Kamma Rahbek

Who is Kamma Rahbek?

Karen Margrethe "Kamma" Rahbek, née Heger, was a Danish artist, salonist and lady of letters.

She was the daughter of the official Hans Heger and Anne Louise Drewsen and married in 1798 to the writer Knud Lyne Rahbek. Her salon at Bakkehuset became a cultural centre and the gathering place for the writers of the Danish Golden age and was considered the salon of the middle class in contrast to the more aristocratic Friederike Brun and Charlotte Schimmelmann.

Among her guest were Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger, Jens Baggesen, Sophie Ørsted, Poul Martin Møller, N. F. S. Grundtvig, B. S. Ingemann, H. C. Andersen, P. O. Brøndsted and Johan Ludvig Heiberg. Rahbek benefitted the writers of the Romantic style, while her spouse preferred the moralists.

Her correspondence has been published.