Born: 24 October 1739, Germany
Died: 10 April 1807
Country most active: Germany
Also known as: NA
The following is excerpted from Famous Women: An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women, written by Joseph Adelman, published 1926 by Ellis M Lonow Company.
Anna Amalia, Duchess of Saxe-Weimar. She was married to Duke Ernest of Weimar in 1756.
After her husband’s death in 1758 she took the reins of government, and held them so well that Saxe-Weimar was able speedily to recover from the effects of the Seven Years’ War, and escaped the famine of 1773.
In 1775 she resigned the administration to her son, and devoted herself to the cultivation of literature.
For thirty years she lived in the society of Goethe, Herder, Schiller and other men of eminence.
The following is excerpted from A Dictionary of Music and Musicians, published in 1900 and edited by George Grove.
ANNA AMALIA, Duchess of Saxe Weimar, born at Brunswick, Oct. 24, 1739, and learned music from the conductors of the ducal chapel at Weimar. She composed the music in Goethe’s melodrama of ‘Erwin und Elmire,’ a notice of which will be found in the ‘Teutscher Mercur,’ May, 1776. The duchess was a woman of fine and noble taste, and to her countenance and support is greatly due the excellence of the music in the Weimar theatre about 1770. She died April 13, 1807.
The following is excerpted from “400 Outstanding Women of the World and the Costumology of Their Time” by Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, published in 1933.
Her father was the Duke, Karl I of Braunschweig, Wolfenbiittel, her mother, a sister of Frederic the Great. In youth, she kept this uncle as an ideal. She was studious, most eager to learn, and understood the details of the diplomatic service. She was a great admirer of the fine arts. In 1756 she married Duke Ernst August Constantin of Weimar. Her marital bliss was ended by the death of her husband in 1758. Two small sons, and the regency, remained for her to guide and manage, which she did in the most remarkable manner. All through the depressing Seven Years’ War she was at the helm of her state, never faltering. She was ten years older than Goethe and a great admirer of his genius. He called her a perfect and noble ruler, with a tender heart and possessed of good common sense. She handed the regency over to her son, Karl August, in 1775 . The remainder of her life was spent in scientific and artistic pursuits. The Wittumpalais, built under her direction, is one of the grand sights of Weimar.
IW note: The library that she established in Weimar, named for her, is now home to around 1 million works.