Herewith a short biography that may be of interest to someone:
Carmen Sylva’s literary works ‘put Rumania on the map’ quite as much as did her royal husband’s railway building schemes and trade reforms. Much even of Rumanian peasant folklore existed only as verbal tradition until she collected it. And this was aided by her being able to speak fluently seven languages,with a good working knowledge of several others;she could write books and poetry in Rumanian, German,French and English. Or read aloud in perfect idiom from books in a language different from the text, without hesitation, or the audience guessing. Carmen’s nom-de-plume is sometimes called a ‘nom-de-guerre’; not from her wartime activity (she was known as muma rantilor”, ‘mother of the wounded’, when nursing in the Russo-Rumanian-Turkish War of 1877-8) - but perhaps from her play writing. Born Pauline Elisabeth Ottilie Louise at the Monrepos castle near Neuwied in the Prussian Rhineland, on 29th Dec.1843, she probably thought her identity would remain a secret behind the pen-name. But from a hesitant beginning -the poems “Sappho”and “Hammerstein” privately printed at Leipzig in 1880 - eventually emerged a steady stream of works; volumes of up to 459 poems (“Mein Ruh”), or of 19 essays, 14 fairy-tales, and translations of large works into various languages (“Die Beiden Masken” is 600 pages).Several of her own novels are of 300 to over 500 pages. Her translation of Rumanian poetry,especially that of Alecsandri, first made it known abroad. The pseudonym ‘E.Wedi’, a simple anagram of E. Wied, was used only for early translations of Rumanian poetry in 1878. Next came ‘Waldesang’, in German books. This was latinized to ‘Carmen Sylvae’ (‘song of the forest’) with the last letter dropped to sound like a name:
“Carmen, the song, Sylva the forest wild,
Forth comes the sylvan song, the woodlands’ child”—
(“Mein Ruh”) — and in spite of the requirements of her position, she always retained the spontaneous charm and naïvety of ‘a woodland child’. The literary outflow from 1880 to 1905 varied from collections of short stories to 3-volume sets.
Her own books were painstakingly put by others into various languages. But she herself wrote and translated effortlessly - it is said that when reading prose aloud, many mistook it for poetry. Carmen became the subject of Pierre Loti’s poignant book ‘L’Exilée’. Of this she writes:- “Loti was the involuntary witness of that romance [of the Crown Prince with one of her Maids-of-Honour], and of the moral sufferings I had to endure after the event. Touched by the injustice of which I was the victim, indignant at the fantastic tales which wicked people had invented against me, and of which the least cruel accused me of madness, Loti, as soon as he got back to France, wrote the most beautiful plea that could be imagined in favour of an innocent woman- ‘L’Exilée’. The first part, entitled ‘Carmen Sylva’, is the most flattering and indulgent portrait of a living person ever penned. Loti, so little acquainted with the political intrigues of the different courts, and especially of the court of Bucharest,did not know that the sorrows and the joys of sovereigns unfortunately belong to that secret history destined never to be written, but to be lost in oblivion together with the hearts that experienced them. Kings and Queens are not allowed to have a heart, and if they have one - then so much the worse for themselves! They are condemned by virtue of the throne theyoccupy forever to wear a smiling mask, even should they have death in their souls. Among the memories of Sinaia,Bucharest, and Venice, which Loti called up in ‘L’Exilée’ inorder to show a poor Queen, a dreamer, sad and disillusioned,as a being superhuman and almost celestial, he also spoke of the romance which had unfolded itself before his eyes. Thereby he unveiled a secret which it was considered in the interests of Bucharest to be kept private. Loti had not forseen that by openly taking my part he would make for himself as many hidden but inveterate enemies as I myself possessed. The publicity accorded to an event which had so upset the court of Bucharest, and which had given rise to so many libels, that publicity, due to the pen of a writer such as Loti, intenselydispleased King Charles, and it was according to his express orders that I had to break off all connection with that friend. That is why I have not been able to see him again, nor to read a line of his, whether written or printed.”
Her “Book of the Soul” had much impressed Loti at Venice, where she read it to him. “Almost throughout a work of genius, a work in which her nobility of soul shone at its highest”, he wrote; but this manuscript was lost or destroyed. The loss of her only child was a severe blow, affecting her health and life,and being the reason she took to the consolation of writing.Before marriage she had travelled for five years, before the first meeting with Prince Karl. He proved a man of iron, hard-working, and putting his country first, but stern to the point of cruelty. In March 1881, the actual declaration of Rumaniaas a kingdom, by Act of Parliament, took place; and on the 22nd of May Charles and Elisabeth were crowned as its first King and Queen. [ Karl’s German name is translated usually into the English ‘Charles’, and in Rumanian ‘Carol’]. The coronation was at Bucharest, with much pomp and ceremony, on 23rd May 1881. The King’s royal crown was of steel made from Turkish cannon captured at Plevna, and the Queen’s of pure gold, without jewels or ornament.Their first home was the old house of Prince Cuza, the last Phanariot ruler, who had been forced to abdicate in 1886,when Rumania was still a principality. They had been married at the Metropolitan Church, Bucharest, on 25th November 1869; having first met in Berlin in 1861.
Elisabeth was brought up a Lutheran, but Charles had before marriage already undertaken to educate his children in the Orthodox faith, despite papal disapproval. During her life, many famous people were received by Elisabeth, to talk of their art - Alecsandri; Hallstrom the Swedish composer; Augustus Becker; and Max Müller - who spoke enthusiastically of her in his letters - Paderewski; Sarah Bernhardt; Tennyson; Lilli Lehmann; Ellen Terry; Thibaud - and many more. She was an excellent pianist, organist, and singer besides her talent in poetry, folklore, ballads and plays. And her artistry in painting was considerable. (“ I wrote the whole of the Passion after the four Gospels in Roumanian, and illuminated the sixty big pages. I have done my brother’s life like that, 200 pages, all illuminated, and many other small and large books that I cannot enumerate.” There is an example of the Queen’s work in the Musée Plantin, Antwerp. Elisabeth was the daughter of Prince Hermann of Wied(1814 - 1864) and Princess Marie of Nassau (1825 - 1902)who married in 1842. In the Russo-Turkish War of 1877 - 8 she devoted herself to the care of the wounded, founding the Order of Elisabethto reward service to them. She also fostered the higher education of women in Rumania, and established societiesfor various charitable ends. All her wedding presents were sold for proceeds to these. Elisabeth in 1882 became a member of the Academy of Sciences of Bucharest; and in 1890 visited England and Wales, the guest of Queen Victoria. Many books were written in collaboration with her close friend Frau Mite Kremnitz, with the two maintaining separate pen-names and characters. Carmen died on 2nd of March 1916, loved and remembered by many.
Caliban
