Tiana Lemnitz

An English reviewer wrote: "The greatest moment of the evening came in the quintet [of Meistersinger]. Lemnitz, beginning the movement, sang so beautifully that—without being rude—one was conscious of nothing else." Wagner's biographer Ernest Newman thought her Eva the best he had ever seen.

Tiana Lemnitz died in Berlin in 1994 at the age of 96.

She was an actress, known for The Marriage of Figaro (1949) and Altes Herz wird wieder jung (1943).

Lemnitz was also admired as a recitalist notably in Lieder. In 1937, she was awarded the title of Kammersängerin. She began recording in 1934 for Polydor with arias from Der Freischütz and Lohengrin. She recorded for Electrola in Germany (1937–48) and for HMV (1938-9).

In 1936, she made guest appearances at the Royal Opera House in London and at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. She sang Marguerite in Faust in Warsaw in 1937 next to the Mephisto of Feodor Chaliapin.

She became a member of the Berlin Staatsoper in 1934, and remained with the company until 1957. She also sang regularly at the Munich State Opera, the Vienna State Opera and the Salzburg Festival.

The youngest of 10 children, she was born in Metz to a musical family. Her father was a Militärkappellmeister. She began to sing at the age of seven and at 15 she entered the Metz Music School. Later, she studied voice with Antoni Kohmann at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt. Starting with small opera companies, she made her debut in Heilbronn in Albert Lortzing's opera Undine in 1921. She then sang in Aachen (1922–28), Hannover (1928–34) while making several guest appearances in Dresden (1931–34). In 1930 she sang in Sopot as Agathe in Der Freischütz.

Tiana Lemnitz was born on October 26, 1897 in Metz, Lorraine, Germany.