Marie Charlotte Caroline St Krod von Kerpen , Beethoven descibed her as "one of the prettiest and plumpest women in Vienna" (letter to Breitkpf and Haertel 28 Jan 1812). He dedicated Sechs Gesaege (Op.75) in October 1810 and Drei Gesaege (Op.83) in Oct 1811. Schubert dedicated Wandrers Nachtleid op. 96 No. 3 to her. PRINCESS CAROLINE MARIE KINSKY NâEE VON KERPEN (1782-1841) Lithograph by Kriehuber after Ender The composer dedicated to his patron's wife the Six Songs, opus 75, the Three Songs, opus 83, as well as his opus 94 "An die Hoffnung." ( National Library, Vienna) After her husband's death she was appointed head opf the household (Obersthofmeisterin) of the ultra-conservative Archduchess Sophie (1805-72). To quote "Nobles and Nation in Central Europe: Free Imperial Knights In The Age Of Revolution, 1750-1850 By Jr. Godsey, William D. , Jr. Godsey" pps.159,60, 161,209 p.159 ... In Princess Kinsky's orbit we find, among others, the Hackes, Kerpens, Hornstein-Goeffingens, Schenk-Castels, and the Bohemian line of the Schoenborns, to most of whom she was closely related. the splendid baroque Kinsky palaces in Vienna and Pargue became a haven, especially for the Kerpens, who had precipitously fled Koblenz the early 1790s and suffered calamitous losses of income and property on the left bank. Her parents retired to the Bohemian capital, where the archives of the Canton Lower Rhine were deposited for decades - her father having been the last director (Rittelshauptmann) - and where her mother died in the latre 1820s. Three of the princess's uncles, two Kerpens and a Hornstein, made the jump eastward in part via the Teutonic Order, which after the Treaty of Schoenbrunn (1809) existed only in Austria. Baron Wilhelm Kerpen and Baron Friedrich Hornstein-Goeffingen were furrther helped by their own close ties to the imperial family, the first to Archduchess maria Elisabeth (1743-1808) and the second to the Order's Grand Master Archduke Anton. The three destitute Hacke ...."
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