• Voices: SA + piano
  
• Genre: Romantic (c.1840)
• Composer: KINKEL, Johanna (1810 - 1858)
• 979070-8209-26-3

Lovely tuneful songs, that are a pleasure to sing as the two parts interact and move in beautiful harmony. Suitable for adults or young girls.

Johanna Kinkel composed these Three Duets for two of her pupils, the sisters Adele & Emily Thormann, when she was living in Bonn, Germany. Perhaps the watery subject of the first duet was inspired by her own 'watery' experience in that year when Gottfried Kinkel [her husband from 1843] rescued her from a boating accident on the river Rhine! Sing them with the original German words (C.W. Mueller & J.W. Goethe) or in the faithful English translations by Roz Trubger.

SAMPLE:

Longer samples available here [opens in Soundcloud]

Johanna Kinkel (also Mathieux, Mockel) made her mark in the worlds of both music and literature and her life makes a fascinating story.  Born in Bonn, her childhood music studies were with Beethoven’s teacher. As an adult, she was a friend of Fanny Mendelssohn and Karl Marx. She got caught up in the revolutionary events of 1849 and emigrated to London after helping her husband escape from Spandau prison. Her short life ended tragically when she fell from her bedroom window near Paddington station.