Ladies' professional travelling brass ensembles of the German Empire 1871-1918 - a visual directory


Introduction   Groups [A-G]   Groups [H-R]   Groups [S-Z]


Travelling musicians and entertainers had been a part of European life for centuries, taking part in town fairs, pageants and being engaged for shows and circuses. In the German speaking countries of Europe in the 1890s through to World War 1 there appeared a large number of "Damen Kapellen", troupes of entertainers: brass/wind ensembles, string "orchestras", salon "orchestras", singing, dancing and theatre variety groups. These largely consisted of women, usually led by a man, and occasionally including males as players. These were professional groups and performed in theatres, as part of larger variety and vaudeville programmes, also at various concert venues in town and countryside.

The Damen Kapellen arose in the 1870s, though there were relatively few of them, most musical and entertainment groups being male dominated. Women were often seen performing in "Harfenkapellen" - harp ensembles - which usually consisted of violin, flute, guitar and harp in combinations, singing as well as playing.

Similar ensembles including brass instruments appeared. These were particularly popular in some environments - e.g. restaurants and outdoor events - where their music could be heard over the background noise. These brass groups had their origins in the military bands of the early 19th century which included woodwind and brass instruments, the brass being increasingly dominant as the instruments evolved, using piston valves and more efficient manufacturing techniques.

The military bands were followed in the latter half of the century by town bands with similar instrumentations. The relatively low cost, ease of learning and playing of the brass instruments, made them eminently suitable for the new women's ensembles (as also for the village and town bands). Indeed, many of these groups maintained the links to the earlier bands by adopting costumes modelled on military uniforms. Other costumes were based on traditional folklore dress and more normal female attire of the day.

It was not until the 1890s that the numbers of women's groups increased significantly, becoming favourite entertainers of the Imperial era. Each city had at least one group resident or as part of a touring company, in Dresden alone, there were up to ten Damen Kapellen of various types regularly performing after 1900. They took advantage of the economic prosperity around the turn of the century, the popularity of theatres and vaudeville shows, the demand from large restaurants, bars and exhibitions for entertainers, and the easing of the labour market for women. Their engagements generally lasted from two weeks to several months, depending on the venue and tour commitments of the ensembles, moving on to the next town for their new contract. These contracts were arranged through agencies or advertisements in newspapers and the ensembles were required to have the appropriate permits and certificates for travel and performance.

Of course, the attraction of female performers to the largely male paying clientele was also a major factor. They were generally young and pretty, important prerequisites for a career as variety artists and public performers. There were individual solo instrumental artists around this time also, some who had "graduated" from one of the ladies' ensembles, others who carved a career for themselves separately.

On occasion, they suffered with discrimination and prejudice - some people were suspicious of their members having loose morals - indeed some were even regarded as prostitutes. However, this did not dampen their popularity which remained strong right through to WW1.

An analysis by Dorothea Kaufmann from adverts in "Der Artist" (a German version of "The Stage" or "Variety") shows an increase in the numbers of Damen Kapellen from 43 in 1894, peaking at 299 in 1913, then declining sharply in the early 1920s, running around 30 or so until WW2. The groups averaged seven to eight females and up to two or three males. After WW1 the groups tended to reduce in numbers to three/four female and perhaps one male on average. Although some groups restricted themselves to one city or region, most travelled widely, wherever the demand took them, even beyond the traditional German speaking countries.

The female brass ensembles were generally known as "Damen Blasorchester" or "Damen Trompeterkorps" and consisted of a variety of instrumentalists, almost exclusively brass (though some groups did double up on stringed instruments, drums or handbells - for example). In addition to their instrumental playing they would sometimes also sing and dance and go through various costume changes as part of their performances. Fanfare trumpets were a feature of some ensembles.

The music performed ranged from the popular tunes of the day, military marches, and "salon music" to sophisticated arrangements of classical and operatic works. These were written and transcribed by the members, though perhaps more usually by the male "Director" of the ensemble.

The groups were largely from the lower-middle artisan class, often from families of musicians, varying in age from children (sometimes exploited as child prodigies) to married or unmarried women. For those that were based around a family, the father usually took the role as "Kapellmeister" with mother, daughters and occasional son included. The senior male member would generally conduct the business aspects of the group. Other relatives and friends/neighbours made up the ensemble. Most groups, however, had members that were unrelated and these were formed through adverts in the press or through loose associations in local communities.

The most significant research work in this area is Dorothea Kaufmann's book "...routinierte Trommlerin gesucht". This covers the whole range of women's entertainment groups in the period 1860-1930, and gives detailed accounts and analyses of the social, political, artistic and economic environments in which they performed. See the bibliography below for more information.

This site largely consists of a collection of the images of these various ensembles. Where dates are known (usually from the postage dates of postcards), they are given - ranging from the late 1890s to WW1 - though the groups certainly were in existence before the 1890s and, to a lesser extent, after the Great War. Some of the groups were named, but many were simply designated as an "orchester" of some type and differentiated by the name of their leader (usually a man). The groups are organised here alphabetically by their "names" or [leader's surname] as appropriate. Dates given are years that the particular ensemble was known to be active.

The images are predominately from promotional postcards the groups had published, mainly during the period 1895-1914 - the "golden age" of the postcard. Prior to this time cards had been printed but general had not been used postally - they were given out at engagements and used as "cartes de visite".

Where there are multiple images of a particular group you can often see the different types of costumes they used, and also the range of instruments played.

Gavin Holman, November 2023 - gavin@ibew.co.uk

Further reading:
  • Anon - Damenkapellen im alten Düsseldorf - Düsseldorfer Nachrichten, 27-11-1938
  • Babbe, Annkatrin - Ein Orchester, wie es bisher in Europa noch nicht gesehen und gehört worden war: Das 'Erste Europäische Damenorchester' von Josephine Amann-Weinlich - Schriftenreihe des Sophie Drinker Instituts, BIS-Verlag der Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, 2011. ISBN: 978-3-8142-2230-1
  • Babbe, Annkatrin - Von der Straße in den Konzertsaal: Damenkapellen und Damenorchester im 19. Jahrhundert, in: Ahlers, Michael; Lücke, Martin; & Rauch, Matthias (eds.) - Musik und Straße - Jahrbuch für Musikwirtschafts- und Musikkulturforschung - Springer VS, 2019, pp. 127-146. ISBN: 978-3-658-26101-6
  • Babbe, Annkatrin - Von Ort zu Ort - Reisende Damenkapellen in der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts, in: Christian Philipsen & Ute Omonsky (eds.) - Populares und Popularität in der Musik - XLII. Wissenschaftliche Arbeitstagung, Michaelstein (May 2016) - Augsburg, Michaelstein, 2017, pp. 303-317. ISBN: 978-3-89512-147-0
  • Bagge, Maren - am besten, wie Sie sehn, tut uns die Pfeife stehn': Werbung und Inszenierungsstrategien von Damenensembles um 1900 auf Postkarten, in: Annette Kreutziger-Herr et al. (eds.) - Wege: Festschrift fur Susanne Rode-Breymann - Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim, 2018
  • Dieck, Alfred - Die Wandermusikanten von Salzgitter - Gottingen, 1962
  • Engel, Paul - Das Westpfälzer Wandermusikantentum im Lichte musikwissen-schafflicher Untersuchung, in: Weingart, Erich (ed.) - Zum Beispiel der Landkreis Kusel - Landau, 1985
  • Hoffmann, Freia - Instrument und Körper: Die musizierende Frau in der bürgerlichen Kultur- Frankfurt a.M./ Leipzig, 1991
  • Holman, Gavin - Damen und Damen - Ladies' professional travelling brass ensembles of the German Empire 1871-1918 - November 2017. Available from - https://gavinholman.academia.edu
  • Kaufmann, Dorothea - "...routinierte Trommlerin gesucht: Musikerin in einer Damenkapelle - Zum Bild eines vergessenen Frauenberufes aus der Kaiserzeit" - Schriften zur Popularmusikforschung 3, Coda Musikservice, 1997. ISBN: 3000018387 3
  • Kaufmann, Dorothea - Die Musikerin in der deutschen Tanz- and Unterhaltungsmusik von der Reichsgründung 1871 bis in die Nazizeit - unpublished dissertation, University of Oldenburg, 1986
  • Kaufmann, Dorothea - Wenn damen pfeifen gehen die Gracien flöten: die musikerin in der deutschen Tanz und unterhaltungsmusik des 19 jahrhunderts - [Zur Tradition, Rezeption und Produktion von populärer Musik] - 24 April 1987, Hans-Breuer-Hof, Inzmühlen, pp. 52-63
  • Keil, Ulrike B. - Professionelle Damenkapellen und Damenorchester um die Jahrhundertwende, in: Christian Kaden and Volker Kalisch (eds.) - Von delectatio bis entertainment. Das Phänomen der Unterhaltung in der Musik - Die blaue Eule Verlag, Essen, 2000, pp. 99-110
  • Keil, Ulrike B. - Von Wandermusikanten zum Damenorchester: Professionelle Damenkapellen und Frauenorchester um die Jahrhundertwende - Das Orchester - Volume 46 (11), 1998, pp. 18-25
  • Koivisto, Nuppu - Wienin paaskyset Pohjolassa: kansainvalisten naisorkesterien kiertuereitit ja ohjelmistot Suomen kaupungeissa 1890-luvulla, in: Marko Lamberg et al. (eds.), Satunnaisesti Suomessa - SKS, Helsinki, 2018
  • Koivisto, Nuppu - Sahkovaloa, shampanjaa ja Wiener Damenkapelle: naisten salonkiorkesterit ja transnationaaliset varieteeverkostot Suomessa 1877-1916 - PhD thesis, University of Helsinki, 2019
  • Krollmann, C. - Eine Eichsfelder Musikanten-Familie - Unser Eichsfeld, 23 (6) 1928, pp. 131-137
  • Krollmann, C. - Eine Seulinger Musikanten-Familie - Die Goldene Mark, 16(3), 1965, pp. 39-46
  • Myers, Margaret - Blowing Her Own Trumpet, European Ladies' Orchestras and Other Women Musicians 1870-1950 - Göteborg, Sweden, 1993.
  • Myers, Margaret - Searching for data about European Ladies' Orchestras, in: Moisala, Pirkko and Diamond, Beverley (eds) Music and Gender - University of Illinois Press, 2000, pp. 189-214. ISBN: 025202544X
  • Schaub, Hans F. - Ensemble-musiker - Deutsche Musiker-Zeitung, 1909, pp. 731 ff.
  • Treitel, R. - Die Stellung des Kapellmeisters bei Musikkapellen in Cafés, Restaurants - Deutsche Musiker-Zeitung, 1912, pp. 622 ff.