Caroline Pichler at 250

Thursday, September 5, 2019

Caroline von Greiner was born on 7 September 1769 in Vienna. She was an Austrian writer and poet who was born into an artistic family.

In 1796 she married Andreas Pichler (1764–1837), a secretary in the government. She hosted a salon in Vienna for many years that was visited by the literati as well as by Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert.

Caroline Pichler wrote novels, short stories, dramas, and poems. She found immediate success with her first work Gleichnisse in 1799. Her historical novels made her famous.

Caroline Pichler died on 9 July 1843 in Vienna. Her four-volume autobiography Denkwürdigkeiten aus meinem Leben was published posthumously in 1844. Her collected works comprise 60 volumes and appeared between 1820 and 1845.

The RISM catalog has about 20 entries for musical sources that are connected with Caroline Pichler. Of particular note are the different settings of the Mathilde material by Moritz Hauptmann (see image), Friedrich Wilhelm Grund (RISM ID no. 452011459), and Carl Loewe (RISM ID no. 453500832), as well as the cantata Das befreite Deutschland by Louis Spohr and lieder by Franz Schubert from Pichler’s Idyllen (RISM ID no. 452509597 and RISM ID no. 454509599).

Image: Moritz Hauptmann, Quintett from Mathilde, opera in 3 acts, D-Dl Mus.4800-F-2 (RISM ID no. 270002797).

Category: Musical anniversaries