Born in
Merseburg, Schumann trained for a singing career in Berlin and Dresden. She made her stage debut in Hamburg in 1909. Her initial career started in the lighter
soubrette roles that expanded into mostly
lyrical roles, some
coloratura roles, and even a few
dramatic roles. She remained at the
Hamburg State Opera until 1919, also singing during the 1914/1915 season at the
Metropolitan Opera, New York. From 1919 until 1938, she was a star of the
Vienna State Opera. Her most famous role was that of Sophie in
Richard Strauss's
Der Rosenkavalier, but she also excelled in Mozart, taking the roles of Pamina in
The Magic Flute, Zerlina in
Don Giovanni, Blonde in
Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Susanna in
The Marriage of Figaro. Despite her glittering operatic career, she excelled in lieder. Lotte Lehmann, in many ways her rival, paid her the tribute of saying that she represented perhaps the purest singing style of German lieder. The production of her voice, which was not particularly powerful, was so good; and enabled her to continue giving recitals long after many singers retire. This is most evident in her rendering of Schubert's "Du bist die Ruh" which requires a steadiness and purity of tone beyond most singers. This technique sustained her in dramatic operatic roles like Der Rosenkavalier. Her careful use of vibrato, never coarse, gave volume and sonority. The conductor
Karl Alwin was her second husband from 1920 until 1938. In 1938, she emigrated to New York City where she lived until her death on 23 April 1952, aged 64. During World War II she gave recitals but mainly taught singing, privately and at the
Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. One of her pupils at Curtis was soprano
Florence Kirk. After the war she gave many recitals in Europe, making a particularly successful comeback in England. She was a much-loved artist, admired for her vivacity, elegance, and beauty. She was closely connected with Richard Strauss,
Otto Klemperer,
Lotte Lehmann,
Bruno Walter,
Wilhelm Furtwängler, and other leading musicians of the first half of the 20th century. ==Death==