Elisabeth Hartmann

Elisabeth Hartmann, née Reußmann, was born on 18 February 1913 and died on 2 August 2003. She met Karl Amadeus Hartmann in the circle of the Munich artists’ association “Die Juryfreien”; the couple married in 1934, and in 1935 their son Richard was born. During the National Socialist dictatorship her husband hid in her parents’ cellar. He dedicated to her his second string quartet, composed in 1945/46. After the composer’s death she preserved and looked after his estate; until her death she remained connected with Hans Werner Henze. In 1994 the music historian, writer and family friend Ulrich Dibelius held a conversation with her of about eight hours over six weeks and recorded it privately; a selection from it appeared in 2009 on the Cybele album Karl Amadeus Hartmann and the String Quartet.