Melanie Lewy (27 July 1823 – 6 April 1856) was an Austrian

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

ist of

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish birth.

Early life

Melanie Lewy was born in 1823 in Vienna, the daughter of

Eduard Constantin Lewy Eduard Constantin Lewy (3 March 1796 – 3 June 1846) was a French-born horn player. He lived in Vienna, Austria, for most of his career. Life Lewy was born in Saint-Avold, in the Moselle department of France. He had early musical training from h ...

and his wife Johanna, née Weller.Hoffmann (2008) Eduard Lewy (born Elie Lewy) was the son of a musician at the court of

Zweibrücken Zweibrücken (; ; , ; literally translated as "Two Bridges") is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Schwarzbach (Blies), Schwarzbach River. Name The name ''Zweibrücken'' means 'two bridges'; older forms of the name include Middl ...

; he became an associate of

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

and

Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...

and is a representative of the earliest generation of Jewish musicians to be widely represented in Western music. He, his brother Rudolphe and his son Richard all became leading

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most o ...

players in Vienna. On 24 June 1835, in Vienna, her family converted from

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Career

From 1836 Melanie Lewy studied the harp with Elias Parish Alvars, who at that period was harpist at the

Vienna Opera The Vienna State Opera (, ) is a historic opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by A ...

. Her performances were noted by the reviews of the time in somewhat condescending terms: for example, "the lovely and amiable Melanie, who treats the harp with a delicacy and expression that gains the hearts of all her listeners" (1841). Melanie married Parish Alvars in 1842. They undertook concert tours in Europe both as a couple and together with other members of the Lewy family; two children were born, Aloisa in 1843 and Arthur in 1846. The death of her husband in 1849 in Vienna placed the family in great poverty; Melanie had to sell some of her clothes to pay for the funeral. Melanie subsequently undertook a career as a soloist, based in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

but travelling all over Europe, including concerts in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

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 ...

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 published her husband's last compositions in London.Sacchi (1999), p. 15. The '' Neue Berliner Musikzeitung'' wrote in 1854 that she "undoubtedly takes the first place among the contemporary virtuosos of her instrument."

Death

Melanie Lewy died in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...

on 6 April 1856 of a respiratory ailment.

References

Notes Sources * Conway, David (2012). ''Judaism in Music: Entry to the Profession from the Enlightenment to Richard Wagner''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. * Hoffmann, Freia (2008)
"Lewy, ''Levy'', Melanie, verh. Parish Alvars, Parish-Alvars
website of ''Sophie Drinker Institut'', accessed 3 July 2017. * Sacchi, Floraleda (1999). ''Elias Parish Alvars: Life, Music Documents.'' Dornach: Odilia Publishing. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lewy, Melanie 1823 births 1856 deaths Austrian harpists Musicians from Vienna 19th-century classical musicians Converts to Roman Catholicism from Judaism 19th-century Austrian women musicians