Johanna Schopenhauer
| Johanna Schopenhauer | |
|---|---|
Johanna Schopenhauer in 1800
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| Born | Johanna Henriette Trosiener July 9, 1766 Gdańsk, Royal Prussia, Crown of the Kingdom of Poland |
| Died | April 17, 1838 (aged 71) Jena, Kingdom of Prussia, German Confederation |
| Occupation | Author |
| Language | German |
| Nationality | German |
| Citizenship | Polish, German |
| Spouse | Heinrich Floris Schopenhauer (m. 1785–1805) |
| Children |
Arthur Schopenhauer Adele Schopenhauer |
Johanna Schopenhauer (née Trosiener; July 9, 1766 – April 17, 1838) was a German author. She is today known primarily for being the mother of Arthur Schopenhauer.
Johanna Schopenhauer was born in Gdańsk, the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, to a family of wealthy merchants of Dutch extraction. Her father, Christian Heinrich Trosiener, was also a senator in the city. At 18 years of age she married Heinrich Floris Schopenhauer, a rich merchant twenty years her senior. He was to become the father of her two children, Arthur and Adele Schopenhauer.
In 1806, shortly after her husband's death, Johanna and Adele moved to Weimar. She had no relatives or close acquaintances in that city. The reason she chose Weimar, then the centre of German literary life, as her new residence, is rumoured to have been the desire to meet Goethe. At the time of Johanna's arrival, however, Weimar was on the brink of a war against France: French military troops commanded by Napoleon were heading to the city, and combat broke out shortly after Johanna and Adele's arrival. It's thought that, even though it was widely known that a conflict between France and Weimar was imminent, Johanna didn't know of that danger before she arrived in the city. Though transportation out of the city was available to her and her daughter, she decided to stay in Weimar as she didn't want to leave her servants to their own luck. During wartime Johanna was very active at the local scene: she harboured German officials arrived in the city, and they dined at her house; volunteered to nurse wounded soldiers; and sheltered many of the less fortunate Weimar citizens whose homes French soldiers had taken over. As a result, she quickly became very popular in Weimar.
Past the war, she earned a good reputation as salonnière. For years to come literary celebrities – e.g. Goethe, Wieland, the Schlegel brothers August and Friedrich, and Tieck — twice a week gathered in her house. As proven by letters she exchanged with her son, her plan to host Germany's greatest minds in salon reunions had been made before she moved out of Hamburg. Goethe's endorsement was a major factor behind Johanna's quick social success: Johanna was the first upper-class woman in Weimar society to willingly open the doors of her house to Goethe's wife, Christiane Vulpius, who was of lower-class background and a mistress of Goethe's before legally marrying him during the French invasion. And in gratitude, Goethe became one of the first and most commonly seen figures in Johanna's reunions, which alone ensured the popularity of her parties.
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