Lily Reiff

'''Lily Sertorius Bamberger Reiff''' (21 June 1866 - 8 May 1958) was a German composer<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stewart-Green |first=Miriam |title=Women composers: A checklist of works for the solo voice |date=1980 |publisher=Hall |isbn=978-0-8161-8498-9 |series=A reference publication in women's studies |location=Boston, Mass |pages=113}}</ref> and pianist<ref>{{Cite web |last=Biographie |first=Deutsche |title=Reiff-Sartorius, Lily - Deutsche Biographie |url=https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/pnd116403896.html?language=en |access-date=2025-10-12 |website=www.deutsche-biographie.de |language=de}}</ref> who spent much of her life in Switzerland. A patron of the arts as well as a musician, she helped found Switzerland’s first chamber orchestra. Her music was composed under the name '''Lily Bamberger Sertorius''' through opus 11<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=ccm :: Reiff Sertorius, Lily Reiff Sertorius - Bamberger Sertorius, Lily Bamberger Sertorius |url=https://composers-classical-music.com/r/ReiffSertoriusLily.htm |access-date=2025-10-12 |website=composers-classical-music.com}}</ref> and later under the name '''Lily Reiff'''.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Wovon lebt die Musik? - Mäzenin Lily Reiff-Sertorius |url=https://www.musik.uzh.ch/static/musik-und-geld/maezenatentum/index.html |access-date=2025-10-12 |website=www.musik.uzh.ch}}</ref>

==Biography== Reiff was born in Bamberg, Germany.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wier |first=Albert E. |title=The Macmillan Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians |publisher=The Macmillan Company |year=1938 |location=New York |pages=1524}}</ref> She studied at the Music Academy in Munich for two years before moving to Weimar in 1883 to study with Franz Liszt for a year. She also studied with Ludwig Thuille in Munich and with Max Conrad and Friedrich Hegar in Zurich.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=Aaron I. |title=International Encyclopedia of Women Composers |date=1987 |publisher=Books & Music (USA) |isbn=978-0-9617485-1-7 |pages=577 |language=en}}</ref> As a student, Reiff presented concerts for charity with the violinist Adolf Busch, who was a friend of her family.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Adolf_Busch/9ETzEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Lily+Reiff-Sartorius&pg=PA240&printsec=frontcover |title=Adolf Busch |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |isbn=978-0-907689-78-2 |language=en}}</ref>

Reiff toured as a concert pianist from 1885 to 1888, when she married professor Eugen Bamberger. In 1891, she married the manufacturer and cellist Hermann Reiff.<ref name=":0" />

The Reiffs settled in Zurich and hosted many artistic visitors at their home at Mythenstrasse 24, including Alexander and Irma Schaichet, who founded the Kammerorchester Zürich with help from the Reiffs; singer Maria Stader; composers Richard Strauss<ref name=":0" /> and Ingolf Dahl; and author Thomas Mann.<ref name=":4" /> Kammerorchester Zürich premiered Lily Reiff’s composition ''Drei Reigen for Harp and String Orchestra'' in October 1924.<ref name=":1" /> Thomas Mann modeled the characters Herr and Frau Reiff in chapter XXXIX of ''Doctor Faustus'' on Hermann and Lily Reiff.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Linick |first=Anthony |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Lives_of_Ingolf_Dahl/BeiCuOYPh7gC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=thomas+mann+dr+faustus+Reiff&pg=PA39&printsec=frontcover |title=The Lives of Ingolf Dahl |date=2008-09-17 |publisher=AuthorHouse |isbn=978-1-4678-9832-4 |pages=39 |language=en}}</ref>

The Reiffs hosted weekly tea recitals at their home, where young musicians performed and networked. They also managed a concert series at the Lilienberg retirement home in Affoltern am Albis, sometimes performing themselves. A 1951 ''Zürcher Woche'' magazine profile of Reiff focused on her patronage of the arts and described her as a "friend of the elderly" and "helper of the young."<ref name=":1" />

Reiff’s papers are archived at the Zentralbibliothek Zürich.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ZBcollections |url=https://zbcollections.ch/home/#/content/61cf59a35e8d4376ab89233f339495c5 |access-date=2025-10-12 |website=zbcollections.ch}}</ref> Her compositions were published by Hug & Co. Musikverlag and Otto Halbreiter,<ref name=":0" /> and include: === Chamber ===

*''Drei Stucke'' (violin and piano)<ref name=":0" />

*''Funf Stucke'' (cello and piano)<ref name=":0" />

*''Kleines Kirchenstuck undz wei Weihnachstmelodien, opus 9'' (cello and piano)<ref name=":0" />

*''Suite'' (flute and piano)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Boenke |first=H. Alais |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Flute_Music_by_Women_Composers/aOjEEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Lily+Reiff-Sartorius&pg=PA101&printsec=frontcover |title=Flute Music by Women Composers: An Annotated Catalog |date=1988-10-19 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=978-0-313-36831-8 |language=en}}</ref>

=== Opera ===

*Das Verkaufte Lied<ref name=":2" />

*Maerchen Oper<ref name=":2" />

=== Orchestra ===

*Drei Reigen (harp and string orchestra)<ref name=":2" />

*Praeludium und Walzer<ref name=":2" />

*Spanish Procession<ref name=":2" />

=== Piano ===

*''Drei Tierstucke<ref name=":0" />''

*''Kleine Variationen''<ref name=":0" />

=== Vocal ===

*“Das Verkaufte Lied”<ref name=":0" />

*''Drei Lieder'' (text by Else Lasker-Schuler)<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Lili Reiff-Sertorius Song Texts {{!}} LiederNet |url=https://www.lieder.net/lieder/get_settings.html?ComposerId=34569 |access-date=2025-10-12 |website=www.lieder.net}}</ref>

*''Fruhling der Seele, opus 13''<ref name=":0" />

*“Lieder, opus 10”<ref name=":0" />

*“Lieder vom Feierabend, opus 11” (text by Carl Friedrich Weigand)<ref name=":0" />

*“Pucks Liebeslied” (text by Rudolf Lothar)<ref>{{Cite book |last=McVicker |first=Mary Frech |title=Women opera composers: biographies from the 1500s to the 21st century |date=2016 |publisher=McFarland & c |isbn=978-0-7864-9513-9 |location=Jefferson, N.C |pages=94-95}}</ref>

*“Siehst du Im See, opus 12”<ref name=":0" />

*“Weil ich jedn Abend Einsam Bin” (text by Carl Friedrich Weigand)<ref name=":3" />

== References == {{Reflist}}

== External links ==

*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piqh9ULfnpg&list=RDpiqh9ULfnpg&start_radio=1 Listen to Liebeslied by Lily Reiff-Sertorius.]

Category:German women composers Category:German women pianists Category:Patrons of music Category:1866 births Category:1958 deaths