Marianne Kirchgessner

Who was Marianne Kirchgessner?

Marianne Antonia Kirchgessner, also Mariana Kirchgessner, Kirchgäßner, was a German glass harmonica player left blind by eye disease as a result of smallpox when she was only four years old. Kirchgessner's artistic qualities brought her the attention of great composers such as Muzio Clementi, Johann Gottlieb Naumann, Johann Friedrich Fasch, Johann Friedrich Reichardt and Franz Anton Hoffmeister.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the last year of his life in Vienna composed for her one of his best works for this instrument, the Quintet Adagio and Rondo for glass harmonica flute, cello, oboe and violla in C major K. 617, as well as the Adagio for glass harmonica solo K356/617a.