Uexküll-Gyllenband, Karl Friedrich Emich, Count von (4 August 1755–23 February 1832): Noble government administrator and Geheimer Rath (privy councilor) in Stuttgart; from 1771 married to Sophie Elisabeth, née Hardegg (1771–1814). After having to retire from public service early because of illness and difficulty in hearing, he devoted himself to literature and art, traveling to Italy between 1804 and 1811 and becoming intimately acquainted with many of the German artists in Rome at the time, also publishing on art himself. After his death, the rich art collection that he had assembled during these travels, including an excellent collection of paintings and copper engravings, went to his nephew in Karlsruhe, since Uexküll himself had remained childless.
Ulrich, Johann August Heinrich (26 April 1746–4 February 1813): Professor of moral and political philosophy in Jena. From 29 June 1783 married to Martha Caroline, née Paulssen (9 September 1762–20 March 1803). Initially a follower of Leibniz, later tried to mediate between Leibniz and the new Kantian philosophy, though eventually rejected Kant and tended to embrace a rigorous determinism. Also translated material from the French and English. Dean of Faculty in Jena during Friedrich Schlegel’s scandalous Habilitation disputation in March 1801. (Portrait: Stadtmuseum Jena Professorenporträts.)
Unger, Friederike Helene, née Rothenburg (Friedrich Schlegel’s nickname for her in correspondence with Auguste and others: “Ungermonster” (Caroline uses this epithet as well), “Ungermonstress”, also the Cat, the grayish cat, the old lady, the Ancient Fury) (1751–1813): Writer, translator, novelist, illegitimate daughter of a Prussian general and confidant of Friedrich II (the Great). Received an unusually good education for a girl at the time as well as a lifetime pension from her father when he died in 1751, with which she supported the establishment of her later husband’s publishing company, Johann Friedrich Gottlieb Unger, whom she married in 1785. Although the company prospered and she published translations and other pieces, the family payments eventually ceased, whereupon she began writing fiction herself, her first success being Julchen Grünthal in 1784. Her subsequent novels dealt with, among other things, the contemporary understanding of roles in society. She was also senior editor of the Journal der Romane (11 vols., Berlin 1800ff), the first two volumes of which in 1800 included her novel Gräfin Pauline (Berlin 1800), which Schiller, in a letter to her husband on 17 April 1800 (Geschäftsbriefe Schiller’s, ed. Karl Goedeke [Leipzig 1875] 225), compared favorably to Agnes von Lilien by Caroline von Wolzogen and published in Die Horen 1796 and 1797, “to which it constitutes a counterpart without being an imitation.” The third edition of Julchen Grünthal (Berlin 1798) was extensively and favorably reviewed by Wilhelm Schlegel in the Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung (1798) 32 (Saturday 27 January 1798) 253–56 Sämmtliche Werke 11:239–43), or — so Erich Schmidt (1913), 729 — more likely, by Caroline without mention of the reviewer’s name. — After initial friendship with Wilhelm and Friedrich Schlegel, their relationship soured. Although she took over the publishing company when her husband died in 1804, it was in such debt that it went bankrupt in 1809. (Portrait: by Johann Gottfried Schadow, ca. 1802, though its identification as Friederike Unger is uncertain.)
Unger, Johann Friedrich (1753–1804): Berlin publisher known for having published the likes of Goethe, Schiller, Schleiermacher, and both Wilhelm and Friedrich Schlegel, including Goethe’s Neue Schriften (Berlin 1792–1800), Wilhelm’s edition of Shakespeare, and Schiller’s Die Jungfrau von Orleans. Eine romantische Tragödie (Berlin 1801). He was, however, involved in an extremely unpleasant lawsuit with Wilhelm over the latter’s translation of Shakespeare. Also published not only Johann Friedrich Reichardt’s journals Deutschland and Lyceum der schönen Künste. Known for his contemporary wood engravings (his father was a woodworker) and for having developed a new font, known as Ungerfraktur, which from 1794 was produced in his own forge (Unger had previously tried to promote antiqua fonts); that font is used in Erich Schmidt’s edition of Caroline’s letters (1913). From 1800 professor of wood engraving at the Berlin Art Academy. Also known for the method he developed for printing multiple copies of silhouettes. From 1785 married to the writer Friederike Helene Unger, who directed the company after Unger’s death. (Portrait: Deutsches Buch- und Schriftmuseum der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Leipzig.)
Unger, Christian Wilhelm Jacob (known as “Wilhelm Unger“) (1775–1855): Painter and engraver. Born near Darmstadt, received artistic training from his uncles Johann, Heinrich, and Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein in Kassel, after which he became court painter to the Prince of Waldeck in Arolsen for a brief period, traveling then to Paris, where he lived until 1815. Lived and worked for several years in Hamburg and eventually in Neustrelitz. Painted portraits in oil and miniature. Unger visited Söder with his uncle Wilhelm (the “Neapolitan”) Tischbein a week after Caroline and Wilhelm; in early October 1800, his uncle possibly relayed to Caroline and Wilhelm Friedrich von Brabeck’s invitation to visit Söder.
Unzelmann, Christiana Friederike Auguste Konradine (Conradine), née Flittner, in second marriage Bethmann (uncertain birth year: 24 January 1771 [according to her own account (also: 12 January) 1760 according to E. Devrient; 1766 and 1769 according to other sources; 1768 according to her Berlin gravestone]–16 August 1815): Berlin actress and singer, at the time known as the “premier actress of Germany” (Der Teutsche Merkur [1803]), to whom Caroline teasingly refers as the “fairy child” and “little fairy sprite” (after a poem Wilhelm Schlegel composed about her), and, esp., “Unzeline,” “Diaboline Unzeline,” “Unzelinette,” and “Unzelinchen.” A native of Gotha, her father was Jacob Flittner, an official at the court of the duke in Gotha; after his death, her mother, Carolina Sophia Augusta Flittner, married the actor and playwright Gustav Friedrich Wilhelm Grossmann, who in his own turn in 1777 became director of the court theater in Bonn and then the theater in Mainz. Friederike Unzelmann’s considerable acting talent and voice (despite her diminutive size) made her one of the leading German actresses and favorites of the public during this period, both in operatic and dramatic roles, her grace and facility allegedly enhanced by her physical beauty. Initially trained in the more realistic acting style, she soon also mastered the ideal style cultivated on the Weimar stage. She received vocal training from her stepfather, Grossmann, before debuting at seventeen in Mainz, where she also joined the ensemble of Abel Seyler, changing later to her stepfather’s company, initially appearing almost exclusively in operas, especially as an interpreter of Mozart. 1786–1803 married to the actor and singer Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand Unzelmann (1753–1832), with whom she remained in Mainz until moving to Berlin, where she had an extremely successful career at the royal theater while giving guest performances in Vienna, Leipzig, Hamburg, Braunschweig, Prague, Breslau, Munich, Weimar, Stuttgart, and Frankfurt am Main. She performed the role of Leporello in the Berlin premiere of Mozart’s Don Giovanni on 29 December 1790. While in the Mainz/Frankfurt area, she and her husband became close friends with Goethe’s mother, who often entertained them in her home. Her prominent roles included Ophelia, Emilia Galotti, and Minna von Barnhelm, Constance in the Die Entführung aus dem Serail, the countess in Figaro’s Marriage, and the title role in the premiere of F. H. Himmel’s opera Fanchon (at his request). She was esp. admired among the early Romantics for her performances as Nina in d’Alayrac’s Nina, oder Wahnsinn aus Liebe. From 1805 she was (apparently happily) married to the actor Heinrich Eduard Bethmann (1774–1857) (some of her letters to him are included in this edition), though the great love of her life — according to her own admission — was Wolf Friedrich Ludwig von Quast. Her death in 1815 was sudden and unexpected. For more on her, including correspondence and theater reviews (and disputes), see the supplementary appendix Friederike Unzelmann. (Portrait: frontispiece to Almanach für Theater und Theaterfreunde 1 [1807].)
Unzelmann, Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand (1753–1832): Actor, singer, dancer, 1785–1803 first husband of Friederike Unzelmann (with whom he often performed together, e.g., as Figaro and Susanne in Beaumarchais’s Figaro’s Hochzeit). Sometimes viewed as eccentric and restless, Unzelmann was a member of various theater ensembles (including the Barzant and Döbbelin troups, in the latter of which he was generally considered the most talented and versatile member), with which he played engagements in Schwerin, Leipzig, Dresden, Hamburg, and Berlin (the latter from 1783 after leaving Dreyer’s company in Hamburg in disgust together with Johann Friedrich Fleck), and before joining the Gustav Grossmann company in Frankfurt/Main, performing there and in Mainz. After Grossmann relinquished control of the group, Unzelmann, who felt he and Friederike were being overshadowed by other players brought in to accommodate the new emphasis on opera, and because of increasing debts, secretly secured positions in Berlin, where they arrived in 1788 after considerable intrigue surrounding their departure from Mainz/Frankfurt, thereafter being members of the royal theater in Berlin, where he was known especially as an interpreter of Mozart, Shakespeare, Lessing, and Schiller. He was also a personal acquaintance of Goethe’s mother (Frau Rath) in Frankfurt, who was especially fond of him, though they later had a falling out. (Portrait: Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main; Bildsammlungen / Sammlung Manskopf; DDC-Sachgruppe: Theater, Tanz; Signatur: S36_G03688.)
Uslar, Eleonore von (1775–97): Married first to Chamberlain Carl Alexander von Kospoth (who studied in Göttingen 1785–88), then (1796) to Friedrich August Burchard, Imperial Count von Hardenberg (born 1770), later senior Prussian privy counselor and chamberlain, whence also Luise Wiedemann’s reference to her as “Countess [von] Hardenberg.”
Uslar (Usslar), Julius Heinrich (1752–1829) (incorrectly known as Johann Julius [so also Schmidt (1913) 684, and the name by which he is commonly known as an author], Heinrich Julius, and Johann Jakob von Uslar): Native of Clausthal, forestry official from a family whose ancestry extends back into the thirteenth century and includes military leaders and other foresters. For a time in Lauterbach in the Harz Mountains. Studied law in Göttingen after learning forestry from his father. From 1775 forestry auditor in the Hannoverian Harz Mountains, from 1777 directed forestry management for Harz forests, from 1781 interim forestry official in Herzberg, from 1782 permanent position as such, from 1784 senior forestry official there. 1786–88 contributed administratively to the division of the formerly communal Harz forests between the houses of Hannover and Braunschweig. Established a botanical garden in Herzberg to facilitate instructing forestery apprentices. Also published widely. Father (by his first wife) of Justus Ludewig von Uslar (born 1780), who authored the first book on allelopathy (the chemical interaction of plants); his other son, Johann Martin Wilhelm, eventually became forestry director for Braunschweig.
Valentiner, Theodor (born 1809): Pastor, from December 1838 husband of Theone Wiedemann.
Vandenhoeck, Anna, née Parry (1709–87): Wife of Abraham Vandenhoeck (ca. 1700–50), founder of the Göttingen publishing company Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. The company’s founding in 1735 was closely associated with the founding of the university itself in Göttingen. After founding similar companies in London and Hamburg, Vandenhoeck was invited to Göttingen when the university administration realized a larger-scale publishing enterprise than the current municipal printer was needed; Vandenhoeck acquired authorization to establish a printing and bookselling company on 13 February 1735. After his death in August 1750, his widow, Anna Vandenhoeck, initially directed the company alone, then together with Carl Friedrich Günther Ruprecht, who eventually inherited the company, whence the name Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
Van der Becke, Johann Karl (1756–1830): Lawyer, variously minister of state, minister of justice, and chancellor of the Duchy of Gotha.
Vandeul, Marie-Angélique, Madame de, née Diderot (1753–1824): Musically gifted and unusually well-educated daughter (and sole surviving child) of Diderot. From 1772 married to an old friend of the Diderot family, Abel Caroillon de Vandeul, whom Diderot charged with editing his manuscripts after his death
Varnhagen von Ense, Karl August (1785–1858): Diplomat, publicist, writer, editor. A physician by university training (1808, Erfurt), from 1809 participated in the wars against Napoleon in Austrian service, from 1813 secretary to the Russian general von Tettenborn. 1814 married Rahel Levin, whose Berlin salon had previously been a literary gathering place. 1814/15 participant at the Congress of Vienna, 1816–19 Prussian representative in Karlsruhe, though his liberal sentiments prompted his dismissal during preparations for the Karlsbad Decrees. From 1819 in Berlin as writer, political publicist, historiographer, and literary critic, his and Rahel’s salon becoming a literary gathering place. Ennobled 1826. Best known for his biographical and autobiographical publications, including especially with respect to Rahel’s literary estate. His own literary estate came into the hands of the Berlin royal library but was moved to Krakau during the Second World War, where a significant collection still remains. (Portrait: in Gustav Könnecke, Bilderatlas zur Geschichte der deutschen Nationallitteratur, 2nd ed. [Marburg 1895], 409.)
Vasari, Giorgio (1511–74): Italian painter and architect, author of influential biographies of Italian artists, Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects (Le Vite delle più eccellenti pittori, scultori, ed architettori) (1550; revised 1568), generally recognized as having inaugurated the genre of encyclopedias of artist biographies and as representing one of the founding texts on art history. First edition tended to emphasize Florentine art, while the second added material covering Venetian art as well.
Veit, David Joseph (1771–1814): Physician, writer. Born in Breslau (nephew of Simon Veit, first husband of Dorothea Mendelssohn), Veit moved to Berlin early and became acquainted with the circle around Rahel Levin. From 1793 studied medicine in Göttingen, Jena, and Halle, receiving his degree in 1797 (dedicated his dissertation to Alexander von Humboldt). After an educational journey to Paris and numerous publications (including literary works and translations), he settled in Hamburg in 1799, often socializing with the Reimarus/Sieveking families, whence perhaps his meeting with Caroline. He was also acquainted with Henriette Mendelssohn during her stay in Vienna. Published a biography of the physician Johann Albert Heinrich Reimarus (1807). Also known for his correspondence with Rahel Levin.
Veit, Jonas (later Johannes) (1790–1854): Painter. Son of Dorothea and Simon Veit. Stayed with his father in Berlin after their divorce in 1798. After first preparing for a career in business with his uncle in Berlin, from 1809 studied at Dresden Art Academy, 1810 converted to Catholicism (taking the name Johannes) with his brother, Philipp, from 1811 in Rome (till 1819), where he became involved with the Nazarene group around J. F. Overbeck. Returned to Rome in 1822 after a brief stay in Berlin. (Portrait: Dorothea v. Schlegel geb. Mendelssohn und deren Söhne Johannes und Philipp Veit: Briefwechsel, ed. J. M. Raich, 2 vols. [Mainz 1881], frontispiece to vol. 2.)
Veit, Philipp (13 February 1793–18 December 1877): Painter, poet. Son of Dorothea and Simon Veit. Stayed with his mother after their divorce in 1798. From 1808 studied at the Dresden Art Academy under Caspar David Friedrich. Participated in the Wars of Liberation (1814/15), after which he studied painting in Rome, becoming involved with the Nazarene group around Johann Friedrich Overbeck. Returned to Germany in 1830, till 1843 director of the Municipal Art Institute in Frankfurt/Main, from 1854 of the Municipal Gallery in Mainz. Produced frescos (contributing to their revival) and murals in both Italy and Germany, religious panels, and also published poetry. His mother lived with him in Frankfurt after Friedrich Schlegel’s death. (Portrait: Dorothea v. Schlegel geb. Mendelssohn und deren Söhne Johannes und Philipp Veit: Briefwechsel, ed. J. M. Raich, 2 vols. [Mainz 1881], following p. 128.)
Veit, Simon (1754–1819): Berlin banker, first husband of Dorothea Schlegel, née Mendelssohn, father of Jonas and Philipp Veit. (Portrait by Johannes Veit 1809–10; Jüdisches Museum Berlin, gift from Gershon und Loretta Konirsch; photo: Kai-Annett Becker.)
Veith, Johann Philipp (1769–1835): Landscape painter and engraver in Dresden, where he attended the Dresden Art Academy. One of the early painters of the area called Saxon Switzerland southeast of Dresden, which Caroline had visited in 1798 with Rahel Levin.
Veldeke, Heinrich von (ca1140-1150–ca. 1210): Middle High German poet of the twelfth century. He seems to have been a knight from the area around Maastricht, later present at the Thuringian court of Landgrave Hermann. Best known for his adaptation of the Aeneid and for several lyric poems on the medieval understanding of love, minne, though often with the joy in nature predominating and the love element capable of fulfillment
Velthusen, Johann Caspar (1740–1814): From 1759 a student of theology in Göttingen, was the private tutor of Christian Friedrich Michaelis till 1764, when he left Göttingen, then 1770–73 court chaplain to the queen of England (wife of George III) in London, from 1775 professor of theology in Kiel, 1778 abbot in Marienthal and professor in Helmstedt. Published prodigiously. (Portrait: unknown artist.)
Vergennes, Charles Gravier, Comte de (1717–87): From 1774 till 1787 largely anti-British foreign minister under Louis XVI who advocated supporting the American colonies.
Vermehren, Friedrich Bernhard (21 January 1802–31 July 1871): Son of Johann Bernhard and Henriette Vermehren in Jena. He received his early education in Jena itself (recalling also the Battle of Jena in 1806) and at the Gymnasium in Weimar. Studied law in Jena and Göttingen, attained his doctorate and Habilitation, the latter authorizing him to lecture. Switched to general legal practice in 1829 as an assessor, then as a Rath, in the district court in Hildburghausen. Married in 1828 to Constanze, née Schuderoff. From 1844 worked in the Thuringian Court of Appeals in Jena. Died suddenly during a journey in 1871. Also published on legal topics.
Vermehren, Henriette, née von Eckardt (1765–1842): Writer, mother of four children, wife of Johann Bernhard Vermehren, her second of three marriages: her first was with the postmaster Eber in Jena, then with Vermehren, and after his death with the widowed Jena mathematician and physicist Professor Johann Heinrich Voigt. She was a native of Jena and the eldest daughter of the jurist and Hofrath Johann Ludwig von Eckardt, i.e., also the sister of Rosine Eleonore Niethammer. Published in both issues of her husband’s Musen-Almanach (1802, 1803).
Vermehren, Johann Bernhard (1777–29 November 1803): Writer, originally from Lübeck. From 1796 studied philosophy in Jena, where he also became a lecturer, from 20 April 1801 married to the widow Henriette Eber, daughter of Professor Johann Ludwig von Eckardt (1732–1800). Published early poetry in Schiller’s Musen-Almanach and the Berlinisches Archiv der Zeit (1800) as well as a verse paean on Schiller’s Maria Stuart. Although he initially found Friedrich Schlegel’s Lucinde repugnant, a friend persuaded him to view it from a different perspective. The result was his Briefe über Friedrich Schlegels Lucinde zur richtigen Würdigung derselben (Jena 1800), in which he went to considerable lengths to deduce a moral and aesthetic framework within which to view the work in a positive light, even adducing comparisons with Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi’s novel Woldemar(Flensburg 1779) and drawing on Fichtean philosophy. The book enjoyed little success, even among the Romantics themselves, was severely criticized, and at least in part prompted Schleiermacher’s Vertraute Briefe über die Lucinde (Lübeck, Leipzig 1800), though Friedrich himself received it warmly enough and even enlisted Vermehren as one of his opponents (a defendant could choose two) at his dissertation defense in Jena. He also helped Vermehren launch his own Musenalmanach (two issues; 1802, 1803), for which both Goethe and Schiller, however, withdrew their submissions, while Wilhelm Schlegel and Tieck refused to submit anything for it and even Friedrich spoke condescendingly of it while yet contributing fifteen poems, as did Sophie Mereau (Brentano’s wife), Friedrich von Hardenberg’s brother Karl von Hardenberg-Rostorf, the philologist Friedrich Ast, Louise Brachmann, Karl Ludwig von Knebel, Henriette Vermehren (his wife; contributing to both volumes), and especially Friedrich Gottlob Klopstock and Friedrich Hölderlin. (Portrait: unknown artist.)
Vernet, Claude-Joseph (1714–89): French landscape and marine painter. Spent twenty years in Rome, where he especially studied marine painting and produced paintings depicting such marine views as seaports, storms, shipwrecks, and calm, moonlit seas; after returning to Paris was commissioned to paint a series of the seaports of France.
Vieweg, Johann Friedrich (1761–1835): Publisher. Born in Halle and influenced by Friedrich Nicolai to become a publisher, Vieweg apprenticed there in the Waisenhaus firm and then in Hamburg with the Bohn firm, where he was particularly influenced by Joachim Heinrich Campe, whose daughter Charlotte he married in 1795 (Caroline mentions his presence in Braunschweig as a “bridegroom” in 1795). From 1784 worked with the Mylius company in Berlin, founding his own company in 1786. First publisher of Athenaeum. Moved to Braunschweig in early 1799, selling his business to Heinrich Frölich after problems with the Prussian censor and an invitation from the Duke of Braunschweig, Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand. His clients included Christoph Martin Wieland, Goethe (e.g., Hermann und Dorothea), and Johann Gottfried Herder. Political conditions during the Napoleonic age hindered the company (Vieweg being viewed as a favorite of the duke, who was allied with Prussia), which regained its footing only after Vieweg’s eldest son, Eduard, took over and began emphasizing works in the natural sciences. Vieweg was especially attentive to the typography of his books, which tended to distinguish them from those of other publishers. Participated later in municipal politics in Braunschweig. (Portrait: unknown artist.)
Vieweg, Sophie Elisabeth Lucie Charlotte, née Campe (1774–1834): Daughter of Joachim Heinrich and Dorothea Marie Campe, from 27 October 1795 wife of Johann Friedrich Vieweg. She is the “Lotte” of her father’s adaptation of Robinson Crusoe, Robinson der Jüngere. Ein Lesebuch für Kinder (Hamburg 1779/1780), and his widely read Väterlicher Rath für meine Tochter. Ein Gegenstück zum Theophron, der erwachsenen weiblichen Jugend gewidmet (Frankfurt, Leipzig 1789) was dedicated to her. (Portrait: unknown artist.)
Villers, Charles François Dominique de (1765–1815): French officer and philosopher who popularized the ideas of Kant in France. From 1792 exiled from France, from 1796 student in Göttingen, where he made the acquaintance of Dorothea Schlözer, who took him into her house in Lübeck in 1797 with her husband, Mattheus Rodde. Made the acquaintance of Madam de Staël in Paris in 1803 and significantly influenced her view of Germany, which later came to expression in her book De l’Allemagne (1813). During the French occupation of Lübeck in 1806, Villers was able to protect the Roddes’ house from severe plundering. From 1811 professor of philosophy in Göttingen, where he was able to assist the Roddes financially after their bankruptcy. (Portrait: by Friedrich Carl Gröger.)
Virgil (70–19 BCE): Roman poet, scholar, author of works on rural topics and the expansive epic on the founding of Rome, Aeneis or Aeneid.
Voigt, Charlotte Sophie Henriette, née Blumenbach (dates unknown): Sister of Johann Friedrich Blumenbach in Göttingen, from 1778 wife of mathematician Johann Heinrich Voigt in Jena.
Voigt, Christian Gottlob (1) (1743–1819): Administrative official in Weimar, from a family with longtime ties with the royal house there. From 1761 studied law in Jena. From 1766 practicing lawyer and administrator in the ducal library in Weimar. Despite his administrative duties, maintained an appreciation of the arts, in which he himself dabbled as an occasional poet and collector (his considerable coin collection was auctioned to the ducal library after his death); also maintained an interest in classical culture and writers throughout his life. 1770 married Johanna Victoria Michaelis, née Hufeland, a maternal cousin. From 1777 administrative official in Weimar, eventually appointed to the important privy council, in which Voigt was often the most active member (Goethe, also a member, was at times occupied with his own work, and other members were often simply too old, sick, or weary of the work). From 1788 senior official in charge of overseeing the state’s scholarly and artistic institutions, including the university in Jena, and much of the florescence of the university at the turn of the century resulted from his actions, not least from his attempts to keep promising young faculty members from being wooed away by other institutions. From 1803 minister of finance, that is, during the fiscal crisis at the university resulting from the Napoleonic wars, his performance then in part being responsible for Duke Karl August ennobling him in 1807. After the death of his wife, in 1815 he married her niece, Amalie Osann, née Hufeland, widow of administrative official Heinrich Gottfried Osann. (Portrait: Hans Wahl, Anton Kippenberg, Goethe und seine Welt [Leipzig 1932].)
Voigt, Christian Gottlob (2) (27 August 1774–19. Mai 1813): Youngest son of the Weimar privy councilor of the same name, with whom he also became associated professionally as a privy administrative councilor himself. From 1798 married to Amalie Henriette Caroline, née Ludecus (1780–1840), daughter of Johann August Ludecus and his second wife, Amalie, née Kotzebue. In April 1813 Voigt and a friend were arrested by the French for a military indiscretion and were to be executed by firing squad in Erfurt. Although Duchess Luise intervened and secured his release, the experience severely upset him; he died from a fever on 19 May 1813.
Voigt, Johann Heinrich (1751–1823): Mathematician, physicist, professor in Jena. From 1775 instructor of mathematics and physics at the Gymnasium in Gotha, his hometown. From1778 married to Charlotte Sophie Henriette, née Blumenbach. From 1789 (when he earned his doctorate) professor of mathematics in Jena, later also professor of physics. First wife was the sister of Johann Friedrich Blumenbach in Göttingen. After her death, he married Bernhard Vermehrens’s widow, Henriette, née Eckard, sister of Imannuel Niethammer’s wife.
Voght (Voigt), Kaspar von (1752–1839): Head of a leading mercantile business in Hamburg; the son of Johann Albert Heinrich Reimarus was apprenticed with Voght.
Vogt, Nikolaus (1756–1836): Historian, statesman. A native of Mainz; after the surrender of the city to the French at the end of 1797, he followed the prince-electoral government to Aschaffenburg, continued to lecture at the university, which was also transferred there, and also became head of the educational system and librarian. After the establishment of the grand duchy of Frankfurt, Karl Theodor von Dalberg made him a curator of education and later appointed him a privy legation Rath in the foreign ministry.
Vohs, Friederike Margarethe, née Porth (1777–1860): From 1793 actress in Weimar, first to play the role of Maria Stuart; 1803–5 in Stuttgart. From 1793 wife of the actor Heinrich Vohs, and from 1818 of the Dresden actor Friedrich August Werdy, though she also had a child out of wedlock with Prince Paul of Württemberg in 1805, the daughter Adelheid Pauline Karoline (28 November 1805–72). Also performed in Vienna, Frankfurt, and Dresden. First actress to play Thekla in Schiller’s Wallenstein in the Lauchstädt performances, and Kreusa in Wilhelm Schlegel’s Ion. (Portrait: by Konrad Westermayr, frontispiece to the Theater Kalender auf das Jahr 1799 [Gotha 1799].)
Vohs, Johann Heinrich Andreas (1762–1804): Actor, 1792–1802 in Weimar. Little is known about Vohs’s early years. He first appears in 1789 as a member of the national theater in Bonn, then in his debut in Weimar in the role of Eduard Ruhberg in Verbrechen aus Ehrfurcht. 1793 married Friederike Margarethe Porth (born 1777), who had recently become an actress in Weimar accompanied by her parents. Both gained Goethe’s respect as actors. Vohs contributed to the reorganization of the Weimar company in 1793 (e.g., disciplinary regulations). Became director, albeit restricted to narrowly defined artistic areas. In 1794 he also assumed various other responsibilities with the company, including the theater library, sets, and costumes, as well as, with Willms, the theater chronicle (or journal, noting such items as income and attendance) during the company’s summer appearances in Erfurt, Rudolstadt, and Lauchstädt, though he added personal notes concerning productions and audience reception which are valuable reading even today. Unfortunately, personnel problems prompted him to be relieved as director, which happened in 1796. Thenceforth he concentrated on his own roles, reciting the prologue in the costume of Max Piccolomini and then playing the role of a cuirassier in the premiere of Schiller’s Wallensteins Lager on 12 October 1798, then playing the role of Max Piccolomini in the two other parts of the trilogy (being criticized variously for speaking some part with excessive sentimentality or with not engaging enough youthful verve in the role). His performance in the title role of Schiller’s adaptation of Macbeth on 14 May 1800 received better reviews (Schiller having embraced him after the performance despite his having forgotten some lines). In the premiere of Maria Stuart, Vohs played Mortimer, while his wife played the role of Maria Stuart. Financial difficulties prompted him to accept the position as director at the newly organized theater in Stuttgart in September 1802, though he did perform that summer during the company’s guest appearances in Lauchstädt and Rudolstadt. Ill health kept him from having much success in Stuttgart, however, and he died just two years later. His wife remained for a time in Stuttgart, then moved to Frankfurt, remarried, and continued acting.
Volkmar: Otherwise unidentified acquaintance of Luise and C. R. W. Wiedemann in Braunschweig. According to Julius Steinberger, Erinnerungen 136, he was a mineralogist and was mentioned in Wiedemann’s handwritten biography as one of Wiedemann’s friends.
Vollborth, Christiane, née Offeney (1756–89): Raised in Homburg, apparently declined several marriage offers before becoming the first wife of Johann Karl Vollborth in Göttingen in 1785.
Vollborth (also Volborth), Johann Karl (1748–96): Studied in Göttingen from 1768 till 1772, moving thence to Hannover as the tutor to two sons of a certain Herr von Bremer. He returned to Göttingen in 1775, attained his masters, and became a tutor in the department of theology; from 1778 pastor at the Church of St. Nicolaus, from 1785 professor (extraordinarius) of theology. Also pastor in the Church of St. Mary. In 1792 he left Göttingen to become superintendent in Gifhorn. His wife, Christiane, née Offeney, allegedly kept an extremely social house in Göttingen but died in 1789. Volborth quickly became engaged to Sophia Louise, née Becké, youngest daughter of a legal administrator with the university, Johann Becké, marrying her on 11 October 1789. (Portrait: 1791 by Heinrich Schwenterley; Sammlung Göttinger Universitätsgeschichte Portraits; Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen.)
Volta, Alessandro (1745–1827): Italian physicist who did work with what became known as the voltaic pile, on atmospheric electricity, and other newer phenomena in physics. Taught at Padua.
Voltaire, François-Marie Arouet de (1694–1778): French philosopher and writer. 1750–53 at the court of Friedrich II in Potsdam, a stay that ended with a falling out between the two but did not prevent them from carrying on an extensive correspondence later. Known especially for this philosphical writings contra dogmatic religion, authority, injustice, intolerance, and defective political institutions. Prolific writer in varied genres, including for the theater. (Portrait: in Gustav Könnecke, Bilderatlas zur Geschichte der deutschen Nationallitteratur, 2nd ed. [Marburg 1895], 220.)
Voss, Abraham (12 February 1785 in Eutin– 13 November 1847 in Kreuznach): Fifth son of Johann Heinrich Voss the Elder. From 1810 Gymnasium professor in Rudolstadt, from 1821 in Kreuznach, later as director.
Voss, Christian Friedrich (1722–95): Berlin bookseller, son of the Lübben bookseller Johann Georg Voss († 1732), apprenticed from 1740 till 1746 with the Berlin bookseller Johann Andreas Füdigger, marrying his daughter Dorothea Henrietta in 1748. From 1748 he ran a branch of the company in Berlin (by special dispensation of Friedrich II and against the wishes of other booksellers) and in 1782 received royal permission to move all operations to Berlin. Christian Friedrich Voss transferred the entire company to his son in 1791, who had worked with him since 1779. The son, however, died in 1795, two days before his father. The company published significant works by Lessing, Friedrich the Great, Herder, and Jean Paul, and the periodical Vossische Zeitung, the latter bearing the name of Voss though it was founded by Rüdiger at the beginning of the eighteenth century, Voss coming into its possession by way of marriage to Rüdiger’s daughter and also changing its name.
Voss, Georg (1765–1842): Leipzig publisher and bookseller (from 1808 in Dessau); originally a merchant involved in linens and silk, apprenticing in Braunschweig; from 1782/83 in Leipzig, from 1791 co-owner, from 1804 sole owner of a book and art publishing company (Voss und Compagnie).
Voss, Johann Heinrich, the Elder (1751–1826): Writer, translator. Initially worked as a private house tutor (1769–72) because he could not afford to study at a university. Some poems he submitted to the Göttinger Musenalmanach got the attention of Heinrich Christian Boie, who then helped finance Voss’s university study. His enthusiasm for classical literature ultimately resulted in numerous significant and influential translations as well as in his participation in founding the Göttinger Hainbund poetic society in 1772. From 1775 succeeded Boie as editor of the Musenalmanach (later: Hamburger Musenalmanach), which enabled him to live as a freelance writer in Wandsbek outside Hamburg. 1772 married Boie’s sister, Marie Christiane Henriette Ernestine Boie (1756–1834), whose letters and memoirs are of considerable import for literary history. From 1778 rector at the Latin school in Ottendorf, from 1782 in Eutin, though differences with his friend and patron Graf Stolberg (who had converted to Catholicism) prompted his resignation in 1802. After a brief stay in Jena, he settled permanently in Heidelberg in 1805. Prolific writer and translator, widely known, also engaged in various literary and political feuds. His translations of Homer (Odyssey [1781], Iliad and Odyssey together [1793]), and of numerous other writers from classical antiquity were quite influential during the time (Virgil, Ovid, Horace, Aristophanes, also Shakespeare [1818–29]). His best known poetical work was the poem Luise. Ein ländliches Gedicht in drei Idyllen (1795). The combination of literary, polemical, and critical activity make him one of the most significant figures of the period. (Portrait: in Gustav Könnecke, Bilderatlas zur Geschichte der deutschen Nationallitteratur, 2nd ed. [Marburg 1895], 262.)
Voss, Johann Heinrich, the Younger (1779–1822): Writer, philologist, translator. Son of Johann Heinrich Voss the Elder. From 1799 studied theology and then philology in Halle (under Friedrich August Wolf) and from 1801 in Jena. 1804–6 professor at the Gymnasium in Weimar at Goethe’s behest, with whom he became closely acquainted, also working with him on various projects; indeed, that relationship prompted him initially to decline an invitation to teach in Heidelberg in 1804. Goethe subsequently asked him to improve the meter of Hermann und Dorothea. Ill health prompted him to take a leave of absence from his Weimar duties. After experiencing the war’s incursion into Weimar in October 1806, he moved to Heidelberg that November. From 1807 associate professor of philology in Heidelberg (from 1809 full professor). Helped his father with the latter’s translation of Shakespeare. Also translated Byron and Aeschylus.
Voss, Luise Sophie Caroline, née von Berg (28 November 1780–10 December 1865): Daughter of the Berlin administrator Carl Ludwig von Berg (1754–1847; later Count von Berg-Schönfeld) and his wife Karoline, née von Haeseler (1760–1826). Acquainted with Jean Paul and others. Eventually became senior attendant of the sister of the Prussian queen Luise. From 14 October 1800 married to August Ernst von Voss auf Gross- und Klein-Giewitz (1779–1832).
Vulpius, Christian August (1762–1827): Brother of Christiane Vulpius, studied law at Jena and Erlangen, from 1797 secretary of the library in Weimar, author of popular robber novels (his most popular being Rinaldo Rinaldini, der Räuberhauptmann, 3 vols. [1798]), and assisted Goethe with theater matters, including writing librettos. From 1801 married to Helene Deahna. (Portrait: Gustav Könnecke, Bilderatlas zur Geschichte der deutschen Nationallitteratur, 2nd ed. [Marburg 1895], 328.)
Vulpius, Johanna Christiane Sophie (1765–1816): Worked in Friedrich Bertuch’s factory in Weimar making artificial flowers before meeting Goethe in 1788 after his return from Italy, immediately then moving in with him in a unmarried relationship before marrying him in 1806 during the French occupation of Weimar, during which she saved him from marauders in the town. (Recent scholarship suggests he married her not because she saved his life, but because of property-ownership regulations in the duchy that may have threatened ownership of his house in Weimar.) Goethe did not attend her funeral. (Portrait: ca. 1789, by Goethe.)