Elisabeth "Betty" Spitzeder-Vio (1806 or 1808–1872), also known as Betty Maurer, was an Italian-German opera singer (

soubrette A soubrette is a female minor stock character in opera and theatre, often a pert lady's maid. By extension, the term can refer generally to any saucy or flirtatious young woman. The term arrived in English from Provençal via French, and means " ...

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 actress. She was the mother of

Adele Spitzeder Adelheid Luise "Adele" Spitzeder (; 9 February 1832 – 27 or 28 October 1895), also known by her stage name Adele Vio, was a German actress, folk singer, and confidence trick, con artist. Initially a promising young actress, Spitzeder became a ...

(1832–1895) from her first husband, Josef Spitzeder (1794/96–1832). Vio's birth date is unknown, with sources both mentioning 22 June 1806 and 22 June 1808. One contemporary source puts her age in 1812 as nine years old, meaning she would have been born in 1802 or 1803. Her father is usually named as the Italian noble Francesco Vio, but the fact that she was born in

Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...

makes it more likely that her parents were (Georg Friedrich) Wilhelm Vio and Philippine Vio (né Dupont) who were engaged in Lübeck from 1799 to 1809 and performed with Betty beginning in 1810 at the Bergisches Theater in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

. Vio studied singing with

Antonio Salieri Antonio Salieri (18 August 17507 May 1825) was an Italian composer and teacher of the classical period (music), classical period. He was born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, and spent his adult life and career as a subje ...

and Giuseppe Ciccimarra in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

and was engaged at the

Vienna State Opera The Vienna State Opera (, ) is a historic opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by ...

in 1825. In 1829, she was hired at the Berlin Court Opera as a replacement for

Henriette Sontag Henriette Sontag, born Gertrude Walpurgis Sontag, and, after her marriage, entitled Henriette, Countess Rossi (3 January 1806 – 17 June 1854), was a German operatic soprano of great international renown. She possessed a sweet-toned, lyrical voi ...

but followed her first husband Josef Spitzeder, whom she married in 1831, to Munich in 1832. After his death, she returned to Berlin, where their daughter

was born. She later married Franz Maurer and moved to

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

and had some engagements at the

Carltheater The Carltheater was a theatre in Vienna. It was in the suburbs in Leopoldstadt at Praterstraße 31 (at that time called Jägerzeile). It was the successor to the Leopoldstädter Theater. After a series of financial difficulties, that theater had ...

in Vienna. In 1844, her daughter Adele persuaded Vio to move back to Munich, where the family lived with Adele's half-siblings and cousins. Vio died on 15 December 1872 in Munich.

Notes

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vio, Betty 1800s births Year of birth uncertain 1872 deaths 19th-century German actresses German stage actresses 19th-century German women opera singers