Lilli Lehmann

Born in Würzburg on November 24, 1848, Lilli Lehmann grew up in a musical family and made her stage debut in Prague in 1865 as the First Boy in Die Zauberflöte. She went on to sing with the Berlin Court Opera for many years, and her career expanded across Europe's major stages and later to the United States.

She was admired for unusual versatility: early in her career she excelled in lighter soprano roles, and later she became especially famous for Wagner heroines such as Isolde and Brünnhilde. At the same time, she was widely praised as a Mozart interpreter, a combination that made her stand out even among the great singers of her generation.

Beyond performance, Lehmann helped shape musical life in Salzburg, where she promoted Mozart performance and teaching. She also wrote about vocal technique in How to Sing, a book that kept her influence alive long after her death in Berlin in 1929.