Born Else Fischer in Frankfurt am Main, Gentner-Fischer was the daughter of a
barber. She studied singing at the
Hoch Conservatory before making her professional opera debut in 1905 at the
National Theatre Mannheim. That same year she married tenor
Karl Gentner, to whom she was later widowed in 1922. She later married baritone
Benno Ziegler. In 1906, she and her first husband both joined the roster of singers at the Oper Frankfurt through the invitation of
Emil Claar. She made her first appearance at that house in early 1907, and remained committed to that opera house until her retirement from the stage in 1935. Outside of Frankfurt, she appeared as a guest artist at the
Berlin State Opera, the
Liceu, the
Teatro Colón, and the
Teatro Real. She toured the United States in 1923-1924 with the German Opera Company and also toured with the Oper Frankfurt to the Netherlands in 1934. In her early career, Gentner-Fischer sang only smaller parts, but by 1910 she was performing leading roles in the
soubrette and
lyric soprano repertoire. She notably portrayed the role of Sophie in the Frankfurt premiere of
Der Rosenkavalier in 1911. In 1914, she was one of the flower maidens in the Frankfurt premiere of
Parsifal. She soon moved into heavier repertoire, excelling in parts like Countess Almaviva in
The Marriage of Figaro, Donna Anna in
Don Giovanni, the Empress in
Die Frau ohne Schatten, the Marschallin in
Der Rosenkavalier, Santuzza in
Cavalleria rusticana, and the title roles in
Aida,
Carmen, and
Tosca. As her career progressed, Wagnerian heroines increasingly became a more important part of her repertoire; including Brünnhilde in
The Ring Cycle, Elsa in
Lohengrin, and Isolde in
Tristan und Isolde. In addition to performing works from the standard soprano repertoire, Gentner-Fischer also appeared in many productions by modern composers. In Frankfurt she notably created roles in the world premieres of
Hermann Wolfgang von Waltershausen's
Oberst Chabert (1912, the Countess),
Franz Schreker's
Die Gezeichneten (1918, Carlotta Nardi),
Ernst Krenek's
Der Sprung über den Schatten (1924), and
Arnold Schoenberg's
Von heute auf morgen (1930, the Wife). In 1923 she performed the role of Myrtocle in the United States premiere of
Eugen d'Albert's
Die toten Augen at the
Auditorium Theatre in Chicago. In 1929 she sang the role of Emilia Marty in the German premiere of
Leoš Janáček's
The Makropulos Case. On 23 June 1935, Gentner-Fischer gave her final opera performance in the role of Isolde in Frankfurt. Her career was cut short due to prejudice against her husband who was of Jewish descent. In 1939, Ziegler fled Germany for England, leaving Gentner-Fischer behind. She suffered under the political conditions in her country during World War II and lived the remaining years of her life in seclusion in Upper Bavaria. She died in
Prien am Chiemsee in 1943 at the age of 59. She is buried in the
Frankfurt Main Cemetery. ==References==