d'Agoult, Marie

AUTHOR, HISTORIAN, NOBLEMAN (FRANCE)
BORN 31 Dec 1805, Frankfurt am Main, Hessen - DIED 5 Mar 1876, Paris
BIRTH NAME d'Agoult, Marie Christine Sophie de Flavigny, comtesse
GRAVE LOCATION Paris: Père Lachaise, Rue du Repos 16 (division 54)

Marie Agoult was born in Germany as the daughter of the comte de Flavigny and Marie-Elisabeth Bethmann, the daughter of a rich banker. After the Bourbons regained power her family moved back to France and she was educated at the Sacré-Coeur convent in Paris.

She married count Charles d'Agoult in 1827, but she wasn't happy in this marriage. In 1833 she left him for Franz Liszt and she lived openly as his mistress until the affair ended around 1844. They had two daughters and a son. Their daughter Cosima married Richard Wagner. She wrote about her liaison with Liszt in "Nelida" (1846).

She turned to journalism and contributed frequently to the liberal french press, under the name Daniel Stern. Her "Essai sur la liberté" (1847) was praised by Sainte-Beuve. She took part in the revolution of 1848 and during the Second Empire her salon was a meeting point for the liberal opposition. Her "Histoire de la Révolution de 1848" was praised for its objectivity.

Although she was critical of emperor Napoleon III and her salon was a meeting point for liberals during the Second Empire, her writings were politically moderate. She advocated improved education for women without claiming completely equal rights. Before she died in 1876 she had written her memoirs and they were published as "Mes Souvenirs, 1806-1833" (1877) and "Mémoires 1833-1854" (1927).

Family
• Daughter: Wagner, Cosima
• Son: Liszt, Daniel

Related persons
• knew Cohen, Hermann
• was the lover of Liszt, Franz

Events
24/7/1837Franz Liszt and Marie d'Agoult leave Nohant. They had been staying with George Sand for two months. [Liszt, Franz]
10/8/1837Franz Liszt and Marie d'Agoult arrive in Geneva. They were on their way from Nohant to Italy. [Liszt, Franz]
29/8/1837Franz Liszt and Marie d'Agoult arrive in Milan. They stayed with the Ricordi family who provided them with a carriage, a loge at the Scala and their summer house. But the heat in Milan made them decide to return to Bellagio at the Lake Como and stay their for a longer time. [Liszt, Franz]
6/9/1837Franz Liszt and Marie D'Agoult settle in Bellagio for a longer time. They rented rooms in a house that still exists and is now marked by a plaque. They stayed there until the end of October. [Liszt, Franz]
18/10/1837Franz Liszt and Marie d'Agoult arrive at Sesto Calende at the Lago Maggiore. They were forced to stay there for two days because they weren't immediately allowed to cross the border to the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia. [Liszt, Franz]
20/10/1837Franz Liszt and Marie d'Agoult arrive in Como [Liszt, Franz]
20/4/1856Hans von Bülow asks Franz Liszt for the hand of his daughter Cosima. At first Liszt wouldn't give his blessing because he thought Bülow, with his strange moods and headaches, a scary person. He hoped that she would marry a nobleman. After Cosima's mother Marie d'Agoult declared herself against the marriage, Liszt changed his mind and gave his approval. [Bülow, Hans von][Liszt, Franz][Wagner, Cosima]

Images

The grave of Marie Agoult (also known as Daniel Stern) at Père Lachaise, Paris.
Picture by Androom (06 Mar 1995)

 

Sources
• Marek, George R., Cosima Wagner, Ein Leben für ein Genie, Knaur, München, 1993
Winkler Prins Encyclopedie (editie 1909), 1909
https://lisztkring.nl/index_html_files/Liszt_Tijdschrift_13.pdf
https://lisztkring.nl/index_html_files/Liszt_Tijdschrift_14.pdf


Dagover, Lil

Published: 07 Apr 2007
Last update: 25 Apr 2022