Ernestine Schumann-Heink

Schumann-Heink was the most important alto, then contralto of her generation. Born Ernestine Rössler, the daughter of an Austrian cavalry officer, she grew up in Verona, Prague, Podgórze, and finally Graz, where she received voice lessons from a retired opera singer, Marietta von LeClair. In 1876, at age 15, she made her professional debut in Graz, singing the alto solo in Beethoven's "Ninth Symphony." Two years later, she appeared on stage as Azucena in Verrdi's "Il Trovatore," which she performed for four season's at Dresden's Royal Opera (Hofoper). In 1882, she married Ernst Heink, the secretary of the Semperoper in Dresden. Since the marriage violated the terms of their contracts, both were fired, and Ernestine moved on to Berlin's Kroll Opera. The next year, in 1883, she found a position at the Municipal Opera of Hamburg, where her husband had found a job as a customs inspector. Ernestine soon replaced the prima donna and remained in Hamburg for 13 years, during which time she had four children with Ernst. Both divorced in 1892, the same year in which she successfully performed Wagner's "Ring" cycle, directed by Gustav Mahler, at the Covent Garden Opera in London.

In December 1893, Ernestine married Paul (Fünfstück) Schumann, the director of the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, which whom she had three more children and a stepson from Schumann's first marriage. Under the name Schumann-Heink, she now regularly sang as a guest at Covent Garden between 1897 and 1900 and at the Wagner Festival in Bayreuth between 1896 and 1914.

Schumann-Heink's first performed in the United States in Chicago, in 1898. In 1899, she was engaged by the Metropolitan Opera in New York City where she spent the rest of her career. Her first role at the Met was that of Ortrud in Wagner's "Lohengrin;" she retired from the stage in 1932 with the role of Erda in Wagner's "Ring der Nibelungen."

In 1904, Paul Schumann died. In May 1905, Schumann-Heink married her American manager, William Rapp (they got divorced in 1914) and became an American citizen.

As early as 1898, Schumann-Heink made two private recordings. In 1903, she recorded five pieces for Columbia, but from 1906 on, she worked exclusively with the Victor label. Between 1906 and 1931, she released at least 133 recordings.

In addition, Schumann-Heink had her own radio show, starting in 1926. In December that same year, she was broadcast singing "Stille Nacht (Silent Night)" in both German and English for Christmas; this became an annual tradition until 1935. Schumann-Heink also appeared in films, usually as herself. In 1915, she had a cameo role in "Fatty" Arbuckle's comedy "Mabel and Fatty Viewing the World's Fair at San Francisco." In 1927, she starred in a 10-minute Vitaphone short about herself, and in 1935, she appeared in another cameo in "Here's to Romance."