Fanny Opfer (24 September 1870 – 28 March 1944) was a German

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

and singing teacher.

Life

Born in Berlin, Opfer was a student of

Etelka Gerster Etelka Gerster (25 June 1855, Košice20 August 1920, Pontecchio) was a Hungarian soprano. She studied with Mathilde Marchesi at the Vienna Conservatory, and made her debut at the La Fenice in Venice with great success as Gilda in Verdi's ''Rigo ...

, Selma Nicklass-Kempner, and

Raimund von Zur Mühlen Raimund is thought to be a variant of the name Raymond. It is closely related to . Raimund may refer to: People Given name * Raimund Abraham (1933–2010), Austrian architect * Raimund Bethge (born 1947), East German bobsledder * Raimund Herincx ( ...

. She made her debut as a concert singer in 1892. Her repertoire was made of

Lied In the Western classical music tradition, ( , ; , ; ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German and Dutch, but among English and French speakers, is often used interchangea ...

er and

Oratorio An oratorio () is a musical composition with dramatic or narrative text for choir, soloists and orchestra or other ensemble. Similar to opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguisha ...

s. Besides her concert activities, she taught singing at the Breslau Conservatory and also had private pupils in Berlin. The "

Machtergreifung The rise to power of Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919, when Hitler joined the '' Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP; German Workers' Party). He quickly rose t ...

" by the Nazis (she was in her early 60s at the time) increasingly restricted her professional activities. Nevertheless, she remained living in Berlin. In August 1943 she was deported to the

Theresienstadt Ghetto Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ( German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstadt served as a waystation to the extermination c ...

, where she was murdered the following year. The exact circumstances of her death are not known.Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names
/ref>

References

German sopranos 1870 births 1944 deaths Musicians from Berlin 20th-century German women German people who died in the Theresienstadt Ghetto {{Germany-singer-stub