Born in Rapperswil in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland, Marianne was the daughter of Sebastiana Antonia Corti (Curti) and the merchant Franz Xaver Brentano.

[citation needed] With various theater companies, among them with the group of Simon Friedrich Koberwein in Strasbourg, Marianne Brentano toured Austria, France, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, and even Hungary and Transylvania.

Also in 1786, under the pseudonym Maria Anna Antonia Sternheim, Marianne Ehrmann published the play Leichtsinn und gutes Herz oder die Folgen der Erziehung, (Frivolity and a Good Heart, or The Consequences of Education).

In the third year, contradicting Marianne Ehrmann's wishes, the magazine became much more commercial and trivial and more adapted by the publisher to prevailing social values.

Marianne Ehrmann initiated a new magazine, Einsiedlerinn aus den Alpen (literally: The woman hermit in the Alps), with contributions again mostly written by herself.

[4] In spring 1792 the publishing house Orell, Gessner, Füssli & Cie in Zürich enabled Marianne Ehrmann to continue her work as a publicist.

Einsiedlerinn aus den Alpen largely corresponded to the first edition of her first magazine, to publish true stories and serialized novels.

Marianne Ehrmann sought their employees herself, among them David Friedrich Gräter who became a close friend, Friederike Brun and Gottlieb Konrad Pfeffel.

In early June 1795 the last issue was completed and Marianne Ehrmann, plagued by her years of disease, decided to stop the contribution of the journal.