Hyperion Records

Louise (or Luise) Reichardt was the daughter of Johann Friedrich Reichardt from his first marriage to Juliane Benda. She was taught music by her father and benefited from the large number of talented literary visitors to Giebichenstein during her formative years. She had personal links with several great poets, including Novalis, settings of whose poems she published long after the poet’s death (Sechs Lieder, Hamburg, 1819). This was also the year that Schubert came to grips with the same poet and it cannot be completely ruled out that Schubert came across Reichardt’s book of songs. Unlucky in marriage (the early death of two fiancés), Louise Reichardt’s health suffered; she lost her beautiful singing voice and saw out her days as a singing teacher and organizer of choral concerts in Hamburg. She died almost exactly two years before Schubert.

comparative Schubert listening:
Nachthymne D687. January 1820

from notes by ©