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Louise Dulcken: Pianist to Queen Victoria
A Hamburg prodigy in London
Louise Dulcken was born Louise David on 29 March 1811 in Hamburg, into a prosperous merchant family. She was the younger sister of the future celebrated violinist Ferdinand David, who became concertmaster of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and to whom Mendelssohn dedicated his famous Violin Concerto. Louise received piano lessons from Christian Schwencke and Friedrich Wilhelm Grund, and made her first public appearance at the age of ten. In 1823 she played in Berlin, and in 1825 she performed together with her brother in Leipzig — always to great acclaim.
In 1828 she married Theobald Dulcken and converted from Judaism to Protestantism on that occasion. The couple moved to London, where Louise would live and work for the rest of her life.
Breakthrough in London's musical life
Her first London appearance was in 1829 at one of Mr. Ella's soirées. On 1 March 1830 she played a concerto by Herz at the Philharmonic Society, and from that point on she became one of the most prominent figures in London's musical life. She is credited as the first female pianist ever to perform at the Philharmonic Society.
Dulcken spoke four languages (German, English, French and Italian) and was well versed in the literature of each — an intellectual background that reinforced her reputation as a serious, substantial musician at a time when female pianists were often regarded chiefly as drawing-room entertainment.
Piano teacher to Queen Victoria
Her best-known role was as piano teacher to Queen Victoria. Among her many pupils, the Queen was considered the most prominent. The later American pianist and composer Jane Sloman also studied under her as a child, and went on to perform alongside violinist Paganini and pianist Sigismond Thalberg.

The Hexameron concert with Liszt
A career highlight was her Annual Grand Morning Concert on 31 May 1841 in the Great Concert Room of Her Majesty's Theatre, billed as a concert by the "Pianiste to Her Majesty the Queen." The programme included Thalberg's Grand Fantasia on themes from La Donna del Lago, and, as its centerpiece, the world premiere of a two-piano version of Liszt's Hexameron — the celebrated set of variations on a theme from Bellini's I Puritani, jointly composed by Liszt, Thalberg, Chopin, Czerny, Herz and Pixis. Dulcken performed the piece as a duet with Liszt himself.
The salon at 19 Harley Street
From the early 1840s, Louise Dulcken regularly hosted musical soirées and matinées at the couple's residence at 19 Harley Street in Marylebone, London — a fashionable street known at the time chiefly as an address for the aristocracy, wealthy merchants and clergymen (it would only later become known as London's street of physicians). Theobald Dulcken ran the house partly as a kind of private hotel or boarding house.
Composer and pianist Wilhelm Ganz recalled, as a boy, accompanying his father to these soirées in March 1848. In his diary he noted that on Sunday, 10 March 1848, he accompanied horn player Steglich on the piano, while violinist Molique and composer Hector Berlioz were also present. Ganz remembered that every room in the house contained a good piano.
The political unrest of the 1848 French Revolution drove many Parisian musicians to seek refuge in London, and many of them found their way to Dulcken's salon: among others, pianist Friedrich Kalkbrenner, the young Charles Hallé (who would later found the celebrated Hallé Orchestra in Manchester), pianist Wilhelm Kuhe, and Hector Berlioz together with his wife, the Irish Shakespearean actress Henrietta Smithson.
A recurring feature of these evenings was Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto in G minor, performed with quintet accompaniment. Ganz called it her "cheval de bataille" (showpiece) and wrote that she was almost the first to make the work known and popular in England.
Composer Felix Mendelssohn himself also performed at her salon: a review in The Musical World reported that a soirée held in his honour — with Mendelssohn himself at the piano and the young violin prodigy Joseph Joachim performing — was very well attended by distinguished connoisseurs and artists.
Chopin and canon formation
Dulcken played a significant role in establishing Chopin's music within the English musical canon. Her performances of Chopin's Piano Concerto in F minor in 1845 were praised by critics; one reviewer wrote that her interpretation demonstrated that it was not necessary to play trivial music to please an audience, and that she did full justice to the profound qualities of Chopin's work.
Death
Louise Dulcken died on 12 April 1850 in London, following a short but severe illness — attributed at the time to the strain of her demanding teaching schedule and concert career. She was 39 years old.
Legacy
Louise and Theobald Dulcken had six children, several of whom also became musically active, including the pianists Ferdinand Quentin Dulcken (1837–1901), who later worked in the United States and taught at Steinway Hall in New York, and Edward Dulcken, who studied in Leipzig under his uncle Ferdinand David.

Sources: A Dictionary of Music and Musicians (Wikisource); Sophie Drinker Institut; National Portrait Gallery, London; UCL Survey of London (Harley Street); Lisa A. Withers, "Solo Piano Performances in London from 1837 to 1850" (West Virginia University, 2000); Wilhelm Ganz, Memories of a Musician: Reminiscences of Seventy Years of Musical Life (1913); Joseph Joachim biography project (josephjoachim.com).

“Madame Louise Dulcken”, Illustration for The Illustrated London News, 20 January 1844.