Lang, Josephine

1815-1880

Dramatic singer and vocal composer; born at Munich, where her father was Court musician. Her mother was the famous singer, Regina Hitzelberger Lang. She studied first tinder Frau Berlinghof- Wagner and later under Mendelssohn, who was much attracted by her ability and charming personality, speaking of her as " die kleine Lang." She became a teacher of singing and piano and sang in the Court Chapel. In 1852 she married Professor Kostlin, of Tubingen, after whose death, in 1856, she again taught music. Ferdinand Hiller and Schumann have both praised her compositions. She composed about forty songs, of which Schumann makes special mention of Traumbild. The best of her piano compositions are two mazurkas, In der Dammerung, and Grand Impromptu, a brilliant concert piece. She died at Tubingen.