Wilhelmina (Mina or Minna) Amalie Koch (22 February 1845 – 6 March 1924) was a German composer of sacred and secular song melodies, biblical motets and choral and instrumental music. She is one of only four women that have had compositions included in the Protestant hymnal.

Biography

Mina Koch was born in

Waldböckelheim Waldböckelheim is a municipality in the district of Bad Kreuznach in Rhineland-Palatinate, in western Germany. Geography Waldböckelheim is located north of the Nahe in the Rhenish Massif. Waldböckelheim is surrounded by three extinct volcano ...

. She was the second of six children of Waldböckelheim pastor Karl August Schapper (1815–1898). She spent her childhood in Münster am Stein and in

Koblenz Koblenz (; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz''), spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multi-nation tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman mili ...

. When she was eleven years old her mother Schapper Amalie née Weinrich (1816–1856) died. In 1860 her father became the Professor and Director of the Royal Theological Seminary and Superintendent for

Wittenberg Wittenberg ( , ; Low Saxon language, Low Saxon: ''Wittenbarg''; meaning ''White Mountain''; officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg (''Luther City Wittenberg'')), is the fourth largest town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Wittenberg is situated on the Ri ...

. The family moved there to a big house at the parish church square where

Johann Bugenhagen Johannes Bugenhagen (24 June 1485 – 20 April 1558), also called ''Doctor Pomeranus'' by Martin Luther, was a German theologian and Lutheran priest who introduced the Protestant Reformation in the Duchy of Pomerania and Denmark in the 16th ce ...

had lived and where

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Reformation, Protestant Refo ...

and

Philipp Melanchthon Philip Melanchthon. (born Philipp Schwartzerdt; 16 February 1497 – 19 April 1560) was a German Lutheran reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lu ...

had met. Mina Koch spent the first years there in a girls' school in

Droyßig Droyßig is a municipality in the Burgenlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. On 1 January 2010 it absorbed the former municipality Weißenborn, Saxony-Anhalt, Weißenborn.Zeitz, where her Confirmation was celebrated. The Wittenberg church music director and organist Carl Stein (1824–1902) gave her music theory and harmony lessons. On 27 April 1865 she was married to August Koch (1836–1910) in the Wittenberg church with her father officiating. Mina Koch became the mother of ten children, two of whom died in their early years. In 1876 her family moved to Elberfeld in the Bergisches Land, where August Koch received a parish of the

Lutheran Church Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

and later became the superintendent in office. During a visit in 1887 to her brother Karl, pastor at Groß Möringen near Stendal and husband of Johanna, a daughter of the court chaplain and parish priest Adolf Krummacher (1824–1884), she composed the tune to Krummacher's poem "Stern, auf den ich schaue" (Star that I look upon). At the age of fifty years Mina Koch went blind. After his retirement in 1906, August Koch moved the couple to

Wernigerode Wernigerode () is a town in the district of Harz, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Until 2007, it was the capital of the district of Wernigerode. Its population was 35,041 in 2012. Wernigerode is located southwest of Halberstadt, and is picturesquely s ...

. He died in 1910, and at the age of 78 years, Mina Koch moved to live with her youngest daughter in Stolp, Pomerania. A year later she died on 12 March 1924 in Stolp and was buried in Wernigerode at the side of her husband.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koch, Wilhelmina 1845 births 1924 deaths German classical composers German women classical composers 19th-century German musicians 19th-century German women musicians

Biography

Further reading

References