Josephine Lang

Josephine Caroline Lang (14 March 1815 – 2 December 1880) was a German composer. Josephine Lang was the daughter of Theobald Lang, a violinist, and , opera singer. Her mother taught young Josephine how to play piano, and from age five it became apparent that Josephine was possessed with great potential as a composer. As early as age eleven Josephine started giving piano lessons herself. Through her godfather, Joseph Stieler, Josephine was exposed to some of the greatest artists of her time. Both Felix Mendelssohn and Ferdinand Hiller went to great lengths to ensure that Lang learned the proper theory for song-writing, and used their connections to publish Lang’s music. Even Robert Schumann published a song of Josephine’s in Neue Zeitschrift für Musik in 1838. Biography Born in Munich, Lang had from a very young age been described as having a “weak constitution”. Thus she was always struggling to keep up her education and performance while simultaneously maintaining her health. Once during a performance for the king and queen of Bavaria, Queen Caroline Augusta of Bavaria took notice of Josephine’s poor state of health and arranged for her to go to Wildbad Kreuth in the German Alps t