Milder-Hauptmann, Anna

SOPRANO (GERMANY)
BORN 13 Dec 1785, Constantinople - DIED 29 May 1838, Berlin
BIRTH NAME Milder, Pauline Anna
GRAVE LOCATION Berlin: Alter Domfriedhof der St.-Hedwigs-Gemeinde, Liesenstrasse 8 (Feld 5)

Anna Milder grew up in Constantinople and Bucharest before she moved to Vienna. There she studied with Antonio Salieri and Guiseppe Tomaselli. In 1803 she debuted at Emanuel Schikaneder's Theater an der Wien with the part of Juno in "Der Spiegel von Arkadien" by F.X. Süssmayr. In 1805 she sang the part of Leonore at the premiere of Beethoven's "Fidelio".

In 1807 she accepted an engagement at the Theatre at the Kärtnertor. After Beethoven insulted her she refused to sing in "Fidelio" in 1808. In 1809 Napoleon heard her in Vienna and invited her to move to Paris. But she preferred to stay in Vienna. In 1810 she married the Viennese jeweler Peter Hauptmann. One of her greates triumphs was in "Iphigénie en Tauride" by Gluck. By 1814 her problems with Beethoven were resolved and she sang again in Fidelio.

After her marriage had failed, in 1817 she started living openly with Friederike Liman (c.1771-1844) in Berlin. Between 1816 and 1829 she performed at the Hofoper in Berlin. After a quarrel with Spontini she left and she performed in other cities in Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Russia. From 1821 onwards she was a member of the Singakademie in Berlin and there Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy was her conductor on 11 March 1829 during the first performance of the Matthäuspassion after the death of J.S. Bach in 1750.

She left the stage in 1836. In 1838 she died in Berlin and was buried at the St. Hedwig-Friedhof, where her small tombstone can still be found.

Related persons
• performed work of Beethoven, Ludwig van
• was admired by Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
• was admired by Napoleon I Bonaparte
• was a friend of Röckel, Elisabeth
• was pupil of Salieri, Antonio
• was painted by Schadow-Godenhaus, Wilhelm Friedrich von
• was pupil of Tomaselli, Giuseppe

Events
9/4/1803Anna Milder-Haputmann appears as Juno in "Der Spiegel von Arkadien" at the Theater an der Wien 
20/11/1805Premiere of Beethoven's opera "Fidelio" at the Theater an der Wien. Anna Milder-Hauptmann performed the title part. Ignaz von Seyfried was the conductor. Carl Demmer was Florestan. The premiere was not a success and the opera was performed three times. In 1806 the second version would do better. [Beethoven, Ludwig van]
29/3/1806Premiere of the second version Beethoven's opera "Fidelio". The first version had not been a success in November 1805. Beethoven had reduced the three acts to two acts in this version. Anna Milder was Leonore again, but Joseph August Röckel replaced Carl Demmer as Florestan. Ignaz von Seyfried was the conductor once more. This version was received better than the first one. [Beethoven, Ludwig van]
23/5/1814Premiere of the third and final version of Beethoven's "Fidelio". It took place at the Theater am Kärntnertor in Vienna. Georg Friedrich Treitschke had made changes to the libretto. Michael Umlauf was the conductor and Anna Milder was again Leonore. Florestan was performed by Julius Radichi and Marzelline by Anna Bondra. Franz Schubert was in the audience. This third version was a great success. [Beethoven, Ludwig van]
15/8/1823Anne Milder-Hauptmann performs for Goethe in Marienbad. Goethe wrote afterwards that she managed to make four small songs big and the remembrance of her performance brought tears into his eyes. [Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von]
11/3/1829Bach's Matthäus Passion performed by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy in Berlin. The performance took place at the Singakademie in Berlin. Anna Milder-Hauptmann participated. [Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix]
10/2/1830First performance of Schubert's "Der Hirt auf dem Felsen" by Anna Milder-Hauptmann in Riga. It had been written for her by Schubert and she performed it at the Schwarzhäuptersaal in Riga. [Schubert, Franz]

Images

The grave of Anna Milder-Hauptmann at the St. Hedwig-Friedhof in Berlin.
Picture by Androom (16 Aug 2010)

 

Sources
Anna Milder-Hauptmann – Wikipedia
Fidelio - Wikipedia
Objekt-Metadaten
Objekt-Metadaten


Millais, John

Published: 19 Sep 2010
Last update: 02 Mar 2022