Agnes Zimmermann


Agnes Zimmermann was a German concert pianist and composer who lived in England.

Biography

Agnes Marie Jacobina Zimmermann was born in Cologne, Germany. Her family moved to England, and she was enrolled at the Royal Academy of Music at the age of nine, where her teachers were Reginald Steggall and Cipriani Potter. Later she studied under Ernst Pauer and Sir George Macfarren. Zimmermann received the Kings Scholarship from 1860 to 1862 and made her public debut 1863 at The Crystal Palace playing Beethoven's Emperor Concerto.
After ending her studies, Zimmermann went on a tour of Germany, followed by concert tours in 1879, 1880, 1882 and 1883. She published her own editions of Sonatas by Beethoven and Mozart and compositions by Robert Schumann. Zimmermann moved in with feminist Lady Louisa Goldsmid after the latter's husband, barrister Sir Francis Goldsmid died in 1878. Zimmermann was said to have given eighteen years of "devoted attention" to Goldsmid and it has been speculated that this was a lesbian relationship.
Several notable composers dedicated works to her, including George Alexander Macfarren's Three Sonatas and Michele Esposito's Ballades, Op. 59.
Zimmermann died in London in 1925.

Works

Zimmermann composed music for chamber orchestra, piano solos, and vocal pieces.
Selected works include: