Introduction

Abstract Our singer, too, is called Josephine. Her full name is Josephine Caroline Lang (1815–80). In her childhood, she was often known by the variant “Josepha,” and by the common Bavarian nicknames “Pepi,” “Peppi,” “Pepperl,” or “Bebi.” Later, she was usually called “Josephine,” although the spelling of this name fluctuated between the Germanic “Josefine” and the French “Josephine” (depending on how popular the French were in Germany). After she married Christian Reinhold Köstlin, she referred to herself in letters and other documents as “Josephine Köstlin, née Lang.” On the title pages of her published compositions, however, she continued to use her maiden name, Josephine Lang. Unlike many other nineteenth-century women artists, Lang apparently never considered using a pseudonym (male or female) in her publications. It is the name “Josephine Lang” with the “ph” spelling familiar to English readers that we shall use in this volume.