Josephine Lang
Encyclopedia
Josephine Lang was a German composer. Fortunate enough to be born into a family rich with musical talent, Josephine Lang was the daughter of Theodor Lang, a violinist, and Regina Hitzelberger, opera singer. Her mother taught young Josephine how to play piano, and from age five it became apparent that Josephine possessed great potential as a composer. As early as age eleven Josephine started giving piano lessons herself. Through her godfather, Joseph Stieler, Josephine was exposed to some of the greatest artists of her time. Both Felix Mendelssohn
and Ferdinand Hiller
went to great lengths to ensure that Lang learned the proper theory for song-writing, and used their connections to publish Lang's music. Even Robert Schumann
published a song of Josephine’s in Neue Zeitschrift für Musik
in 1838.
From a very young age Lang had always been described as having a “weak constitution”. Thus she was always struggling to keep up her pedagogy and performance while simultaneously maintaining her health. Once during a performance for the king and queen of Bavaria, Queen Caroline Augusta of Bavaria
took notice of Josephine’s poor state of health and arranged for Josephine to Wildbad Kreuth in the German Alps to recover. During her stay at the Alps, Josephine met Christian Reinhold Köstlin, a lawyer who also took to writing poetry on the side. According to all sources, the two fell in love almost instantaneously and shared a happy marriage. Köstlin was a professor at the University of Tübingen.
However, life for Josephine took a drastic turn for the worse when Köstlin died in 1856 of what is now suspected to be cancer. To sustain her family Josephine went back to song-writing and piano-pedagogy. After some financial floundering and unsuccessful attempts at publishing music, Josephine contacted Ferdinand Hiller
and Clara Schumann
for aid and assistance in the music world. Upon hearing the news, Clara threw a benefit concert, with herself as the pianist, featuring Lang's music. Hiller wrote a biographical essay about Lang in 1867 to send to publishers; soon thereafter, primarily due to Hiller's essay, Lang become a prominent composer successful enough to have her work published.
Her last years were filled with trauma and illness. Lang lived to see her three sons die for various reasons, and after her two daughters married in 1868 and 1870, Josephine was left feeling alone and abandoned. She herself suffered violent illness during this time period, though she still composed music and taught piano through this entire time. December 1, 1880, Lang died of a heart attack; she left an important legacy in her music.
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
and Ferdinand Hiller
Ferdinand Hiller
Ferdinand Hiller was a German composer, conductor, writer and music-director.-Biography:Ferdinand Hiller was born to a wealthy Jewish family in Frankfurt am Main, where his father Justus was a merchant in English textiles – a business eventually continued by Ferdinand’s brother Joseph...
went to great lengths to ensure that Lang learned the proper theory for song-writing, and used their connections to publish Lang's music. Even Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
published a song of Josephine’s in Neue Zeitschrift für Musik
Neue Zeitschrift für Musik
Die Neue Zeitschrift für Musik was a music magazine published in Leipzig, co-founded by Robert Schumann, his teacher and future father-in law Friedrich Wieck, and his close friend Ludwig Schuncke...
in 1838.
From a very young age Lang had always been described as having a “weak constitution”. Thus she was always struggling to keep up her pedagogy and performance while simultaneously maintaining her health. Once during a performance for the king and queen of Bavaria, Queen Caroline Augusta of Bavaria
Caroline Augusta of Bavaria
Caroline Augusta of Bavaria was a daughter of Maximilian I Joseph, King of Bavaria and his wife, Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt , and a member of the House of Wittelsbach. She was married to Crown Prince William of Württemberg and to Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor...
took notice of Josephine’s poor state of health and arranged for Josephine to Wildbad Kreuth in the German Alps to recover. During her stay at the Alps, Josephine met Christian Reinhold Köstlin, a lawyer who also took to writing poetry on the side. According to all sources, the two fell in love almost instantaneously and shared a happy marriage. Köstlin was a professor at the University of Tübingen.
However, life for Josephine took a drastic turn for the worse when Köstlin died in 1856 of what is now suspected to be cancer. To sustain her family Josephine went back to song-writing and piano-pedagogy. After some financial floundering and unsuccessful attempts at publishing music, Josephine contacted Ferdinand Hiller
Ferdinand Hiller
Ferdinand Hiller was a German composer, conductor, writer and music-director.-Biography:Ferdinand Hiller was born to a wealthy Jewish family in Frankfurt am Main, where his father Justus was a merchant in English textiles – a business eventually continued by Ferdinand’s brother Joseph...
and Clara Schumann
Clara Schumann
Clara Schumann was a German musician and composer, considered one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era...
for aid and assistance in the music world. Upon hearing the news, Clara threw a benefit concert, with herself as the pianist, featuring Lang's music. Hiller wrote a biographical essay about Lang in 1867 to send to publishers; soon thereafter, primarily due to Hiller's essay, Lang become a prominent composer successful enough to have her work published.
Her last years were filled with trauma and illness. Lang lived to see her three sons die for various reasons, and after her two daughters married in 1868 and 1870, Josephine was left feeling alone and abandoned. She herself suffered violent illness during this time period, though she still composed music and taught piano through this entire time. December 1, 1880, Lang died of a heart attack; she left an important legacy in her music.
Discography
- Josephine Lang. Dana Mckay, soprano; Thérèse Lindquist, piano. SBPK Deutsche Schallplatten DS 1016-2 (1995).
- Josephine Lang, Johanna Kinkel; Ausgewählte Lieder. Claudia Taha, soprano; Heidi Kommerell, piano. Bayer Records BR 100 248 (1995).
- Müchner Komponistinnen de Klassik und Romantik. Christel Krömer, soprano; Jutta Vornehm, piano. Musica Bavarica MB 902. Reissued on CD as MB 75121 (1997).
- Alphabetic listing of musical settings: http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/l/lang.html