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CHAPTER 1
BRINGING UP IDA
âI was born with this travel- and wanderlust.â
Ida Pfeiffer, 1856
Ida was born in October 1797 in Vienna the third child of Aloys and Anna Reyer. Her father was a wealthy textile manufacturer and exporter. Ida and her elder brothers Karl and Gustav were joined in the following years by another three brothers. Until her ninth year, Ida was the only girl in a family of five boys. A sister, Marie, would be the last child.
This environment may have allowed Idaâs somewhat wild and independent nature to flourish more freely than it might otherwise have done. âI was not shy,â she recalled, âbut wild as a boy, and bolder and more forward than my elder brothers.â12 We have to rely on her later autobiographical account for many details, even though, of course, retrospective self-reporting is fraught with problems, biases and inaccuracies.
She was without doubt a tomboy. She wore boysâ clothing and abhorred the idea of wearing a dress or pursuing feminine pastimes. Instead she played with toy swords and rifles with her brothers. When the Napoleonic wars erupted across Europe, she regretted her young age, rather than her sex, which she naively believed was the only thing that kept her from taking part in fighting for her country.
These fantasies may have been encouraged by her otherwise strict father who, perhaps facetiously, declared that Ida should be raised in the same manner as her brothers. As a stern father, Reyer refused to spoil his children with luxuries. They were served only the simplest meals while the adults dined sumptuously. Special favours or complaints about harsh treatment were taboo. Such measures were meant to teach his children to endure hardship. This would turn out to be good training for Ida. And, in retrospect, the strict but indulgent regime of her father was a sort of utopia, in the original sense of the word.
In 1806 Herr Reyer died aged only forty-three. For young Ida this meant not only the loss of a parent, but the loss of the tolerant phase of her childhood when wearing boysâ clothes and abstaining from learning the feminine arts were tolerated. After a few months her mother insisted that it was time for Ida to wear dresses and adopt womanly ways. The result was a massive act of passive protest by Ida. She fell dangerously ill. It was probably a form of deep depression. The doctors advised that Ida be allowed to resume her masculine garb for a little while longer. It worked and she recovered.
Eventually Ida reluctantly had to give in to the pressure. Although it cost her many tears, at thirteen she had to put on a dress again. Along with proper attire came the other expected female activities for a young lady of her class. There were the trappings of middle-class learning, piano, foreign languages, literature, household management and social skills. Transforming into what she had abhorred must have cost her more than a pang. Perhaps a part of her died and a new Ida emerged. Or perhaps the new Ida was a hybrid. Maybe the independent rebel still lurked inside, like a seed silently awaiting the right circumstances to sprout and grow.
Vienna was the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, one of the great powers of Europe and exceeded in size only by the Russian Empire. The elegant capital city along the gentle Danube was surrounded by beautiful and fertile fields, to the west the imposing spectacle of the mountains and to the east a vast fertile plain all the way to Hungary. Mountains in the background would prescribe Idaâs idea of a beautiful view for the rest of her life. Firmly Roman Catholic, Viennaâs trademark building then as now was the charming gothic monument of St. Stephenâs Cathedral whose bright Romanesque roof tiles and spire towered above all other structures in the city. From these heights stone gargoyles overlooked the city.
English-speaking readers will tend to think of Pfeiffer as Victorian, but Ida grew up during what German speakers know as the Biedermeier period, including the years after the fall of Napoleon in 1815 to the revolutions of 1848. The name itself is a later caricature derived from a fictional character designed to make fun of the domestically obsessed and tamely depoliticised middle classes of the era. Historian E. H. Gombrich called it the âperiod of tranquillity and leisure ⌠of the administrative or professional middle-class citizenâ.13 Thomas Mannâs novel Buddenbrooks (1901) remains a quintessential portrayal of the age.
In the aftermath of the French revolution and the Napoleonic wars, the re-established European monarchies, and in particular that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire ruled by Francis I and his ruthless Foreign Minister, Prince von Metternich, reigned with great strictness and suspicion. Secret intelligence agencies and press censorship were mercilessly employed to protect the status quo. Clubs and social societies were closed and some of their leaders imprisoned.
With the public and social spheres so curtailed and under surveillance, more time and attention were focused on the home and the private sphere. At the same time burgeoning numbers of middle-class families had money to spend. Although they tried to emulate the untouchable aristocracy above them, their own culture developed into the distinctive Biedermeier style of interior design, furniture, music and art. A well-appointed living room was the centre of much attention and scrutiny by visitors. And no haute bourgeois household such as the Reyerâs was complete without fine furniture, elegant wallpaper, a piano and windows festooned with elegant lace curtains. From 1826 the popular waltzes and polkas of Johann Strauss were to become the background music to this world.
Biedermeier society also involved the meticulous scrutiny of dress, manners and behaviour. Social etiquette and polite social intercourse involved many rules about meeting and greeting, conversation, invitations, dining and so forth. Virtues such as diligence, modesty, order and cleanliness were the most highly praised. The latter was to become a particular favourite of Idaâs. When she later travelled to distant places, it was through Biedermeier spectacles that Ida would perceive the world.
Donât stand so close to me
The year after Idaâs brief encounter with Napoleon, a handsome tutor named Franz Josef Trimmel, twenty-three, was engaged to educate the Reyer children, including the eccentric Ida, now thirteen. In his free time Trimmel was an enthusiastic traveller, if only regionally. He even wrote poetry about travel. Trimmel taught Ida history and geography and to appreciate nature from the then fashionable romantic perspective. Trimmel succeeded in passing on his enthusiasm for reading books of travel to his recalcitrant young pupil. Ida was soon inspired above all by the idea of visiting far-off lands. She envied âevery navigator and naturalistâ who was lucky enough to travel.14
The great Prussian naturalist-explorer Alexander von Humboldt was an obvious favourite. His writings ignited the imaginations of generations of scientific travellers.15 Charles Darwin was only one of his scientific offspring. The remotely set fantasy of Robinson Crusoe was another of her favourites. Reading about distant lands was not only part of the fashionable romantic longing for places remote, but for Ida it was also an escape from her uncomfortable position in both home and society â where she was a misfit, barely tolerated, and felt unloved. Surely in distant countries one could be free.
Trimmel treated her with a kindness and sympathy she found nowhere else. Ida soon developed a crush on him. For his sake she undertook the training in feminine arts that she had so long resisted and so deeply despised. Such contemptible domestic activities as sewing, knitting and cooking were mastered. Even the stereotypical middle-class piano playing was taken up. To please him she tried to succeed at all the tasks he set. After three or four years the âwild boyâ had become an unassuming young lady.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, her feelings for Trimmel soon turned from a crush to an enflamed âgushing love for himâ.16 Eleven years older than Ida, Trimmel sensed the invisible sparks and felt something for her too. But it seems that, for now, such feelings were kept secret by both parties.
After tutoring Ida, Trimmel moved on to become a modestly well-paid civil servant in the Ministry of the Interior. Yet he remained such a close friend of the family that Frau Reyer jokingly referred to him as âher dear sixth sonâ.17 Ida later recalled:
He was at every party in our house, and went with us wherever we accepted an invitation; always accompanying us to theatres, in our walks, and so on. What was more natural than that we should both persuade ourselves that my mother had intended us for each other, and would perhaps only stipulate for our waiting till I had attained my twentieth year, and T[rimmel] had a better appointment?18
In 1814, when Ida was seventeen, a wealthy Greek gentleman asked her mother for permission to marry Ida. This was declined because the Greek was not a Catholic and her mother thought it indecorous for a lady under twenty to marry. Perhaps people always want what seems hard to get. The Greekâs proposal had two dramatic consequences. First, it awoke in Ida more passionate and heart-rending feelings for Trimmel than she had recognised before. âI had hitherto had no idea of the powerful passion which makes mortals the happiest or the most miserable of beings ⌠I felt that I could love no one but T[rimmel].â19
The second effect was on Trimmel. He had heard about the proposal. Suddenly spurred by the fear of losing Ida, Trimmel confessed his love to her. The two were of one mind. They wanted to marry. Trimmel had only to ask Frau Reyer for Idaâs hand. Bad idea.
This was no Jane Austen romance â although exactly contemporary. Yet Ida, plain but intelligent, could have been an Austen heroine. But Trimmel was no Darcy. He was a love match to be sure but he was of lower social status and wealth. Frau Reyer was horrified at this unperceived wolf in sheepâs clothing in their midst. He was not even close to the social level she expected for Ida. Frau Reyer not only refused his request but Trimmel was banned from the house and from seeing Ida ever again.
Ida was as obstinate as ever. She declared that if she could not be with Trimmel, she would not marry. Frau Reyer took Ida to a priest to talk some sense into her about the duty of children to be obedient to their parents. Her mother and the priest pressured Ida to swear a solemn oath on a crucifix that she would not secretly see Trimmel or ever write to him. Ida refused to take the oath but was finally persuaded to promise to do as she was bidden, but on one condition, that she could write him one last letter explaining what had happened. In the letter, she begged him not to believe anything he might hear about her from other people. Since she would be obliged to marry a suitor of her motherâs choice, Ida vowed to write and tell Trimmel if she became engaged.
Trimmel replied with a brief letter full of bitter sorrow. He knew her mother and understood the circumstances and accepted that there was no way out. He resigned himself to the inevitable. With all his hopes smashed, he declared that he would never marry.
Ida recalled that âthree long, sorrowful years passed away without my seeing him, and without any change in my feelings or positionâ. Then one day while Ida was out walking with a friend of her motherâs, she ran into Trimmel. They both froze. There was a long awkward pause. Neither could utter a word until Trimmel enquired after her health. âI was too deeply moved to be able to reply,â she recalled, âmy knees trembled, and I felt ready to sink into the earth. I seized my companion by the arm and drew her away with me, and rushed home, scarcely conscious of what I was doing. Two days afterward I was stretched on my couch in a burning fever.â20
Literally heartbroken, Ida fell into a terrible illness. It was believed that her life was in danger. However, one day a gossipy nurse let drop that the family expected Ida to die. The effect was extraordinary. Ida fell into a deep slumber and awoke refreshed and recovered. Perhaps knowing her protest wasnât working had some unconscious effect.
As the family was wealthy, there was no shortage of suitors, circling like vultures. But Ida rejected every offer. With each refusal her position at home became more difficult. In the end her home life became so unbearable that she decided it would be better to marry to escape it. So she promised to accept the next proposal provided that the gentleman was of advancing years. This would at least show Trimmel that she had been coerced into marriage. Maybe she also hoped that she would soon be a widow.
In 1819 Dr Mark Anton Pfeiffer visited Vienna on business. Originally from Switzerland, he was one of the most distinguished advocates in Lemberg, the capital of Austrian Poland (now Lviv, Ukraine). He was a widower whose grown son was studying law at the University of Vienna. Having been introduced socially to ...
