Helen Buchholtz - Komponistin

Danielle Roster, musicologist

Helen Buchholtz grew up in a wealthy family of brewers in Esch-sur-Alzette. Her musical talent was encouraged from an early age. As a pioneer, as one of the first female composers in Luxembourg, she succeeded, despite many obstacles and prejudices, in making herself heard and having her music played on the radio, in concert halls and in the open air, on the music kiosks that adorned the towns and villages of the time.

In April 1914, she married the German doctor Dr. Bernhard Geiger and moved with him to Wiesbaden, for her, a "dream city" from a musical point of view. Despite the First World War, in which she took a political stand in her compositions, the new environment had a hugely inspiring effect on her. After the untimely death of her husband, she returned to her home country in the 1920s where she frequented…