Johanna Kinkel (8 July 1810 – 15 November 1858), born Maria Johanna Mockel, was a German composer, writer, pedagogue, and

revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective, to refer to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor. ...

Biography

Kinkel was born in Bonn to Catholic parents Marianna and Peter Joseph Mockel, a school teacher at the ''Bonner Lycée''. She composed her first musical work, "The Bird Cantata" (''"Die Vogelkantate"''), op. 1, in 1829 for her musical society in Bonn and the work was published in 1838 by Trautwein. She spent a few years living and composing in Berlin, where she attended salons and formed friendships with women such as Bettina von Arnim and

Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel Fanny Mendelssohn (14 November 1805 – 14 May 1847) was a German composer and pianist of the early Romantic era who was also known as Fanny (Cäcilie) Mendelssohn Bartholdy and, after her marriage, Fanny Hensel (as well as Fanny Mendelssohn He ...

. She maintained a career as a published composer and writer as well as a music pedagogue throughout her life. In 1832, Johanna Mockel married the 29 year old music and bookseller Johann Paul Matthieux. The marriage quickly turned restrictive and abusive as Matthieux forbade his young wife from any activity beyond her domestic duties and tyrannized her to her psychological limits. In 1840, she was divorced from the Cologne bookseller Matthieux. Her second marriage, in 1843, was to the German poet Gottfried Kinkel, with whom she had four children. Following the

1848 Revolutions The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europe ...

she was forced to abandon Germany and flee to London. She was found dead in her garden in 1858 from a fall; although suicide was suspected, there was no way to verify this. Her tombstone was inscribed ''Freiheit, Liebe und Dichtung'' (meaning ''Freedom, Love, and Poetry''). Kinkel was an author of considerable merit. She wrote on musical subjects, including regular review articles of music events for the ''Bonner Zeitung'', a newspaper she and her husband edited in cooperation with

Carl Schurz Carl Schurz (; March 2, 1829 – May 14, 1906) was a German revolutionary and an American statesman, journalist, and reformer. He immigrated to the United States after the German revolutions of 1848–1849 and became a prominent member of the new ...

. An autobiographical novel of hers, ''Hans Ibeles in London'', was published posthumously in 1860. She also had a substantial output of musical compositions. Many of these compositions were written for the ''Maikäferbund'' (''Maikäfer'' Group — the ''Maikäfer'' being the beetle ''

Melolontha melolontha The cockchafer, colloquially called Maybug, Maybeetle, or doodlebug, is the name given to any of the European beetles of the genus ''Melolontha'', in the family Scarabaeidae. Once abundant throughout Europe and a major pest in the periodical ye ...

'' which emerges from the ground in May), a group of poets which she directed and Gottfried also helped lead. This group was founded in 1840 and lasted until the 1848 revolution. It had an annual festival. She also wrote music for her children which was published. In 1853, the German composer

Elise Schmezer Elise Kratky Schmezer (1810–1856) was a German singer and teacher who composed one opera and many songs. Schmezer’s father Josef Kratky taught trumpet, trombone, and horn in Graz (today in Austria). She performed as a singer in Graz until her ...

premiered her opera ''Otto der Schütz,'' which was based on earlier works by Alexandre Dumas and Johanna Kinkel. Johanna Kinkel Grave Brookwood

She died on 15 November 1858 in London and is buried in Brookwood Cemetery with her daughters Marie Kinkel (January–February 1861) and Johanna Kinkel (1845–1863).

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, (3 volumes), New York: McClure Publ. Co., 1907. The first volume of Schurz's autobiography has many recollections of Johanna Kinkel, especially for the years 1848–1852 when he was most closely associated with the family. Johanna added depth to his knowledge of the piano and its repertoire, particularly Beethoven and Chopin.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kinkel, Johanna 1810 births 1858 deaths 19th-century German composers 19th-century German writers 19th-century German women writers German-American Forty-Eighters German autobiographers German women composers German revolutionaries German salon-holders Musicians from Bonn People from the Rhine Province People of the Revolutions of 1848 Women autobiographers Burials at Brookwood Cemetery 19th-century women composers Writers from Bonn

Biography

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Bibliography

Further reading

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