{{Short description|Viennese socialite and salonnière}} {{Infobox person | name = Baroness Fanny von Arnstein | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Vögele Itzig | birth_date = {{Birth date|1758|09|29|df=y}} | birth_place = Berlin, Germany | death_date = {{Death date and age|1818|06|08|1758|09|29|df=y}} | death_place = near Vienna | other_names = | spouse = Baron Nathan Adam von Arnstein | children = Henriette von Pereira-Arnstein | parents = Daniel Itzig | occupation = {{hlist|Socialite|salonnière}} | years_active = }} '''Baroness Franziska von Arnstein''' (née '''Vögele Itzig'''; 29 September 1758 – 8 June 1818) was an Austrian socialite and salonnière who was a supporter of both Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.
==Biography== Fanny Arnstein was born in Berlin, the daughter of Daniel Itzig, a banker.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Parsons |first=Nicholas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FQJ9IAwjpb0C&dq=Franziska+%22Fanny%22+von+Arnstein&pg=PA192 |title=Vienna: A Cultural History |date=2008-12-16 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-970454-5 |language=en}}</ref> She was a member of the extensive and influential Jewish Itzig family.
She married the banker Nathan Adam von Arnstein, a partner in the firm of ''Arnstein and Eskeles''; her sister Cäcilie von Eskeles was married to the other partner, Bernhard von Eskeles. They brought the social influences of Berlin, notably the concept of the intellectual salon, to the Vienna of Joseph II.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Berger |first=Natalia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uDE9DwAAQBAJ&dq=Franziska+%22Fanny%22+von+Arnstein&pg=PA104 |title=The Jewish Museum: History and Memory, Identity and Art from Vienna to the Bezalel National Museum, Jerusalem |date=2017-10-02 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-35388-6 |language=en}}</ref> The Arnstein mansion at Vienna and her villas at Schönbrunn and Baden bei Wien were regularly used for hospitality. She was also involved in charitable works. Mozart would frequently be a guest performer during the early days of the salon and the Arnstein’s would also attend Mozart’s subscription concerts.
Her salon was known for attracting individuals of intellect and brilliance.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Shapira |first=Elana |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FKDkEAAAQBAJ&dq=Franziska+%22Fanny%22+von+Arnstein&pg=PA14 |title=Design Dialogue: Jews, Culture and Viennesse Modernism: Design Dialog: Juden, Kultur und Wiener Moderne |date=2018-10-01 |publisher=Böhlau Wien |isbn=978-3-205-20637-8 |language=en}}</ref> During the Vienna Congress the Arnstein salon was frequented by celebrities including Beethoven, Wellington, Metternich, Talleyrand, Hardenberg, Rahel Varnhagen and her husband, the Schlegels, Justinus Kerner, Karoline Pichler, and Zacharias Werner. She was one of the founders of the ''Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde'' and was herself a skilled musician, particularly on the pianoforte.<ref>{{Cite book |last=November |first=Nancy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-IbtEAAAQBAJ&dq=Franziska+%22Fanny%22+von+Arnstein&pg=PA91 |title=Opera in the Viennese Home from Mozart to Rossini |date=2024-01-18 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-009-40980-3 |language=en}}</ref>
In 1814, Fanny von Arnstein introduced a new custom from Berlin, hitherto unknown in Vienna: the Christmas tree.<ref name="Jüdisches Museum Wien">{{cite web | title=News Detail | website=Jüdisches Museum Wien | url=https://www.jmw.at/museumsblog/news_detail?j-cc-id=1610672643856&j-cc-node=news&j-cc-name=hybrid-content | language=de | access-date=2021-09-20}}</ref>
Her only daughter, Henrietta, Baroness Pereira-Arnstein, was also a skilled musician and a regular correspondent of her cousin, Lea Salomon, wife of Abraham Mendelssohn and mother of Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn (who was named after Fanny Arnstein).
==See also== * Benedikt Arnstein * Bernhard von Eskeles * Itzig family * Palais Arnstein * Salon of Berta Zuckerkandl
==References== {{Reflist}}
===Bibliography=== * Varnhagen von Ense, ''Ausgewählte Schriften'', xvii. 328-335; * Encyclopaedia Judaica
==External links== * {{cite encyclopedia|first=Petra|last=Wilhelmy-Dollinger|url=http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/arnstein-fanny-baronin-von|title=Fanny Baronin von Arnstein|encyclopedia=Jewish Women Encyclopedia}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Arnstein, Fanny}} Category:1758 births Category:1818 deaths Category:18th-century Austrian Jews Category:19th-century Austrian people Category:Austrian baronesses Category:Austrian people of German descent Category:Nobility from Vienna Category:People from Berlin Category:Austrian salon-holders Category:People from the Austrian Empire