Amalie von Voigt

Amalie von Voigt’s parents are Johann August Ludecus (1741–1801), who holds the council positions of Hof-, Steuer- and Akziserat in Weimar, as well as those of privy secretary and Schattulier to Duchess Anna Amalia of Sachsen-Weimar and Eisenach, and Friederika Ludecus, née Kirms (1747/48–1789), who dies when her daughter is 13 years old. Among the child’s godparents is also Duchess Anna Amalia. The young Amalie Ludecus is brought up by maternal relatives. After her father’s second marriage to the author Johanna Karoline Amalie Kotzebue (pseudonym: Amalia Berg), August von Kotzebue’s cousin, Amalie Ludecus also finds support in her stepmother (who shares her literary interests).

In the year 1798, Amalie Ludecus marries Christian Gottlob von Voigt (the Younger), son of the Weimar minister of state and government official of the same name. Voigt the Younger is named “Geheimer Regierungsrat” in 1806. The couple remains without children and gets divorced already in 1809. After the divorce, Amalie von Voigt travels to Dresden, drawn by the local art collections. She lives from 1810 until her death again in Weimar. She undertakes trips to Berlin, Munich and Switzerland. Amalie von Voigt is buried in the Weimar Historical Cemetery.

Amalie von Voigt had a gift for languages; she spoke French, English, Italian, and later also learned Spanish. She translates literary texts from English and French and writes numerous articles for newspapers. For her literary work, she chooses a variety of pseudonyms and signs her texts with Cäcilie, A. V., Amalie, Clèmentine (e.g. “Erzählungen und Novellen von Cäcilie”, Erfurt, 1816). Several biographical texts by her come out in the “Rheinischen Taschenbuch” from 1812 to 1824, primarily dealing with different European female sovereigns of the past (e.g. Blanche of Castile and Adelaide of Italy).

Besides literature, Amalie von Voigt is also interested in craftwork throughout her whole life, especially embroidery, a field in which she is highly respected. She has a great interest in floral embroidery motifs and patterns. Evidence for her extensive knowledge in this area is found in her “Wörterbuch der Blumensprache für Verzierungsmaler und Stickerinnen”, published in Leipzig in 1822 under the pseudonym “Cäcilie”. She endeavours to pass on her knowledge and experience to others – she offers weekly lessons for bourgeois girls, in which, along with crafts, literary readings also take place.

Amalie von Voigt is friends with Christian Friedrich Tieck, Caroline Falk, Charlotte von Ahlefeld and others. She holds letter exchanges with, among others, Helmina von Chézy, Amalie von Helvig, Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, Sophie Mereau, Johanna Schopenhauer and Fanny Tarnow.

(trans. Pedro Kauffmann Amaral)