Maria Theresia von Ahlefeldt (16 January 1755 – 20 December 1810) was a German born aristocrat and a Danish composer. She is known as the first female composer in Denmark.
Biography
Born in Regensburg, Maria Theresia was the eldest child and daughter of Alexander Ferdinand, 3rd Prince of Thurn and Taxis (1704–1773) and his wife, Princess Maria Henriette Josepha of Fürstenberg-Stühlingen (1732–1772). She was a younger half-sister of Karl Anselm, 4th Prince of Thurn and Taxis and niece of Maria Augusta of Thurn and Taxis.
She grew in a cultural environment at the princely court in Regensburg, which was a centre of French, German and Italian opera, theatre, ballet, pantomimes and concerts. She was instructed in clavecin playing with her sisters and displayed an early talent of music composition.
Maria Theresia was engaged to Prince Joseph of Fürstenberg (1758–1796) from 1772 until her affair with an elderly German Prince Philipp of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen (1702–1781) in 1776. Her family, however, refused permission for her to marry Philipp. In 1780 in Prague, she married the Danish noble Count Ferdinand of Ahlefeldt-Langeland (1747–1815), against the will of her family. This marriage against the will of her family was a criminal act for which she was forced to flee to avoid arrest.
From 1780, Maria Theresia's spouse was Marshal at the Court of Ansbach, where she was active in the amateur theatre of Elizabeth Craven. During this time, she wrote a libretto. From 1792 to 1794, her spouse was marshal of the Danish royal court and director of the Royal Danish Theatre. Maria Theresia composed music for several ballets, operas, and plays of the royal theatre. She was given good critic as a composer and described as a "virkelig Tonekunstnerinde" ('a True Artist of Music').
She moved to Dresden with her spouse in 1798, and lived from 1800 until her death in Prague.