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 The grave of Johanna Kinkel at Brookwood Cemetery, Woking. Picture by Androom (25 Jun 2009) |
Kinkel, Johanna |
| COMPOSER, PIANIST, POET, AUTHOR, MUSIC TEACHER (PRUSSIA) |
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BORN 8 Jul 1810, Bonn, Nordrhein-Westfalen - DIED 17 Nov 1858, London BIRTH NAME Mockel, Johanna CAUSE OF DEATH fall from window (suicide suspected) GRAVE LOCATION Brookwood, Surrey: Brookwood Cemetery (Plot 100) |
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Johanna Kinkel was the daughter of the gymnasium teacher Joseph Mockel and his wife Anna Maria. Her parents encouraged a musical education and she was taught piano and composition by Beethoven's former teacher Franz Anton Ries. In 1825 she met Annette von Droste-Hülshoff and she visited her in 1831. In 1832 she married bookseller and music dealer Johann Paul Mathieux from Cologne. She left him after six months and returned to her parents, but the formal divorce took several years. After a period of depression Dorothea Schlegel brought her into contact with Felix Mendelsshon in 1836. He encouraged her to pursue a musical career. She moved to Berlin, where she was taught by K. Böhmer and W. Taubert. At the same time she worked as a piano teacher and the daughters of Bettina von Arnim were among her pupils. She performed at Fanny Hensel's Sunday sessions and Schumann praised her work. Because of progress in her divorce proceedings she returned to Bonn in 1839 and in 1840 she finally obtained her divorce. She became very active in the musical life in Bonn and worked as a performer and as a conductor. In 1842 she married the protestant theologian Gottfried Kinkel and she became a protestant herself. They had four children and together they founded the literary group the Maikäferbund. During the revolution of 1848 her husband was elected to represent Bonn in the National Assembly in Bonn, but after the revolution failed he was arrested. His death sentence was changed to imprisonment for life, but his former pupil Carl Schurz orrganised his to escape from Spandau Prison and he fled to London. There he was joined by Johanna and their children in 1851. In London she gave piano lessons and singing lessons to children and she wrote and conducted music. Her husband hardly took part in the household and continued his political activities. Possible he had a relation with another woman. On 17 Nov 1858 she was found dead in her garden. It was unclear if the had fallen or had jumped from her third floor bedroom window. Shortly before her death she had finisehd her novel "Hans Ibeles in London" and it was published posthumously by her husband in 1860. Related persons • knew Chamisso, Adelbert von • was assistent to Dirichlet-Mendelssohn, Rebecka • was a friend of Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Fanny • knew Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix • was pupil of Ries, Franz Anton • knew Schumann, Clara • knew Schumann, Robert Events |
| 7/11/1850 | Gottfried Kinkel escapes from Spandau Prison in Berlin. His wife Johanna had handed her husband the plans for his escape. It was executed by his former pupil Carl Schulz. They fled to Neubrandenburg, Rostock and Warnemünde. There they took a ship to Edinburgh on 17 November. On 1 December they arrived in Edinburgh. Johanna followed her husband to London with their four children in January 1851. |
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The grave of Johanna Kinkel at Brookwood Cemetery, Woking. Picture by Androom (25 Jun 2009) |
Sources • Winkler Prins Encyclopedie (editie 1909), 1909 • Johanna Kinkel - Wikipedia (DE) |
