Tiana Lemnitz

Tiana Lemnitz (26 October 1897 – 5 February 1994) was a German operatic soprano. Her major operatic career took place between the two world wars (1919-1939).

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.

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.

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.

Her repertory included Euridice in Orfeo ed Euridice, Countess Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Elisabeth in Tannhäuser, Elsa in Lohengrin, Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Sieglinde in Die Walküre, Octavian and Marshallin in Der Rosenkavalier, the title role in Arabella, Micaela in Carmen, Elvira in Ernani, the title role in Aida, Desdemona in Otello. She also took an interest in Slavic operas and became a noted interpreter of operas such as Dalibor, Jenůfa, Wozzeck.