Born: 9 November 1723, Germany
Died: 30 March 1787
Country most active: Germany
Also known as: NA
The following is excerpted from A Cyclopædia of Female Biography, published 1857 by Groomsbridge and Sons and edited by Henry Gardiner Adams.
Princess of Prussia, was the daughter of Frederick William the First, King of Prussia, and sister to Frederick the Great. She was born on the 9th. of November, 1723, and from her childhood shewed great talent, especially for music, with the theoretical and historical knowledge of which she became so thoroughly conversant, as to be scarcely equalled by any one of her time. At the age of twenty-one, she became Princess-Abbess of Quedlinburgh, and from that time to her death, which occurred on the 13th. of March, 1787, all her time which was not devoted to the administration of the affairs of the Abbey, was engrossed by her favourite study.
At her death her musical library said to be the most splendid and complete ever collected, was bequeathed to the Joachimsthal Gymnasium of Berlin, with a proviso that rendered it all but useless; namely, that nothing should be copied, nor any piece taken from it.
The following is excerpted from A Dictionary of Music and Musicians, published in 1900 and edited by George Grove.
ANNA AMALIA, Princess of Prussia, sister of Frederic the Great, born Nov. 9, 1723, was a pupil of Kirnberger; she is the composer of a cantata by Ramler, ‘Der Tod Jesu,’ the same which was set to music by Graun. The princess was an able contrapuntist, and her style is full of vigour and energy, as may be seen from a portion of her cantata which is included in Kirnberger’s ‘Kunst des reinen Satzes.’ She is also said to have played the clavier with great taste and ability. She died at Berlin, March 30, 1787.