Leopoldine Blahetka

Biography

Marie Leopoldine Blahetka (16 November 1809 – 17 January 1885) was an Austrian pianist and composer.

Life

Leopoldine Blahetka was born in Guntramsdorf near Vienna, the child of George and Barbara Joseph Blahetka Sophia, née Traeg. Her father was a history and mathematics teacher and had good relations with Ludwig van Beethoven, and her mother a physharmonica teacher and performer. Her maternal grandfather was the Viennese composer Andreas Traeg.
At the age of 9, Leopoldine Blahetka made her first public appearances, and the Viennese press described her as a "child prodigy". At the age of 11 she created her first compositions, which she also performed regularly as part of her concerts.
The family moved to Vienna and George Blahetka took a job with the Traeg music publishing house. Leopoldine took piano lessons from her mother and made her debut as a pianist in 1818. Afterwards, she studied with Joseph Czerny, Hieronymus Payer, Eduard Freiherr von Lannoy, Joachim Hoffmann, Catherina Cibbini-Kozeluch, Friedrich Kalkbrenner, Ignaz Moscheles, and later composition with Simon Sechter.
In 1821 Blahetka began touring Europe, accompanied by her mother, and continued to tour for about twenty years. In about 1830 the family moved to Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, seeking a better climate. Blahetka died in Boulogne-sur Mer. In 1825/26 to Munich, Karlsruhe, Berlin, Hamburg and Leipzig, among others. In 1830 she gave concerts in Graz and Klagenfurt and undertook a longer concert tour via Munich, Frankfurt am Main, Gotha, The Hague and Brussels to London. Robert Schumann, who heard her on her concert tour in Germany, judged her playing to be "a truly feminine one, delicate, prudent and elaborate". He was also very impressed by her compositions.