Martha Dorda was born in
Vienna,
Austria on 28 March 1880. She made her debut at the
Volkstheater, Vienna in 1899 where she worked as
comprimario soprano through 1901. In 1901-1902 she was committed to the opera house in
Opava, and in 1902-1903 she was a resident artist at the
Linz State Theatre. She concurrently performed at the
Graz Opera from 1901-1906. Winternitz-Dorda was a resident soprano at
Raimund Theater in Vienna from 1908 through 1910. With pianist Etta Werndorf she gave the first performance of
Arnold Schoenberg's song cycle
The Book of the Hanging Gardens on 14 January 1910 at a concert in Vienna. On 12 September 1910 she performed as a soloist in the world premiere of
Gustav Mahler's
Symphony No. 8 with the
Munich Philharmonic. She was a leading prima donna in the
dramatic soprano repertoire at the
Hamburg State Opera (HSO) from 1910-1913. During that period she also appeared as a guest artist with the
Vienna State Opera (1910),
Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe (1912), the
Mannheim National Theatre (1912), and the
Leipzig Opera (1912). and later repeated that part in Leipzig in 1914. She came to the United States after this where she was a leading soprano with the
Chicago Grand Opera Company (CGOC) in 1913-1914. With the CGOC she starred as Blanchefleur in the United States premiere of
Wilhelm Kienzl's
Der Kuhreigen. After this she worked as a guest performer in opera houses and on the concert stage until retiring from performance in 1933 after giving a farewell performance as the Marschallin in
Der Rosenkavalier. In 1918 she starred in the premiere of her husband's opera
Meister Grobian at the HSO. After Winternitz's death in 1927 she married the pianist Richard Goldschmied. Winternitz-Dorda work as a voice teacher
Hamburg,
Germany during the last 25 years of her life. She died in Hamburg on 9 December 1958. ==References==