Margarethe Stockhausen

Who was Margarethe Stockhausen?

Margarethe Stockhausen, born Margarethe Schmuck, was a soprano singer who had a distinguished career in Europe and Britain during the 1820s and 1830s. She was wife of the harpist Franz Anton Adam Stockhausen, and mother of the eminent musicians Julius, Franz and Henri Stockhausen.

Margarethe Schmuck was born in Guebwiller, Alsace, the daughter of a notary. She studied singing in Paris under Giuseppe Catrufo. Her niece Josephine Bildstein also had a singing career. While in Paris Margarethe met the young harpist Franz Stockhausen, who was then living by teaching and performing. Franz was a friend of Sébastien Érard and a correspondent of Beethoven's, in the circle of François-Antoine Habeneck, and shared lodgings with the violinist Christian Urhan. She married Franz in Paris in 1822 and they began a family, and they also began giving concerts together, often with Franz accompanying her on the harp. At first she became well known for her recitals of songs of Alsace, which were warmly received in Paris, and she was noted for the beauty and pearl-like quality of her voice and its spiritual conviction. She was a devout Roman Catholic.