A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Lannoy, The Countess of
LANNOY, THE COUNTESS OF,
By birth Countess of Loos Coswaren. She was born at the castle of Gray, in Brabant, in 1767. In 1788 she espoused the Count de Lannoy, and emigrated with him when the Low Countries were overrun by the French armies of the republic. Having lost all their property by confiscation, like many other families of rank, they were reduced to the utmost need in a strange land. All their resources lay in the energy and ability of the countess. She had always devoted herself to music for the gratification of her taste, and had even attempted composition; she now made it a profession, and gave instructions with success in the city of Berlin. She published several trios for the piano, violin, and violoncello; several songs, with an accompaniment for the harp and the piano; with other pieces of music for those instruments. In 1801, she was permitted to, return to Belgium with her family, but was obliged to go through with a tedious lawsuit, which involved all her fortune. After several anxious years, the suit was lost, and she was obliged to take refuge at Paris, with her daughters, where, by resuming her musical labours, she obtained a scanty living. She died in 1822.