Marchesi, Mathilde (1821-1913)

Marchesi, Mathilde

OPERA SINGER, VOCAL TEACHER (GERMANY)

BORN 24 Mar 1821, Frankfurt am Main, Hessen - DIED 17 Nov 1913, London
BIRTH NAME Graumann, Mathilde Lisette Sophie Jeanette
GRAVE LOCATION Paris: Cimetière de Montmartre, 20 Avenue Rachel (division 24, ligne 12, numéro 26)

Mathilde Marchesi was the daughter of the rich merchant Johann Friedrick Graumann, who was of French descent. She was the youngest of three girls. She was educated by her mother and loved music from an early age. She liked music lessons but disliked domestic training. After her father lost his fortune when she was seventeen years old she went to Vienna where she was to live with her aunt Baroness Dorothea von Ertmann who would find her a position as a governess. Aunt Dorothea had known Beethoven and was to find her a position as a governess, but her older sister supported her in continuing her musical education in Vienna under Otto Nicolai (1810-1849).

When Pauline Viardot-Garcia heard her sing in 1844 she advised her to study under her father Manuel Garcia (1805-1906). After her return to Frankfurt am Main she earned money as a voice teacher. In 1844 she debuted at a concert in Frankfurt am Main where the violinists George and Joseph Hellmesberger performed. There she met Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy and she spent much time with him and his family afterwards. In 1845 she was able to travel to Paris to study under Garcia. In Paris she also studied dancing, acting and several languages. After Garcia had a horse riding accident in 1847, she took over many of his pupils. She followed Garcia to London in 1849 and gave a successful series of concerts there. She also met her future husband Salvatore Marchesi. Her voice was adequate but not special and she fully moved to teaching in 1849. In 1852 she married Marchesi.

In 1854 she entered into the service of the Conservatory in Vienna, She taught there until she went to Paris with her husband in 1861. There she taught many pupils until she obtained a professorship in Cologne in 1865. She returned to the Conversatory in Vienna in 1868 where she resigned in 1878. She continued to teach in Vienna until she went to Paris in 1881 where she opened her own singing school at the Rue Jouffroy. She was seen as the teacher who took the bel canto style of singing into the twentieth century. Among her pupils were Emma Calvé, Ellen Gulbranson, Nellie Melba, Gabrielle Krauss and Selma Kurz.

Her marriage was happy and she had two sons and three daughters with her husband. The sons died young and by 1890 her daughters Stella and Thérese were dead as well. Her daughter Blanche, born in 1863, became a singer and lived until 1940. Salvatore Marchesi died in 1908. After she gave up her work as a teacher in Paris she went to London to live with Blanche and she died in London in 1913.

Family
• Daughter: Marchesi, Blanche

Related persons
• was teacher of Cavalieri, Lina
• was teacher of Esselsgroth-Von Ernst, Mary
• was teacher of Klafsky, Katharina
• was teacher of Kruijt, Emmy
• was teacher of Kurz, Selma
• was a friend of Liszt, Franz
• knew Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix
• knew Rossini, Gioacchino

Images
The grave of Mathilde Marchesi and Blanche Marchesi at the Cimetière de Montmartre, Paris. Picture by Androom (31 Oct 2022)	The grave of Mathilde Marchesi and Blanche Marchesi at the Cimetière de Montmartre, Paris. Picture by Androom (31 Oct 2022)