Kamma Rahbek


Karen Margrethe "Kamma" Rahbek, née Heger was a Danish artist, salonist and lady of letters.

Biography

Karen Margrethe Rahbek was born in Copenhagen, Denmark
She was the daughter of the official Hans Heger and Anne Louise Drewsen.
She grew up in a wealthy home in Nørregade. She received a broad based education and could speak several languages including German, French, Spanish, Latin, Greek and Italian.
In 1798, she married the writer Knud Lyne Rahbek. Her husband was a writer, poet, literary historian and magazine editor.
Her salon at Bakkehuset became a cultural centre and the gathering place for the writers of the Danish Golden age and was considered the salon of the middle class in contrast to the more aristocratic Friederike Brun and Charlotte Schimmelmann.
Among her guests were Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger, who was married to her sister Christiane Oehlenschläger. Other notable visitors included Jens Baggesen, Sophie Ørsted, Poul Martin Møller, N. F. S. Grundtvig, B. S. Ingemann, H. C. Andersen, Peter Oluf Brøndsted and Johan Ludvig Heiberg. Rahbek befriended the writers of the Romantic style, while her spouse preferred the moralists.
Kamma Rahbek was also a diligent writer. Several of her letters and memories have been published. She died in 1829 at Frederiksberg and was buried in Frederiksberg Ældre Kirkegård.

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