Emma Hartmann

Who was Emma Hartmann?

Emma Hartmann née Zinn was a Danish composer who used the pseudonym Frederick H. Palmer to publish music. She was born in Copenhagen, the daughter of J.Fr. Zinn, and studied singing and piano with composer Andreas Peter Berggreen. She married composer J.P.E. Hartmann in 1829 and became the mother of ten children. Her song Emil Hartmann was also a composer, and her daughter Emma Sophie married Danish composer Niels W. Gade.

Hartmann's first published composition was music for a Student Association dance in February 1841, and her pseudonym was revealed in 1869 when the Manual of anonymity and pseudonyms in Danish literature was published. She died in Copanhagen at age 44.