Emil Behnke

Emil Behnke was a German-born voice trainer who spent much of his career in Britain. He is best remembered for writing about singing and speech in a way that aimed to be useful to performers and speakers alike.

His best-known works include The Mechanism of the Human Voice and, with Lennox Browne, Voice, Song, and Speech. Those books helped make vocal anatomy and technique more accessible to general readers at a time when voice training was often taught in less systematic ways.

Behnke died in 1892, but his work continued to circulate for many years after his lifetime. He is still of interest today as an early figure in connecting voice teaching with anatomy, health, and careful observation.