Rosa Nepgen

Rosa Sophia Cornelia Nepgen (Barkly East, Cape Colony, 12 December 1909 – Stellenbosch, South Africa, 14 February 2000) was a South African composer. The bulk of her oeuvre consists of settings of Afrikaans poems for voice and piano, including numerous songs with lyrics by her husband, W.E.G. Louw, and his brother the poet N.P. van Wyk Louw. Early life, education, and marriage She was the daughter of Johann Nepgen, a barrister in Barkly East, and Millicent Grace Schlemmer, a talented singer, pianist, and violinist. She received piano lessons from her mother at an early age. The family moved to Pretoria in 1912 and to Standerton in 1913. In the latter place she was taught by organist Dirk Meerkotter, but in the meantime she also took lessons with Ellen Norburn at the Pretoria College of Music. This was supplemented with singing and organ lessons with Stephanie Faure. From 1927 onwards, Nepgen studied at the University of the Witwatersrand in the faculties of Music, English, and Ethics. In 1931, she graduated with a B.Mus. She subsequently became a lecturer at the aforementioned university. In 1944, she married Louw, who, besides being a poet, was also a professor of Afrikaans and Du