Johanna Senfter

German composer

Johanna Senfter ( 27 November 1879 – 11 August 1961) was a German composer.

Johanna Senfter was born in 1879 as the youngest of the six children of Elise and Georg Senfter. Her maternal grandfather was the Oppenheim pharmacist and quinine manufacturer Friedrich Koch (Apotheker) [de] (1786 1865), who succeeded in extracting an antipyretic and anti infective agent from cinchona bark to combat malaria, which was rampant in Oppenheim at the time. To produce this quinine, he set up his own pharmaceutical factory. The successful production of the drug enabled the Koch family's social and financial upswing. The son of company founder, Carl Koch (Unternehmer) [de], eventually became mayor and, thanks to his achievements in this office, an honorary citizen of the town. Johanna's father, Georg Senfter, owner of a brickworks, coal and timber business, was also considered wealthy. He married Elise, Carl Koch's sister, and acquired the imposing Liste der Kulturdenkmäler in Oppenheim [de], an old aristocratic residence, including the vineyard, which had previously belonged to the von Cronberg family. In 1864, he joined Carl Koch's quinine company as managing director, co entrepreneur and financier. Both families belonged to the upper social class, led a prosperous life and owned a large house.

Johanna Senfter and her four sisters were brought up in girls' boarding schools and received piano and singing lessons in line with the educational ideals of the time. Her art loving and music loving parents supported their daughter Johanna's talent, which was already evident in her early childhood. A severe case of diphtheria between the ages of 9 and 13 brought an abrupt break in her hitherto carefree childhood. Although she recovered, her unstable health had a major impact on her life afterwards. After her recovery, she attended the Frielinghaus Institute in Frankfurt, a recognized boarding school for girls. From 1895, at the age of 16, violin under Adolf Rebner, in Frankfurt am Main. After 8 years of study, she received her diploma in June 1903, but wanted to expand and deepen her musical knowledge and compositional technique.

From March 1908 to 1910, she was a pupil of Max Reger (from October 1908 in Reger's composition class at the Leipzig Royal Conservatory), who encouraged her in her stylistic independence, emphasized her excellent musical talent and described her as his best pupil. She completed her studies at the conservatory with distinction in July 1909. In 1910, she received the Arthur Nikisch Prize for the best student composition of the previous year. The Reger and Senfter families remained close until Reger's death in 1916.

After Reger's death in 1916, Johanna Senfter entered a period of intense creativity with numerous compositions and concert appearances. In 1921, she founded the Musikverein Oppenheim and organized her own concert series, during which she also performed her own works. In 1923, she founded the Oppenheim Bach Society and regularly performed Bach cantatas. Altogether Senfter left behind 134 works of all genres with the exception of opera (some cite 180, including 9 symphonies, 26 orchestral works with vocal and instrumental solos, chamber music in various instrumentations, organ works, choirs and songs) and gave numerous concertos for piano, cello, violin and viola. She was a masterful composer of fugue. She continued to compose into old age and shaped the musical life of her home town of Oppenheim, where she lived until her death in 1961.

The very reclusive, shy and modest artist closed herself off to a wider audience ("Listen to and play my music, then you will understand me."). She dedicated her life solely to music and fell into oblivion after her death in 1961. Prejudices about female composers, who were denied the ability to be creative in this field until well into the second half of the 20th century, may also have contributed to this ("If I weren't a woman, I would have it easier. ").

After her death, Johanna Senfter's manuscripts became part of the holdings of the Cologne University of Music. Her musical estate has not yet been fully catalogued. For some years now, there have been increasing attempts to rediscover the work of this passionate composer, who had fallen into oblivion, and to make it known through score publications and concerts. The pianist Monica Gutman in particular has been working to make Johanna Senfter's music better known in the Rhine Main region. The violinist Friedemann Eichhorn has recorded works for violin and piano or for two violins together with Paul Rivinius (piano) and Alexa Eichhorn, having previously participated in the editing of Senfter's works for this instrument for publication by the Schott publishing house in Mainz. Johanna Senfter was featured as Composer of the Week on BBC Radio 3 the week of March 4, 2024.