2012/02/16
Emelie Augusta Kristina Holmberg (married name Hammarskjöld) (1821–1854), Sweden and the United States
Gave her first concert as a singer and pianist in 1838 at age 17. She published her own compositions in 1836 and in 1841 founded a music institute in Stockholm (which operated until 1844).
In 1844 she married the brass works owner Hjalmar Hammarskjöld and emigrated in the same year to the U.S., where she toured extensively. She was as famous in North America in her day as Jenny Lind. She served as organist at St. Peter’s Church in Charleston, where she also started a philharmonic society.
She composed seven collections of songs, five of which have been preserved.
She was elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in 1841.
