Gisela von Arnim

Gisela von Arnim (also Giesela; August 30, 1827 – April 4, 1889) was a German writer, mainly of fairy tales.

Biography Born into an old German noble Arnim family, Gisela was the youngest child of Achim and Bettina von Arnim. Her maternal grandfather was of Italian descent, and some of his ancestors are Sophie von La Roche and Johann Philipp Stadion, Count von Warthausen.

She was not formally educated, being taught only by her sisters. In her youth she read fairy tales and Romantic poetry, especially the works of Wilhelm Hauff, and began to write fairy tales herself. With her sisters she started the "Kaffeter circle", first a group for young women and later a full literary salon also including men (honorary members included Hans Christian Andersen and Emmanuel Geibel). A painful relationship developed and only ended after Gisela von Arnim married Herman Grimm in 1859. Brahms and Joachim subsequently used elements of her name via musical cryptography in some of their music. Joachim dedicated his Three Pieces for Violin and Piano (Opus 5), published in 1854, to her. Gisela von Arnim's letters to Joseph Joachim are unpublished, and are at the Freies Deutsches Hochstift, Frankfurt. a son of Wilhelm Grimm. Aus den Papieren eines Spatzen Das Licht Drei Mährchen