Ingeborg Starck was the daughter of Swedish parents Margareta Åkerman and Otto Starck who were living in Saint Petersburg, Russia, where her father was involved in commerce. Having shown musical gifts from a young age, studied piano with Nicolas von Martinoff and Adolf Henselt, as well as composition with Constantin Decker. She completed her studies in Weimar with Franz Liszt. During a stay in Paris in 1861 her friends included composers such as Auber, Berlioz, Rossini and Wagner (who commented in his autobiography on her good looks). In September of the same year, she married fellow pianist-composer Hans Bronsart von Schellendorff, a member of Liszt's circle whom she had met in Weimar.
Ingeborg Bronsart von Schellendorf, as she was now known, toured Europe as a concert pianist until 1867, when she was expected to cease work due to her husband's appointment as general manager of the Royal Theatre in Hanover. She remained musically active, however, as a composer of opera, chamber and instrumental music and a large number of songs. Earlier, she had composed a piano concerto (1863). During her lifetime her operas were successfully produced in many theatres in Germany. Pieces composed by her which were popular at the time included her Kaiser Wilhelm March (1871), the Singspiel Jery und Bätely (1873) and the opera Hiarne (1891).
Die Göttis von Sais (1867)
Jery und Bätely (1873)
König Hiarne (1891)
Die Sühne (1909)
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in F-minor (1863)
Kaiser Wilhelm March (1872)
Romanze in A minor for violin and piano (1873)
Notturno in A minor for cello and piano, op. 13 (1879)
Elegie in C major for cello and piano, op. 14 (1879)
Romanze in B-flat major for cello and piano, op. 15 (1879)
Phantasie for violin and piano, op. 21 (1891)
Trois études (1855)
Nocturne (1855)
Tarantella (1855)
Fuge über die Namen Maria und Martha (von Sabinin) (1859)
Fugues (1859)
Variations on themes by Bach (1859)
Variations (1859)
Toccatas (1859)
Sonata (1859)
Kaiser Wilhelm March (1871)
Vier Clavierstücke (1874)
Drei Phantasie in G-sharp minor, op. 18 (1891)
Hurrah Germania! for male choir (1871)
Kennst du die rothe Rose? for soloists male choir and mixed choir (1873)
Easter Lied, for choir, op 27 (1903)
Die Loreley (1865)
(Text: Heinrich Heine)
Und ob der holde Tag vergangen (1870)
Three Lieder (1871)
(Texts: A. Dunker, E. Neubauer, H. Zeise)
Three Lieder (1872)
(Texts: Heine, O. Roquette)
... 3. Ich hab' im Traum geweinet
Five Lieder (1878)
(Texts: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, August von Platen, Friedrich Rückert)
Six Lieder by Mirza Schaffy, op 8 (1879)
(Texts: Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt after Mirza Shafi Vazeh)
1. Zuléikha; 2. Im Garten klagt die Nachtigall; 3. Wenn der Frühling auf die Berge steigt; 4. Gelb rollt mir zu Füßen; 5. Die helle Sonne leuchtet; 6. Ich fühle deinen Odem
Hafisa: Three Lieder by Mirza Schaffy, op 9 (1879)
(Texts: Bodenstedt after Mirza Shafi)
6 Poems, op 10 (1879)
(Texts: Bodenstedt)
1. Mir träumte einst ein schöner Traum; 2. Abschied vom Kaukasus; 3. Wie lächeln die Augen; 4. Nachtigall, o Nachtigall; 5. Das Vöglein; 6. Sing, mit Sonnenaufgang singe
Five Christmas Lieder, op 11 (1880)
(Texts: Jakobi)
Five Poems, op 12 (1880)
(Texts: Bodenstedt)
Röslein auf Haiden (1880–1885)
(Text: Richard Voss)
Five Poems, op. 16 (1882)
(Texts: Ernst von Wildenbruch)
1. Abendlied; 2. Ständchen; 3. Zwei Sträusse; 4. Der Blumenstrauss 5. Letzte Bitte
Twelve Nursery Rhymes, op 17 (1882)
(Texts: Klaus Groth)
Wie dich die warme Luft umscherzt“ (?)
Blumengruss (1888)
(Text: Goethe)
Six Poems, op 20 (1891)
(Texts: Michail Lermontov)
Three Poems, op 22 (1891)
(Texts: Peter Cornelius)
Three Lieder, op 23 (1892)
(Texts: Goethe, Nikolaus Lenau, Platen)
Im Lenz (1898)
(Text: Paul Heyse)
Rappelle-toi! op. 24 (1902)
(Text: Alfred de Musset)
Three Lieder, op. 25 (1902)
(Texts: Bodenstedt, Goethe, Heine)
... 3. Ich stand in dunkeln Träumen (Heine)
Abschied, op. 26 (1902)
(Text: Felix Dahn)
Lieder, (c. 1903)
(Texts: Bodenstedt)
Verwandlung (1910)
(Text: Paul Heyse)
Lieder (1910)
