Josephine Fröhlich Was the One Who Performed Most Often As a Sin- Ger, and Did So Both at Home and Abroad

Fröhlich, Josephine ra La Donna del Lago. Her voice is strong and pleasant, her performance soulful and trained in the true Italian style. She received universal and vigorous applause.”) (Wiener Zeitschrift, 23. März 1824) Profile As the youngest of the four Fröhlich sisters, Josephine Fröhlich was the one who performed most often as a singer, and did so both at home and abroad. Unlike her sis- Franz Schubert am Klavier und sein Freundeskreis im Jahre ters, she pursued a career as an opera singer and was trai- 1826. Josephine Fröhlich (Mitte), Heliogravur von J. ned professionally. Much admired as a young singer and Blechinger predicted to have a great future in the press, she distingu- ished herself in Denmark and Italy, but gave up her care- Josephine Fröhlich er a few years later. Clearly, she did not cope well with Birth name: Josepha Caroline Fröhlich the demands of the opera business and returned to Vien- na after years of traveling. She decided to pursue a career * 12 December 1803 in Wien, Österreich as a singing teacher. Through private singing lessons Jo- † 7 May 1878 in Wien, Österreich sephine Fröhlich made her financial contribution to the shared household with her sisters in Vienna, which also The given date of birth may be the date of baptism. included Franz Grillparzer from 1849-1872. As a professional singer and with her contacts to Denmark, Sweden Singer, Singing Teacher, Composer, Correspondent and Italy, she played a key role in the musical culture of the Fröhlich house, not least because of the visitors her „Am 1. Februar [1824] gab die junge Sängerinn Josephi- connections attracted to the home. She also appeared in ne Fröhlich, aus Wien, hier in Siboni's Schule gebildet, various well-known Viennese salons, such as those hos- nachdem sie früher in mehrern Pivatzirkeln, und nament- ted by the families of Raphael Georg Kiesewetter, Ignaz lich in einem großen Concerte bey Sr. königl. Hoheit Sonnleithner and Anton Pettenkoffer. She performed a dem Prinzen Christian sich sehr vortheilhaft hören ließ, range arias and songs in various private and semi-public ein großes Vocal- und Instrumental-Concert im königl. musical events. These included songs by Franz Schubert, Theater. Das Haus war gedrängt voll, schon Tags vorher which were mainly pieces for multiple voices, inspired by war kein Billet, keine Loge mehr zu erhalten. Die Ouver- her sister Anna Fröhlich. ture zu Klingemanns Faust, von Schulz, machte den An- fang. Darauf sang Mlle. Fröhlich eine große Arie aus Ros- Josephine was the only one of her sisters to compose and sini's Oper La Donna del Lago. Ihre Stimme ist kräftig she wrote a number of works, which were presumably in- und angenehm, ihr Vortrag seelenvoll und in wahrhaft, tended for performance at home or at the Sonnleithners’ italienischem Geschmacke ausgebildet. Sie erntete unget- home. heilten, lebhaften Beyfall.“ Cities an countries (“On February 1st, [1824], the young singer, Josephine Josephine Fröhlich began her career as an opera and con- Fröhlich from Vienna, trained here in Siboni’s school, ha- cert singer in Vienna and continued her training with ving appeared at several private gatherings and, in parti- Giuseppe Siboni in Denmark, where she also had nume- cular, to great acclaim at a large concert for HRH Prince rous opportunities to perform. She appeared in Sweden Christian, gave a large vocal and instrumental concert at and also in Dresden, on her way back to Vienna. She tra- the royal theatre. The house was packed, with no tickets velled to Venice, Milan and Prague to sing various roles and no boxes available even the day before. The overture in opera houses there. Eventually, she returned to Vien- to Klingemann’s Faust by Schulz opened the show, follo- na and made her private and professional home there. wed by Miss Fröhlich with a large aria from Rossini’s ope- – 1 – Fröhlich, Josephine 237). Several evening occasions for the royal family were Biography to follow. A first public concert at the royal theatre in Co- Josephine Fröhlich was the youngest of the four Fröhlich penhagen was finally made possible on January 20th, sisters (Anna Fröhlich, Barbara Fröhlich, Katharina Fröh- 1824. During this time, Josephine Fröhlich’s voice chan- lich) and was born on December 12th, 1803, in Vien- ged from soprano to alto (occasionally also referred to as na/Wieden. Like her sisters, she was introduced to music mezzo-soprano), a development Josephine shared with at an early age and, as the youngest daughter of Mathias her sisters in a letter on February 17th, 1824, and which Fröhlich (1756-1843) and his wife Barbara (born Mayr, she initially deeply regretted. After further public con- 1764-1841), her singing and music-making older sisters li- certs at the royal theatre in Copenhagen and numerous kely served as role models. She probably learned to play performances for the royal family at court, Josephine the piano as a child, although there is no direct evidence Fröhlich was accompanied back to Vienna by her father. for that. It is known, however, that in 1819 Josephine On her trips to various opera houses in the years that fol- Fröhlich was taught by her ten-year-older sister Anna as lowed, she travelled with her sister Katharina Fröhlich. part of her teaching duties at the ‘Konservatorium der Ge- On June 5th and 8th, 1826 she performed as a concert sellschaft der Musikfreunde’ [Conservatorium of the So- singer in Prague, where she sang between the acts of an ciety of Friends of Music]. It can be assumed that she opera (critique in Allgemeine Theaterzeitung from July had taken singing lessons from Anna previously and 27th, 1826. Clive, 1997, p. 52). that, like her sister, she was also influenced in her early years by the Italian tenor Giuseppe Siboni (1780-1839) In 1827, Siboni suggested to his student, Isaac Albert during his visits to Vienna, e.g. from 1810-14 and Berg (1803-1886), who came from Stockholm, that he 1817-1818. Siboni was not only a celebrated opera singer should stay at the Fröhlich sisters’ home in Vienna. Whi- in Vienna, but a networker within the Schubert circle, to le he was there, he performed a Swedish song for Franz which he himself belonged. He is also said to have encou- Schubert, which would later have a marked influence on raged the founding of a singing school in Vienna as early his composition of the Piano Trio in Eb major D 929 (Hil- as 1815. In the same year, at the age of 12, Josephine was mar/Jestremski, 1997, p. 38). already an active member of the ‘Gesellschaft der Musikf- reunde’ in Vienna (Blaha, 2002, p. 183). Her first perfor- Various contemporaries reported on Josephine Fröhli- mances soon followed as part the society’s events. In a de- ch’s singing abilities. Raphael Georg Kiesewetter noted scription of one of the musical evenings that took place that she sang “aus dem Stegreif” [impromptu] in Conti’s at the Sonnleithners’ home between 1815 and 1824, the cantata ‘Timoteo’ at the Sonnleithners’ house concerts sisters Anna, Josephine and Barbara Fröhlich were na- “inter amicos” [amongst friends] (Kiesewetter, 1847, p. med as participating soprano singers (Böckling, 1862, p. 25). In the same year, the legendary first performance of 374). In his ‘Musikalischen Skizzen’, published in 1862, ‘Ständchen’ D920 (“Zögernd leise”) followed, on the occa- Leopold Sonnleithner, who introduced Franz Schubert to sion of Louise Gosmar’s (1803-1858) birthday on August the Fröhlich sisters, mentioned Josephine and her sister 11th, 1827. Anna Fröhlich had commissioned the text Barbara’s participation in oratorio performances in from Franz Grillparzer and the composition from Franz 1819/20 (Sonnleithner, 1862, p. 179) Schubert for her student Gosmar (see also Anna Fröhli- ch). Following the open air performance in the Gosmar More on Biography family’s garden, the ‘Ständchen’ [serenade] was perfor- Josephine’s first successes as a singer led to a position at med with Josephine Fröhlich as the soloist at Schubert’s the Wiener Kärntertortheater in 1821, which she held un- “Privat-Concert” on March 26th, 1828. til 1822. In 1823, she followed Giuseppe Siboni to Copen- hagen, where he had been working as the director of the Following a stay in Venice in 1829 (accompanied again singing academy at the royal theatre since 1819. Josephi- by her father) and her appearance as Page in Rossini’s ne's arrival in Copenhagen is stated as May 31st, 1823, ‘Le Comte Ory’ at the Teatro San Benedetto, Josephine having accompanied Siboni's daughter Peppina on her Fröhlich travelled to Milan with her sister towards the journey home and then taking up residence with the Sibo- end of 1930, where she began rehearsals at La Scala for nis in Copenhagen. On November 9th, 1823, she sang for the opera ‘Il Romito di Provenza’ by Pietro Generali the royal family for the first time (Schepelern, 1989, p. (1773-1832). There were clearly problems among the sin- – 2 – Fröhlich, Josephine gers and Josephine felt disadvantaged by a role that was phine] played her waltz”). A little later, on June inappropriate for her. The negative assessment of her vo- 18th,1844, Josephine wrote that a public performance of cal performance on January 15th, 1831 and the impossibi- her waltzes by the Lanner orchestra, in the then popular lity of obtaining a role appropriate for her experience Zögernitz amusement park in Döbling, could be likely. and voice, led her to terminate the contract. Josephine There is no information about actual performances of and Katharina, who reported in letters to Vienna in de- her pieces, but it is possible (see Blaha, 2002, p.

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