Das Dorfchen and the 'unsinnsgesellschaft': Schubert's Elise

Musical Times, Spring 1999 by Steblin, Rita

[Zuchtig nahet Elise mit hohem, wallenden Busen; / Kennt ihr die liebliche Braut, die sich dem Unsinn vermahlt? / Durch der Feder Gewalt hat sie den Starken gezahmet, / Und mit geschmeidigem Sinn, ist er ihr Unterthan. / Also betritt sie mit siegendem Reitze die heilige Stitte, / Quanti Verdradi der Held, bietet ihr leitend den Arm.]

'Quanti Verdradi', portrayed here as a lady's man [Frauenheld], but not identified on the initial list of club members, is most likely Schubert's bosom friend Franz von Schober (1796-1882). 'Elise' is missing from the remaining group scenes: perhaps the newly-wedded Dorflinger retired early in order to look after his very pregnant wife. A newsletter report (related as a pirate's tale) about club members who had attended a masked ball on 25 November 1817 describes how 'Frau Gagernadl, the brave captainess' [Frau Gagernadl, die wackere Capitanessa], sailed home early without booty and 'headed first for the harbour of marital duty' [steuerte zuerst dem Hafen der ehelichen Pflicht zu].

In addition to the spoof on chickens and cooks, Dorflinger's code name 'Elise Gagarnadl von Antifi' was probably also meant to satirise the name of a real woman, the infamous Elise Hahn (1769-1833), the third wife of the poet Gottfried August Burger (1747-94). The latter, although attacked by both Goethe and Schiller for his literary efforts, was ranked by Arthur Schopenhauer 'as perhaps occupying the first place after Goethe among German poets'.9 Burger, who also used the pseudonym Jocosus Hilarius', was notorious for having lived in a bigamous relationship with two sisters. After the death of these two wives in 1784 and 1786 respectively, he was seduced by the young, lascivious Elise Hahn into an unwise marriage through her anonymous publication of a confessional love poem, addressed to him, in a Stuttgart magazine. (Elise came from Stuttgart, like Dorflinger's ancestors.) The scandalous marriage (in 1790) and hasty divorce (in 1792) provided Europe with some decidedly obscene reading material: an anonymously published book of 1812 recapitulated in the most racy language the progress of this unfortunate relationship, including Burger's public humiliation as a cuckold and Elise's manifold adultery.10

The 'Unsinnsgesellschaft' treated Burger as a subject of satire, citing his name three times in the surviving newsletters. All these citations occur in opening 'mottos'. For example, the newsletter dated 9 October 1817 begins with the entry 'Motto: Massetto will Du nicht tanzen! Burger'. This translates as 'Masetto, do you not want to dance!' and is a reference to the first act Finale of Mozart's opera Don Giovanni where Leporello addresses the words 'Non balli, poveretto!' to the peasant Masetto, whose bride Zerlina is about to be seduced by the Don. The nonsense-society coupling of this citation with Birger is perhaps a reflection on Elise's cuckolding of the poet. A newsletter dated 10 September 1818 begins with the motto 'Beati Ridentes! lacht nur ihr konnt es! Burger' and translates as 'Happy are those who laugh! Laugh on, you can do it!' This probably alludes ironically to Burger's non-laughable situation. The third motto is dated 8 October 1818 and reads: 'Lenore fuhr ums Morgenroth - nach Siffering spazieren - etc. Burger'. This translates as: 'Lenore went for a walk to Sievering at dawn' and incongruously combines the opening line 'Lenore fuhr um's Morgenrot' of Burger's gruesome ballade 'Lenore' (1773) with a walk to the village of Sievering, famous for its wine, on Vienna's outskirts.