Gisela Frankl

Gisela Frankl
Gisela Frankl, 1895
Gisela Frankl, 1895
Background information
Born14 March 1860
Vienna
Died8 June 1935
unknown
Occupation(s)pianist, composer
Years active1880-1896

Gisela Frankl (1860—1935) was an Austrian pianist and composer.

Biography

Her parents were the Imperial and Royal advocate Moriz Frankl and Theresa née Löwy. She was the firstborn of seven children, including paintress Regine Frankl, not all of whom survived to adulthood. Gisela Frankl grew up in the family home at Praterstraße 8 in Vienna's Leopoldstadt. At the end of the 1860s, the family moved first to Oberdöbling, later to the Inner City. From the age of seven, she received piano lessons, among others from Josef Dachs. She was one of the first students at the Higher Education School for Girls, founded in 1871 by the Vienna Women's Employment Association. She also received private lessons in music, English, and French. In the academic year 1873/1874 she was enrolled as a piano student at the Vienna Conservatory, after which she transferred to the Clavierschule Ungar, founded by pianist Ignaz Ungar, where she studied piano, counterpoint, harmony and composition.

In the summer of 1880, in the presence of Eduard Hanslick, she passed the state examination to become a "public teacher of piano and harmony" with distinction. This was even noted in the magazine "Die Hausfrau," although she was only twenty years old at the time. In the same year, she founded a private music institute at Rotenturmstrasse 37, which enjoyed considerable popularity in the following years. The music institute relocated several times: in 1884 to Wasagasse in Alsergrund, in November 1885 to Tuchlauben in the Inner City, and in 1888 to Mariahilferstrasse 12 in Neubau.

At the same time, the young lady regularly performed in concert halls across the city—primarily in the Bösendorfer and Ehrbar Halls, as well as at the Musikverein. For example, the audience responded to a composition concert in 1888 "with thunderous applause," according to the Austrian Art Chronicle. In 1890, her concert tours began, first with cellist Josefine Donat and singer Ziona Grieger, and the following year with violinist Amalie Ebner and singer Karoline Wogrinz. The local Spa and Travel Journal printed a glowing review of her concert in Rohitsch-Sauerbrunn.

In 1892, she toured North America, accompanied by her sister Regine. On 23 December 1896, the New York Journal reported about a suffragette dinner at which the artist performed her Festival March.[1] On February 14, 1906 she married Theodor Alfred Christian von Irgens-Bergh in Manhattan. Her husband, a Danish nobleman, was born on January 8, 1866; he had a brother named Valdemar Andreas Frederik, who was one year younger. At least part of the couple's inheritance was dedicated to the support of young musicians in Denmark.[2][3] The place of her death is unknown.[4][5]

Her sister Regine was arrested by the Nazi regime, deported to Theresienstadt and murdered in 1942.[6]

Compositions

Gisela Frankl was a renowned composer. During her concert appearances, she frequently performed her own pieces. Her oeuvre primarily comprised compositions for salon and chamber music, numerous pieces for piano, and songs with piano accompaniment. In 1881, she dedicated her composition Wedding Hymn to Crown Prince Rudolf on the occasion of his marriage to Princess Stéphanie of Belgium, which was performed in the presence of the Crown Prince.

Compositions for Piano

Incomplete.[7]

  • Gavotte
  • Herzensfrage (Lied ohne Worte)
  • Meeres-Sagen (Tonstück)
  • Mes Adieux (Melodie)
  • Nocturne
  • Romanze
  • Sommernacht-Ständchen
  • Auf Flügeln des Tanzes (Polka), op. 28
  • Mazurka de Salon, op. 39
Vocal
  • Hochzeitshymne

Her works subsequently appeared regularly in print; by 1890, around 50 of her compositions had been published by various publishers. Some of her works are part of the music collection of the Vienna Library in City Hall.

Literature

  • Wiener Sonntags- und Montagszeitung: Clavier-Schule der Gisela Frankl, 8 October 1888
  • Ludwig Eisenberg: Das geistige Wien, Künstler- und Schriftsteller-Lexikon. Supplementband. Wien: Daberkow's 1892, p. 17
  • Florence Sutro: Women in Music and Law, 1895, p. 12
  • Eva Marx, Gerlinde Haas: 210 österreichische Komponistinnen. Ein Lexikon. Wien: Residenz Verlag 2001, p. 150–153
  • Elke Krasny: Stadt und Frauen. Eine andere Topographie von Wien. Wien: Metroverlag 2008, p. 46-47, 203
  • Ilse Korotin (Hg.): biografiA. Lexikon österreichischer Frauen. Band 1. Wien/Köln/Weimar: Böhlau 2016, p. 886

References

  1. ^ Chronicling America: Image 4 of New York journal (New York [N.Y.), 23 December 1896
  2. ^ Theodor Alfred Christian von IRGENS-BERGH, retrieved on 10 August 2025
  3. ^ music austria (Musikdatenbank): Frankl Gisela, retrieved on 10 August 2025
  4. ^ The 1987 edition of International encyclopedia of women composers lists her twice, once as Frankel, Gisela (without dates of birth and death) and once as Irgens-Bergh, Gisela (1870—1935), see p. 247 and 317. 1870 as year of her birth is definitely not correct, but many sources do not cite the correct years of birth and death.
  5. ^ Danske Slægtsforskere, retrieved on 10 August 2025
  6. ^ Memento Wien: Regine Frankl, retrieved on 10 August 2025
  7. ^ Aaron I. Cohen (ed.): International encyclopedia of women composers, Classical and serious music, Bowker 1981, ISBN 9780835212885
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