Читать книгу Truths - Prodosh Aich - Страница 8

We recall Adelheid Müller is in search of a masculine guidance for Friedrich Maximilian. He is isolated in Dessau. The members of her parental family do not care for him, not even the male members. Ultimately, she finds a solution when he is 12 years old. A friend of late Wilhelm Müller, one Professor Carus, at Leipzig is ready to take care for Friedrich Maximilian. His son Victor is of the same age. Together they attend the best school at Leipzig, the Nicolai-Schule. They become friends. Leipzig is about 60 km away from Dessau. On his school days at Leipzig, there is only one relatively reliable source of information: Max Müller. There are no records kept in the archives.

The source Georgina Max Müller is inadequate. As referred in the last chapter she marries Friedrich Maximilian Müller in the 1859. She is then 24 years old. She belonged to a copper-smelter and merchant family in the British Kingdom. Her educational background is unknown. Both of her volumes include in the main, letters written in German, translated into English. We are unable to ascertain whether she ever learnt German.

She devotes in her book approximately 6 pages to this life period of Friedrich Maximilian Müller under headings: “Nicolai School Leipzig”, “Dr. Carus”, “Music”, “Letters to his Mother” and “Examination at Zerbst”. She does not care for chronology. She quotes letters without referring to dates. Amongst them, there are also six letters of Friedrich Maximilian to his mother. These letters are translated into English from German original. We do not know by whom. We know only that the diction, the style in English, is almost that of an English scholar and not of a schoolboy. We take liberty to quote her here only once. We refrain from our comments. Georgina Max Müller:

“Before leaving the house of Dr. Carus, Max writes to his mother:— Translation.

'When I remember the time that I first sent you my birthday greetings from Leipzig, and now see that this period of life is nearly over. I must gratefully acknowledge how good God has been to us in various ways, and has given us many compensations. But above all, how grateful we should be that God has preserved you, our dear mother, to us, to sweeten for us all that is bitter, to reward all effort. How I rejoice over next year, in which a new existence opens for me, a higher aim in life floats before me, and I shall have you both with me. I cannot tell you how I rejoice at the thought of this time, when I must take another step forwards, and shall again, at all events for a time, be with my own people.'”

The chapter III of “My Autobiography” by Max Müller comprises the pages 95 - 111. On page 95 we read:

“It was certainly a poor kind of armour in which I set out of Dessau. My mother, devoted as she was to me, had judged rightly that it was best for me to be with other boys and under the supervision of a man. I had been somewhat spoiled by her passionate love, and also by her passionate severity in correcting the ordinary naughtiness of a boy. So having risen from form to form in the school at Dessau, I was sent, at the age of twelve, to Leipzig, to live in the house of Professor Carus and attend the famous Nicolai-Schule with his son, who was of the same age as myself and who likewise wanted a companion. It was thought that there would be a certain emulation between us, and so, no doubt there was, though we always remained the best friends. The house in which we lived stood in a garden and was really an orthopaedic institution for girls.”

It is a radical break in Friedrich Maximilian’s early life. For the first time in his life, he lives in an affluent household. In the whole chapter, Max Müller does not give any account of the differences of his school life at Dessau and at Leipzig. He does not disclose the personal feelings of Friedrich Maximilian being away from his mother and sister in a new so far unknown household.

We do not know whether he makes friends in the new school or in the new locality. Had there been any financial arrangements between Professor Carus and his mother? Does he get pocket money? Does he maintain the same standard like Victor in all material aspects? We do not know. Max Müller does not tell us. Instead, he presents a rather academic lecture on public schools in Germany. We are inclined to put a question mark here. We have doubts whether Friedrich Maximilian would have given the same expressions as Max Müller lets us know in the “My Autobiography”. On page 97 we read:

“There were two good public schools at Leipzig, the Nicolai School and the Thomas School. There was plenty of espirt de corps in them and often when the boys met it showed itself not only in words but in blows, and the discussion on merits of their schools were often continued in later life. I was very fortunate in being sent to the Nicolai School, under Dr. Nobbe as head master. He was at the same time Professor at the University of Leipzig and is well known in England also as the editor of Cicero. He was very proud that his school counted Leibniz among its former pupils. He was a classical scholar of the old school. During the last three years of our school life we had to write plenty of Latin and Greek verse, and were taught to speak Latin. The speaking of Latin came readily enough, but the verses never attained a very high level. Besides Nobbe we had Forbiger, well known by his books on ancient geography, and Palm, editor of the same Greek Dictionary which, in the hands of Dr. Liddell, has reached the highest perfection. Then there was Funkhänel, known beyond Germany by his edition of the Orations of Demosthenes, and his studies on Greek orators.”

It continues just like this. Then on p. 99 and 100, we read:

“We certainly did very well in Greek and Latin, and read a number of classical texts, not only critically at school, but also cursorily at home, having to give a weekly account of what we had thus read by ourselves. I liked my classics, and yet I could not help feeling that there was a certain exaggeration in the way in which every one of them was spoken of by our teachers, nay, that as compared to German poets and prose writers they were somewhat overpraised. Still, it would have been very conceited not to admire what our masters admired, and as in duty bound we went into the usual raptures about Homer and Sophocles, about Horace and Cicero.”

Later on page 102, we encounter just a touch of a personal account. (highlighted by us):

“I enjoyed my work at school very much, and I seem to have passed rapidly from class to class. I frequently received prizes both in money and in books, but I see a warning attached to some of them that I ought not to be conceited, which probably meant no more than that I should not show when I was pleased with my successes. At least I do not know what I could have been conceited about. What I feel about my learning at school is that it was entirely passive. I acquired knowledge such as it was presented to me. I did not doubt whatever my teacher taught me, I did not, as far as I can recollect, work up any subject by myself. I find only one paper of mine of that early time, and, curiously enough, it was on mythology; but it contains no inkling of comparative mythology, but simply a chronological arrangement of the sources from which we draw our knowledge of Greek mythology. I see also from some old papers, that I began to write poetry and that twice or thrice I was chosen at great festivities to recite poems written by myself. In the year 1839 three hundred years had passed since Luther preached at Leipzig in the Church of St. Nicolai, and the tercentenary of this event was celebrated all over Germany. My poem was selected for recitation at a large meeting of the friends of our school and notables of the town, and I had to recite it, not without fear and trembling.I was then sixteen years of age.

In the next year, 1840, Leipzig celebrated the invention of printing in 1440. It was on this occasion that Mendelssohn wrote his famous Hymn of Praise. I formed part of the chorus, and I well remember the magnificent effect which the music produced in the Church of St. Thomas. Again a poem of mine was selected, and I had to recite it at a large gathering in the Nicolai Schule on July 18, 1840.”

Thereafter he gives a thorough account on Friedrich Maximilian’s talent and his desire to become a poet or a musician. He is often asked to recite his poems at many large gatherings. Max Müller does not disclose the type of gatherings, nor who else of his schoolmates recite or perform something else in those gatherings. We are supposed to take note of that Friedrich Maximilian’s poetries have been rich in qualities. We just have to note it and accept it! Then he leads his readers and us to the music scene at the then Leipzig writing the lines (p.104 ff):

“During my stay at Leipzig, first in the house of Professor Carus, and afterwards as a student at the University, my chief enjoyment was certainly music. I had plenty of it, perhaps too much, but I pity the man who has not known the charm of it.”

Leipzig was a centre of music in the sense that many young later celebrated artists and composers came in search of an opportunity to become a part of the famous “Gewandhaus Orchestra” and also meeting the local musicians like Felix Mendelssohn. It is remarkable that Max Müller writes a feuilleton piece on artists and composers at Leipzig and lets us know that at the house of Professor Carus Friedrich Maximilian meets many of them. He is often invited by them to participate in their performances also. Max Müller winds up this sub-aspect in his chapter on his school days at Leipzig with the words (p. 108-109):

“At that time my idea of devoting myself altogether to the study of music became very strong; and as Professor Carus married again, I proposed to leave Leipzig, and to enter the musical school of Schneider at Dessau. But nothing came of that, and I think on the whole it was as well.”

Only once, in this chapter Max Müller refers to his beloved mother (p. 109):

“While at school at Leipzig I had but little opportunity of travelling, for my mother was always anxious to have me home during holidays and I was equally anxious to be with her and to see my relations at Dessau.”

Only once the issue of poverty is indicated during Friedrich Maximilian’s stay of five years in an affluent household of Prof. Carus (p. 109):

“Generally I went in a wretched carriage from Leipzig to Dessau. It was only seven German miles (about thirty-five English miles), but it took a whole day to get there; and during part of the journey, when we had to cross the deep and desert-like sands, walking on foot was much more expeditious than sitting inside the carriage. But then we paid only one thaler for the whole journey, and sometimes, in order to save that, I walked on foot the whole way. That also took me a whole day; but when I tried it the first time, being then quite young and rather delicate in health, I had to give in about an hour before I came to Dessau, my legs refusing to go further, and my muscles being cramped and stiff from exertion, I had to sit down by the road.”

Rather casually, he reports of a praising letter to his mother from the school at Leipzig. The next paragraph begins (p.103-104):

“It was rather hard on me that I had to pass my examinations for admission to the University (Abiturienten-Examen) not at my school, but at Zerbst in Anhalt. This was necessary in order to enable me to obtain a scholarship from the Anhalt Government.”

This information is then followed by a small lecture on the differences between schools in Anhalt-Dessau and schools in Prussia. This is an effective technique to wrap up disadvantageous facts that cannot be concealed and lead the readers to an entertaining story whose factual validity will generally not be questioned and/or cannot be verified if the story is told plausibly and palatably.

In this chapter titled “School-days at Leipzig” in his autobiography Max Müller does tell us almost nothing on the “school-days” of Friedrich Maximilian at Leipzig. After all, he spends important years of his life ‘in the house of the Professor Carus’, which, no doubt, formed his later personality. And we do comprehend the structure of his personality that is wrapped around his narrations. The famous Nikolai-Schule does not change his basic personality remarkably. Nothing-unusual things have happened in that school that could change his basic personality.

Excepting for the remark we have just learnt between two consumable narrations that:

“It was rather hard on me that I had to pass my examinations for admission to the University (Abiturienten-Examen) not at my school, but at Zerbst in Anhalt. This was necessary in order to enable me to obtain a scholarship from the Anhalt Government.”

We recall his sufferings at Dessau due to poverty, negligence by both of the families, his social isolation, his social discriminations and the regular attacks of severe migraines. We recall also Adelheid’s ambitions, projected on her children, and her depressions. We recall the original words by Max Müller as well:

“My childhood at home was often very sad. My mother, who was left a widow at twenty-eight with two children, my sister and myself, was heart-broken.”

“My father was a rising poet, ... Contemporaries and friends of father, particularly Baron Simolin, a very intimate friend, who spent the Christmas of 1825 in our house, ...”

“Even the life insurance, which is obligatory on every civil servant, and the pension granted by the duke, gave my mother but a very small income, fabulously small, when one considers that she had to bring up two children on it. It has been a riddle to me ever since how she was able to do it.”

“The more I think about that distant, now very distant past, the more I feel how, without being aware of it, my whole character was formed by it.”

“On my mother’s side my relatives were more civilized, and they had but little social intercourse with my grandmother and her relatives.”

“... but for many years my mother never went into society, and our society consisted of members of our own family only. All I remember of my mother at that time was that she took her two children day after day to the beautiful Gottesacker (God’s Acre), where she stood for hours at our father’s grave, and sobbed and cried. ... At home the atmosphere was certainly depressing to a boy. I heard and thought more about death than about life, though I knew little of course of what life or death meant. I had but few pleasures, and my chief happiness was to be with my mother, I shared her grief without understanding much about it. She was passionately devoted to her children and I was passionately fond of her. What there was left of life to her, she gave it to us, she lived for us only, and tried very hard not to deprive our childhood of all brightness.”

“As far back as I can remember I was a martyr to headaches. No doctor could help me, no one seemed to know the cause. It was a migraine, and though I watched carefully I could not trace it to any fault of mine. The idea that it came from overwork was certainly untrue. It came and went, and if it was one day on the right side it was always the next time on the left, even though I was free from it sometimes for a week or a fortnight, or even longer. It was strange also that it seldom lasted beyond one day, and that I always felt particularly strong and well the day after I had been prostrate. For prostrate I was, and generally quite unable to do anything. I had to lie down and try to sleep. After a good sleep I was well, but when the pain had been very bad I found that sometimes the very skin of my forehead had peeled off. In this way I often lost two or three days in a week and as my work had to be done somehow, it was often done anyhow, and I was scolded and punished, really without any fault of mine own.”

All these aspects remain in this chapter un-referred to. We remember we have only one source of information. Stories written down by Max Müller, two years before he dies. In this Chapter of “My Autobiography” Max Müller actually proposes to remember back and to present phases of development of Friedrich Maximilian from his childhood to a young man; the development of an unfortunate morbid-depressive boy to young man. He does not do it in actuality. Instead, he writes a palatable chapter on general topics under the heading: “School-days at Leipzig”. He reports nicely that Friedrich Maximilian writes poetry and recites them in public gatherings while he went to Nicolai-Schule at Leipzig. Then he elaborates on his strong affinity for music.

Unless one has become sceptical one reads further without getting time to read an episode a second time and lured by another palatable episode. A critical review of the school days at Dessau is also called for. We cannot overlook that Max Müller did not even indicate that Friedrich Maximilian was developing strong affinity towards music and poetry in Dessau. We remember also that Wilhelm Müller wrote lyrics and Adelheid Müller was a good singer. Yet, he did not develop any special affinity towards music. But all on a sudden at Leipzig, we recall (p. 104 ff.):

“During my stay at Leipzig, first in the house of Professor Carus, and afterwards as a student at the university, my chief enjoyment was certainly music. I had plenty of it, perhaps too much, but I pity the man who has not known the charm of it. At that time Leipzig was really the centre of music in Germany. Felix Mendelssohn was there and most of the distinguished artists and composers of the day came there to spend some time with him and to assist at the famous Gewandhaus concerts. I find among my letters a few descriptions of concerts and other musical entertainments, which even at present may be of some interest. I was asked to be present at some concerts where quartets and other pieces were performed by Mendelssohn, Hiller, Kalliwoda, David and Eckart. Liszt also made his triumphant entry into Germany at Leipzig, ... . The house of Professor Carus was always open to musical geniuses, and many an evening men like Hiller, Mendelssohn, David, Eckert &c., came there to play, while Madame Carus sang, and sang most charmingly. I too was asked sometimes to play at these evening parties.”

Max Müller has evolved to a master in wrapping and covering of one simple but important fact. The childhood of Friedrich Maximilian at Dessau and his school-days at Leipzig were obviously not at all remarkable and noteworthy. And so far it had been a rather dull life without promising any successes. He has been in one of the best schools in Germany, Nicolai-Schule at Leipzig, since he was 12 years old. However, he is not merited enough to get his Abitur (school final) from the Nicolai-Schule:

“It was rather hard on me that I had to pass my examinations for admission to the University (Abiturienten-Examen) not at my school, but at Zerbst in Anhalt.”

First of all we must ascertain that “Zerbst in Anhalt”, to put it mildly, is absolutely wrong. Zerbst was an adjacent separate “province” in Prussia in the north of Anhalt-Dessau. Then: why at Zerbst and why not at Dessau? He does not explain. We look into his biographies. None of his later biographers takes note of this key-information in their writings. So, no one questions. And no questions, no answers. We won’t like to speculate. We raise this question and demand from the recent biographers of Max Müller a convincing answer. This is not the only question that arises in our mind. We shall take up the issue: “It was rather hard on me that I had to pass my examinations for admission to the University (Abiturienten-Examen) not at my school, but at Zerbst in Anhalt.” in a while in our next chapter.

Friedrich Maximilian does not try out his literary talent to become a celebrated poet. We do not know whether he has written poetries at all. Max Müller does not present those poetries composed by Friedrich Maximilian. The same thing holds regarding his talent for music. Liking music and having exampled talent are two different things. We leave poetry and music at that. Max Müller closes this chapter, “School-days at Leipzig” with a cute story (p. 109-111):

“A more ambitious journey I took in 1841 with a friend of mine, Baron von Hagedorn. He was a curious and somewhat mysterious character. He had been brought up by a great-aunt of mine, to whom he was entrusted as a baby. No one knew his parents, but they must have been rich, for he possessed a large fortune. He had a country place near Munich, and he spent the greater part of the year in travelling about and amusing himself. He had been brought up with my mother and other members of our family, and he took a very kind interest in me. ... Hagedorn, with all his love of mystery and occasional exaggeration, was certainly a good friend to me. He often gave me good advice, and was more of a father to me than a mere friend. He was a man of the world, and therefore his advice was not always what I wanted. He was also a great friend of my cousin who was married to a Prince of Dessau, and they had agreed among themselves that I should go to the Oriental Academy at Vienna, learn Oriental languages, and then enter the diplomatic service. As there were no children from the Prince’s marriage, I was to be adopted by him, and, as if the princely fortune was not enough to tempt me, I was told that even a wife had been chosen for me, and that I should have a new name and title, after being adopted by the Prince. To other young men this might have seemed irresistible. I at once said no. It seemed to interfere with my freedom, with my studies, with my ideal of a career in life; in fact, though everything was presented to me by my cousin as on a silver tray, I shook my head and remained true to my first love, Sanskrit and the rest. Hagedorn could not understand this; he thought a brilliant life preferable to the quiet life of a professor Not so I.”

This sentimental and tear-jerking story has obviously sold well. A lot has been written and fabricated on Max Müller and around him. No one has yet commented this story on his “first love, Sanskrit and the rest”. We are unable to buy this story. We have read this story more than once. And we have checked facts and facts behind facts. We read this story once more in the light of careful reading facts:

“A more ambitious journey I took in 1841 with a friend of mine, Baron von Hagedorn.

(Baron von Hagedorn? Barons are generally not titled with “von”. Being a German, Max Müller should have known this. That is not all. There is no mention of a “Baron Hagedorn” in reference books on nobles. A “Baron Hagedorn” has never existed. He is a creation of Max Müller. It is also remarkable that he has not disclosed the Christian (first) name of his “Hagedorn”.)

He was a curious and somewhat mysterious character. He had been brought up by a great-aunt of mine, to whom he was entrusted as a baby.

(“A great-aunt of Friedrich Maximilian”? From his father’s side? Well! There is nothing on record in the archives. We let it be without a comment. We know this lineage pretty good.

Who could be from his mother’s side? We recall. Adelheid’s grandfather was Johann Bernard Basedow, son of a barber/wigmaker in Hamburg. Nothing is handed down on his wife or on her parental family in the archives. Johann Bernard Basedow’s son, Ludwig Basedow, became Ludwig von Basedow in 1833. He did not have a sister. He had two sons, one daughter, Adelheid. The elder son succeeded his father as the administrator in the Duchy Dessau-Anhalt. He was not significant enough to be recorded in the annals. His first (Christian) name is not known. The younger son, Carl von Basedow is recorded in the annals of Medicine with the term Basedow’s disease in continental Europe, which otherwise seems to be known as Graves’ disease. Who could have been a great-aunt of Friedrich Maximilian? Then, by whom could she be entrusted to bring up an unknown baby later becoming “Baron Hagedorn”? On top of it, as already indicated, a “Baron Hagedorn” is not on any genealogical record. Internet search machines will refer to Max Müller’s autobiography only.)

No one knew his parents, but they must have been rich, for he possessed a large fortune.

(Even if we accepted that no one knew the parents of the baby and this “baby” possessed a large fortune, yet the question will have to be answered, how this baby should become a Baron.)

He had a country place near Munich, and he spent the greater part of the year in travelling about and amusing himself. He had been brought up with my mother and other members of our family, and he took a very kind interest in me. ... Hagedorn, with all his love of mystery and occasional exaggeration, was certainly a good friend to me. He often gave me good advice, and was more of a father to me than a mere friend. He was a man of the world, and therefore his advice was not always what I wanted.

(This part of the story does not need any commentary in our context.)

He was also a great friend of my cousin who was married to a Prince of Dessau, and they had agreed among themselves that I should go to the Oriental Academy at Vienna, learn Oriental languages, and then enter the diplomatic service. As there were no children from the Prince’s marriage, I was to be adopted by him, and, as if the princely fortune was not enough to tempt me, I was told that even a wife had been chosen for me, and that I should have a new name and title, after being adopted by the Prince.

We keep aside the lineage of his father. We remember, Wilhelm Müller was the sixth child of seven children of Christian Leopold and of Marie Leopoldine Müller. They lost all other children before Wilhelm Müller was three years old. Nothing else of this lineage is on records. Who could have been the cousin of of Friedrich Maximilian?

Carl von Basedow had daughters, but none of them was married to a “Prince of Dessau”.

On top of it, there had never been a “Prince of Dessau”. Leopold I, was a German prince of the House of Ascania and ruler of the principality of Anhalt-Dessau from 1693 to 1747. Leopold II Maximilian was a German prince of the House of Ascania and ruler of the principality of Anhalt-Dessau from 1747 to 1751. Leopold III Frederick Franz, Duke of Anhalt-Dessau, known as "Prince Franz", was a German prince of the House of Ascania. From 1751 until 1807, he was Reigning prince of the Principality of Anhalt-Dessau and in 1807, he became the first Duke of the Duchy of Anhalt-Dessau. Leopold IV Frederick, Duke of Anhalt was a German prince of the House of Ascania. From 1817 until 1853 he was ruler of the duchy of Anhalt-Dessau and from 1847 until 1853 also ruler of the duchy of Anhalt-Köthen. From 1853 until 1863 he was the ruler of the joined duchy of Anhalt-Dessau-Köthen and from 1863 the first ruler of the united duchy of Anhalt. All of them were married to nobles and had children.

There is a reference of one Waldemar Wilhelm von Anhalt-Dessau born on May 29, 1807 in Dessau, died 1864 in Vienna. He was a son of Prince Frederick von Anhalt-Dessau (1769-1814) from his marriage with Christiana Amalie (1774-1846), daughter of the Landgrave Frederick V of Hesse-Homburg. He married “morganatic” on 9 July 1840 Caroline Emilie (1812-1888), the daughter of a court musician, Karl Friedrich Klausnitzer, in Dessau. Caroline Emilie was raised to a “wife of a Baron” while Waldemar Wilhelm von Anhalt-Dessau lived incognito the life of a baron William Stolzenberg in Vienna, where he and his wife adopted in 1855, the daughter of his brother Georg, the Countess Helene von Reina (1835-1860).

We are left alone with these references. Even if we considered that Max Müller might have meant these two in Vienna, we cannot overcome one puzzle. The questions invariably arise, how Caroline Emilie at the age of 28, and Waldemar Wilhelm at the age of 33, could have known in 1840 (the year of their “morganatic” marriage) that they won’t have children in their marriage? Therefore they wanted to adopt the cousin-brother of Caroline Emilie, Friedrich Maximilian, who was then 17 years old and just passed his high school?

Apart from this puzzle, we also note that Caroline Emilie becomes the “wife of a Baron” in 1842. We recall that an offer was made to Friedrich Maximilian before he is admitted at the Leipzig University in 1841.

To other young men this might have seemed irresistible. I at once said no. It seemed to interfere with my freedom, with my studies, with my ideal of a career in life; in fact, though everything was presented to me by my cousin as on a silver tray, I shook my head and remained true to my first love, Sanskrit and the rest.

(Max Müller may tell his stories. But the fact is that Friedrich Maximilian could not have “remained true to my first love, Sanskrit and the rest” as Sanskrit and the rest were unknown at Dessau, Leipzig and Zerbst during his school days.)

Hagedorn could not understand this; he thought a brilliant life preferable to the quite life of a professor Not so I.”