Among the composers of Norway, Mme. Betty Holmberg has devoted herself to the violin, publishing an excellent suite and other compositions for it. Magda Bugge, who has made America her home, is the author of many piano pieces and songs. The most famous Norwegian woman composer, however, is Agathe Backer-Gröndahl. Born in 1847, she received a thorough musical training, counting among her teachers Kjerulf, Kullak, Von Bülow, and Liszt. Her work has won her many honours, including the royal gold medal of Sweden. Her compositions are not many in number, but all of them show the most delightful freshness and originality. Like her great fellow countryman, Grieg, she aims to give her music a distinctive style of its own, and not make it a mere imitation of the usual models. Her andante for piano and orchestra and her orchestral scherzo are excellent works, which meet with frequent performance, while her suite is another example of striking beauty. Her piano works, which include études, fantasies, sketches, and humoreskes, are full of the same characteristic charm, while her songs display exquisite poetic feeling.
Bohemia and Hungary, though politically parts of the Germanic nations, may well be classed as separate from them in matters of art. Their peoples are different racially, and their national music, especially in the latter case, has a distinctive character of its own. Smetana and Dvorak are the most famous types of the German dependency, while the music of the Austrian province partakes of the wild gipsy flavour that is so well reflected in some of Schubert's works.
One of the earliest Bohemian women composers was Veronica Cianchettini. She came of a musical family, for she was one of the sisters of Dussek, whose wife and daughter have already been mentioned in connection with England's composers. Like her brother, she became a pianist of high rank, and settled in London. Her works include a number of piano concertos, sonatas, and other lesser pieces.
Elise Barth was a famous Bohemian pianist of the last century. She, too, published many piano compositions. Another celebrated performer was Auguste Auspitz, one of Smetana's best pupils. She produced many songs and piano works, and would have done greater work but for her death at the age of thirty-five. Mathilde Ringelsberg devoted herself to lighter compositions, and wrote many popular dances. Wilhelmine Clausz, besides being one of the best women pianists of to-day, has composed a few pieces for her instrument, and has done much excellent editing and arranging. Anna Schimon, who studied with Halévy, won renown as a singer and teacher. She has published many vocal works, and has two operas in manuscript. Rosa Bleitner, a teacher at the Prague Conservatory, has published several sets of songs, also a very effective funeral march.
Among Hungarian composers, Ludmilla Gizycka, now living at Vienna, has published a number of successful songs and piano pieces, among them an interesting set of Polish melodies. Marie de Kohary, another pianist-composer, has written a set of sonatas and various other piano works. Mme. D'Hovorst has published a sonata for two pianos and various other works. Henrietta Vorwerk has received much praise for her piano pieces and songs, while Anna Zichy Stubenberg is another prolific worker in the same field.
Poland, though divided among the nations, can boast a few women composers. In the eighteenth century, the Countess Clementine Grabowska wrote a number of piano pieces, among them a set of effective polonaises. Marie Szymanowska, born in 1790, was a pupil of John Field, and became one of the leading pianists of her time. Her fame was largely increased by the poet Goethe, who made her one of the many idols of his vagrant affections. He spoke of her playing in the highest terms, placing her above Hummel. But the verdict of Mendelssohn is probably more accurate: "Those who rate her so high," he says, "think more of her pretty face than of her not pretty playing." Her works consist chiefly of display pieces for the piano, a set of twelve concert études receiving high praise from Schumann.
Julie von Baroni-Cavalcabo, who flourished in the last century, was another brilliant pianist, numbering among her teachers one of Mozart's sons. She seems to have won the esteem of Schumann, who dedicated his humoreske to her, and gave high praise to many of her works. According to his reviews, her Second Caprice is "fresh and rhythmical, full of life and vivacity and delicate workmanship;" her fantasie, "Adieu et Retour," has two movements that are "highly original, characteristic, and scarcely offering a weak point for attack;" while her waltzes are spoken of as almost the best that appeared in their time at Vienna. Besides her many piano pieces, she published some excellent songs.
Adele Kletzinsky has published some violin works and other concerted music, as well as the usual amount of songs and piano pieces. Nathalie Janotha has become familiar to American audiences as a pianist. She was a pupil of Clara Schumann and Woldemar Bargiel, and has won honours and diplomas in many European cities. Her works consist of piano selections and songs. Pauline Fechner is another renowned Polish pianist who has published many pieces for her instrument. The Countess Margit Sztaray has done some work for voice and organ. Thekla Badarczewska, who lived and died at Warsaw, is known widely, if not always favourably, by her "Maiden's Prayer" for piano.
In Russia, the Grand Duchess Alexandra Josephowna has written some ambitious church music, including several psalms for soloists, chorus, and orchestra. She has also produced some piano duets. The Grand Duchess Olga is another royal Russian composer, whose "Parademarsch" for orchestra has been published at Berlin. Another orchestral composer is Theodosia de Tschitscherin, whose Grand Festival March was performed at a coronation anniversary. The Countess Olga Janina, one of Liszt's pupils, is at present a teacher and pianist at Paris, where she has published a considerable amount of piano music. Marie Duport is another Russian piano composer. The Countess Stephanie Komorowska is responsible for several songs, piano sonatas, and other works. Mme. Rudersdorff, well known in later life as a teacher in Boston, was the author of several successful songs. Olga von Radecki is another noted Russian musician, who has made Boston her home, and also a writer of worthy vocal music. Mlle. Alexandrowna, of St. Petersburg, became famous as a singer a few decades ago, and published some excellent songs. Mme. Serov was another Russian woman of great musical talent.
Among the less extensive countries, Switzerland is represented by Anna Cerrini de Monte-Varchi, who is the composer of many pretty piano works, Isabella Angela Colbran, the eminent Spanish contralto, was born at Madrid in 1785. She became the wife of Rossini, and created some important rôles in those of his earlier operas which were written for her. Her own compositions consist of songs and other vocal works. A Spanish singer of more recent times is Rosaria Zapater, who was born in 1840. She became famous in literature as well as music, her poems being rated highly, while her libretto to the opera, "Gli Amante di Teruele," is ranked as one of the best ever written. She has published a number of songs, besides an excellent vocal method and piano instruction book.