Count of St. Germain


The Count of St. Germain whose real name and origins remain unknown, was a European adventurer who had interests and achievements in science, alchemy, philosophy, and the arts. He rose to prominence in the European high society of the mid-18th century due to his works and interests. He associated himself with some of the top contemporary figures, including Casanova, Voltaire and Mozart.
The count used a variety of names and titles, including the Marquess of Montferrat, Count Bellamarre, Knight Schoening, Count Weldon, Count Soltikoff, Manuel Doria, Graf Tzarogy, and Prince Ragoczy. He appears to have begun to be known under the title of the Count of St Germain during the early 1740s.
He is said to have made far-fetched claims, leading Voltaire to dub him "the Wonderman", and that "he is a man who does not die, and who knows everything". Prince Charles of Hesse-Kassel, called him "one of the greatest philosophers who ever lived".

Origins

The count's origins and background remain obscure; nothing is known with certainty of his origins. Toward the end of his life, he claimed to be the son of Francis II Rákóczi, the prince of Transylvania; while without hard evidence, this would account for his wealth and evident fine education.
The will of Francis II mentions Leopold George, his eldest son, who was believed to have died at the age of four. It has been speculated that his identity was falsified to protect against persecution from the Habsburgs. At the time of his arrival in Schleswig in 1779, he told Prince Charles of Hesse-Kassel that he was 88 years old, making his year of birth 1691, when Francis II was 15 years old.
St. Germain was supposedly educated in Italy by Gian Gastone, the grand duke of Tuscany and allegedly his mother's brother-in-law. He was believed to be a student at the University of Siena.
Throughout his adult life, he deliberately concealed his actual name and origins, using a multitude of pseudonyms in the different places he visited.

Career

England

According to David Hunter, the count contributed some of the songs to L'incostanza delusa, an opera performed at the Haymarket Theatre in London on all but one of the Saturdays from 9 February to 20 April 1745. Later, in a letter of December of that same year, Horace Walpole mentions Count St. Germain as being arrested in London on suspicion of espionage, but released without charge:
The other day they seized an odd man, who goes by the name of Count St. Germain. He has been here these two years, and will not tell who he is, or whence, but professes that he does not go by his right name; and the second that he never had any dealings with any woman – nay, nor with any succedaneum . He sings, plays on the violin wonderfully, composes, is mad, and not very sensible. He is called an Italian, a Spaniard, a Pole; somebody that married a great fortune in Mexico, and ran away with her jewels to Constantinople; a priest, a fiddler, a vast nobleman. The Prince of Wales has had an unsatiated curiosity about him, but in vain. However, nothing has been made out against him; he is released; and, what convinces me that he is not a gentleman, stays here, and talks of his being taken up for a spy.

The Count gave two private musical performances in London in April and May 1749. On one such occasion, Lady Jemima Yorke described how she was "very much entertain'd by him or at him the whole Time – I mean the Oddness of his Manner which it is impossible not to laugh at, otherwise you know he is very sensible & well-bred in conversation". She continued:
He is an Odd Creature, and the more I see him the more curious I am to know something about him. He is everything with everybody: he talks Ingeniously with Mr Wray, Philosophy with Lord Willoughby, and is gallant with Miss Yorke, Miss Carpenter, and all the Young Ladies. But the Character and Philosopher is what he seems to pretend to, and to be a good deal conceited of: the Others are put on to comply with Les Manieres du Monde, but that you are to suppose his real characteristic; and I can't but fancy he is a great Pretender in All kinds of Science, as well as that he really has acquired an uncommon Share in some.

Walpole reports that St Germain:
spoke Italian and French with the greatest facility, though it was evident that neither was his language; he understood Polish and soon learnt to understand English and talk it a little But Spanish or Portuguese seemed his natural language.

Walpole concludes that the Count was "a man of Quality who had been in or designed for the Church. He was too great a musician not to have been famous if he had not been a gentleman". Walpole describes the Count as pale, with "extremely black" hair and a beard. "He dressed magnificently, had several jewels" and was clearly receiving "large remittances, but made no other figure".

France

St. Germain appeared in the French court around 1748. In 1749, he was employed by Louis XV for diplomatic missions.
A mime and English comedian known as Mi'Lord Gower impersonated St. Germain in Paris salons. His stories were wilder than the real count's. Inevitably, hearsay of his routine got confused with the original.
Giacomo Casanova describes in his memoirs several meetings with the "celebrated and learned impostor". Of his first meeting, in Paris in 1757, he writes:
The most enjoyable dinner I had was with Madame de Robert Gergi, who came with the famous adventurer, known by the name of the Count de St. Germain. This individual, instead of eating, talked from the beginning of the meal to the end, and I followed his example in one respect as I did not eat, but listened to him with the greatest attention. It may safely be said that as a conversationalist he was unequalled.
St. Germain gave himself out for a marvel and always aimed at exciting amazement, which he often succeeded in doing. He was a scholar, linguist, musician, and chemist, good-looking, and a perfect ladies' man. For a while he gave them paints and cosmetics; he flattered them, not that he would make them young again but that their beauty would be preserved by means of a wash which, he said, cost him a lot of money, but which he gave away freely.
He had contrived to gain the favour of Madame de Pompadour, who had spoken about him to the king, for whom he had made a laboratory, in which the monarch – a martyr to boredom – tried to find a little pleasure or distraction, at all events, by making dyes. The king had given him a suite of rooms at Chambord, and a hundred thousand francs for the construction of a laboratory, and according to St. Germain the dyes discovered by the king would have a materially beneficial influence on the quality of French fabrics.
This extraordinary man, intended by nature to be the king of impostors and quacks, would say in an easy, assured manner that he was three hundred years old, that he knew the secret of the Universal Medicine, that he possessed a mastery over nature, that he could melt diamonds, professing himself capable of forming, out of ten or twelve small diamonds, one large one of the finest water without any loss of weight. All this, he said, was a mere trifle to him. Notwithstanding his boastings, his bare-faced lies, and his manifold eccentricities, I cannot say I thought him offensive. In spite of my knowledge of what he was and in spite of my own feelings, I thought him an astonishing man as he was always astonishing me.

Dutch Republic

In March 1760, at the height of the Seven Years' War, St. Germain travelled to The Hague. In Amsterdam, he stayed at the bankers Adrian and Thomas Hope and pretended he came to borrow money for Louis XV with diamonds as collateral. He assisted Bertrand Philip, Count of Gronsveld starting a porcelain factory in Weesp as furnace and colour specialist. St. Germain tried to open peace negotiations between Britain and France with the help of Duke Louis Ernest of Brunswick-Lüneburg. British diplomats concluded that St. Germain had the backing of the Duc de Belle-Isle and possibly of Madame de Pompadour, who were trying to outmanoeuvre the French Foreign Minister, the pro-Austrian Duc de Choiseul. However, Britain would not treat with St. Germain unless his credentials came directly from the French king. The Duc de Choiseul convinced Louis XV to disavow St. Germain and demand his arrest. Count Bentinck de Rhoon, a Dutch diplomat, regarded the arrest warrant as internal French politicking, in which Holland should not involve itself. However, a direct refusal to extradite St. Germain was also considered impolitic. De Rhoon, therefore, facilitated the departure of St. Germain to England with a passport issued by the British Ambassador, General Joseph Yorke. This passport was made out "in blank", allowing St. Germain to travel in May 1760 from Hellevoetsluis to London under an assumed name, showing that this practice was officially accepted at the time.
From St. Peterburg, St. Germain travelled to Berlin, Vienna, Milan, Ubbergen, and Zutphen, Amsterdam, Venice, Livorno, Neurenberg, Mantua, The Hague, and Bad Schwalbach.

Works

Musical works

The following list of music attributed to the count comes from Appendix II from Jean Overton Fuller's book The Comte de Saint Germain.

Trio Sonatas

Six sonatas for two violins with a bass for harpsichord or violoncello:
  • Op. 47 I. F major,, Molto adagio
  • Op. 48 II. B-flat major,, Allegro
  • Op. 49 III. E-flat major,, Adagio
  • Op. 50 IV. G minor,, Tempo giusto
  • Op. 51 V. G major,, Moderato
  • Op. 52 VI. A major,, Cantabile lento

    Violin solos

Seven solos for solo violin:
  • Op. 53 I. B-flat major,, Largo
  • Op. 54 II. E major,, Adagio
  • Op. 55 III. C minor,, Adagio
  • Op. 56 IV. E-flat major,, Adagio
  • Op. 57 V. E-flat major,, Adagio
  • Op. 58 VI. A major,, Adagio
  • Op. 59 VII. B-flat major,, Adagio