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 Evans Thorne Mary Evans Thorne Mary Evans Thorne (c. 1740/1-after 1813) was one of the first women to have a leadership role in the Methodist movement in the United States. She was appointed class leader, a layperson who performed pastoral duties, by Joseph Pilmore in Philadelphia in about 1770. Mary Evans was born around 1740-41 in Bristol, Bucks County, Pennsylvania to Thomas and Diana Evans. Her parents, who were of Welsh heritage, moved to New Bern, North Carolina, where Thomas died. Her mother remarried James Mills in 1767. Evans joined the Baptists in North Carolina when she was 23 and married James