Edytha Fleischer

Edytha Fleischer (sometimes spelled Editha, Edyta, or Edita Fleischer-Engel) (5 April 1898, Falkenstein - c. 1957, Zürich) was a German soprano and voice teacher. She began her career as a principal artist at the Berlin State Opera and the Salzburg Festival. She was a leading soprano at the Metropolitan Opera from 1926-1936, and at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires from 1934 until her retirement from the stage in 1949. Her husband, conductor Erich Engel, was the director of the latter institution.

Fleischer began teaching singing while living in Argentina. In 1949 she joined the voice faculty of the Vienna Conservatory. She later taught singing out of a private studio in Zurich.

Born in Falkenstein, Bavaria, Fleischer is the younger sister of tenor Hanns Fleischer. She studied singing with Lilli Lehmann and made her debut in 1917 at the Berlin State Opera (BSO) as Konstanze in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail. She continued to excel in portrayals of heroines in Mozart operas at the BSO and at the Salzburg Festival; making her first appearances at the latter institution in 1922 as Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro and Zerlina in Don Giovanni.

From 1922-1924 Fleischer was a principal artist with the German Opera Company, a touring opera company which performed throughout North America. Roles she performed with that company included Adele in Die Fledermaus, Hansel in Hansel and Gretel, Marzelline in Fidelio, and Susanna. In 1925 she performed concerts on tour in Italy. She also worked for another touring opera company in America, the William Wade Hinshaw Company, in 1925-1926 with whom she mainly performed Mozart roles in English.