Ingeborg Bronsart von Schellendorf


Ingeborg Bronsart von Schellendorf was a Finnish-German composer.

Life

Ingeborg Starck was the daughter of Finnish parents Margareta Åkerman and Otto Starck who were living in Saint Petersburg, Russia, where her father was involved in commerce. Having shown musical gifts from a young age, studied piano with Nicolas von Martinoff and Adolf Henselt, as well as composition with Constantin Decker. She completed her studies in Weimar with Franz Liszt. During a stay in Paris in 1861 her friends included composers such as Auber, Berlioz, Rossini and Wagner. In September of the same year, she married fellow pianist-composer Hans Bronsart von Schellendorff, a member of Liszt's circle whom she had met in Weimar.
Ingeborg Bronsart von Schellendorf, as she was now known, toured Europe as a concert pianist until 1867, when she was expected to cease work due to her husband's appointment as general manager of the Royal Theatre in Hanover. She remained musically active, however, as a composer of opera, chamber and instrumental music and a large number of songs. Earlier, she had composed a piano concerto. During her lifetime her operas were successfully produced in many theatres in Germany. Pieces composed by her which were popular at the time included her Kaiser Wilhelm March, the Singspiel Jery und Bätely and the opera Hiarne.

Works

Operas