Cäcilie von Eskeles

German Jewish noblewoman

Portrait of Cecilie von Eskeles (1832)

Cäcilie von Eskeles (1760 Berlin \- 25 April 1836 Vienna) was a prominent German Jewish noblewoman, salonnière, music collector and harpsichordist in early 19th century Vienna.[1][2][3] She was a friend of Goethe[4] and of Beethoven.[5]

## Family life

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Cäcilie was the ninth of fifteen children of the Prussian Court Jew and banker Daniel Itzig and his wife Mariane (Miriam), née Wulff.[6][7] She was also known in her family as Zippora, Zipporah, Zipora, Zipper and Zipperche.[2] She was the sister of Fanny von Arnstein, Bella Salomon and Sara Levy.[8] In 1777 she married her cousin Benjamin Isaac Wulff, from whom she later separated, possibly because of his conversion to Christianity. The couple had no children.[9]

## Vienna salon

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In 1800 she married again, to Bernhard von Eskeles, a Viennese banker and business partner of Nathan Adam von Arnstein, who was married to her sister Fanny.[9][10][11] On her arrival in Vienna, Cäcilie was described by Karoline Jagemann as a woman who “outwardly bore the stamp of the women of the Old Testament” who had “not quite overcome the peculiar dialect of her nation” but who “knew how to make up for what was striking in her features by elegance in form and deportment.”[4]

Denis von Eskeles

Fanny von Arnstein’s salon was recognised as the most important during the Congress of Vienna, when Europe’s statesmen and diplomats gathered in the city to discuss the peace settlement that ended the Napoleonic Wars: Cäcilie von Eskeles’ salon was second only to hers in its brilliance.[12][13]

## Children

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Cäcilie’s older child Henrika (b.1802) converted to Christianity in 1824 and married Franz Graf von Wimpffen in 1825.[14] Her son Denis (b. 1803) also converted to Christianity, and after his father’s death took over his role in managing the banking house.[15]

## References

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1. ^ "Eskeles, Cäcilie von (1760-1836)". kalliope-verbund.info. Kalliope-Verbund. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
2. ^ a b Hoffmann, Freia. "Eskeles, Cäcilie Cäcilia (Zippora, Zipporah, Zipora, Zipper, Zipperche ) Baroness von, née Itzig, married Wulff, Wulf, married von Eskeles". sSophie-drinker-institut.de. Sophie Drinker Institut. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
3. ^ "Eskeles, Cäcilie von". deutsche-biographie.de. Deutsche Biographie. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
4. ^ a b Spiel, Hilde (2013). Fanny Von Arnstein: Daughter of the Enlightenment. New York, NY: New Vessel Press. ISBN 9781939931023. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
5. ^ "WoO 151 Der edle Mensch sei hulfreich und gut: Der edle Mensch sei hulfreich und gut! (Let the noble man be a helper and a good one) Lied for voice and piano". lvbeethoven.it. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
6. ^ Neumann, Julia. "Sara Levy". risminfo. RISM Digital Centre. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
7. ^ Todd, R. Larry (2005). Mendelssohn and His World. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195179880. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
8. ^ Gelles, Edward. "Mendelssohn and some Ashkenazi Court Jews" (PDF). balliol.ox.ac.uk. Balliol College, Oxford. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
9. ^ a b Lund, Hanna Lotte (2012). Der Berliner "jüdische Salon" um 1800 Emanzipation in der Debatte. Berlin: De Gruyter. p. 552\. ISBN 9783110271744. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
10. ^ Sinkoff, Nancy; Cypess, Rebecca (2018). Sara Levy's World Gender, Judaism, and the Bach Tradition in Enlightenment Berlin. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press. p. 249\. ISBN 9781580469210. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
11. ^ Wilhelmy-Dollinger, Petra. "Fanny Baronin Von Arnstein". jwa.org. The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
12. ^ Vick, Brian E. (2014). The Congress of Vienna Power and Politics After Napoleon. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. pp. 119, 179, 297. ISBN 978-0-674-74548-3. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
13. ^ Millán Brusslan, Elizabeth (2020). The Palgrave Handbook of German Romantic Philosophy. Springer International Publishing. p. 125\. ISBN 9783030535674. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
14. ^ Sutcliffe, Adam; Karp, Jonathan (1984). The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 7, The Early Modern World, 1500–1815. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-13821-5. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
15. ^ Singer, Isidore; Deutsch, Gotthard. "ESKELES, BERNHARD, FREIHERR VON". jewishencyclopedia.org. Jewish Encyclopedia. Retrieved 25 June 2024.