Faust Symphony Princess Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein, "Anything having to do with Goethe is dangerous for me to handle." However, the final catalyst for the symphony came in a two-month period between August and October 1854. This period coincided with a visit to Weimar by English novelist Mary Ann (Marian) Evans, better known by her pen name George Eliot. Her consort George Henry Lewes was gathering information for his biography of Goethe. During visits to Liszt's residence, the Altenburg, Lewes and Eliot had several discussions with both him and Princess Carolyne about Goethe and his place in German literature. Once Liszt began writing,
Mary Ann Kilner Mary Ann Kilner Mary Ann Kilner (née Maze) (1753–1831) was a prolific English writer of children's books in the late 18th century. The most famous was "The Adventures of a Pincushion" (c. 1780–1783). Together, she and her sister-in-law, Dorothy Kilner, published over thirty books. Mary Ann published under the name "S. S.", which stood for her home in Spital Square, London. Mary Ann was born on 14 December 1753 at Spital (then Spittal) Square, London, the youngest child of James Maze (d. 1794), a prosperous Huguenot silk throwster and merchant. She was bilingual in English and French and said to