Mathilde Mallinger

Mathilde Mallinger was a Croatian, Austrian and German opera singer and music teacher, known as a lyric soprano. She was born as Mathilde Lichtenegger in Graz, in the Austrian Empire, and was the daughter of Vatroslav Lichtenegger, a noted Croatian composer, choral conductor and music teacher. She received her first lessons in music and singing from her father.

She studied at the Prague Conservatory with Giovanni Battista Gordigiani and later in Vienna with Richard Levy. In Vienna she met Richard Wagner, who, after hearing her sing, recommended her to the Bavarian Opera.

In 1866 Mallinger made her first appearance in Munich on the stage of the Bavarian Opera. She achieved great success in Wagner's operas, singing in works such as The Mastersingers of Nuremberg, The Valkyrie, Lohengrin and Tannhäuser.

In 1869 she moved to Berlin, where she became one of the leading singers of the Berlin Opera. She performed there until 1882, and later appeared with great success at the opera houses of Berlin, Dresden, Weimar and Vienna, as well as at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg.

Her selected repertory included Norma in Bellini's Norma; Eva in Wagner's The Mastersingers of Nuremberg; Elsa in Lohengrin; Sieglinde in The Valkyrie; Leonore in Beethoven's Fidelio; Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni; the Countess Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro; Pamina in The Magic Flute; Valentine in Meyerbeer's The Huguenots; and Agathe in Weber's The Freeshooter.

From 1890 to 1895 Mallinger taught singing at the Prague Conservatory, and afterward worked at the Berlin Conservatory until her death. She trained a number of talented opera singers, among them K. G. Derzhinskaya and Lotte Lehmann. In recognition of her achievements, she was awarded the honorary title of Kammersänger in 1916.