grandmother.
She started writing at the age of 14.Married the first time in 1799,
she divorced the next year and upon the death of her mother moved to
Paris, where she worked as a correspondent for several German papers.
From 1803 to 1807 she edited her own Französische Miszellen ("French
Miscellanea") journal, commenting on political issues, which earned
her trouble with the ubiquitous censors.In Paris she befriended
Friedrich Schlegel's wife Dorothea, who introduced her to the French
orientalist Antoine-Léonard de Chézy. In 1805 they married and
Helmina subsequently gave birth to two sons: the later author Wilhelm
Theodor von Chézy (1806â€"1865) and Max von Chézy (1808â€"1846), who
became a painter. In 1810, together with Adelbert von Chamisso, she
translated several of Friedrich Schlegel's lectures from French into
German. They had a short romantic fling, followed by another
extramarital affair of Helmina with the Austrian orientalist Joseph
von Hammer-Purgstall, probably the father of another son who died
shortly after his birth in 1811.
Wilhelmine Christiane von Klencke, was a German journalist, poet and
playwright. She is known for writing the libretto for Carl Maria von
Weber's opera Euryanthe (1823) and the play Rosamunde, for which Franz
Schubert composed incidental music.Helmina was born in Berlin, the
daughter of Prussian officer Carl Friedrich von Klencke and his wife
Caroline Louise von Klencke (1754â€"1802), daughter of Anna Louisa
Karsch and herself a poet. The marriage of her parents had already
broken up at her birth and she was partly raised by her grandmother.
She started writing at the age of 14.Married the first time in 1799,
she divorced the next year and upon the death of her mother moved to
Paris, where she worked as a correspondent for several German papers.
From 1803 to 1807 she edited her own Französische Miszellen ("French
Miscellanea") journal, commenting on political issues, which earned
her trouble with the ubiquitous censors.In Paris she befriended
Friedrich Schlegel's wife Dorothea, who introduced her to the French
orientalist Antoine-Léonard de Chézy. In 1805 they married and
Helmina subsequently gave birth to two sons: the later author Wilhelm
Theodor von Chézy (1806â€"1865) and Max von Chézy (1808â€"1846), who
became a painter. In 1810, together with Adelbert von Chamisso, she
translated several of Friedrich Schlegel's lectures from French into
German. They had a short romantic fling, followed by another
extramarital affair of Helmina with the Austrian orientalist Joseph
von Hammer-Purgstall, probably the father of another son who died
shortly after his birth in 1811.
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