Elisa von der Recke
Elisabeth "Elisa" Charlotte Constanzia von der Recke (née von Medem; 20 May 1754 – 13 April 1833) was a Baltic German writer and poet. Family. Elisa von der Recke was born in Schönberg, Skaistkalne parish, Courland, the daughter of Graf (later Reichsgraf) Johann Friedrich von (1722-1785) and his wife, Luise Dorothea von (1736-1757). Her younger half-sister was Dorothea von Medem, for whom she carried out diplomatic work. In 1771 she married Kammerherr Georg Peter Magnus von der (1739-1795), living with him at Neuenburg Castle (now Jaunpils Castle). She separated from him in 1776  and divorced in 1781. Their daughter, Frederika von der Recke, died in 1777. Life. In 1787 her first book, "Nachricht von des berüchtigten Cagliostro Aufenthalt in Mitau im Jahre 1779 und dessen magischen Operationen", a memoir-exposé of the months when she studied magic with "Count" Alessandro di Cagliostro, made a great impact right across Europe, with Catherine the Great even granting Elisa lands in Russia in recognition of the work (making Elisa financially independent). She got to know Goethe, Schiller, Wieland, Herder and other European literary figures, and intensified their relationships through prolific correspondence. From 1798 she lived  almost exclusively in Dresden, and from 1804 cohabited there with her friend Christoph August Tiedge. Their meetings were religio-sentimentalist in tone, with the singing of chorales by Johann Gottlieb Naumann. Her works consisted mainly of pietist-sentimentalist poems, journals and memoirs. Elisa von der Recke looked after thirteen foster daughters. She died in Dresden and is buried at the in Dresden.