Marie Lipsius Was a Well-Known German Writer on Music and Journalist
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Lipsius, Marie 127) Profile Marie Lipsius was a well-known German writer on music and journalist. Under the pseudonym "La Mara", she wrote biographical portraits of musicians that were extre- mely popular during her lifetime; these appeared in jour- nals and newspapers, and were published in five antholo- gies by Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig, amongst other pub- lishers, between 1868 and 1882. Beginning in 1910, they appeared as "Little Musicians' Monographs" in indivi- dual editions in up to 17 printings and were translated in- to many languages, including English, French, Swedish, Italian and Spanish. La Mara was a committed adherent of "music of the future". Franz Liszt and Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein held her in high esteem, encouraged her and counted her amongst their circle of friends. She collected and edited the letters of Franz Liszt, as well as those of other musicians, and wrote the book "Liszt and the Women" in 1911. In 1917 she was awarded the honora- ry title of Royal Saxon Professor. Marie Lipsius/La Mara died in 1927 in Schmölen, Saxony. Cities an countries Marie Lipsius was born in Leipzig and later lived in Wei- mar with Franz Liszt and Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgen- Marie Lipsius stein, as well as in Vienna and Bayreuth for the purposes of research, where she also moved in the circles surroun- Marie Lipsius ding Richard Wagner, amongst others. She died in 1927 in Schmölen, Saxony. * 30 December 1837 in Leipzig, Deutschland † 2 March 1927 in Schmölen, Biography Ida Marie Lipsius was born on 30 December 1837 in Leip- Writer on music, feuilletonist, editor zig. After the three sons Adelbert, Constantin and Her- mann, she was the first daughter of the theologian and la- "Please allow me to add to all these so well-deserved acco- ter rector of Leipzig's St. Thomas's School, Carl Heinrich lades that your activity as a writer fills me with pride in Adelbert Lipsius, and Molly Rost, whose father had been my capacity as a woman. Without in the least having to the rector preceding Lipsius. Her mother died at the age deprive women of the area of pure activity of the imagina- of 36 of a serious illness in 1842, so that Marie was initial- tion, in which they profess such a refined sensibility and ly raised by her father and two grandmothers as well as power of observation, I am delighted to see them encou- an aunt. Her father later remarried. Marie Lipsius lived raged by you to embark upon paths on which they, with with her stepmother, Lina Wohlfahrt, in Leipzig until their pens for the benefit of the intellectual world, can in 1882. the same way replace the needle and spindle that have be- Beginning in 1849, she learned languages and other sub- en killed by machines." jects at the upper continuation school of Dr. August Ch- ristian Adolf Zestermann and organised ballet, theatrical (Princess Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein in 1871 in a let- and domestic music performances with her fellow pupils. ter to La Mara, quoted in: La Mara, "Through Music and She also became acquainted with Laura Pohl there, her Life in the Service of the Ideal", Autobiography Vol.1, p. later sister-in-law and lifelong friend. It was at the Pohl – 1 – Lipsius, Marie residence that she came into contact with Leipzig's salon pate in the ensuing social gatherings. It was here that she culture. Balls, soirees and readings were organised regu- also became acquainted with Princess Carolyne von Sayn- larly, attended by artists, scholars and the military. Plays Wittgenstein: "For the first time I saw myself across or domestic music were performed. Marie Lipsius, who from this extraordinary woman who was admired as one had received instruction in the piano from her childhood of the most important phenomena of the nineteenth cen- onwards, especially at the instigation of her paternal tury and whose romantic covenant of love with Liszt oc- grandmother, became acquainted here, for the first time, cupied the attention of the world. There was nothing im- with representatives of musical "progress" who stood in posing about her external appearance. (…) Her features marked contrast to the members of the Leipzig Conserva- were without an internal line; but she captivated others tory who were regarded as "ultraconservative" (more on through an eminently intellectual character, through the this in the next section). Laura's brother, the later music blazing fire, the expressive power of a wonderful pair of commentator Richard Pohl, acquainted her with the sym- eyes that, although frequently with half covered lids as is phonic poems of Franz Liszt and Wagner and with Ber- the wont of short-sightedness, seemed to penetrate peop- lioz's overtures and orchestral movements at the grand le and things to their innermost being." (ibid., p. 26.) piano, by playing four-hand arrangements of these In the concert halls of Leipzig, one of the music metropo- works. But their repertoire also included Schubert's mar- lises of this period, Marie Lipsius experienced many ches and chamber music, Schumann's symphonies, great artists, including the singers Pauline Viardot-Gar- "Manfred" and "Genoveva", later Brahms's Liebeslieder cia, Jenny Lind, Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient and Ro- Waltzes and Hungarian Dances, and even Strauss's Blue sa von Milde during the late 1850s and early 1860s. As a Danube Waltz. listener who was enthusiastic about music, an active do- After moving out of her parents' house, Marie Lipsius li- mestic music-maker and, especially, a devotee of Franz ved with her friend Similde Gerhard in a marriage-like Liszt, she became a direct witness of the dispute that had coexistence. It is not clear in her autobiography whether been raging for several years between the "conservatives" this was also a community of love. On the question of and the representatives of the new compositions mocked marriage, she wrote: "Love, the most powerful of earthy as "music of the future". In the beginning, this was inten- forces, has not passed me by, either. But it arrived as is ded only to disparage the works of Richard Wagner. Cho- sung in the folksong: 'They could not come together - the pin, Liszt and Berlioz, however, had already previously water was really too deep.' Many years later, he gave so- committed themselves to a "music of the future"; by this, meone else his name. Many tragic things resulted from they meant all those works that developed from a purely this connection. God granted me another joy: he allowed musical formal perfection into a kind of music that integ- me to recognise my innermost calling in the talent for rated literature as a "poetical or philosophical thread" writing about music with which he had entrusted me, and achieved "the connection between poetry and mu- and which had until now lain dormant within me. Wi- sic", as Liszt himself later formulated it as a credo. thout any selfish goals, I devote myself to it as to a sanc- (Franz Liszt, Collected Works Vol. III/1, p. 32) Both tuary. And Liszt, the one who spurred me on in my life, camps, conservative and "futurists" alike, repeatedly led was its ‘discoverer’". (La Mara, "Through Music and Life vehement battles of words in the pertinent journals and in the Service of the Ideal", Vol. 1, pp. 50–51.) in the cultural-political arena. Thus Franz Liszt won over Marie Lipsius, whom he frequ- Encounter with Franz Liszt and the "Music of the Futu- ently met in Leipzig, not only in his capacity as a skilful re" and famous piano virtuoso, or in his amiability and grega- rious spirit, but especially due to the hostilities that he It was through Richard Pohl that Marie Lipsius became had to ward off as a "futurist". But other representatives acquainted with Franz Liszt in 1856 in Weimar, an enco- of "music of the future" were also observed and depicted unter that she herself called "fateful": "This visit, to the by her with special attention. She did not meet Richard extent that it conveyed to me, in my first youth, the ac- Wagner personally, but she frequently attended the festi- quaintance with Liszt and the introduction to the Wei- val in Bayreuth, sought contact to his familial circle and mar artists' circle, was decisive for the direction of my li- edited Wagner's letters to the composer and conductor fe." (ibid., p. 24.) From then on, she could attend con- August Röckel (Leipzig 1894). certs in private and half-private settings, and also partici- – 2 – Lipsius, Marie First Publications and Pseudonym to well-known musicians, to his pupils, and to those peo- ple who were not only enthusiastic about music, but also When her father died in 1861, shortly after he had been mediated and organised it. It was through Liszt's recom- elected rector of St. Thomas's School, Marie Lipsius felt mendations that La Mara gained access to previously un- obliged to "create goals for herself in life". ("Through Mu- known or unpublished documents, letters and other sour- sic and Life", Vol. 1, p. 50) She was 24 years old at this ti- ces that represented the basis of her work as a writer. me and lived in the house of her stepmother; there were Her unconditional position in favour of the representati- no marriage plans. Her brothers had already left Leipzig. ves of the "music of the future", especially Liszt and Wag- Adelbert, the eldest, had often challenged and stimulated ner, doubtless made her enemies, but also faithful rea- his sister with lectures and conversations. One of his fri- ders; this contributed to her networking as well.