ity her residence until
her death in 1880. She became extremely proficient as a pianist, and won
many public triumphs. In one of Robert Schumann's criticisms is an
interesting comparison between her work and that of Clara Schumann.
"They should not be compared," says the great critic. "They are
different mistresses of different schools. The playing of Madame
Belleville is technically the finer of the two; Clara's is more
impassionate.... Madame Belleville is a poetess, Clara is poetry
itself." The works of this virtuoso are largely made up of
transcriptions and arrangements, but contain some excellent compositions
of her own.

Though not credited with any composition in larger form than songs or
piano pieces, Josephine Lang won a high artistic rank among the women
composers of Germany. Born at Munich in 1815, she began her piano
studies when five years old, and made progress enough to allow a public
appearance in her eleventh year. Four years later Mendelssohn met her
and became her teacher in counterpoint and thoroughbass. He was charmed
by her gifted and poetic nature, and calls her "one of the loveliest
creatures I have ever seen. She has the gift," he continues, "of
composing songs, and of singing them, in a degree that I have never
known before." To help support her parents, she did some teaching, and
sang in the royal chapel with such success that she was named for the
post of royal court singer. In 1842 she married Christian Koestlin, who
obtained a law professorship at Tuebingen, and there she passed fourteen
happy years. The death of her husband was followed by the loss of her
three sons, and she was forced once more to struggle for a living. In
this later period of trial and success, she published most of her
compositions. The songs, amounting to a hundred and fifty in number, are
remarkable for their strong feeling and expressive power, while her
piano works are stamped with originality and depth of conception. Among
the latter are the great "Deutscher Siegesmarsch," two mazurkas, and an
impromptu, "In the Twilight." Her eulogistic biographer calls these
pieces "Real pearls among piano works."

[Illustration: ADELE AUS DER OHE]

Delphine von Schauroth was another brilliant pianist, much praised by
Schumann and excessively admired by Mendelssohn. A Sonata Brilliant and
a Capriccio are among her best works. Minna Brinkmann is a voluminous
writer of pieces in lighter vein. Lina Ramann has won fame by her
lit