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the book collector Anna Amalia Herzogin von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (1739–1807), by Johan Georg Ziesenis (1716-1776), oil on canvas. © Vermerk: Klassik Stiftung Weimar, Bestand Museen strict plans into place to deal with fires in the town, the whole of Weimar could have been destroyed and with it the already substantial library she had moved from her residence to the Grünes Schloss in 1766. Anna Amalia lived between 1739 and 1807. She was an outstanding woman of her time with a passion for literature, theatre and music, a real patron of culture and science. Born Princess of Braunschweig-Wolfenbuettel, she was married to Ernst August II Constantin, Duke of Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach, at the age of sixteen. As far as arranged marriages of that kind went, it seemed a successful match, but one that didn’t last very long – after just two years Ernst August died and Anna Amalia was left in charge of the Duchy until her eldest son’s 18th birthday in 1775. Her reign was far from easy – she had to battle the effects of the Seven Year War, famine, a financial crisis and reforming a state that 122
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the duchess anna amalia library in weimar had been mismanaged for many years. She dispensed immediately with those of her husband’s advisors whom she didn’t trust and appointed new advisors to a Privy Council. She was well-respected and loved by citizens as she not only opened both her library and theatre to help further her people’s education, but wasn’t afraid to single out talent and then support it. Her greatest achievement was undoubtedly her library. Inspired by her home town Wolfenbuettel where, since 1713, a separate building had housed a library that was the most famous of its time, Anna Amalia decided to separate her court from her own library and give it a home of its own. Only a stone’s throw from her residence, where a library had existed since about 1691 mainly housed in the dining room, she created a beautiful new room in an already existing, small Renaissance palace (which her son improved even further). It took five years to re-decorate the place to 18th century taste, but by the time she had finished it contained a magnificent Rococo library, built over three floors. She held liberal views on access, opening the library to any learned person, locals as well as visitors – far earlier than the court libraries of Vienna, Berlin or Dresden. This led to many writers and intellectuals being attracted to Weimar. The library started off with about 30,000 books, including 5,000 from Anna Amalia’spersonal library, which made it one of the largest private libraries of a Duchess in the 18th century. When Schiller visited it in 1787 he wrote: ‘the local library is respectable and in exemplary order. There is a library catalogue, which lets you find each book on its shelf in a few minutes. History and classical authors are well represented.’ The library’s musical collection was naturally dominated by Italian opera but Anna Amalia’s book collection also included works in French, English, Latin, Greek and of course German – all languages she had learned. She herself particularly enjoyed playing the flute and given her general interest in music, it doesn’t come as a surprise that her personal collection included many musical manuscripts by women. She worked closely with the composer and singer Corona Schröter who composed the music to Goethe’s Die Fischerin which premiered at Anna Amalia’s residence Tiefurt in 1782. The musician Friederike Pallas wrote several compositions for 123

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the book collector

Anna Amalia Herzogin von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (1739–1807),

by Johan Georg Ziesenis (1716-1776), oil on canvas. © Vermerk: Klassik Stiftung Weimar, Bestand Museen strict plans into place to deal with fires in the town, the whole of Weimar could have been destroyed and with it the already substantial library she had moved from her residence to the Grünes Schloss in 1766.

Anna Amalia lived between 1739 and 1807. She was an outstanding woman of her time with a passion for literature, theatre and music, a real patron of culture and science. Born Princess of Braunschweig-Wolfenbuettel, she was married to Ernst August II Constantin, Duke of Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach, at the age of sixteen. As far as arranged marriages of that kind went, it seemed a successful match, but one that didn’t last very long – after just two years Ernst August died and Anna Amalia was left in charge of the Duchy until her eldest son’s 18th birthday in 1775.

Her reign was far from easy – she had to battle the effects of the Seven Year War, famine, a financial crisis and reforming a state that

122

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