View source for Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient

{{Short description|German operatic soprano}}
{{Distinguish|Wilhelmine Schröder}}
[[File:Schroeder-Devrient by Schuler.jpg|thumb|upright|Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient]]

'''Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient''' ({{nee}} '''Schröder'''; 6 December 1804{{spaced ndash}}26 January 1860), was a German operatic [[soprano]]. As a singer, she combined a rare quality of tone with dramatic intensity of expression, which was as remarkable on the concert platform as in opera.

== Biography ==
Schröder was born in Hamburg, the daughter of the actress [[Sophie Schröder]] and the tenor Friedrich Schröder.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} The poet [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]] was her 2nd cousin.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://tng.rolandgen.de/documents/Richter%20&%20Hungerige%20%282020%29%2C%20Anton%20Orth%20-%20Lexikonber%C3%BChmtheiten%20und%20Genealogen.pdf|title="Lexikonberühmtheiten" unter den Nachkommen von Anton(ius) Orth (* um 1425 in Butzbach)|language=de|date=2020|author1=Arndt Richter|author2=Heiko Hungerige|access-date=29 November 2021|trans-title=Notable descendants of Anton(ius) Orth (born ca.1425 in [[Butzbach]])}}</ref>

Her first role was at the age of 15 as Aricia in [[Friedrich Schiller|Schiller]]'s translation of [[Jean Racine|Racine]]'s ''[[Phèdre]]'', and in 1821, aged 17, she was received with so much enthusiasm as Pamina in [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]]'s ''[[The Magic Flute]]'' that her future career in opera was assured.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

[[File:Wilhelmine schroeder-devrient.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient]]
In 1823, she married [[Karl August Devrient|Karl Devrient]], becoming known as Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient, but separated from him in 1828. Meanwhile, she had maintained her popularity at Dresden and elsewhere. She made her first Paris appearance in 1830, and sang in London in 1833 and 1837.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

[[Richard Wagner]], born in 1813, claimed to have seen her as Leonore in ''[[Fidelio]]'' when he was 16, but this is almost certainly fanciful. He did hear (and conduct) her in numerous roles after 1834, however, and continued to laud her stage artistry right up until his essay "On Actors and Singers" (1872) which is dedicated to her memory. She created several roles for Wagner – Adriano in ''[[Rienzi]]'', Senta in ''[[Der fliegende Holländer]]'' and Venus in ''[[Tannhäuser (opera)|Tannhäuser]]''. Had Wagner's political profile not been compromised by his involvement with the [[May Uprising in Dresden|Dresden uprising]] in May 1849, Schröder-Devrient would have created Elsa in ''[[Lohengrin (opera)|Lohengrin]]'' which was advertised in 1849 as a forthcoming production in Dresden.

In 1847 she married David Oskar von Döring, an officer, but divorced him in 1848. She took part in the [[German revolutions of 1848–1849#Saxony|Revolution of 1848]] and the Dresden uprising and was later imprisoned. In 1850 she married {{Interlanguage link multi|Heinrich von Bock|de}}, a wealthy [[Livonia]]n land owner, who was 14 years her junior. They settled first in [[Trikāta Parish|Trikāta]], Latvia, relocating later to von Bock's ancestral home in [[Viljandi Parish|Loodi]] (Kersel) in Estonia.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mulgimaa.ee/turism/marsruudid/iv-heimtali--sinialliku--loodi--sultsi--tuhalaane--polli--karksi-nuia|title=IV Heimtali – Sinialliku – Loodi – Sultsi – Tuhalaane – Polli – Karksi-Nuia - Mulgimaa|website=www.mulgimaa.ee|language=et}}</ref> She left her husband in the winter of 1858, planning to move to America; but her health began to deteriorate rapidly.

She died in [[Coburg]], Germany, on 26 January 1860.<ref name="WagnerEdward1983">{{cite book|author1=Richard Wagner|author2=Wagner, Edward|title=Richard Wagner: My Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S243AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA774|date=17 November 1983|publisher=CUP Archive|isbn=978-0-521-22929-6|pages=774}}</ref>
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== Apocryphal memoirs ==
After her death, an erotic memoir in two volumes, ''{{Lang|de|Memoiren einer Sängerin}}'' (Memoirs of a Songstress), was wrongly attributed to her.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

'''Attribution:'''
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Schröder-Devrient, Wilhelmine|volume=24|page=379}}

==Further reading==
* {{ill|Claire von salamander Glümer|de|lt=Glümer, Claire von}} (1862). [https://books.google.com/books?id=ASc6AAAAcAAJ ''Erinnerungen an Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient'']. {{ill|Johann Ambrosius Barth Verlag|de}}, Leipzig.
* [[Karl-Josef Kutsch|Kutsch, Karl Josef]] and [[Leo Riemens|Riemens, Leo]] (2000). ''[[Großes Sängerlexikon]]''. Munich.
* [[Henry Pleasants (music critic)|Pleasants, Henry]] (1966/81). ''The Great Singers''. New York.
* {{ill|Alfred von Wolzogen|de|lt=Wolzogen, Alfred von}} (1863). [https://books.google.com/books?id=UFA6AAAAcAAJ ''Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient'']. [[F. A. Brockhaus AG|Brockhaus]], Leipzig.

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient}}
* [http://www.xs4all.nl/~androom/index.htm?biography/p006781.htm Short biography and picture of Schröder-Devrient's gravesite]
* {{Zeno-Autor|Literatur/M/Schr%C3%B6der-Devrient,+Wilhelmine}}

{{Portal bar|Biography|Opera}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schroder-Devrient, Wilhelmine}}
[[Category:1804 births]]
[[Category:1860 deaths]]
[[Category:German operatic sopranos]]
[[Category:German people of the Revolutions of 1848]]
[[Category:Singers from Hamburg]]
[[Category:19th-century German women opera singers]]