Juliane Reichardtaus classic

Juliane Reichardt (* May 14, 1752 in Potsdam; † May 11, 1783 in Berlin) was a German singer and composer.

Life

Franz Benda’s family lived in Potsdam, where their eighth child was baptized Bernhardine Juliane Benda on 19 May 1752 in the Garrison Church there. Her mother Franziska Louise Eleonore Stephanie, a civil servant’s daughter and former chambermaid to Margravine Wilhelmine of Bayreuth, a sister of Frederick II, died in 1758. Three years later, the widower Benda married her younger sister Caroline Wilhelmine Stephanie, first chambermaid to Duchess Anna Amalia of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. Two of Juliane Benda’s older sisters remained in Weimar permanently after the wedding, initially as ladies-in-waiting, Maria Carolina Benda also as a court singer. This meant a valuable social and professional connection between Berlin and Weimar for the entire Benda family of musicians, especially when they themselves married there: the singer, pianist and composer Maria Carolina Benda (1742-1820) married the court composer Ernst Wilhelm Wolf in 1770, Wilhelmine Louise Dorothea Benda (1741-1798) married Wilhelm Heinrich Sebastian Bucholz, Goethe’s confidante, court physician and pharmacist, in 1777.

Juliane Benda was taught singing, piano and composition by her father. Her parental home was frequented by renowned artists such as the versatile musician Wilhelm Karl Rust, the music journalist Charles Burney, the publisher, translator and composer Johann Joachim Christoph Bode and the composer and writer Johann Friedrich Reichardt, Juliane Benda’s later husband. In his company, she later met other personalities such as Matthias Claudius in Hamburg and Johann Gottfried Herder in Weimar while traveling.

Even before her marriage, Juliane Benda’s songs and sonatas were admired: her expressive soprano voice, virtuoso piano technique and sensitive performance style also inspired her future husband. This was particularly true of her performances at the so-called Liebhaberkonzerte, which had been founded in 1770 and were conducted until 1785 by the court musician (violin, piano) Johann Friedrich Ernst Benda, the eldest son of Franz Benda’s brother Joseph Benda. After their marriage in 1776, their public appearances shifted more towards private activities. The young couple moved into a centrally located official residence on Dönhoff’scher Platz in Berlin, where their daughter Louise Reichardt, who later became a soprano, composer and music teacher, was born in 1779 after a son died at an early age. She also lost her mother at an early age soon after the birth of another girl in 1783.

Juliane Benda-Reichardt, together with her sister Maria Carolina Benda and her daughter Louise Reichardt (1779-1826), was one of the representatives of the Berlin school of song.

Source Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juliane_Reichardt