Grafin Maria Misa von Wydenbruck-Esterhazy (1859-1926)

Grafin Maria Misa von Wydenbruck-Esterhazy (1859-1926).

Also: Grafin Mária Esterházy de Galántha, Mária Gräfin Esterházy, Grafin Wydenbruck-Esterhazy Freiin zu Galantha, Countess, Misa.

• Profession: Salonniere, financier, singer and pianist.
• Residences: Vienna.
• Relation to Mahler: Close friend of Gustav and Alma Mahler. Neigbor. House Wydenbruck – Rennweg No. 1a. Attended 1910 Concert Munich 12-09-1910 – Symphony No. 8 (Premiere).
• Correspondence with Mahler: Yes. Total of 27 letters from Gustav Mahler to Grafin Maria Misa von Wydenbruck-Esterhazy (1859-1926) (once owned by Henry-Louis de La Grange (1924-2017) and Herta Blaukopf (1924-2005)):
  • 27-05-1900 Letter.
  • 18-01-1901 Letter.
  • 25-01-1902 Letter.
  • 08-05-1902? Kaltenleutgeben (near Vienna), letter.
  • 07-12-1905 Letter.
  • 04-01-1908 New York, 1907-1908 Hotel Majestic, letter.
  • 16-04-1908 New York, 1907-1908 Hotel Majestic, letter.
  • 23-04-1908 Cuxhaven, 1908 Eastbound 23-04-1908 until 02-05-1908 S.S. Kaiserin Auguste Victoria, Postcard Alma. 02-05-1908.
  • 00-08-1908 Lake Misurina, “Villa Altschluderbach”, Postcard Alma.
  • 13-11-1908 Cherbourg, 1908 Westbound 11-11-1908 until 21-11-1908 S.S. Amerika, Postcard Alma and Gustav.
  • 03-04-1909 New York, Skyscraper, Postcard.
  • 08-12-1910 Niagara Falls, Postcard.

See the original correspondence at: Wydenbruck from Mahler (.pdf, now in bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich, before owned by Henry-Louis de La Grange).

• Born: 08-05-1859 Vienna, Austria.
• Maried: 09-09-1883 Graf (Count) August Willem Maria von Wydenbruck (08-1857 until 22-11-1905).
• Three children:
  1. Grafin Clementine (Tinette) von Ruzicic-von Wydenbruck (1884-1971). Mahlers favorite. She married Nikolaus von Ruzicic, Edler von Sanadol (1875-1955).
  2. Grafin Gabriele Desfours-von Wydenbruck (1886-1955). She married Nikolaus Desfours-Walderode.
  3. Graf Wilhelm von Wydenbruck (1890).
• Address 1900-1909: House Wydenbruck – Rennweg No. 1a (second floor, salon).
• Other child in the family: Gabriele Karoline des Fours (1886-1955).
• Died: 29-08-1926 Vienna, Austria. Aged 67.
• Buried: 01-09-1926 Central cemetery, Vienna, Austria. Grave 55-B-23.

Patron of literature and music. She led Mark Twain (1835-1910), who visited Vienna in the period from 1897-1899, into the society and organized a breakfast of Mark Twain with Peter Nansen. Supporter of  Arthur Schnitzler (1862-1931) with whom she had close contact and described at that time as: peculiar and subtle phenomena of modern literature. The grafin organized public readings of Mark Twains works.

She patronized:

• Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
• Marie Gutheil-Schoder (1874-1935)
• Leo Slezak (1873-1946)
• Anton van Rooy (1870-1932)
• Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957)
• Bruno Walter (1876-1962)
• Rose Quartet
• Secession (members)
• ‘Jung Wien writers’

All of them visited and performed in her salon.

Her daughter, Grafin Clementine (Tinette) von Ruzicic-von Wydenbruck (1884-1971) and the daughter of Mark Twain (1835-1910), Clara Langhorne Clemens Samossoud, (1874-1962) became close friends.

Grafin Maria Misa von Wydenbruck-Esterhazy (1859-1926).

Besides literature, music was their second interest: She collected money and donated a Stradivarius (built 1718) to Arnold Josef Rose (1863-1946), the legendary leader of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (VPO) and first violinist of the world-famous Rose Quartet. It was for his 50th birthday (24-10-1913). Arnold Rose is a brother in law of Gustav Mahler.

She had a close friendship with Gustav Mahler (1860-1911). Mahler was not often in her salon. When rehearsals were closed he would sometimes invite her to watch discreetly from the rear of a box and drop into his office beforehand. Some of Mahler’s letters gave or withheld permission for various singers to perform at one of her benefits.

Mahler gave Misa a rough cut of the Finale of Symphony No. 2, dated 13-06-1894. When he submitted his resignation in 1907 she was one of those who wanted to stop him through an open letter. Missa congratulated Mahler on his engagement with Alma.

When Mahler resigned from the Vienna State Opera in 1907 she was one of those who wanted to dissuade him through an open letter (25-05-1907 page 10 in the Neue Freie Presse):

Neue Freie Presse 25-05-1907. Letter from Grafin Maria Misa von Wydenbruck-Esterhazy (1859-1926) and friends.

Neue Freie Presse 25-05-1907. Letter from Grafin Maria Misa von Wydenbruck-Esterhazy (1859-1926) and friends.

Neue Freie Presse 25-05-1907. Letter from Grafin Maria Misa von Wydenbruck-Esterhazy (1859-1926) and friends.

“A letter for Gustav Mahler” – Hermann Bahr (1863-1934), Richard Beer-Hofmann (1866-1945), Ludwig Bosendorfer (1835-1919), Max Burckhardt (1854-1912), Julius Epstein (1832-1926), Josef Hoffmann (1870-1956), Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874-1929), Gustav Klimt (1862-1918), Koloman Moser (1868-1918), Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951), Paul Stefan (1879-1943), Friedrich Fritz Waerndorfer (1868-1939), Grafin Maria Misa von Wydenbruck-Esterhazy (1859-1926), Stefan Zweig (1881-1942), Berta Zuckerkandl-Szeps (1864-1945).

Grafin (Tinette) von Rusicic born Grafin Wydenbruck-Esterhazy (1884-1971)

In 1900 Gustav Mahler gave Tinette (born 1884) a photo of himself with a quote from Act I of Die Walküre for her 16th birtday (08-06-1900). She was nurse in a military hospital in military hospital, Vienna 1915. Her husband Ruzicic lived in Vienna and appears to have been a good friend of Alma Mahler (1879-1964) prior to Alma’s emigration. During the war Ruzicic had contact with Alma’s stepfather, Carl Julius Rudolf Moll (1861-1945), and half-sister, Maria Eberstaller-Moll (1899-1945). Her former admirer Jesko von Puttkamer baptized in 1890 in her honor a place in present-day Togo in the name Misahöhe (Missahoe).

Clarice Rothschild was a mutual friend of her husband Nikolaus von Ruzcic and Alma Mahler.

Grafin Clementine (Tinette) von Ruzicic-von Wydenbruck (1884-1971). She worked as a Red Cross Nurse under the name Sister Clementine in a Military Hospital in Vienna.

Grafin Clementine (Tinette) von Ruzicic-von Wydenbruck (1884-1971).

Grafin Clementine (Tinette) von Ruzicic-von Wydenbruck (1884-1971).

Grafin Clementine (Tinette) von Ruzicic-von Wydenbruck (1884-1971).

Grafin Clementine (Tinette) von Ruzicic-von Wydenbruck (1884-1971).

Grafin Clementine (Tinette) von Ruzicic-von Wydenbruck (1884-1971).

Grafin Maria Misa von Wydenbruck-Esterhazy (1859-1926).

In this grave:

1. Her husband: August Graf Wydenbruck (born: 00-08-1857, died: 22-11-1905). Aged 48.
2. Grafin Maria Misa von Wydenbruck-Esterhazy (1859-1926). Aged 67.
3. Her daughter: Gabriele Grafin Desfours-Walderode (born: 20-04-1886, died: 20-10-1955). Aged 69.
4. Her son in law, husband of Clementine: Nikolaus Ruzicic Edler von Sandol (born: 10-08-1875, died: 08-11-1955). Aged 80. General-major.
5. Her daughter: Clementine von Ruzicic (born: 08-06-1884, died: 28-12-1971). Aged 88.
6. Isabel von Ruzicic (born: 20-07-1918, died: 24-09-1985). Aged 67.

See also Galanta house, Slovakia. From 1421 owned by the House of Esterházy.