a 19th-century German writer and composer. She was one of the most important German poets and author of the novella Die Judenbuche. She composed poetry, but not prolifically. The collection appeared in 1838 in a print-run of 500 copies, of which only 74 were sold. Droste found the failure of her book "humiliating." Droste received early instruction in piano and later in singing. In 1821 she was given a composition manual, Einige Erklärungen über den General=Baß, written by her uncle Maximilian-Friedrich von Droste zu Hülshoff (a friend of Joseph Haydn) and announced her intention to learn it by heart. 74 Lieder by Droste survive as well as fragments and sketches of 4 unrealized operas.
