(* 3 Dec. 1856 in Oberdorf, † March 2, 1886 in Davos) Mathilde Brehm grew up in Wasserburg on Lake Constance and received her first music lessons from her father, a teacher active there. In 1869 she already appeared in the nearby Lindau as a child virtuoso. From 1873 to 1878 Mathilde Brehm attended the Royal Music School in Munich, where she studied violin under Ludwig Abel (1835-1895) and Hans Bussmeyer (1853-1930) with a minor in piano. She completed her studies on July 15, 1878 with a performance of Beethoven's violin concerto in D major, Opus. 61.
In 1879 the “Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung” reported on an “exclusive ladies' concert”, organized by four young artists who recently joined the local music school [...]. ‘Fraulein Mathilde Brehm played the violin, Fraulein Geist, the not very feminine cello, Fraulein von Lottner Clavier, and Frau Günthner, formerly Fraulein Irminger, performed in singing” (AmZ 1879, Sp. 298f.). In 1881 there was a full concert in Munich where Mathilde Brehm played two sonatas by Beethoven and Handel, the Adagio from the Concerto in A minor by Viotti and Air varié from Vieuxtemps. The “signals for the musical world” attest to “very pretty technical skill, a healthy tone and an intelligent conception”.
On 14 July 1882 the violinist married Ernst Heim in Zurich. On 11 May 1883 her daughter Mathilde Helene Heim was born. After the wedding Mathilde Brehm did not leave the concert stage at all. On January 23, 1885 she presented a chamber music evening together with her husband in Zurich at the Hotel Bellevue. In the same year the family moved to Davos, where Ernst Brehm had received a position as conductor. At this point there were no further evidence of concerts by Mathilde Heim. She died in 1886 at the age of 30.
