Erika Schraube

Erika Weyermann was born around 1880 in Honnef. Her father was Walther Weyermann, an industrialist, and her mother, Emilie von der Leyen, was a trained pianist. The family owned Hagerhof Castle in Honnef and regularly hosted festivities and chamber music gatherings there, bringing together painters, musicians, and intellectuals from the region. In 1896, Johannes Brahms attended one of these events, along with several other musicians such as Bram Eldering, Richard Barth, and Karl Piening, as well as, for example, the painter Willy von Beckerath.
Erika Weyermann grew up in this artistic and musical environment and learned to play the piano from an early age. Nothing further is known about her education and training. In 1903, she became engaged to Bruno von der Leyen from Baden-Baden, presumably someone from her mother’s extended family circle. However, the engagement was later dissolved, and in 1906 Erika Weyermann married the chemist Dr. Hans Schraube; the couple lived in Mannheim.
Little is known about the course of their lives in the following years. In August 1907, the couple had a son, and at some later point they moved to Munich (Nymphenburgerstraße 148). In 1912, Hans Schraube, together with Jose de Seixas Palma, patented a method for killing rodents using pathogenic bacterial cultures. During the First World War, Hans Schraube served as a lieutenant in the Landwehr and was killed on 23 March 1918.
Erika Schraube remained in Munich, but nothing is known about her activities there. Her name does, however, appear several times in letters written in 1932 and 1933 by the composer Karl Amadeus Hartmann to his future wife Elisabeth. Evidently, Erika Schraube was an acquaintance; in the letters she is often referred to simply as “Schraube” (“Your mother absolutely wants to visit Schraube…”). At that time, she lived at Agnes-Bernauer-Straße 103.
Nothing is known about the further course of her life.

In my possession is the autograph manuscript of her "Suite für Klavier". The manuscript was part of the musical estate of pianist Elly Ney and is undated.