Nina d’Aubigny: additions to her bibliography.

A few additional items. Her 1803 contribution to Zeitung für die elegante Welt looks interesting. This was the year John Philip Kemble took over Covent Garden, and Dorothea Jordan and Sarah Siddons dominated the London stage.

1798

Essai sur Cassel et ses environs [s.l. : s.n.]

1800

Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung.—1798-1848.
“Über das Leben und Charakter des Pompeo Sales.” 2. Jg., Nr. 21 (1800).
“Über den Zustand des musikalischen Geistes in Cassel.” 3. Jg., Nr. 41 (1800).

1801

Journal des Luxus und der Moden.—1787-1811.
“Ueber die kleine und große Pianoforte-Schule des Hrn. Milchmayer in Dresden.” (Mai 1801).

1803

Zeitung für die elegante Welt.—1801-1811.
“Theater in London.” 3. Jg., Nr. 126 (1803).

“Bloomfield’s Songs”

Following Bloomfield's death in 1823 a two-volume book, The Remains of Robert Bloomfield, was published (London, 1824) for the benefit of his family. The first volume concludes (pp.191-92) with a “Prospectus” advertising “Bloomfield's Songs” with an appeal for subscribers to a proposed publication of at least twenty-four of “his best songs, set to music”, which Goulding & Co. [i.e., Goulding & d'Almaine] would print.



It notes that

THE Songs of the late MR. ROBERT BLOOMFIELD are justly esteemed for the purity of their sentiment and the beauty of their poetry. No poet displays the influence of the “tender passion” with more feeling, and very few treat the amiable objects of it with so much delicacy and respect;—on this account he has always been a favourite with that sex, whose approving smile he valued as his best reward. 

To render his poetry still more worthy of their patronage, and if possible more available to the wants of his widow and family, it is proposed to publish by Subscription a Collection of his best Songs, set to Music, some by himself, some by his brother Isaac, and some by celebrated living composers.

The collection was intended

to consist of Twenty-four at least, of his best Songs, printed in folio; price 20s.

The following Songs were proposed for the collection.

Æolus   from The Remains (1824)
no setting traced

Dawn of the Day   from The Remains (1824)
music by R. W. Evans (London: Bates, 1824)

Donald   from Hazelwood Hall
no setting traced

Eolian Harp   from The Remains (1824)
no setting traced

Farewell, my sweet, my budding Flower   from The Remains (1824)
Matthew Cooke (unpublished)

Flowers of the Mead   from The Remains (1824)
music by R. W. Evans (London: Bates, 1824)

Gleaner’s Song   from Banks of Wye
no setting traced

The Highland Drover   from Rural Tales (1802)
music by Robert Bloomfield (lost)

The Highland Drover (another setting)   from Rural Tales (1802)
music by Isaac Bloomfield (lost)

Hunting Song   from Rural Tales (1802)
music by Isaac Bloomfield (unpublished)

Irish Duck Woman  from The Remains (1824)
no setting traced

Irish News  from The Remains (1824)
to the traditional tune Yorkshireman

Jenner’s Birth-day  from The Remains (1824)
music by Robert Bloomfield (lost)

Kentish Mary  from The Remains (1824)
no setting traced

Love in a Shower  from Hazelwood Hall
music by Mr. Firth (London: Bates, 1824)

Lovely Shelah  from The Remains (1824)
no setting traced

Lucy  from Rural Tales (1802)
music by Isaac Bloomfield (lost)
another setting by James Adcock (London: Walker, 1810)

Maid of Dunstable  from The Remains (1824)
no setting traced

The Maid of Landoga   from Banks of Wye
music by R. W. Evans (London: Bates, 1824)

The Man in the Moon  from The Remains (1824)
to the traditional tune Ligoran Cosh
another setting by Matthew Cooke (unpublished)

Mary’s Grave  from Banks of Wye
no setting traced

Morris of Persfield  from Banks of Wye
no setting traced

Nancy  from Rural Tales (1802)
music by Isaac Bloomfield (lost)
another setting by James Hook (unpublished)

Norah  from The Remains (1824)
no setting traced

Rosamond’s Song  from May-Day
music by Isaac Bloomfield (lost)

Rosy Hannah  from Rural Tales (1802)
music by Isaac Bloomfield (London: the authors, 1801)
another setting by James Hook (London: Phipps, 1810)

Simple Pleasures  from Hazelwood Hall
music by Matthew Cooke (unpublished)

Soldier’s Lullaby from The Remains (1824)
no setting traced

The Soldier’s Return  from The Remains (1824)
no setting traced

Welcome Silence!  from Wild Flowers
no setting traced

Winter Song  from Rural Tales (1802)
music by Isaac Bloomfield (lost)
also a setting by James Hook (s.l.: s.n., 1810)

Woodland Halloo  from Wild Flowers
music by Miss Nina d’Aubigny (London: Vollweiler, 1806)

Yield thee to pleasure  from The Remains (1824)
music by William Crotch (London: Bowles, 1815)

Of these thirty-three songs, no composer can be traced for thirteen, seven have been lost though their composers are known, and some at least of the rest were already in print. My assumption is that it is unlikely that composers waited until all subscriptions were in before turning their hand to setting Bloomfield’s verse.  Indeed, the multiple settings of the same poems in earlier years suggest that when Bloomfield’s poetry was selling well, composers competed in setting his verse. The number of subscribers presumably did not reach the hundred required, as “Bloomfield's Songs” never appeared. Nevertheless it is probable that song settings exist for all the poems cited and much more work will need to be done revising my earlier list of “Bloomfield set to music”.

Source

Robert Bloomfield, 1766-1823.—The remains of Robert Bloomfield ... In two volumes.—London: printed by Thomas Davison, Whitefriars, for the exclusive benefit of the family of Mr. Bloomfield; and published by Baldwin, Cradock , and Joy, 1824.
2 v. illus. 17-19 cm (8vo)
Edited by Joseph Weston with Bloomfield’s daughter, Hannah, a year after his death.—With half-titles and 6 folding plates of engraved music in vol. 1.—Includes a list of subscribers.

Bloomfieldiana IV

Advertisement for Player’s Navy Mixture in The Times (London, England), Thursday, Nov 22, 1906; pg. 4; Issue 38184.

As far as I am aware this is the only occasion on which Bloomfield’s words and image have been used in an advertisement, though Center Parcs used “Leisure” by W.H. Davies, and Waitrose has used Keats's “To Autumn”. (I'm sure lots of other advertisers have made use of “To Autumn”.)

Shakespeare has been used to flog everything from Red Bull, Coca-Cola, Stella Artois and Marlboro, to Mercedes Benz and Levis. Walt Whitman is currently selling iPad Airs, in a “Your Verse” campaign entirely based on a Whitman quote in Dead Poets Society. Other unlikely posthumous pitchmen include Darwin (for BMW), Kerouac (Gap), Scott Fitzgerald and DH Lawrence (David Lynch advertisements for Obsession perfume).

Recently, Jeremy Noel-Tod of the University of East Anglia spotted that a photograph of the poet R.S.Thomas had been appropriated by Tyrrells Crisps to promote a competition. “Win a fleeting look of contempt or £25,000,” ran the advertisement alongside a black-and-white photograph of a grumpy-looking Thomas on packets of Tyrrells sweet chilli and red pepper crisps.

Sources

“Tyrrells spices up its crisp packets with image of fiery poet RS Thomas”
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jan/28/tyrrells-crisp-packets-poet-rs-thomas

“Keats's Ode to Waitrose? How brands use writers’ reputations”
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/jan/31/keats-waitrose-brands-writers-rs-thomas?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487



Joanna Southcott: a Bloomfieldian canard

In a letter of 4 October 1814, Bloomfield informed T.J. Baker that

My wife is a staunch diciple [sic] of Johanna Southcott (Letter 294).

A note appended to the Romantic Circles edition of the letters explains

Joanna Southcott (1750–1814), a Devon servant who proclaimed herself a prophet and the mother of the new Messiah, the returning Shiloh, attracted a cult-following numbering in the tens of thousands.

Before 1813 Joanna Southcott had pursued a public ministry of the written word—sixty-five “communications” gathered together and published in separate volumes between 1801 and 1814. A conservative estimate puts the number of copies of her writings published during this time at 108,000. Southcott was thus one of the most widely read authors of the early nineteenth century. A figure of ridicule to cultural elites in her own day as well as in ours, she preached a simple message of personal reform and national repentance—though one stigmatized by E.P. Thompson as an icon of the chiliasm of despair that seemingly drove working English men and women into sterile fantasies of supernatural deliverance after the political repression of the 1790s (Juster 250-51). Dorothy Thompson comments on those Marxist historians who "projected their own preoccupations into the past", being "more concerned with what the working class ... ought to have been doing than what it was actually doing". Could she have been thinking of her late husband?

From Bloomfield’s simple statement have been derived ever more elaborate stories about how all his money was given to the Southcottians amid claims of his wife’s “madness”. John Lucas, for example, notes with apparent conviction

Bloomfield’s May-Day with the Muses was published in 1822, a year before his death. By the time he came to write it he was more or less destitute—his wife had given the bulk of his money to Joanna Southcott’s cause—and he had become disenchanted with Shefford, the town to which he had moved with such high hopes some years earlier (123).

What evidence is there for such a claim? Indeed, how could it possibly have occurred? What access could Mary Ann Bloomfield have had to her husband’s savings? I think we can be confident that Robert Bloomfield didn’t have a bank account—and even if he had, his wife would have been unlikely to have had access to it. But I also think it unlikely that he kept his earnings in cash—there was no handful of guineas in a box under the bed.

The most likely form in which Bloomfield would have held his earnings from his poetry would have been in the form of promissory notes from his publishers. One imagines that he held a bundle of promissory notes in a strongbox. Such notes were widely in use at that time as a means of generating credit. Under this system, the drawer (in this case the publisher) gave the acceptor (the author) a written promise (a “promissory bill”) to pay a stated sum on a stated date. Banks were prepared to pay ready money (but less than the full sum stated in the bill) to the acceptor, in exchange for the bill. At the due date, the bank then claimed the promised sum in full from the drawer, thus in effect reclaiming (with interest) a loan of ready cash made on the security of the promissory note. If the publisher had not been keeping his part of the bargain by repaying the banks when the promissory notes became due, these, in effect, post-dated cheques to Bloomfield would have bounced.

Vernor and Hood, Bloomfield’s first publishers went bankrupt in 1812, involving Bloomfield in severe financial loss. Benjamin Crosby, bookseller at 44 Stationer’s Court, near Paternoster Row, bought the rights to Bloomfield’s works, after the failure of Vernor, Hood and Sharpe, but died in 1815 after his own firm went bankrupt. Any promissory notes issued by Crosby instantly became worthless and Bloomfield would have lost all his savings without the need to postulate gifts to Joanna Southcott. (I should welcome correction from people better informed about how writers kept their savings.)

In September 1814, Joanna Southcott announced that she was pregnant with the Messiah. Like Mary Ann Bloomfield, tens of thousands of men and women found the prospect of a miraculous birth compelling enough to invest their hopes and their pennies in her cause. And it was just pennies.

•

We find a number of references to Joanna Southcott in the annotated letters and essays on the Romantic Circles website. Thus, in his essay “The Talk of the Tap-Room: Bloomfield, Politics, and Popular Culture”, Peter Denney writes

In a series of letters of 1821, Lloyd Baker demanded that the poet, then experiencing severe poverty and ill health, clarify his beliefs for the peace of mind of his supporters. The letters implied that Bloomfield’s wife’s devotion to the provincial servant-prophetess, Joanna Southcott, had somehow rubbed off on the poet, leading him to forgo church attendance, as if religious heterodoxy were a natural stepping stone to infidelity.

Joanna Southcott insisted throughout her life that she was a loyal daughter of the Church of England. The Southcottians were also anxious to affirm their political orthodoxy. Southcott declared in a pamphlet published in 1807, “His majesty has no better subjects in his kingdom, or who wish more for the perfect happiness of the nation, than the true believers in my visitation”. The police magistrate Sir Richard Ford agreed that there was little to fear from them. He remarked to a fellow magistrate, “The principles of these Gentlemen (however erroneous) seem founded with so much Love to their fellow Creatures, and the Good of the World at Large; that was it not for my Official Capacity—I should think it no Disgrace to Belong to men of such Inoffensive principles” (Hopkins, 191).

Note how the Romantic Circles writers refer to Southcott

“His wife, never an easy presence, had become a follower of the self-proclaimed prophet Joanna Southcott”.—Tim Fulford

Bloomfield, Mary Ann, née Church: Bloomfield’s wife, ... a follower of the self-proclaimed prophetess and mother of Shiloh, Joanna Southcott.—Index of People

Whence this irritating description of Joanna as “self-proclaimed” (Romantic Circles) or “self-styled” (other writers)? Aren’t all prophets self-proclaimed? Certainly, in the Old Testament, both Elijah and Elisha style themselves prophets.

Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men (1 KINGS 18:22).

And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel (2 KINGS 5:8).

“Prophet”, “prophetic”, “prophesy”—these are key words too for William Blake, occurring eighty-eight times in his writings. In his Annotations to Bishop Watson, Blake explains what the word means to him

Prophets in the modern sense of the word have never existed Jonah was no prophet in the modern sense for his prophecy of Nineveh failed Every honest man is a Prophet he utters his opinion both of private & public matters / Thus / If you go on So / the result is So / He never says such a thing shall happen let you do what you will. a Prophet is a Seer not an Arbitrary Dictator (E 617).

In America (1793) Blake identified his own work as “prophecy”—and he identifies himself as “prophet” in “The Little Girl Lost” (I prophetic see) in the Songs of Experience of that same year.

Nobody ever refers to the prophetic writer Lady Eleanor Davies (1590-1652) as a “self-styled prophetess”. Nor thus to Jane Leade, Philadelphian, nor Elizabeth Barton, the Holy Maid of Kent, nor to “Our Lady of Ipswich”, a sixteenth-century child prophet.

Only Joanna Southcott is so dismissed. The reason is obvious. It’s there in Peter Denney’s “provincial servant-prophetess”. She had worked as a maid-servant and so English snobbery reveals itself again. The casual unthinking snobbery apparent in E.P. Thompson’s famous claim

I am seeking to rescue the poor stockinger, the Luddite cropper, the “obsolete” hand-loom weaver, the “utopian” artisan, and even the deluded follower of Joanna Southcott, from the enormous condescension of posterity (12).

It’s a bit condescending, is it not, to describe Southcott's followers as “deluded”. From a broader historical perspective, the life of Joanna Southcott does not appear as aberrant or fantastical as it did to Southey, or to E.P. Thompson following Southey. She's a working-class Englishwoman writing directly about her spiritual experiences in a tradition that stretches back to Mother Julian of Norwich. I'll give Susan Juster the last word

Even after the bitter disappointment of her death, the Southcottians continued to be a force in British millenarian culture, supporting first one then another of the many claimants to her prophetic mantle who appeared in the 1820s and 1830s. And in many private and (to historians, at least) obscure moments, women and some men continued to have visions of spiritual communion that can only be called mystical (287).

Sources

Tim Fulford & Linda Pratt.—The letters of Robert Bloomfield and his circle.—A Romantic Circles electronic edition.

http://www.rc.umd.edu/editions/bloomfield_letters

All Bloomfield’s extant letters plus a selection of those written to him.

John Goodridge & Bridget Keegan, eds.—Robert Bloomfield: the inestimable blessing of letters.—A Romantic Circles Praxis volume

http://www.rc.umd.edu/praxis/bloomfield

A set of essays published as a companion to the edition of Bloomfield’s letters.

James K. Hopkins.—A woman to deliver her people: Joanna Southcott and English millenarianism in an era of revolution.—Austin TX: University of Texas Press, 1982.

Susan Juster, “Mystical Pregnancy and Holy Bleeding: Visionary Experience in Early Modern Britain and America”, The William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, Vol. 57, No. 2 (April 2000), 249-288.

Dorothy Thompson.—The dignity of Chartism.—London : Verso, 2015.

E.P. Thompson.—The making of the English working class.—London : Gollancz, 1963.

Simon White, John Goodridge & Brigid Keegan, eds.—Robert Bloomfield: lyric, class, and the romantic canon.—Lewisburg : Bucknell University Press, 2006.

Essays including: John Lucas, “Hospitality and the rural tradition: Bloomfield’s May-Day with the Muses”, 113-141.

Bloomfieldiana III



H. BROWN [del. & sc.] | MR. W.H. WILLIAMS | AS GILES | IN THE MILLER’S MAID | Published by H. Brown. [c.1824.]
Plate 165 x 95mm.
William Henry Williams (1797-1846), actor, entertainer and magician; as Giles in John Faucit’s “Miller's Maid”, after Bloomfield. (See my “Provisional list of musical settings” for 1821: John Marks Jolly, 1790-1864, composer.)
Harvard Volume IV. p.273: 4.
Purchased from Grosvenor Prints (London): [Ref: 20957] “A very rare hand-coloured etching.”

Literature

Catalogue of dramatic portraits in the Theatre collection of the Harvard college library / by Lillian Arvilla Hall ...—Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard university press, 1930-1934.—4 v. ; 26 cm
“A descriptive index to the engraved dramatic portraits in the Theatre collection ... arranged alphabetically according to names.”—Pref.
Contents: Vol. 1 A-E.—vol. 2 F-K.—vol. 3 L-R.—vol. 4, S-Z.

Robert William Evans

Robert William Evans, baptised 17 June 1787 at St Mary, Whitechapel. He is recorded in the parish register as the son of George Bland and Rachel (surname not given). R.W. Evans we can then assume is the illegitimate son of the minor actor, George Bland, the brother of Dora (Dorothy) Jordan, actress and mistress of William IV. His mother is presumably one Rachel Evans, a plausible enough name in view of the Bland family's west Wales connections.

The following list of music by R.W. Evans suggests to me that he was a professional musician working in the theatre. Angus Whitehead comments that the “elegy” commemorating the death of Princess Charlotte may possibly have a connection with the Deer tale from May Day with the Muses.

Checklist

And art thou then, celestial spirit, flown? : an elegy (written by a young lady,) on the much lamented death of Her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte of Wales ; composed, and most humbly dedicated to His Serene Highness the Prince Leopold of Saxe Cobourg by R. W. Evans.—London : Printed for the Author (No 17, Charles St Covent Garden), [1818?].

Beneath a weeping willow's shade : a ballad written by W. Bygrave Esqr ; sung by Mr. Nelson, at the Nobility's Concerts ; & composed expressly for him by R. W. Evans.—London : Printed by R. W. Evans, No. 53, Cheapside, near Bow Church, [1821].

Beside the foaming dashing Wave, a ballad, written by I. Belgrave Junr.—London : Printed by R. W. Evans, [c. 1825].

The celebrated Sicilian Air on which is founded the ... Song of 'Sweet Home'. A Fantaisie and Rondo for the Piano Forte, with accompaniments ... for the Flute and Violoncello, etc.—London : R. W. Evans, [1824?].

The Dawning of Day. [Song, words by R. Bloomfield]..—[London] : T. C. Bates, [1824].—Pp. 4 and 5 of the Appendix to vol. I of The Remains of Robert Bloomfield.

The deserted cottage : a ballad ; the words by W. Bygrave Esqr ; composed with an accompaniment for the piano forte by R. W. Evans.—London : Printed by R. W. Evans, [1820?].

Evans's twenty four intirely new country dances, waltzes, quadrilles &c. for the year 1822 : with proper figures set to each by an eminent master.—London : R.W. Evans, [1821?].

Five bumper toasts, for the English gentleman : a duett with a chorus as sung by Mr. Broadhurst ; the words by Dr. Henry Fick, Professor of the German Language & Literature ; the music, partly founded on an old German tune, respectfully dedicated to every English gentleman, in word and deed with a grateful sense of the hospitality the Author met with in this country ; arranged for the piano forte, 2 voices & a chorus, by Mr. R. W. Evans.—London : Printed for the Author, by R. W. Evans (146, Strand), [1823].

The Flowers of the Mead. [Song, words by R. Bloomfield].—[London] : T. C. Bates, [1824].—Pp. 2 and 3 of the Appendix to vol. I of The Remains of Robert Bloomfield.

His Majesties welcome to Scotland : the melody by G. S. Pollock ; arranged for the piano forte, as a rondo, by R. W. Evans.—London : Printed by Ware & Evans, [1822].

Let us haste to Kelvin Grove, bonnie lassie : the admired Scottish ballad sung by Mr Braham, in the opera of Guy Mannering at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane ; arranged for the piano forte, with variations and a rondo by R. W. Evans.—London : Printed by R. W. Evans, [1823].

The Maid of Landoga. From Mr. Bloomfield's Banks of Wye.—[London] : T. C. Bates, [1824].—Pp. 6 and 7 of the Appendix to vol. I of The Remains of Robert Bloomfield.

The Mid Lothians, a new set of quadrilles, containing The maid of Glenconnel, Lassie wi the link[recte lint]-white locks, Riggs o'barley, Peggy's love & auld Robin Gray, The Campbells are coming, Lewie Gordon & over the hills...arranged for the piano forte...with new figures in French & English.—London : Evans, 1821

Serenada Espanõla [sic], No. 1 : for the piano forte, in which is introduced a new Guaracha dance, with an accompaniment for one or two flutes (ad libitum) ; composed and dedicated to His Excellency the Spanish Ambassador, by R. W. Evans.—London : Printed by Evans & Lucas, [1821].

Serenada Espanõla [sic], No. 2 : for the piano forte, in which is introduced a new fandango, with an accompaniment for one or two flutes (ad libitum) ; composed and dedicated to His Excellency Dn. Luci de Onis, The Spanish Ambassador, by R. W. Evans.—London : Printed by R. W. Evans, [1822].

Wandle's wave : a new ballad, as introduced & sung with the most rapturous applause, by Mr Pyne, in the opera of Inkle & Yarico, at the Theatre Royal Covent Garden, the words by a gentleman ; composed with an accompaniment for the piano forte, by R. W. Evans.—London : Printed by R. W. Evans (No 53, Cheapside), [1821].

What is Prayer, the poetry by Montgomery ... With an accompaniment for the piano forte, etc.—London : R. W. Evans, [c. 1825].

The White Rose, a ballad ... the poetry by D. A. O'Meara ... with an accompaniment for the harp or piano forte.—London : R. Evans, [1827].

Sources

Ancestry.co.uk (for Whitechapel parish register).

Copac Academic & National Library Catalogue <http://copac.ac.uk/>.

Nina d'Aubigny von Engelbrunner

Composer, performer, singing-teacher, Jana Wynandine Gertraud (“Nina”) d’Aubigny von Engelbrunner was born in Kassel, 14 April 1770, the second child of Johann Caspar Engelbrunner and Sabine Jacobine d’Aubigny.

The Engelbrunner family were enthusiastic travellers and in 1803 Nina, accompanied by her sisters Emilie and Susette, her brother-in-law Carl Gottlieb Hortstig, and nephew Eduard, travelled to France and on to England. In London, Emilie decided to accept a teaching job in Calcutta and left for India. The others travelled via Holland, where they visited the Dutch branch of the family, back to Bückeburg. The same year saw the publication of Nina d'Aubigny's Briefe an Natalie über den Gesang, a pedagogical work for singers that Beethoven is said to have admired. (A second edition was to appear in 1824.)

Nina d'Aubigny published a series of articles between 1804 and 1806 in the magazine London und Paris on her travels to London and on life in the capital. (Her brother-in-law Carl Gottlieb Horstig contributed the first German language review of Bloomfield’s poetry, “Der Dichter Bloomfield”, to London und Paris, 12. Bd., 1803, 30-34). She made a second visit to London in 1806 when she met Bloomfield, if the dedication “in[s]cribed to Mr Bloomfield” of her setting of “The woodland hallò” can be so interpreted. The “Prospectus” included in The Remains of Robert Bloomfield, Vol. I (London: Baldwin, Cradock & Joy, 1824) states that Miss d’Aubigny’s setting was to be published as part of a subscription collection.

Unusually for her time, Nina d’Aubigny von Engelbrunner made settings of English, French and Italian poetry in their original languages. By setting Bloomfield’s poetry, she places him firmly in a context of cosmopolitan European high culture. Of course, Haydn and Beethoven had set English words in their folksong arrangements, but her contemporary, Schubert, set Ossian in German translation, as Schumann did Thomas Moore (“Das Paradies und die Peri”).

An inveterate traveller, she visited her sister Emilie in Calcutta in 1810, making a return visit to India in 1818. She later journeyed through Asia and Africa, returning to Germany in 1819 and settling in Dresden in 1820.

By 1826, she was in Vienna, and close to Schubert and his circle of friends. At an evening party (10 April 1827) given by her nephew Eduard Horstig, Nina d’Aubigny played the harp, and Ludwig Tietze sang songs by Schubert accompanied by the composer himself.

She died, unmarried, 29 January 1848 at Nestelbach bei Graz.

Checklist

1797

Nina d’Aubigny von Engelbrunner, 1770-1848.—Deutsche, italienische und Französische Gesänge mit Begleitung des Pianoforte, etc.—Augsburg : In der Gombartischen Musik-Handlung, [1797].

1799

Der neue Teutsche Merkur.—1790-1810.
“Amsterdam. Literatur in Holland”.—1. Bd (1799), 172-175.
Nina’s first signed venture into journalism. There may have been earlier anonymous contributions.

Susette Horstig, 1767-1845, & Nina d’Aubigny von Engelbrunner, 1770-1848.—Tagebuch einer Reise durch die Portugiesische Provinz Alentejo im Januar 1797, mit einer Beschreibung der Stiergefechte in Portugal.—Hildesheim : Gerstenberg, 1799.

1803-1807

London und Paris.—1798-1815.
Nina contributed 30 pieces to this journal.
“Transfiguration einer teutschen Reisenden ins englische Kostum. Bemerkungen über Decenz und stehende Nationalmode der Engländerinnen.” 11. Bd. (1803), 294-305.
“Allerlei Bemerkungen und Ansichten. Das Seebad zu Margate. Lächerlicher Unfall dabei. Unglücksfall im Meer. Lustpartie auf der Themse. Ansicht der großen Stadt. Härte des englischen Charakters und dadurch nöthige Strenge der Kriminaljustiz. Ursachen des Selbstmords.” 12. Bd. (1803), 15-22.
“Militairische Wache für London.” 12. Bd. (1803), 216-222.
“Fehlschlagungen bei der Eröffnung der Parliamentssitzung durch den König im Oberhause. (Aus dem Briefe einer Teutschen Dame in London).” 12. Bd. (1803), 222-232.
“Der Royal-Cirkus. Bemerkungen über englischen Körperbau und Hang zur Verzierung.” 12. Bd. (1803), 233-236.
“Das Foundling-Hospital, Findelhaus in London.” 12. Bd. (1803), 237-242.
“Winter's Oper: Il triompho del amor fraterno als Benefiz-Vorstellung der Mistriß Billington.—Ueber den musikalischen Sinn der Engländer.—Mrs. Billington und der Sänger Braham.—Achille et Deidamia, ein historisches Ballet von d'Egville und Winter.” 13. Bd. (1804), 100-116.
“Einige Bemerkungen über Englische Erziehung.” 13. Bd. (1804), 183-187.
“Schilderung des Monat Mai in London. Versammlung der eleganten Welt in Kensington-Garden. Umzug der Kaminfegersknaben. Einrichtung der Subscriptions-Konzerte. The Ladies Concert. Harrissons Konzert. Die Harmonic Society.” 13. Bd. (1804), 195-209.
“Schilderung eines Morgens in London.—Ueber physische Erziehung der Kinder und ihre Kleidung.—Die Stunde des Frühstücks.—Dr. Willis Bemerkungen über den Thee.—Beschäftigungen der schönen Welt vor dem Mittagsessen.—Wanderungen nach der Truchsessian Gallery, in Thomas Hope's Pallast, und zu den Gemälden der Frau von Tott.” 13. Bd. (1804), 311-330.
“Vertheidigung der City von London. Fahrt nach den Westindian Docks. Das Hospital von Greenwich. Der Park und das Observatorium zu Greenwich.” 13. Bd. (1804), 331-348.
“Land-Aufenthalt der Engländer. Exkursionen in die Badeplätze. Fulham bei London. Bischoff Scherlock's Grab. Wasserfahrt auf der Themse. The water fencibles. Hamerschmidt, Landsitz der Markgräfin von Anspach. The ghost of Hammersmidt. Das neue Schloß zu Kew. Richmont, der Park daselbst. Twikenham, wo Pope wohnte.” 14. Bd. (1804), 16-37.
“Der kühne Kaper Blackmann. Krankheit der Mrs. Billington und Mrs. Siddons. Der junge Roscius.” 14. Bd. (1804), 110.
“Fliegende Bilder. Die Centaurin Mrs. Smith. Die Messen um London. Croydon Fair. Brighton. Maria von Schottland's Andenken. Ihr Aufenthalt im Schlosse zu Carlisle. Freudenfeuer zum Andenken der entdeckten Pulververschwörung. Die Waßerparthien auf den Theatern. Der Hund Carlo.” 14. Bd. (1804), 207-213.
“Die Kunst zu verbessern, ein Nationalzug der Brittischen Nation. Societäten für jedes Fach. Smithfield Society. Der Maler Moreland. Die Ackerbau-Societät zu Bath. Besuch des Indianers Teyoninhoke. Seine Rede an den Präsidenten.” 14. Bd. (1804), 286-298.
“Etiquette am Englischen Hofe.—Mittagstafel des Königs.—Ueber eheliche und häusliche Verhältnisse der Britten.—Ueber Einrichtung des Tisches und der Küche in England.” 15. Bd. (1805), 207-233.
“Englischer Nekrolog.” 15. Bd. (1805), 293-298.
“Papirus Manuscripte.” 15. Bd. (1805), 298-302.
“The brother's steps in London.” 15. Bd. (1805), 302-303.
“Anbau des Mahagony-Baumes.” 15. Bd. (1805), 303-306.
“Gesellschaft der Alterthümer.—Graf Essex Ring.—Zusammenkunft Heinrich VIII. mit Franz I.” 15. Bd. (1805), 307-312.
“Die Forty thieves von Sheridan.” 17. Bd. (1806), 271-274.
“Reise von London nach Teutschland. Erster Brief. Fahrt von London nach Gravesend.—Mannichfaltige Bemerkungen über Engländer und Englische Sitten.” 18. Bd. (1806), 97-115.
“Zweiter Brief. Aufenthalt in Gravesend.—Die französische Familie.—Die Lesebibliothek. Bemerkungen über die Mode-Schriftsteller.” 18. Bd. (1806), 116-125.
“Dritter Brief. Abfahrt von Gravesand.—Beschreibung der Einrichtung auf dem Schiffe.” 18. Bd. (1806), 196-203.
“Vierter Brief. Der Traum wird Wirklichkeit-Ein fürchterlicher Sturm. Ankunft an den Ufern der Weser.” 18. Bd. (1806), 203-221.
“Bemerkungen über das Badeleben in England.” 18. Bd. (18060, 309-318.
“Schilderung der Tagesordnung in Ramsgate.—Ungeselligkeit der Engländer.” 18. Bd. (1806), 318-333.
“Ende der Bade-Saison in Ramsgate.—Mstrs. Siddons in Broadstairs. Ihre Vorlesung des Hamlet.—Running Races, eine Art Wettlauf.—Esel-Cavalcaden.—Concerte.—Einschiffen der Truppen.” 18. Bd. (1806), 334-344.
“Fortgesetzte Bemerkungen über die Teutschen in London im Jahr 1806.” 19. Bd. (1807), 10-23.

1803

Nina d’Aubigny von Engelbrunner, 1770-1848.—Briefe an Natalie über den Gesang, als Beförderung der hauslichen Glücklichkeit und des geselligen Vergnügens, etc.— Leipzig, 1803.

1805-1806

Nina d’Aubigny von Engelbrunner, 1770-1848.—Deutsch-englische Gesänge. Seven Songs.—Leipzig, Offenbach, [1805/06].

1806

Nina d’Aubigny von Engelbrunner, 1770-1848.—Weep no more : a song, the words from Beaumont and Fletcher.—London, [1806].
Words from John Fletcher's play of the Queen of Corinth.



1807

Nina d’Aubigny von Engelbrunner, 1770-1848.—The woodland hallò. Composed and incribed [sic] to Mr. Bloomfield, author of the farmers Boy, wild flowers etc. etc. by Miss Nina d’Aubigny von Engelbrunner.—London : printed from the stone by and for G. J. Vollweiler at the Patent Polyautographic Press (No. 9, Buckingham Place, Fitzroy Square), [1807?].

1824

Nina d’Aubigny von Engelbrunner, 1770-1848.—Briefe an Natalie über den Gesang, als Beförderung der häuslichen Glückseligkeit und dess geselligen Vergnügens ... Zweite verbesserte ... Auflage.—Leipzig, 1824.

2001

Nina d’Aubigny von Engelbrunner, 1770-1848.—Niet zo erg Hollands : dagboek van een reis naar Nederland (1790-1791) door Nina d'Aubigny ; van een inleiding en aantekeningen voorzien door Helen Metzelaar ; vertaling: H. Metzelaar en E.R. d'Engelbronner.—Egodocumenten ; d. 21.—Hilversum : Verloren, 2001.—ISBN: 9065501746
Dutch translation of Nina d’Aubigny’s French diary recounting her stay in the Netherlands, 1790-91.

Further reading

Otto Erich Deutsch.—Schubert : die Dokumente seines Lebens ; gesammelt und erläutert von Otto Erich Deutsch ; mit einem Geleitwort von Peter Gülke.—Erw. Nachdruck der 2. Aufl.—Wiesbaden : Breitkopf & Härtel, c1996.—ISBN: 3765103020
Previous ed.: Leipzig : Deutscher Verlag für Musik, 1980.
Available English translation: Schubert : a documentary biography; translated by Eric Blom.— Rev. and augmented with a commentary by the author.—London : J. M. Dent, 1946.

Manfred Elsberger.—Nina d'Aubigny von Engelbrunner : eine adelige Musikpädagogin am Übergang vom 18. zum 19. Jahrhundert : Untersuchungen zu ihrem Hauptwerk Briefe an Natalie über den Gesang.—München : Buch & medi@, 2000.—ISBN: 3935284462 (pbk.)
Originally presented as the author's thesis: Universität Passau, 2000.
Includes bibliographical references, chronology and index.

Carl Gottlieb Horstig.—Reise nach Frankreich, England und Holland zu Anfange des Jahre 1803.—Berlin : Maurer, 1806.

Alison E. Martin.—Moving scenes: the aesthetics of German travel writing on England 1783-1830.—Legenda Studies in Comparative Literature; 13.—London : Legenda/Modern Humanities Research Association and Maney Publishing, 2008.—ISBN: 190654008X ; 9781906540081
Particularly chapter 4: “Light and Landscape in Carl Gottlieb Horstig's Reise nach Frankreich, England und Holland zu Anfange des Jahre 1803.”

Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart : allgemeine Enzyklopädie der Musik ; begründet von Friedrich Blume.—Zweite, neubearbeitete Ausgabe, herausgegeben von Ludwig Finscher—18 v.—Kassel : Bärenreiter, 1999-2007.

Eva Rieger.—Frau und Musik. Mit Texten von Nina d'Aubigny, Adele Gerhard, Johanna Kinkel, Alma Mahler-Werfel, Clara Schumann u.a., hrsg. und eingeleitet von E. Rieger.-- Die Frau in der Gesellschaft: frühe Texte.—Frankfurt am Main : Fischer, 1980.—ISBN: 3596222575 (pbk)
Extracts from Briefe an Natalie.