Mme. Ernestine Schumann-Heink (nee Roessler) was born near the city of
Prague, July 15, 1861. She relates that her father was a Czech and her
mother was of Italian extraction. She was educated in Ursuline Convent
and studied singing with Mme. Marietta von Leclair in Graz. Her first
appearance was at the age of 15, when she is reported to have taken a
solo part in a performance of the Beethoven Ninth Symphony, at an
important concert in Graz. Her operatic debut was made at the Royal
Opera, Dresden, in _Trovatore_. There she studied under Krebs and Franz
Wuellner. It is impossible to detail Mme. Schumann-Heink's operatic
successes here, since her numerous appearances at the leading operatic
houses of the world have been followed by such triumphs that she is
admittedly the greatest contralto soloist of her time. At Bayreuth,
Covent Garden, and at the Metropolitan her appearances have drawn
multitudes. In concert she proved one of the greatest of all singers of
art songs. In 1905 she became an American citizen, her enthusiasm for
this country leading her to name one of her sons George Washington.
During the great war (in which four of her sons served with the American
colors) she toured incessantly from camp to camp, giving her services
for the entertainment of the soldiers and winning countless admirers in
this way. Her glorious voice extends from D on the third line of the
bass clef to C on the second leger line above the treble clef.
[Illustration: MME. ERNESTINE SCHUMANN-HEINK.]