Ilse Fromm-Michaels was a German

Germans

The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

 pianist and composer.

Life

Ilse Fromm-Michaels was born in Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

 and showed musical talent at an early age. She studied music in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, first at the Hochschule fur Musik with Heinrich van Eyken for composition and with Marie Bender for piano. In 1905 she began study at the Sternsche Conservatory of Hans Pfitzner

Hans Pfitzner

Hans Erich Pfitzner was a German composer and self-described anti-modernist. His best known work is the post-Romantic opera Palestrina, loosely based on the life of the great sixteenth-century composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.-Biography:Pfitzner was born in Moscow, Russia, where his...

 and James Kwast

James Kwast

James Kwast was a Dutch-German pianist and renowned teacher of many other notable pianists. He was also a minor composer and editor.-Biography:Jacob James Kwast was born in Nijkerk, Netherlands, in 1852...

 and completed her studies in 1913 with conductor and composer Fritz Steinbach

Fritz Steinbach

Fritz Steinbach was a German conductor and composer who was particularly associated with the works of Johannes Brahms. Born in Grünsfeld, he was the brother of conductor Emil Steinbach. He studied at the Leipzig Conservatory and in Vienna. Among his teachers were Martin Gustav Nottebohm and Anton...

 and pianist Carl Friedberg

Carl Friedberg

Carl Rudolf Hermann Friedberg was a German pianist and teacher.Friedberg studied piano with James Kwast and with Clara Schumann at the Hoch Conservatory, Frankfurt. He later became a teacher there and later at the Cologne Conservatory...

 in Cologne

Cologne

Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

.

In 1908 Fromm-Michaels began a career as a concert pianist, often playing her own works. She married Hamburg judge Dr. Walter Michaels, and after the Nuremberg Race Laws were instituted by the Nazis was banned from performing or publishing her compositions. She continued teaching music, and after World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 established the
Hamburg First School of Music and Drama. In 1964 she was awarded the City of Hamburg Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...

 medal. In 1973 she moved to Detmold

Detmold

Detmold is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with a population of about 74,000. It was the capital of the small Principality of Lippe from 1468 until 1918 and then of the Free State of Lippe until 1947...

to be near her son, and died there in 1986.

Works

Selected works include:

• Variationen über ein eigenes Thema, op. 8 (1918/19)
• Vier Puppen, op. 4 (1908)
• Der Hampelmann
• Das Puppenmädchen
• Der Harlekin
• Acht Skizzen(1908) No. I-VIII
• Sonate für Klavier op. 6 (1917)
• Sehr langsam. Frei im Zeitmaß
• Lebhaft, aber nicht schnell
• Walzerreigen, op. 7 (1917)
• Passacaglia, op. 16 (1932)
• Langsamer Walzer (1950?)
• Der Maria Geburt, op. 9, no. 2 (Text: Des Knaben Wunderhorn)
• Die Meise, op. 9, no. 5 (Text: Des Knaben Wunderhorn)
• Engelsgesang, op. 9, no. 3 (Text: Des Knaben Wunderhorn)
• Frau Nachtigall, op. 9, no. 1 (Text: Des Knaben Wunderhorn)
• Wiegenlied einer alten frommen Magd, op. 9, no. 4 (Text: Des Knaben Wunderhorn)

Part of her works have been recorded and issued on CD, including:

• Sämtliche Klavierwerke (Complete Piano Works), Babette Dorn, piano (Tacet 096); Stuttgart 1999.