Elise Vogel Polko (31 January 1823 in Schloss Wackerbarth – 15 May 1899 in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

) was a German

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

Biography

She was a sister of

Eduard Vogel Eduard Vogel (7 March 1829February 1856) was a German explorer in Central Africa. Early career Vogel was born in Krefeld. He studied mathematics, botany and astronomy at Leipzig and Berlin, studying with Encke at the latter institution. In ...

, the African explorer, and attained considerable fame as a public singer, she performed in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

, Halle and

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. She retired from the stage after her marriage to an engineer named Polko in 1849. She devoted herself to literature where she proved to be equally successful. Her work ''Musikalische Märchen'' earned critical praise. Shortly after the death of her terminally ill son, her husband also died in February 1887, leaving her in debt.

Works

Her ''Musikalische Märchen'' (Musical tales; 1852) was translated into English, as were others of her books. She published ''Ein Frauenleben'' (A woman's life; 1854), ''Erinnerungen an Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy'' (Recollections of Felix Mendelssohn; 1868), ''Aus dem Jahre 1870'', ''Conversations'' (1872), ''Neues Märchenbuch'' (1884), and other works.

References

External links

* * 1822 births 1899 deaths People from Radebeul Musicians from the Kingdom of Saxony Writers from the Kingdom of Saxony 19th-century German women singers German women novelists Writers from Saxony 19th-century German novelists 19th-century German women writers {{Germany-novelist-stub