Timeline

Timeline

November 17, 1858
Budapest um 1890 (gemeinfrei)

According to her Theresienstadt death certificate, Emilie Goldberger was born in Buda (formerly Ofen) in Hungary.[1] Another source states Göding/Hodonín (near Brünn/Brno).[2] Her parents were Heinrich Goldberger[3] and Chaje Goldberger, née Haft.[4]

1871

Emilie Goldberger appears for the first time in the Wiener Zeitung as a piano student of the 2nd class of the Vienna Music School of Prof. Eduard Pirkhert.[5]

1873
Prof. Anton Door (gemeinfrei)

At the age of only 14 1/2 she is admitted to the Conservatory of the Society of the Friends of Music in Vienna in the class of Prof. Anton Door.[6]

February, 1873

First concert report from the Kleiner Musikvereinssaal in the Neues Fremden-Blatt with special praise for the 14-year-old, who has mastered the entire Well-Tempered Clavier by Johann Sebastian Bach by heart.[7] Playing by heart was still unusual at that time.

July 8, 1874

At the end of her first year of study, Emilie Goldberger received the first prize for her exceptional performance – unanimously. The jury included Joseph Hellmesberger jun.[8]

February 13, 1875

The Neue Fremden-Blatt gives the now 16-year-old "a special wreath of honor" in a concert review for her interpretation of an Impromptu by Ignaz Brüll, the Fairy Tale by Julius Epstein and an Invention by Franz or Vinzenz Lachner in the Kleiner Musikvereinssaal.[9] The press also spoke highly of her playing and predicted a bright future for her as a concert pianist.[10] Felix Mottl was one of her classmates in Prof. Door's class.[11]

June 23, 1875

At the end of her second year of study, Emilie Goldberger received a first prize for her exceptional performance – again unanimously.[12] In the exam concert she played Robert Fuchs' Improvisations.[13]

April 6, 1876

According to the Wiener Salonblatt, Emilie Goldberger performs "quite creditably" at a concert of the Conservatory in the Kleiner Musikvereinssaal with Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 conducted by Joseph Hellmesberger.[14]

May, 1876

Professors Anton Door and Friedrich Adolf Wolf organized a benefit concert for the "gifted but penniless Emilie Goldberger. She also played herself and personally confirmed the good opinion of her master with her promising talents".[15]

June 26, 1876

At the end of the third and final year of study, Emilie Goldberger was again awarded the extraordinary achievements again a 1st prize – also unanimously, in the jury among others Joseph Hellmesberger. In the
exam concert in the Großer Musikvereinssaal with a packed house, she played the 1st movement from Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor KV 491.[16]

September, 1876

Emilie Goldberger is among 37 students receiving their final conservatory diploma. She is also awarded the Silver Society Medal, along with Sophie Dudos, Helene von Karolyi, Karoline Reisser, Olga Sirk and Stephan Tomka. Anton Rubinstein gives her "a splendid certificate".[17]

November 23, 1876

According to the Illustrirtes Wiener Extrablatt, Emilie Goldberger gives her first concert of her own in the Kleiner Musikvereinssaal and justifies great expectations. She plays Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, Franz Schubert, Heinrich von Herzogenberg's Fantastic Dances No. 4, Prelude and Fugue in A minor (BWV 543) in the arrangement by Franz Liszt and the Sonata op. 110 by Ludwig van Beethoven, which will become her showpiece. Her extraordinary memory has been praised by the press. The singers Thekla Friedländer and Wilhelm Speyer performed with her.[18]

December 19, 1876

Emilie Goldberger performed the same piano pieces in the well-attended farewell concert for the singer Thekla Friedländer in the small Musikverein hall, who has received an engagement in London.[19] She came from Leipzig[20] and sang in a concert with Clara Schumann in London in 1876/77, as reported by the composer Ethel Smyth in her book Impressions that remained,[21] who had attended this concert. It may have been Thekla Friedländer who introduced Emilie Goldberger to Clara Schumann. This would also explain the lack of an audition for Emilie Goldberger's admission to Clara Schumann's first class at Dr. Hoch's conservatory. Thekla Friedländer and her family in Leipzig also appear in some of Smyth's letters from around 1877.

March 6, 1877

Emilie Goldberger gave an unspecified concert in the legendary Bösendorfer Hall in the Palais Lichtenstein in Herrengasse. Again her unusual memory was praised in the press.[22] It was not yet a matter of course to play from memory. This painting shows the hall, but not Emilie Goldberger.

June 23, 1877
Emilie Goldberger went on a summer retreat to Baden near Vienna, where she not only gave concerts, but also piano lessons. Her first concert took place in the enormous heat of the dog days on June 23 at the Stadt Wien hotel,[23] together with Miss Irma von Cselko, a well-known singing master. Emilie Goldberger "delighted with excellent technique" and achieved resounding success with Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's 1st Piano Concerto op. 25, accompanied by Robert Götz on a second grand piano.[24]
August 12, 1877

Emilie Goldberger gave a second concert in the large hall of the Badische Mineralschwimmschule with the participation of the well-known violinist Bertha Haft (her cousin, see Family connections here), featuring Beethoven's Sonata in E-flat major, a Bourrée by Johann Sebastian Bach, the Impromptu in C minor by Franz Schubert, a Nocturne by Frédéric Chopin (arr. August Wilhelmj), the Tarantelle by Henri Vieuxtemps, a Capriccio by Johann Peter Gotthard, a Berceuse by Chopin (arr. Michael William Balfe), a Polonaise by Ferdinand Laub, and the 12th Hungarian Rhapsody by Franz Liszt. The Bösendorfer grand piano that had been ordered was not available. Emilie Goldberger had to "do the concert with a very modest instrument procured at the last moment."[25]

October 6, 1877

In the hall of the Goldener Hirsch hotel in Baden, Emilie Goldberger gave another concert with the "most famous violin virtuoso" Bertha Haft with "tonal works by Bach, Schubert, Chopin, Wieniawski, Schumann, Laub and Liszt."[26] Whether the two women were also able to indulge in recreational bathing themselves?

January 22, 1878

Emilie Goldberger performed again in the Bösendorfer Hall of the Palais Lichtenstein, this time with the participation of the now unknown singer Frl. Rachel Büchler with Ludwig van Beethoven's op. 110, the Chromatic Fantasy by Johann Sebastian Bach, unnamed pieces by Adolph Henselt, Ignaz Brüll, Stephen Heller, Frédéric Chopin and several named songs by Robert Franz and Johannes Brahms.[27]

September, 1878

Emilie Goldberger traveled to Frankfurt am Main and became one of 12 female students of the pianistic legend Clara Schumann in the first piano class of the newly founded Dr. Hoch's Conservatory for one semester.[28]

January 9, 1879

Emilie Goldberger gave a concert that day in the small Saalbau in Frankfurt/Main together with a concertmaster named Herrmann. She remains Clara Schumann's pupil until Easter 1879.[29]

January 28, 1880

Emilie Goldberger went to Paris! There she played on January 28 in the famous Salle Érard of the world famous piano maker, a concert with "beaucoup de talent" with works by Beethoven, Bach, Scarlatti, Weber, Schubert, Chopin, Rubinstein, Saint-Saëns and Ketten together with the royal court pianist of the Netherlands Louis Coenen, cellist Anton Hekking, singer Erminia Frezzolini (pictured) and "Smit Del[]ugne, Selbach et Mlle de Varhalmy" with whom she received "rich applause" for her "solid qualités de mécanisme et de style."[30]

In Paris she was also heard by Walter Ibach, the famous piano producer, who suggested to his brother to hire Emilie Goldberger as a professional pianist. A handwritten letter of application from Emilie Goldberger to the Ibach company with her beautiful handwriting and signature has been preserved.[31] She applied for a job as a piano demonstrator (see Emilie Goldberger's letters).

February 8, 1881

Emilie Goldberger was apparently traveling on her return trip together with her parents[32] via Frankfurt am Main, because she took the opportunity to give a well-attended concert in the small hall of the Saalbau together with the concertmaster Willy Heß and Valentin Müller in Beethoven's E minor Trio and with the singer Frl. Epstein. Emilie Goldberger performed again with a Saltarello by Stephen Heller, a Gavotte by Raff, a Mazurka by Saint-Saëns with "respectable artistic maturity."
[33]

March 5, 1881

Emilie Goldberger was in Munich that day in the ballroom of the Central-Säle, where she gave a benefit concert in favor of the asylum for the homeless with the participation of the k. b. court actress Philomene Hartl-Mitius, the opera singer Emilie Lang-Rongé and the pianist Lily Scherzer, the famous k. b. court actor Ferdinand Lang, the cello virtuoso Heinrich Bast and the string orchestra Neithardt with piano accompaniment by Prof. Adolf Schimon.[34]

April 3, 1881

Emilie Goldberger gave another concert in the hall of the Munich City Museum, which was again poorly attended. A newspaper critic criticized – by hearsay. The C minor Trio by Beethoven was played, as piano solo pieces Prelude and Fugue by Bach, a Saltarello by Stephen Heller, the Notturno in A by John Field, a Gavotte by Joachim Raff and – also as a showpiece – again the 12th Hungarian Rhapsody by Franz Liszt. A Frl. von Sicherer gave various songs; court cellist Carl Ebner's playing "satisfied". Emilie Goldberger performed "good but nothing outstanding, so that this critic let the concert pass without a trace."[35]

May 4, 1881

The "courageous Hungarian" Emilie Goldberger also plays in Augsburg in the hall of the Stock Exchange on Rathausplatz, where she is supported by members of the City Theater – Messrs. Deppe, Hungar and Slunicko. As she has performed before in the Augsburg Music School, the critic of the Augsburger Abendzeitung praises her "brilliant technique and soulful expression, light, shadow and fire, delicacy, calmness and security with pronounced talent with rare artistry."[36] Courageous because it was extremely risky to organize a second concert in Augsburg when the first one was not really successful.

1881

Newspapers write that Emilie Goldberger also performed in Würzburg. For this city I could not find any proof so far. For a longer period of time concert and residence announcements are missing; however, it could have fallen into this time.[37]

March, 1882

In the spring of this year, she was back in Munich and also gave piano lessons there "according to a method that she had used with great success in Paris": in her apartment at Neuhauser Straße 17/2 in today's pedestrian zone between Stachus and Marienplatz, directly opposite St. Michael's Church.[38] What exactly her method was, i.e. whether she had already been taught it at the Vienna Conservatory or had worked it out herself, remains to be found out.

March 18, 1882

Again a concert in the hall of the Munich City Museum! This time, too, the critic of the newspaper reported only from hearsay and believed not to have missed anything himself. Beethoven's op. 110 was "too daring" for Emilie Goldberger and lacked "masculine energy and highly developed musical intelligence", but he considered Liszt's difficult Hungarian Rhapsody a "highly commendable achievement." Great applause from a small audience.[39] The Bayerischer Kurier was clearly anti-Semitic about this concert: "There was also an abundance of lack at the concert of the pianist Miss Emilie Goldberger from Vienna. [...] The young lady is well on her way to achieving importance as a pianist, but she should pay attention to more warmth and finer tone and pay special attention to rhythm and calmness in tempo and meter. The latter may be more difficult for her, as it is one of the peculiarities of her tribe." [40]

October, 1882

Emilie Goldberger returned to Vienna after four years abroad.[41]

November 21, 1882

Quartet soirees by Jakob Moritz Grün, Egon Hilbert, Rudolf Zöllner and Reinhold Hummer in the Großer Musikvereinssaal, including Ludwig van Beethoven's B-flat Major Trio, on which "Miss Emilie Goldberger tried her hand at the piano with varying degrees of success."[42]

February, 1883

Emilie Goldberger had reached the top of the Viennese concert pianists and was mentioned in an essay by Eduard Hanslick in the Neue Freie Presse alongside Flora Groß, Toni Wolff, Marie Baumayer, Pauline Bertenson, Lotte von Eisl, Katharina Ranuchewitsch, Wilma Goldstein, Pauline Paßler, Fanny Bloomfield, Frieda Zwierzina, Adele Mandlick (one of her pupils was Alma Mahler), Emilie Heßler, Pauline Dürnberger and pianist and composer Marie Jaëll. In the same article Hanslick also pleaded for (!) the employment of female violinists in regular orchestras.[43]

May, 1883

Emilie Goldberger moved to Göding (today Hodonín, 50 km south of Brno) and played in a concert in mid-May "as a favor." The program included a Nocturne in F-sharp major, an Impromptu in A-flat major, a Valse in E minor, and a Hungarian Fantasy by Franz Liszt "with a mastery that delighted the public, especially the more musically educated part of it, and provoked the liveliest expressions of applause."[44]

May 19, 1883
On this day she played in the large hall of the Kopper hotel in the fourth Casino evening "with her usual amiability" together with the Imperial Russian court and chamber singer Wilhelmina Iwanowna Raab, whom Emilie Goldberger "worthily stood by" with brilliant technique and good performance with the 1st movement from Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5. Movement from Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5, Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody with further participation of Miss Kastner, Dr. Sax, Jur. Mayer and Mr. F. Ratschitzky.[45]
April 27, 1884

Emilie Goldberger accompanied stars of her time on this day: the cello virtuoso Josef Diem and the Ducal Coburg chamber singer Frl. W. Schwartzkopff in front of an "extremely distinguished audience in unusual numbers with rich applause", including with Frédéric Chopin's Polonaise for piano and cello, with Carl Piutti's Fantasy on I Puritani, Robert Schumann's Träumerei, the Jubelarie from Charles Gounod's Faust and other lieder, soloistically with Franz Schubert's Andante and Variations, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's Saltarello and with Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody as encore.[46]

November 1, 1884

That day, Emilie Goldberger was a guest in the Brno Redoutensaal with Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata, accompanied by the concertmaster of the Brno City Theater – Carl Koretz – on the violin. She also played Franz Schubert's Andante with Variations, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's Saltarello, and several unnamed Chopin works, all "performed with verve" as an "able pianist who executes solid pieces of music excellently to lively applause." The performance continued with Mrs. Cardis, Mrs. Hausner, Mr. von Lenor, and Mr. von Lichtenberg. The Tagesbote from Moravia and Silesia quoted the Augsburger Abendzeitung about Emilie Goldberger's artistic abilities.[47]

November 16, 1884

In the concert of the Göding Männergesangverein (Men's choir), Emilie Goldberger supported with a Gavotte by Johann Sebastian Bach, the Serenade by Moritz Moszkowski, an Impromptu by Frédéric Chopin and lastly with her favorite, the Hungarian Rhapsody by Franz Liszt. The composer Ferdinand Debois from Brno is also expected to attend this concert.[48]

1885–1887

Where was Emilie Goldberger during this time? I could not yet find any clues for these years. However, her mother Anna died at the beginning of July 1887. An obituary informs that she was 63 years old and buried at the Vienna Central Cemetery in the Israelite section. In the advertisement Emilie Goldberger appears as daughter and Heinrich Goldberger as husband.[49] In Emilie Goldberger's Theresienstadt death certificate, her mother bears the name Anna/Chaje.

December 3, 1887

Emilie Goldberger was back in Vienna. That day she gave another concert in the Bösendorfer Hall at Palais Lichtenstein, attended by her former teacher Prof. Anton Door and the composer and singer Mosco D'Israeli. Together with other students such as Ida Reich, Caroline von Radio, Malwine Hönig and Ella Pancera. The latter succeeded in playing "skillfully and confidently" the Paganini Variations by Brahms, which were "hardly written for girls' hands, but certainly not for a girl's head", according to a newspaper critic of the Wiener Allgemeine Zeitung.[50]

January 17, 1888

A critic of the Neue Freie Presse complained that there were too many female piano virtuosos like Emilie Goldberger, which "makes one more restless and uneasy with each passing year." He concludes by saying, "May our list at least have the advantage of discouraging one or two girls [!] from choosing a profession that is so frighteningly overcrowded and therefore devalued in practical life".[51]

Around 1889

Around 1889, the Goldbergers were living in Vienna at Ferdinandstraße 13, 3rd floor, door 44, according to a newspaper advertisement in which Emilie's father Heinrich recommended himself as a language teacher for English and French. The house still exists in its original state! Emilie herself also offers her services in this advertisement: "An excellent piano player, who once won first prize three times at the Vienna Conservatory and is a capable teacher, gives piano lessons in and outside the house, possibly also in the country. Fee at her home 1 fl., outside the home 1 fl. 50 kr. per hour."[52]

November 1888–1890

Again, there is a gap of several years in the life of Emilie Goldberger, for whom I have not yet found any concert activity. In October/November 1890 she is said to have given a concert "with great success in Pest."[53]

November 19, 1892

She again gave a concert in Göding/Hodonín as part of a benefit for the German kindergarten. She played or accompanied a male chorus Ritornello by Clara Schumann (!), a Gavotte by Joachim Raff, the Wanderer by Franz Schubert in the arrangement by Franz Liszt, the Valse in A-flat major by Frédéric Chopin and, as a highlight number, the 12th Hungarian Rhapsody by Franz Liszt. Other piano accompanists were B. Schindler and M. von Weinzierl.[54]

March, 1893

Emilie Goldberger was apparently still living in Göding/Hodonín. That month she gave a concert with the singer Frl. Helene von Morini, who together "earned rapturous applause for their truly artistic performances, and were repeatedly called out after each number."[55]

July/August, 1895

Emilie Goldberger went on summer vacation to Gmunden on the beautiful Traunsee in the Salzkammergut and stayed at the Goldener Hirschen hotel.[56] Without a name, an advertisement is published in the Mitteilungsblatt for an "excellent pianist who would stay in Gmunden for four weeks" and give a few piano lessons for 2 guilders per hour.[57]

August 11, 1896

In this year she can be experienced in Baden near Vienna, again at the Stadt Wien hotel, where she performs together with the Kapellmeister of the Baden Kurkapelle, the violin virtuoso Julius von Theodorowicz. In this concert advertisement, it is also mentioned for the first time that she also gave concerts in Trieste: "Glowing reviews and good earnings were the satellites of her trip."[58]

September 8, 1896

Emilie Goldberger was drawn out into the wide world again. In a newspaper advertisement she wished "to join the tour of a famous violinist or singer for a permanent engagement". For the first time a residential address in Göding/Hodonín appears: she lived there at Bahnstraße 18, today Národni trída 18/2311.[59]

October, 1896

This month Emilie Goldberger took part in a concert of the Göding Women's Local Group of the German School Association, together with the concert singer Miss Helene von Morini and Miss Anna von Suppè on the violin – granddaughter of the famous composer Franz von Suppè. Emilie Goldberger played the B minor Scherzo by Frédéric Chopin "with noble artistic conception and also received special applause for her performance of a concerto by Mendelssohn=Bartholdy and for her sensitive rendition of Schubert=Liszt's Gretchen am Spinnrade."[60]

1897–1899

Here, too, there is a gap of several years in Emilie Goldberger's life, for which I have not yet found any concert activity

August, 1899

Emilie Goldberger is back in Gmunden am Traunsee for the summer, where she performs at the Goldener Hirschen hotel as a pianist from Göding.[61]

December 12, 1901

Emilie Goldberger again performed in the concert hall of the modern Palais Ehrbar in the 4th district, Mühlgasse 28, with the participation of Vilma Gormasz and Julius Desing, a member of the Vienna Court Opera. The following piano recitals in this concert series also featured the Rosé Quartet in the Großer Musikvereinssaal, harpist Edith Martin in the Kleiner Musikvereinssaal and Marie Fillunger – mistress of one of Clara Schumann's daughters – in the Bösendorfer-Saal.[62]

1902–1904

Here, too, there is a biographical gap. In 1902 Emilie Goldberger donates 2 crowns for the construction of a monument to Empress Elisabeth (Volksgarten).[63] In 1903 she donates 3 crowns for poor Jews in Kischenau/Chișinău.[64]

January 21, 1904

Emilie Goldberger "gives this year's piano recital" again in the concert hall of the Palais Ehrbar in Vienna "with the pleasing participation of Mrs. Olga Dubsky (singing)". The Neue Wiener Tagblatt is impressed by "an excellent technique and beautiful touch and the deep musical feeling, which came to special effect in the sustained pièces."[65]

Olga Dubsky was deported from Vienna to Litzmannstadt/Łódź on October 15, 1941 and probably murdered.

July, 1904

In this year Emilie Goldberger stays as a spa guest in Baden near Vienna and lives as a "piano virtuoso and teacher from Vienna" at Wassergasse 16.[66]

August, 1904

In August, she lives in Gmunden am Traunsee with Brabec at Traungasse 3.[67]

February 23, 1905

Emilie Goldberger made a guest appearance in Brno that day "with very interesting numbers". Of Johannes Brahms' Hungarian Dances, the rarely performed ones were heard. The participation of Alfred Finger (1855–1936) and Louis Savart (1871–1923) also met with "lively interest."[68]

August, 1905

Emilie Goldberger travelled back to Gmunden am Traunsee for her summer retreat and lived with Freidlinger at Salzamtsgasse 1 on the second floor. Here she offered piano lessons again.[69]

September/October, 1905

At the end of October, the Neue Freie Presse was pleased to report that Emilie Goldberger had "returned from Frankfurt am Main, where she had performed with great success" and was resuming her teaching activities in Vienna.[70]

March 15, 1906

Emilie Goldberger performed again that day in the concert hall of Palais Ehrbar with the participation of the concert singer Hedwig Löwenthal.[71]

Hedwig Löwenthal (1883–1941) – who fled to Holland – was probably also murdered in Riga around 1941.

July 14, 1906

This summer, Emilie Goldberger finds herself back on the Gmunden spa list at the Goldener Hirschen hotel.[72]

July 19, 1906

She moved on to Bad Ischl, where she found accommodation with Gassner at Schulgasse 5.[73] Bad Ischl was probably only a short stay, because on July 24 we find her back in Gmunden for a period of four weeks, where she offers piano lessons – again at the Goldener Hirschen hotel.[74]

October, 1906

Once again the Neue Freie Presse is pleased to report that Emilie Goldberger has returned to Vienna from her summer retreat and has resumed her piano lessons.[75]

July 27, 1907

Emilie Goldberger is found again in the spa list of Gmunden and this time lives at Marktplatz 14.[76]

March 16, 1909

Emilie Goldberger played in the ballroom of the Österreichischer Gewerbeverein  the sonatas for piano and violin in F major by Joseph Haydn and G major by Anton Rubinstein "as well as an unprinted piece by Liszt Schlaflos". This piece is considered lost today. The original manuscript was probably in the possession of Emilie Goldberger.[77] This late work by Franz Liszt (text by his pupil Toni Raab)[78] was the very first to be performed by Emilie Goldberger in 1909.[79] It was composed in 1883 and not printed until 1927.[80]

1909–1911

On December 5, 1909, Emilie Goldberger gave a concert in Göding at which Prince Liechtenstein, Count and Countess Trautmannsdorff, Count Hardegg and Baroness Skrbensky were present and Miss Emmy Schroeder, daughter of the Göding sugar manufacturer Julius Schroeder, made her debut as a singer.[81] There is also a biographical gap. It is possible that Emilie Goldberger was on vacation again in the summer of 1911, because this time the Neue Wiener Tagblatt was pleased to announce in September 1911 that the concert pianist and piano teacher would be teaching again.[82]

September 20, 1911

The Neue Freie Presse also knows that Emilie Goldberger lives in the 3rd district at Kegelgasse 2.[83]

1912–1916

Not a single concert advertisement has been found for these years. How did she experience the First World War? In September 1914 she donated 10 crowns, which the Wiener Allgemeine Zeitung mentioned in the 16th donation statement of the War Welfare Office of the Imperial and Royal War Ministry. War Ministry especially mentions her.[84]

Juli/August, 1916

Sometime during this period, Emilie Goldberger – by now 46 years old – "took part with great success in a charity festival of the Catholic Women's Association in Traunstein in Bavaria. Cardinal [Francis] von Bettinger from Munich and the princesses Clara and [Maria del] Pilar [of Bavaria] appeared among the very prominent audience."[85]

1916–1927

The war is over, but Emilie Goldberger seems to have fallen off the face of the earth for those years. How did she experience the end of the war and the great economic crisis of 1923? Who could still afford piano lessons then? And how did she perceive the rise of National Socialism?

September, 1927

Emilie Goldberger came a little late to the summer retreat this year. She lived in Bad Ischl at Salzburger Straße 9 with permanent residence in Vienna.[86]

October 3, 1930
An advertisement appears in the Neue Freie Presse in which Emilie Goldberger continues her piano lessons. She was probably back in Bad Ischl or Gmunden or somewhere else entirely for the summer or late summer. Now she lives in Purkersdorf at Wiener Straße 45, where today the neat yellow villa with lots of white stucco houses a Buddhist institute.[87] In her death certificate from Theresienstadt, Purkersdorf is listed as her home town. In October 1929, she was living in the Purkersdorf sanatorium,[88] which was run by Berta Zuckerkandl's nephew Victor and was a popular meeting place for glittering Viennese society. Amalie Redlich, née Zuckerkandl – Berta's sister-in-law – also lived there and owned part of the complex. This was expropriated by the Nazi authorities in 1939. It is possible that Emilie Goldberger was also removed from it in the course of this, so that she may have been taken to the Seegasse retirement home around this time. At the time of Goldberger's stay, the music-loving French war minister Paul Peinlevé[89] was also staying there. Tilla Durieux was also a guest in 1928.[90]
1942

Emilie Goldberger's last Viennese residential address is Seegasse 9 in Alsergrund.[91] At that time there was a Jewish home for the elderly and until today a Jewish cemetery of Vienna, which has been accessible again since 1984.

August 20, 1942

Emilie Goldberger appears on a list marked with this day's date as number 908, her last residential address and date of birth recorded therein. She must also bear the compulsory name 'Sara'.[92]

August 28, 1942

On this day, Emilie Goldberger – now 83 years old – was sent on transport no. 37 (IV/8-908) from Vienna's Aspang railway station to the Theresienstadt ghetto.[93] Between February 15, 1941 and October 9, 1942, 45 trains left this station for the ghettos and extermination camps, 13 of them to Theresienstadt.[94]

September 20, 1942

Emilie Goldberger dies at 7:15 in the morning in Theresienstadt in building E a III in room 310, where the ghetto hospital is located. According to the death certificate, she officially dies of "marasmus" (severe symptoms of deficiency, physical deterioration due to illness or old age), "enteritis" (inflammation of the intestines), "intestinal catarrh" and "weakness due to old age".[95] Her body was probably burnt. According to the plan of the Theresienstadt ghetto, her death chamber has been preserved.

Death certificate

The coroner Dr. Curt Schwenk was deported to Auschwitz on December 15, 1943 and murdered. Emilie Goldberger's attending physician Dr. Kurt Weiner was murdered there in 1944, too.

April 5, 1943

During this time, the Nazi organ Völkischer Beobachter contains almost endless lists of expropriations on a daily basis: "Daily official list. Confiscation order. The entire movable and immovable property as well as all rights and claims of the persons listed below are confiscated in favour of the German Reich (Reich Finance Administration) in accordance with § 1 of the Ordinance on the Confiscation of Property Hostile to the People and the State in the Land of Austria of 18.11.1938, RGBl. 1, p. 1620. With the confiscation, all rights and claims of the previous owners shall expire and pass to the German Reich. The Chief Finance President Vienna-Lower Danube, Vienna, I., Hanuschgasse 3, is responsible for the administration and realisation of these assets."[96]

Emilie Goldberger is also on the long list that follows. With this act of confiscation of the property and remaining assets of Emilie Goldberger left in the Jewish old people's home at Seegasse 9, her life is completely dispersed. What happened to her belongings?

There are still many unanswered questions about Emilie Goldberger. Was she still reasonably agile in her last days in Vienna and did she still have pleasant and loving hours there? Was she able to play the piano until old age? That her body lasted so long until Theresienstadt at all? Whether the people in Emilie Goldberger’s wagon could still encourage each other or were frozen in shock?

When Emilie Goldberger died in the Theresienstadt ghetto, the cremation ovens had just been put into operation. There was still time to put the ashes of individual deceased into urns. There is a small probability that Emilie Goldberger received an urn that may still be present. In this case, probably only with many, many apparent “little things” can be done. But only by paying attention to such “little things” can a picture become reasonably whole again, or at least come as close as possible to it.

Deeper research is therefore conditionally still to be done.

Image details
Screenshot concert announcement November 23, 1876 © Susanne Wosnitzka | Dr. Hoch’s Konservatorium Frankfurt a. M., Jahresbericht Jg. 1878/9 (1879) Screenshot © Susanne Wosnitzka | Central-Säle CC BY-SA 3.0 © Rufus46 wikimedia.commons | Screenshot death certificate Anna Goldberger © Susanne Wosnitzka | Collage photographs Anna von Suppè © Andreas Weigel www.starsingars.wordpress.com | Festsaal Niederösterreichischer Gewerbeverein © CC BY 4.0 Bernhard Krabina | Screenshot deportation list and house Purkersdorf © Susanne Wosnitzka | Death certificate Theresienstadt © www.holocaust.cz | Plan Ghetto Theresienstadt © www.ghettotheresienstadt.de | Screenshot Völkischer Beobacher © Susanne Wosnitzka | all other images © public domain

References
[1] Institut Terezínské iniciativy: Emilie Goldberger, Sterbematrik 6796 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[2] Tagesbote aus Mähren und Schlesien, No. 571, December 7, 1903, p. 3 (retrieved June 17, 2024).[3] Deathlists Göding (retrieved June 17, 2024). Her father was born in Klassu Wieliczka/Galicia and died from “infirmaty” on August 17, 1898. With tanks to Bernd-Christoph Kämper for this find (I note his findings with BCK).
[4] Matriken der Israelitischen Kultusgemeinde 1784–1911 retrieved June 17, 2024; BCK): day of death Juli 1, 1887, died from stomach cancer, born in Tarnow/Galicia, last domicile and place of death: Vienna, 2nd district, Negerlegasse 7.
[5] Fremden-Blatt, No. 180, July 1, 1871, p. 30 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[6] Signale für die musikalische Welt [Leipzig], No. 35, May 1876, p. 549 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[7] Neues Fremden-Blatt, No. 45, February 15, 1874, p. 9 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[8] Neues Fremden-Blatt, No. 186, July 9, 1874, p. 4 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[9] Neues Fremden-Blatt, No. 48, February 17, 1875, p. 11/12 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[10] Die Presse, No. 176, June 28, 1876, p. 10 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[11] Deutsche Musik-Zeitung, No. 7, February 14, 1874, p. 3 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[12] Österreichische Musiker-Zeitung, No. 5, July 1, 1875, p. 6 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[13] Die Presse, No. 176, June 28, 1876, p. 10 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[14] Illustrirtes Wiener Extrablatt, No. 90, April 7, 1876, p. 3 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[15] Signale für die musikalische Welt, Heft 35/1876, p. 549 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[16] Das Vaterland, No. 198, July 20, 1876, p. 1 (retrieved June 17, 20244).
[17] Fremden-Blatt, No. 320, November 19, 1876, p. 6 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[18] Illustrirtes Wiener Extrablatt, No. 320, November 19, 1876, p. 4 (retrieved June 17, 2024), und Fremden-Blatt, No. 210, November 9, 1876, p. 6 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[19] Die Presse, No. 348, December 17, 1876, p. 8 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[20] Musikalisches Wochenblatt. Organ für Musiker und Musikfreunde, No. 52, [Leipzig] December 8, 1876, p. 711 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[21] Ethel Smyth: Impressions that remained. First edition. London (Longmans, Green, & Co.) 1919, p. 122ff.
[22] Neues Wiener Tagblatt, No. 5, March 1, 1877, p. 4 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[23] Badener Bezirks-Blatt, No. 63, August 5, 1896, p. 3 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[24] Pester Lloyd, No. 178, June 29, 1877, enclosure p. 5 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[25] Bade- und Reise-Journal, No. 20, August 26, 1877, p. 2 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[26] Wiener-Neustädter Zeitung, No. 70, September 29, 1877, p. 3 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[27] Wiener Sonn- und Montags-Zeitung, No. 6, January 20, 1878 without page number (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[28] Annual report 1878/79 Dr. Hoch’s Konservatorium Frankfurt a. M., 1.1878/79, p. 5 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[29] Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, No. 32, August 1, 1879, p. 322 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[30] Journal des débats politiques et littéraires, 27 Janvier 1880, p. 3; Kölnische Zeitung, No. 30, January 30, 1880, 2nd sheet, p. 2; Revue et Gazette Musicale de Paris, No. 5, February 1, 1880, p. 38 (retrieved June 17, 2024; BCK).
[31] Goldberger-Ibach letter, Ibach archive, kindly provided by Sabine Falke. Scan in the possession of Susanne Wosnitzka. In this letter, Emilie Goldberger applies to the Ibach company on November 12, 1930, for the position of a demonstration pianist, also for film and advertising recordings. Walter Ibach was at one of her concerts in Paris and recommended her to his brother Rudolf for a job, which she was unable to accept due to her work at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin. See Florian Speer: Klaviere und Flügel aus dem Wupperthale – Instrumentenbau in der Wupperregion und am Niederrhein während des 19. Jahrhunderts am Beispiel der Orgel- und Klavierbauerfamilie Ibach (dissertation), p. 212 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[32] Ibach letter.
[33] Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, No. 29, July 15, 1881, p. 305 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[34] Neueste Nachrichten [Munich], No. 60, March 1, 1881, p. 4 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[35] Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, No. 22. Leipzig, June 1, 1881. XVI. Jahrgang, p. 349 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[36] Augsburger Abendzeitung, No. 122, May 4, 1881, p. 4 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[37] Neue Freie Presse, No. 5504, October 4, 1882, p. 6, und Neueste Nachrichten und Münchener Anzeiger, No. 362, December 28, 1882, p. 3 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[38] Neueste Nachrichten. Münchener Anzeiger, No. 82, March 23, 1882, p. 5 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[39] Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, XVII. Jahrgang Leipzig–Winterthur (J. Bieter-Biedermann) 1881, column 283 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[40] Bayerischer Kurier, No. 81, March 22, 1882, p. 3 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[41] Neue Freie Presse, No. 5504, October 4, 1882, p. 6 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[42] Deutsche Musik-Zeitung, Heft 39/1882, p. 415 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[43] Leipziger Tageblatt und Anzeiger, No. 48, February 17, 1883, first enclosure, p. 5 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[44] Neue Freie Presse, No. 6722, May 16, 1883, p. 6 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[45] Tagesbote aus Mähren und Schlesien, No. 123, May 31, 1883, p. 2 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[46] Tagesbote aus Mähren und Schlesien, No. 102, May 2, 1884, p. 2 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[47] Tagesbote aus Mähren und Schlesien, No. 250, October 29, 1884, p. 4 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[48] Mährisches Tagblatt, No. 256, November 6, 1884, p. 3 (retrieved June 17, 2024). Emilie Goldberger gave a few more documented concerts that year.
[49] Neue Freie Presse, No. 8206, July 2, 1887, p. 13 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[50] Wiener Allgemeine Zeitung, No. 2810, December 23, 1887, p. 2 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[51] Neue Freie Presse, No. 8403, January 17, 1888, p. 2 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[52] Neue Freie Presse, No. 9412, November 6, 1890, p. 6 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[53] Neues Wiener Tagblatt, No. 174, June 26, 1889, p. 13 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[54] Deutsche Musik-Zeitung, Heft 35/1892, p. 321 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[55] Neue Freie Presse, No. 10267, March 23, 1893, p. 8 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[56] Gmundner Kurliste, No. 15, July 24, 1895, p. 7 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[57] Gmundner Kurliste, No. 15, July 24, 1895, p. 9 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[58] Badener Bezirks-Blatt, No. 63, August 5, 1896, p. 3 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[59] Signale für die musikalische Welt, Heft 45/1896, p. 717 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[60] Neue Freie Presse, No. 11567, November 5, 1896, p. 7 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[61] Gmundner Kurliste, No. 24, August 23, 1899, p. 11 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[62] Deutsche Musik-Zeitung, Heft 23/1901, p. 242 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[63] Neue Freie Presse, No. 13556, May 22, 1902, p. 5 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[64] Neue Freie Presse, No. 13913, May 21, 1903, p. 6 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[65] Neues Wiener Tagblatt (Tages-Ausgabe), No. 27, January 27, 1904, p. 11 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[66] Cur- und Fremden-Liste des Curortes Baden bei Wien, No. 51, July 4, 1904, p. 2 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[67] Gmundner Kurliste, No. 18, August 3, 1904, p. 1 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[68] Tagesbote aus Mähren und Schlesien, No. 92, February 24, 1905, p. 4 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[69] Gmundner Kurliste, No. 24, August 23, 1905, p. 1 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[70] Neue Freie Presse, No. 14790, October 25, 1905, p. 10 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[71] Neues Wiener Journal, No. 4451, March 15, 1906, p. 9 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[72] Gmundner Kurliste, July 14, 1906, p. 7 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[73] Ischler Bade-Liste, No. 13, July 19, 1906, p. 3 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[74] Gmundner Kurliste, No. 15, July 24, 1895, p. 7 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[75] Neue Freie Presse, Nr. 15127, No. 15127, October 2, 1906, p. 9 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[76] Gmundner Kurliste, No. 16, July 27, 1907, p. 1 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[77] Neues Wiener Tagblatt (Tages-Ausgabe), No. 71, March 12, 1909, p. 14 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[78] Guido Fischer: Franz Lizst. Années de pèlerinage, 3. Jahr, späte Klavierstücke, online (retrieved June 17, 2024; BCK).
[79] Neue Freie Presse, No. 16000, March 7, 1909, p. 16 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[80] IMSLP Petrucci Music Library, online (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[81] Tagesbote aus Mähren und Schlesien, No. 571, December 7, 1909, p. 3 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[82] Neues Wiener Tagblatt, No. 255, September 16, 1911, p. 13 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[83] Neue Freie Presse, No. 16911, September 20, 1911, p. 11 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[84] Wiener Allgemeine Zeitung, No. 10931, September 17, 1914, p. 6 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[85] Neue Freie Presse, Nr. 18670, No. 18670, August 13, 1916, p. 20 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[86] Ischler Bade-Liste, No. 34, September 6, 1827, without page number [guest number] 6785 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[87] Neue Freie Presse, No. 22632, September 19, 1927, p. 5 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[88] Neue Freie Presse, No. 23034, October 29, 1928, p. 6 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[89] Wiener Allgemeine Zeitung, No. 15122, October 23, 1928, p. 5, und Neues Wiener Tagblatt, No. 294, October 22, 1928, p. 4 (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[90] ÖSTERREICHISCHE/EUROPA MOTOR, 1928, No. 6, p. 4 (with a photo of Tilla Durieux in front of the sanatorium, BCK; retrieved June 17, 2024).
[91] Deportation list Vienna–Theresienstadt, sheet 23, August 20, 1942, Emilie Goldberger = No. 908, online (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[92] ibid.
[93] ibid.
[94] Winfried R. Garscha auf der 24. Jahrestagung der German Studies Association (Houston/Texas), Panel 86: Verfolgung und Ermordung österreichischer Juden in österreichischen Nachkriegs-Prozessen, online (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[95] Institut Terezínské iniciativy: Emilie Goldberger, Sterbematrik 6796, online (retrieved June 17, 2024).
[96] Völkischer Beobachter, No. 95, April 5, 1943, p. 6 (retrieved June 17, 2024).