Occasional Poetry — Representative Poetry. Poetic Representation of the Wedding of Palatine Joseph and Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna

Abstract

The 16-year-old Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna married the 23-year-old Austrian Archduke Joseph in St. Petersburg on October 30, 1799. The wedding, of course, had dynastic aims: Habsburgs and Romanovs wanted to strengthen their political alliance against France. The newlyweds arrived in Buda, the capital of Hungary, on February 1, 1800. From then on, they were celebrated for several months in a series of representative events. The Hungarian noble estates and the citizens of Pest and Buda expressed their respect on these occasions, but also communicated their political position: what they expected from the Palatine, what they hoped for in the war against the French, and what the duties of the young wife were. Poems were often recited, often sung, and sometimes handed over in printed form at various celebrations (balls, theatre performances, masquerade balls, etc.). This lecture explores the poetic tradition followed by these poems and the different poetic techniques used to communicate the political positions.