Anna was born on the 24th of October 1739 in Wolfenbütte, Germanyl. She was the ninth child of Karl I, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and Princess Philippine Charlotte of Prussia. Her maternal grandparents were Frederick William I of Prussia and Sophia Dorothea of Hanover.
During Karl August's minority, she administered the affairs of the duchy with notable prudence, strengthening its resources and improving its position in spite of the troubles of the Seven Years' War. In 1775, with her son having attained his majority, she retired.
As a patron of art and literature, she drew many of the most eminent men in Germany to Weimar, including Johann Gottfried Herder, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Schiller, and Abel Seyler's theatrical company. When Anna Amalia succeeded in engaging the Seyler Company, this was "an extremely fortunate coup. The Seyler Company was the best theatre company in Germany at that time. "
Amalia von Helvig was also later to be a part of her court. She hired Christoph Martin Wieland, a poet, and translator of William Shakespeare, to educate her son. Anna Amalia was a notable composer. Among her significant works is a symphony for two oboes, two flutes, two violins, and double bass (1765), a tripartite oratorio (1768), an opera called Erwin und Elmire (1776), based on a text by Goethe, and a divertimento for piano, clarinet, viola, and violoncello (around 1780). She died on the 10th of April 1807.
Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel was a German princess and composer. She became the duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, by marriage, and was also regent of the states of Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Eisenach from 1758 to 1775. She transformed her court and its surrounding into the most influential cultural center of Germany.
The Duchess was honored in Goethe's work under the title Zum Andenken der Fürstin Anna-Amalia. She also established the Duchess Anna Amalia Library, which is now home to some 1, 000, 000 volumes.
In Brunswick on 16 March 1756 she married Ernst August II Konstantin, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. Ernst August died in 1758 leaving her regent for their infant son, Karl August.
( 1 August 1713, Braunschweig – 26 March 1780, Braunschweig)
(13 March 1716, in Berlin – 17 February 1801, in Brunswick)
(2 June 1737 – 28 May 1758)
(8 September 1758 in Weimar – 6 September 1793 in Wiebelskirchen, now part of Neunkirchen)
(3 September 1757 – 14 June 1828)
