Mallinger, Mathilde (née Lichtenegger)

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Mallinger, Mathilde (née Lichtenegger)

Mallinger, Mathilde (née Lichtenegger), noted Croatian soprano and teacher; b. Agram, Feb. 17, 1847; d. Berlin, April 19, 1920. She was a student in Prague of Gordigiani and Vogl, and in Vienna of Loewy. On Oct. 6,1866, she made her operatic debut as Norma in Munich, where she was chosen to create the role of Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (June 21,1868). On April 6,1869, she made her first appearance at the Berlin Royal Opera as Elsa, where she continued as one of its principal artists until her retirement in 1882. In 1873 she sang in the U.S. She taught voice in Prague (1890–95) and thereafter in Berlin. Among her other distinguished roles were Mozart’s Countess, Donna Anna, and Pamina, Beethoven’s Leonore, Weber’s Agathe, and Wagner’s Sieglinde.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire