Abstract
The concept of the demonic influence had figured prominently in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's works, especially in the closing sections of his autobiographical Dichtung und Wahrheit (Poetry and Truth), where the poet wrestled with an irresistible, demonic Wesen (presence), inherently neither good nor evil, that had profound impact on human behavior. Goethe found the demonic in world events—the great Lisbon earthquake of 1755, the reigns of Frederick II and Napoleon Bonaparte, and the sweeping revolutionary forces that had fundamentally transfigured Europe during his long life. For Fanny Hensel, the demonic affected her private, musical world; like some poeticus furor, it evidently came over her when, following her brother's advice, she composed piano instead of choral music. To her mind, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy was the source of this power, and the sibling bond could not be severed.
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