zurück - back Meta Seinemeyer by Vicki Kondelik (www.seinemeyer.com )  In the history of opera, there have been several artists who died all too young, on the verge of worldwide fame. We think of Fritz Wunderlich and Maria Cebotari. Among these artists was Meta Seinemeyer, who died at the age of 33, three months after achieving a great success at Covent Garden which would undoubtedly have led to engagements throughout the world. Already, Seinemeyer was one of the best-loved sopranos in Germany. The whole city of Dresden, which had been her artistic home for the last four years of her life, mourned her death. And Dresden was not the only place where she was loved: within a brief career--only eleven years in all--she had been acclaimed in such places as Berlin, New York, and Buenos Aires, to name only a few. If she had lived, she would undoubtedly have been regarded as one of the greatest sopranos of all time.  Her death was a terrible tragedy for the world of opera. Fortunately for us, Seinemeyer saw the value in making recordings, and left us a rich recorded legacy: over 100 recordings, only a few of which were left unpublished, which preserve forever her uniquely poignant, intense, haunting voice.  Meta Seinemeyer was born in Berlin on September 5, 1895, to Wilhelm Seinemeyer, a police officer with the rank of Kriminalkommisar, and his  wife Anna, née Wassermann; she had one brother, Willi Seinemeyer. The research notes of Charles Jahant list possible birthdates of 1894, which Jahant found in a Dresden program, and even 1891.  I have no doubt, however, that 1895 is the correct date. All of the obituaries say that she was 34 when she died. (Actually she was 33, since she had not yet reached her 34th birthday.)  At this point in my research, I do not know much about Seinemeyer’s childhood and family life.  Several articles say  that her voice was  discovered early, but none, at least none that I have seen, say exactly when, or by whom. It is possible that Seinemeyer was of Jewish origin, but so far I have found no conclusive evidence of this.  She was educated in Berlin, first at the Mädchen-Lyzeum, a high school for girls, and then at the Haushaltungsschule, a school of home economics. The fact that she attended the latter school makes me wonder if her parents opposed her wish to become an opera singer; it was common in those days for parents to send their daughters to such schools in order to learn something “practical” in case a career as a singer did not work out.  But, once again, this is only speculation until I learn more about Seinemeyer’s family.  What is known for certain is that Seinemeyer’s first wish was to become a concert singer, and she attended the Sternsches  Konservatorium in  Berlin with that purpose in mind.  I do not know for certain the exact years she attended the conservatory; based on the date of her debut and the number of years voice students usually spent at the conservatory, the dates  were probably 1912-1917. Her teacher at the Sternsches Konservatorium was the noted Wagnerian tenor Nikolaus Rothmühl. Later, she studied with Ernst Grenzebach, one of the most famous voice teachers in Germany; he was the teacher of, among others, Lauritz Melchior, Max Lorenz, Alexander Kipnis, and, later, Peter Anders.  Grenzebach did not teach at the Sternsches Konservatorium, so Seinemeyer probably transferred to the Hochschule für Musik at some point; it is not known exactly when, or why she decided to transfer.  There is some confusion over the date and place of Seinemeyer’s operatic debut. Charles Jahant’s research notes mention a debut in Hamburg in 1914.  But the standard work on the Hamburg Opera, Joachim E. Wenzel’s Geschichte der Hamburger Oper 1678-1978, does not mention Seinemeyer, and I think she was still a student at the conservatory in that year.  Jahant also mentions a performance in Wiesbaden in 1918, but so far I have been unable to find any more information about that performance.  It is not known why Seinemeyer decided to become an opera singer, rather than a concert singer as was her original wish. A story in the Oct. 1929 issue of The Gramophone says that an agent heard her singing an aria from Faust at a window and asked her to audition for the opera. But this story seems very unlikely.  On Jan. 24, 1918, Seinemeyer gave a concert at the Blüthner-Saal, Berlin, with several experienced singers: Hertha Stolzenberg, Robert Philipp, Julius Lieban, Madelaine Lieban, and Eduard Kandl.  All of these artists were associated with the Charlottenburg Opera, and it is likely that this concert was a “try-out” for Seinemeyer.  In 1918, Seinemeyer was engaged by the Charlottenburg Opera and made her operatic debut as Eurydice in Offenbach’s Orpheus in der Unterwelt  [Orphée aux enfers].  The exact date of her debut is unknown at this point, but it definitely took place before July 1, because on that date we find her singing her next role, Helena in the same composer’s Die schöne Helena [La belle Hélène]. The cast included Frida Wolf, Rudolf Hofbauer, Franz Reisinger, Eduard Kandl, Harry Steier, Bernhard Bötel, Hans Thomaschek, Emil Nitsch, and Edwin  Heyer; the conductor was Ignatz Waghalter.  Other roles soon followed, including Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus on Aug. 5, 1918 with Adelheid Pinkert, Mizzi Fink, Harry  Steier, Jacques  Urlus, Edwin Heyer, Emil Nitsch, Richard Rubsam, and Hans Hey, again with Waghalter as the conductor, and then, on Aug. 8, Antonia in Hoffmanns Erzählungen [Les contes d’Hoffmann], a role she shared with Emmy Zimmermann; the  cast included Adelheid Pinkert, Lulu Kaesser-Laubenthal, Nelly Merz, Susanne Werber, Lotte Stein, Emma Vilmar-Hansen, Henriette Gottlieb, Rudolf Laubenthal, Bernhard Bötel, Franz Hohnau, Rudolf Hofbauer, Harry Steier, and  Hermann Wucherpfenning, under the direction of Eduard Mörike.  Another role that Seinemeyer sang in her first season at the Deutsche Oper, on Oct. 25, was Georgette in Maillart’s Glöckchen des Eremiten with Mizzi Fink,  Julius vom Scheidt, Harry Steier, Karl Gentner, Hermann Wucherpfennig, Julius Roether, and Eduard Kandl; the conductor was Rudolf Krasselt.  Performances of this opera continued into 1919, but I do not know for certain whether Seinemeyer sang in all of them.  On Nov. 7, 1919, Seinemeyer sang her first Venus in Tannhäuser, with Emmy Zimmermann, Ottfried Hagen, Julius vom Scheidt,  Eduard Kandl, and  Hermann Wucherpfennig, conducted by Eduard Mörike.  This was certainly an important role to be given to such a young singer. At a time when singers who were starting their careers  were often given nothing but small roles, it is quite impressive that Seinemeyer was given so many leading roles so early.  Seinemeyer, however, had to sing her share of small roles as well.  On Nov. 8, 1920, we find her singing one of the Rhinemaidens,  probably Wellgunde, in Das Rheingold; she was a Rhinemaiden in Götterdämmerung, too, starting on June 17, 1921.  Then, on Aug. 20, 1921, we find her once more singing a leading soprano role: Elsa in Lohengrin. It was her first assumption of a role which would eventually become one of her greatest.  The cast included Henriette Gottlieb, Karl Jorn, Julius Rother, and Ernst Lehmann. Shortly thereafter, on Aug. 28, 1921, another major role followed: Leonora in Il Trovatore, or Der Troubadour as it was known in the German translation. Her Manrico was Robert Hutt; the rest of the cast included Carlo Raslag-Sarten and Jacques Bilk. Two major role assumptions followed in the 1921-22 season; both would prove to be among Seinemeyer’s greatest roles. One was Marguerite in Faust, with Rudolf Laubenthal as Faust, Michael Bohnen as Mephistopheles, Mizzi Fink as Siebel, and Ignatz Waghalter conducting, on Oct. 22, 1921. The other was Senta in Der fliegende Holländer; the exact date of Seinemeyer’s first performance of the role is not known for certain, but definitely took place during the 1921-22 season. Martha in Kienzl’s Der Evangelimann followed on Apr. 7, 1922, under the direction of Felix Lagenpusch, with a cast that included  Emma  Vilmar-Hansen, Rudolf Hofbauer, Paul Papsdorf, Adolph Schöpflin, Harry Steier, Edwin Heyer, and Johannes Scheurich. It appears that Seinemeyer’s performances in those early years were not confined to Berlin; Charles Jahant mentions a guest appearance in Braunschweig during the 1921-22 season, although it is not known how many performances, and of which operas, she gave.  During the next season, 1922-23, before leaving for her U.S. tour, Seinemeyer sang two major new roles for the very first time: Eva in Die  Meistersinger, a role she shared with Maria Schneider-Plaut, with Jose Riavez as Walther, Fritz Feinhals and Julius vom Scheidt as Sachs, and Gustav Werner as David; and the title role in  Aida, which she shared with Mafalda  Salvatini and Eleanor Sawyer; the cast included Emma Vilmar-Hansen, Carla Raslag-Sarte, and Ruth Jost-Arden as Amneris; Rudolf Laubenthal, Peter Jonsson, and Pedro  Lapuente as Radames, Julius vom Scheidt and Julius Roether as  Amonasro, Alexander Kipnis and Ernst Lehmann as Ramfis, and Adolf Schoepflin as the king; Ignatz Waghalter was the conductor.  In 1923, Seinemeyer toured the U.S. with the German Opera Company, which has also been called the German Grand Opera Company  and the  Wagnerian Opera Festival.  One of the purposes of this company was to re-awaken interest in German opera, and Wagner’s operas in particular, in the U.S. after World War I, which they did, with extraordinary success.   The company, headed by Leo Blech, included such illustrious singers as Elsa Alsen, Eva Plaschke-von der Osten, Ottilie Metzger-Lattermann, Jacques Urlus, Heinrich Knote, Robert Hutt, Friedrich Schorr, Friedrich Plaschke,  Theodor Lattermann (who also served as the company’s stage director), and Alexander Kipnis. Later, stars such as Claire Dux, Maria Ivogün, and Joseph Schwarz made guest appearances with the company.  Besides Blech, the conductors were Eduard Mörike, Eugen Gottlieb, and Ernst Knoch.  Because of the financial crisis and the inflation in Germany, German singers longed for a U.S. engagement.  With so much competition, it was an honor for Seinemeyer, only 27 and completely unknown in the U.S., to be offered a place in such a company.  Seinemeyer and the other members of the German Opera Company arrived in New York aboard the S.S. President Roosevelt on Jan.  27, 1923 and  left the next day for Baltimore, where their first performances took place. Things did not always go smoothly for the company; in fact, they were plagued with difficulties from the very beginning. Their financial backers withdrew their support, and the company was rescued almost at the last minute. They also encountered the anti-German sentiment which was prevalent during the years following World War I; a group of war mothers protested against the company’s appearance in Baltimore, and there were anti-German letters in the daily newspapers.  Also, because of difficulties with the unions, the company was not allowed to bring an orchestra from Germany, so musicians had to be recruited in each city; often, these musicians were barely competent. And the company had to use makeshift sets, because they would be easy to transport from city to city. As it was, their sets and costumes were held up in customs in New York when the company first arrived, and it was not until a few hours before the first performance, Die Meistersinger on Jan. 31, that the sets and costumes finally arrived in Baltimore, after the company’s manager had filed a $30,000 bond.   Seinemeyer sang the  role of Eva that  opening night, with a cast that included Friedrich Schorr as Sachs, Adolf Lussmann as Walther, Alexander Kipnis as Pogner, Desider Zador as Beckmesser, Paul Schwarz as David, and Jessyka Koettrik as Magdalene, under the  direction of Leo Blech.  The house was sold out, and the enthusiastic audience called the cast back for thirteen curtain calls.  As for Seinemeyer, the Baltimore Sun of Feb. 1, 1923 called her “a pleasing and melodious Eva.” A few days later, on Feb. 3, she sang Elisabeth in Tannhäuser with Adolf Lussmann in the title role, Friedrich Schorr as Wolfram, and Alexander Kipnis as Landgrave Hermann; Eduard Mörike was the conductor.  The tour’s next stop was Philadelphia, where, on Feb. 6, Seinemeyer sang Elsa in Lohengrin; the performance was broadcast on the station  WIP.  The audience applauded the singers warmly, but the Philadelphia Inquirer critic was rather negative about Seinemeyer’s Elsa; he said that she “did not get beyond the conventional” and that her voice was “somewhat throaty”.  Three days later, however, when Seinemeyer sang Elisabeth in a performance of Tannhäuser which was also broadcast, the critic was much more enthusiastic: “Another of the distinct and notable successes of the evening was the Elizabeth of Meta Seinemeyer, in which the lovely character  of this  noblest of heroines was admirably and beautifully embodied.  Wearing her regal robes as though to the manner born and looking every inch the princess she was impersonating, Mme. Seinemeyer dominated the stage with her  presence, and convincingly justified the respect and devotion with which Elizabeth is regarded by all around her.  She has a powerful mezzo soprano [sic] voice which she  employs with taste and skill, and she sang the ‘Dich theure Halle’ and the other numbers which fell to her share with just that fervor of feeling and exaltation of spirit which the effective interpretation of their significance requires. Especially fine was the suggestion of a pitying tenderness which her acting in the later scenes communicated and her impersonation in its entirety was one of deep impressiveness.” (Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb. 10, 1923).  The company’s long-awaited debut in New York took place at the Manhattan Opera House on Feb. 12, 1923.  The opera  chosen for the opening performance was Die Meistersinger; Seinemeyer sang Eva, and the cast included Friedrich Plaschke as Sachs, Robert Hutt as Walther, Alexander Kipnis as Pogner, Desider Zador as Beckmesser,  Paul Schwarz as David, and Jessyka Koettrik as Magdalene; Leo Blech conducted.  Once again, the near-capacity audience was enthusiastic, but the critics were divided about Seinemeyer’s performance.  The important New York Times critic, Richard Aldrich, reviewed her rather unfavorably: “The ladies were satisfactory, though not distinguished either in voice or by action.”  (New York Times, Feb. 13,  1923). Other critics, however, did not share Aldrich’s opinion. Leonard Liebling of Musical Courier commented, “Meta Seinemeyer, the Eva, is a soprano of fresh and sweet tones, arch demeanor and traditional Nuremberg amplitude.” (Musical Courier, Feb. 15, 1923). W. H. Humiston of the Brooklyn Eagle was even warmer in his praise: “Eva was sung by Meta Seinemeyer, the possessor of a clear soprano voice of lovely quality, and whose face and figure fit in splendidly with the part; her acting of the naive Miss Pogner was excellent.” (Brooklyn Eagle, Feb. 13, 1923).  On the very next evening, Feb. 13, Seinemeyer appeared as Elisabeth in Tannhäuser, with a cast that included Adolf Lussmann  in the title role, Friedrich Schorr as Wolfram, Alexander Kipnis as Landgrave Hermann, and Elsa Alsen as Venus.  This time, even Richard Aldrich of the New York Times reviewed her favorably: “Miss Meta  Seinemeyer made a better impression as Elisabeth than she did as Eva on the previous evening and sang ‘Dich, theure Halle’ with much of the elasticity and fire that it demands.” (New York Times, Feb. 14, 1923). Other critics were likewise impressed.  The German Opera Company’s performances were hugely successful with audiences; so much so, in fact, that their original  three-week stay was  extended to seven weeks.  For the final four weeks of their New York visit, the company moved to the Lexington Theatre because the Manhattan Opera House, where they gave their first three weeks of performances, was unavailable. Among the roles Seinemeyer sang in New York were, in addition to those mentioned above, Senta in Der fliegende Holländer and Agathe in Der Freischütz, an opera which had only rarely been given in New York. On the whole, Seinemeyer’s reviews were excellent. The following are examples of the enthusiastic reviews she received in New York:  Tannhäuser, Feb. 21 (incidentally, an evening when Tannhäuser was given at both the Manhatten Opera House and the Met. At the Met, Maria Jeritza sang Elisabeth, while Curt Taucher, Seinemeyer’s future recording partner, sang Tannhäuser): “Meta Seinemeyer was a lovely Elisabeth, vocally and physically. She is a thoroughly capable actress and her voice is a lyric soprano of unusual quality. She sang the prayer in the third act with tragic pathos.” (W.H. Humiston in the Brooklyn Eagle, Feb. 22, 1923).  Der fliegende Holländer, Feb. 24: “Miss Seinemeyer sang Senta; her voice is of a lovely sympathetic quality and capable of almost infinite gradation in  power and dramatic  nuance.  Her acting, too, showed a great command of histrionic resources. She, too, is a singing actress of absolutely first-class ability. Her singing of the Ballade, which contains the whole drama in a nutshell, was eloquent in its portrayal of the pathos of the phantom mariner.” (W.H. Humiston in the Brooklyn Eagle, Feb. 26, 1923).  Der fliegende Holländer, Mar. 3: “Meta Seinemeyer as Senta was in unusually good voice and after the second act she was recalled many times.” (Musical Courier, Mar. 8, 1923).  Der Freischütz, Mar. 21: “an equally famous slumber air of the soprano heroine, well sustained by Miss Seinemeyer against an outburst from the  theatre’s steam  press...” New York Times, Mar. 22, 1923). “Very lovely were the voice and the vocal art of Miss Seinemeyer as Agathe.” (Henry T. Finck in the New York Evening Post, Mar. 22, 1923).  Seinemeyer sang at least eleven performances in New York, not including the farewell gala concert on Mar. 31: one of Die Meistersinger, five  of Tannhäuser, three of Der fliegende Holländer, one of Der Freischütz, and one of the Rhinemaiden Wellgunde in Das Rheingold. She may have sung one of the Valkyries in Die Walküre as well; the New York newspapers usually did not list the singers playing the Valkyries.  There were also a few performances for which she was announced, but which she did not sing. In the farewell gala concert, which consisted of Act II of Tannhäuser, Act III of Die Walküre, and Act III of Die Meistersinger, Seinemeyer appeared as Elisabeth and the Valkyrie Gerhilde.  In an overview of the German Opera Company’s performances in New York, the Brooklyn Eagle critic W.H. Humiston made an observation which is  interesting when one considers the future direction Seinemeyer’s career would take: “Another soprano who has made a deep impression by her beautiful singing, and whose acting was fully capable in the  lyric roles, the  only ones she sang, is Miss Meta Seinemeyer.  Her Senta, Eva, and Elisabeth are among the best ever seen in New York. Her voice is a rich, resonant soprano, of a lovely quality of tone, and she uses it with great art and skill. She would doubtless make an excellent Sieglinde, but illness prevented her from singing in any of the ‘Walkuere’ performances.  Later on, she may be heard in the heavier roles, for her voice is equal to it, and her dramatic ability as well.  She only needs a few more years.” (Brooklyn Eagle, Mar. 18, 1923).  Although Seinemeyer was still considered a lyric soprano, it seems that already, even before her first recordings were made,  her voice was developing into the jugendlich-dramatische soprano it later became.  It is interesting, too, that she was too ill to sing Sieglinde during the tour--a point which we will return to later on.  One question arises at this point.  With all the excellent reviews she received, why was Seinemeyer not offered a contract by the  Met?  Several of her colleagues in the German Opera Company, most notably Friedrich Schorr, but also some of the sopranos, including Marcella Roeseler and Editha Fleischer, were offered Met contracts.  Although her  reviews were as good as, or even better than, those of her soprano colleagues, Seinemeyer never made it to the Met.  It could be that she was offered a contract and turned it down, either because she was not satisfied with the roles she was offered or because, at this point in her career, she did not want to go too far from Berlin for such a long period of time. Or it could be that the Met simply ignored her, or that the Met’s talent scouts disliked her voice. At this point, I do not have any evidence, either that she was offered a contract and turned it down, or that she was never offered one. The fact remains, though, that Seinemeyer never returned to the U.S., even when the German Opera Company came for a second season in 1923-24.  After their performances in New York, Seinemeyer and the other members of the German Opera Company went on to Boston, where they stayed for  two weeks.  Seinemeyer gave eight performances there: two of Tannhäuser, one of Der fliegende Holländer, one of Lohengrin, one of Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, two of Wellgunde in Das Rheingold, and one of Wellgunde in Götterdämmerung.  Her Elisabeth and Senta were singled out for special praise.  Next, the company made a return visit to Baltimore, where they performed the complete Ring cycle.  In this second  Baltimore visit,  Seinemeyer sang only the small role of Wellgunde, but by this time her reputation had grown because of the acclaim she received in New York, and she was mentioned in the advance publicity for the tour in Baltimore, as well as in several of the other cities they visited.  After their return to Baltimore, the company also made a second visit to Philadelphia, where they once again performed the Ring cycle.  The tour’s next stop was Pittsburgh, where Seinemeyer sang Elisabeth; she repeated that role a few days later, when the  company came to  Detroit, and received another rave review: “The Elizabeth of Meta Seinemeyer was a characterization that gained the artist much approval.  She sang in splendid voice, with fervor and much sympathetic understanding of the  role.” (Detroit Free Press, Apr. 30, 1923). The next week, she sang this role once again during the company’s visit to Cleveland. The tour’s final stop was Buffalo, where Seinemeyer repeated Elisabeth and sang Elsa.  The latter role, especially, won her praise: “Meta Seinemeyer was a charming, guileless Elsa, and, vocally, she exceeded her efforts of Monday evening [when she sang Elisabeth]. Her voice was clear and effortless, at once powerful and sweet.”  (Buffalo News, May 9, 1923).  On the whole, the German Opera Company’s tour can be considered a success.  The company managed to overcome their  financial  difficulties and the anti-German sentiment left over from the war.  Several of the singers, but not Seinemeyer, were offered long-term U.S. contracts. And the company certainly succeeded in  re-awakening interest in German opera, and particularly the works of Wagner, in the U.S.  As for what the tour meant to Seinemeyer’s own career, that is more difficult to say. She did not get a U.S.  contract, although at this point it is uncertain that she actually wanted one, and she did not return to the U.S. when the company made its second visit in the 1923-24 season. But she did manage to gain a  certain degree of name recognition in the U.S.; the fact that she was mentioned in the advance publicity for the later part of the tour, when she had not been mentioned in the publicity before the tour came to  New York, is an indicator of that.  And she had definitely been well-received, on the whole, by the New York critics.  Her success in the U.S. probably led to her being offered several major new roles in Berlin the following season (1923-24).  During the  tour, she had worked closely with Leo Blech, the artistic manager and principal conductor of the Deutsche Oper, and he probably considered her success on the tour when he  offered her these roles.  The following were new roles for her: Amelia in Ein Maskenball [Un Ballo in Maschera], first sung on Sept. 5, 1923 with Henriette Gottlieb as Ulrica, Mizzi Fink as Oscar, Fritz Krauss as Riccardo, and Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender as Renato; Mimi in La Bohème, a role she shared with Alice Marturell, Hertha Stolzenberg, and Hedwig von Debicka; Tosca, shared with Vera Schwarz and Emmy Bettendorf; Leila in Johann Strauss’ Tausend und eine Nacht; and Cornelia in Paul Graener’s Don Juans letztes Abenteuer. In addition to these new roles, she sang the following roles that were established in her repertoire: Eva in Die Meistersinger, Aida, Leonora in Der Troubadour [Il Trovatore], Elisabeth in Tannhäuser, Micaela in Carmen, Antonia in Hoffmanns Erzählungen, and Marguerite in Faust.  Interestingly, though, in spite of her success in the U.S., and in spite of the fact that she sang so many leading roles  during this season,  Seinemeyer was still being given small roles in Berlin.  On Jan. 12, 1924, she sang the role of the First Lady in Die Zauberflöte in a production which featured Alice Marturell as  Pamina, H. Balder Siegert as the Queen of  the Night, Jaro Dworsky as Tamino, Edwin Heyer as Papageno, and Emanuel List as Sarastro; Leo Blech conducted. Seinemeyer did, however, sing Pamina in some of the later performances.  In the following season, beginning on Nov. 14, 1924, she sang one of the Flower Maidens in Parsifal.  Adolf Lussmann sang the title role in the first performance, but the Nov. 19 performance featured Lauritz Melchior as Parsifal.  In that same month, November 1924, Seinemeyer gave a performance that would change the course of her career.  On Nov. 29, she sang  Marguerite in Faust at the Dresden State Opera, and was rapturously acclaimed.  The critics and audience adored the young soprano, and she was immediately engaged by the Dresden Opera,  starting at the beginning of 1925. And so she left her native Berlin for Dresden, which would become her artistic home for the few years remaining to her.  Shortly before she left for Dresden, Seinemeyer made her first recordings.  During this first recording session for  Artiphon, on Dec.  8, 1924, she recorded three duets: “Ich seh’ die Mutter dort” from Carmen, with Johannes Scheurich; “Nein, nein Turiddu” from Cavalleria rusticana, also with Scheurich, and “Wer uns getraut” from Der Zigeunerbaron, with Gustav  Werner.  These early recordings reveal a beautiful lyric soprano voice, but Seinemeyer had not yet achieved the greatness that she would show in so many of her later recordings.  They are interesting as documents of Seinemeyer before she began her career in Dresden, but they are far from her best. Her voice was still developing, and would continue to do so during her years in Dresden.  In January 1925, Seinemeyer made her first appearance as a member of the Dresden State Opera; eventually, she would sing a  total of 258  performances with that company.  At the time Seinemeyer became a member of the Dresden opera company, the artistic director was Fritz Busch, who had held that position since 1922.  Dresden had been one of the leading opera companies in Germany for many years. After the death of Dresden’s beloved long-time artistic director, Ernst von Schuch, in 1914, the ensemble had fallen upon hard times. Busch was hired to rebuild the company and make it once again the first-class ensemble it had been in former days.  In this task, he most definitely succeeded. During the 1920s, the Dresden Opera company included, in addition to Seinemeyer, such famous singers as Erna Berger, Claire Born, Grete Merrem-Nikisch, Eva Plaschke-von der Osten, Liesel von Schuch, Elisa Stünzner, Helene Jung, Max Hirzel, Max Lorenz, Tino Pattiera, Curt Taucher, Robert Burg, Paul Schöffler, Heinrich Tessmer, Ivar Andrésen, Ludwig Ermold, and Friedrich Plaschke.  Seinemeyer quickly became one of the most beloved members of this illustrious ensemble. Her first great success in Dresden was as Maddalena in the local premiere of Giordano’s Andrea Chenier on Jan. 31, 1925. With her in the cast were Tino Pattiera in the title role, Friedrich Plaschke as Gerard, Helene Jung, Willy Bader, Ludwig Ermold, and Paul Schöffler; Fritz Busch conducted. The composer himself was in the audience, and after the performance he spoke enthusiastically of Seinemeyer’s Maddalena: “In the whole of Italy there is no such glorious woman’s voice as that of Seinemeyer.” This performance of Andrea Chenier has frequently been cited as the first time Seinemeyer and Pattiera sang together, but this is not true; they sang together several times in Berlin, including Carmen on Apr. 28, 1924 and Faust two days later.  It was in Dresden, though, that Seinemeyer and Pattiera became a great soprano/tenor team, comparable to Farrar and Caruso at the Met in terms of their popularity with audiences.  A few months after her triumph in Andrea Chenier, Seinemeyer sang in her first and, as it turns out, her only, world premiere.  She created the role of the Duchess of Parma in Busoni’s Doktor Faust on May 21, 1925.  The cast included Robert Burg in the title role, Theo Strack as Mephistopheles, Willy Bader as Wagner, Ludwig Eybisch, Paul Schöffler, Robert Büssel, Heinrich Tessmer, and Erna Berger, under the direction of Fritz Busch. Seinemeyer was reviewed very well, in spite of the fact that she had been injured in one of the rehearsals and was singing in pain. The opera itself, however, was not received so favorably.  Reviews were mixed; some critics, such as Paul Stefan in Musikblätter des Anbruch, called it “a drama of thrilling greatness”, but others agreed with Paul Schwers of Allgemeine Musik-Zeitung, who said that “this is an art not attuned to our present tastes.”  The opera appears to have been even less successful with audiences than with critics. It was dropped from the Dresden Opera’s repertory after the first season; only five performances were given.  In the summer of 1925, Seinemeyer sang at the Waldoper festival in Zoppot.  This delightful Baltic health resort, which  is now in  Poland, was the host of an opera festival, mostly devoted to the works of Wagner, which was called “The Bayreuth of the North”.  Operas were performed in a beautiful natural setting in the  middle of the forest.   Wagnerian singers of the first rank, many of whom also sang at Bayreuth, were invited to perform there. Seinemeyer sang the role of Elisabeth in Tannhäuser, which she shared with Gertrude Geyersbach. Also in the cast were Richard Schubert and Jacques Urlus in the title role, Frida Leider and Margarete Arndt-Ober as Venus, and Friedrich Plaschke and Herbert Janssen as Wolfram; conductors were Max von Schillings and Karl Tutein.  On Aug. 17, 1925, Seinemeyer was given her “official” debut performance in Dresden, although she had been a member of the  company since  January. Her “official” debut role was Agathe in Der Freischütz.  Seinemeyer made her first recordings for Parlophon on Nov. 17, 1925; for the rest of her life, all of her recordings were made for  Parlophon.  The first aria she recorded for this company was “Von Blut gerötet war meine Schwelle” (“La mamma morta” sung in German) from Andrea Chenier, which can be considered the first of Seinemeyer’s really great recordings. Unlike many singers of her time, Seinemeyer considered recording to be an important part of a singer’s career, and actually took an interest in the recording process  itself.  The typical attitude toward recording which was held by singers of the time is illustrated by these quotations from the recent biography of Florence Austral, James Moffat’s Florence Austral: One of the Wonder Voices of the World: “she [Austral] was too busy with real singing to be bothered with the gramophone.” (p. 61). “Like many singers she failed to consider the gramophone in the same breath as her stage performances.  The day when artists  manipulate their stage careers around their recording sessions were still some years away, although one or two were blessed with the insight to see how records crossed the barriers of time  and place.” (p. 63).  Seinemeyer may be counted as one of this latter group.  She worked hard to refine her recording technique, realizing that there was a  special technique to be used in the recording studio, which was different from that which she used on the stage. As a friend of hers put it, in an article published shortly after her death: “unlike many singers she realised at once that to make a perfect record was not a simple matter of giving a perfect performance in an empty studio instead of in a crowded opera house; she must learn to adapt herself to her medium.” (“Meta Seinemeyer”, by a personal friend.  The Gramophone, Oct. 1929).  Unlike so many singers of her time,  Seinemeyer understood the importance of recordings.  For her, recording was something to be taken very seriously, and she put the same effort into perfecting her recording technique as she did into her stage technique, at the same time realizing that the two were very different.  And for her, unlike so many singers of her time, recording was not just a distraction that took time away from her “real” singing--her stage roles.  Seinemeyer was also unusual in that she took an interest in the recording process itself.  Horst Wahl, who was a young employee of Odeon/Parlophon when Seinemeyer made her recordings for that company, recalls that, on the day of her very first recording session for Parlophon, he had a conversation with Seinemeyer in the break between recordings, where  they discussed the recording process, and their difficulties with acoustic recordings. Wahl told her about the new electric recording process, which would not be used by Odeon/Parlophon until the next year, and Seinemeyer immediately took an interest in it, and realized exactly which qualities of her voice the electric process would capture, which the acoustic process did not.  That first recording session for Parlophon was important not only in terms of Seinemeyer’s recording career; it also marked a major event in  her personal life.  This was the first time Seinemeyer worked with the conductor Frieder Weissmann, who would conduct all her subsequent recordings. Seinemeyer and Weissmann developed  a close professional and personal relationship, which would eventually lead to their marriage in the last few hours of Seinemeyer’s life. Frieder Weissmann was born in Langen on Jan. 23, 1893. After studying at  the conservatory of Mannheim, he conducted orchestras in several cities, including Frankfurt am Main (1915-16), Stettin (1916-17), the Berlin Staatsoper (1920-24), Münster (1924-25), and Königsberg (1926-27); he also made frequent appearances in Dresden, beginning in 1926.  The soprano Emmy Bettendorf recommended him to Odeon/Parlophon; eventually he made around 4,000 recordings for that company. Like Seinemeyer,  Weissmann took an interest in the recording process, and studied various microphone techniques.  He was also an accomplished pianist, and became Seinemeyer’s accompanist in her concerts.  The exact nature of the relationship between Seinemeyer and Weissmann has long remained a mystery. The often-told story is that Weissmann loved Seinemeyer from a distance and did not tell her that he loved her until the very end of her life. This story is simply not true. Their relationship lasted much longer than many people suppose.  They were engaged as far back as 1926; Horst Wahl tells a very touching story about a dinner he had with Seinemeyer, her father, and Weissmann in 1926: Seinemeyer asked Wahl if she could invite the great baritone Joseph Schwarz, who was near the end of his life, to the dinner. Wahl readily agreed, and, after dinner, Seinemeyer and Schwarz sang Jean-Baptiste Faure’s “Crucifix” with Weissmann at the piano; Wahl took a picture of the event, and this picture remained one of Seinemeyer’s most treasured possessions until the end of her life.  While relating this story, which must have taken place in 1926, since that was the year Schwarz died, Wahl refers to Weissmann as Seinemeyer’s fiancé. So, if the relationship lasted this long, why did they wait until the last few hours of Seinemeyer’s life to get married? At this point in my research, it is impossible to say. It may have had something to do with her illness; it may also have been because they both travelled so often, and separately. Until more evidence comes to light, this is only speculation.  On March 20, 1926, Seinemeyer gave the performance which brought her to the height of her fame.  She sang Leonora in the Dresden  premiere of Franz Werfel’s translation of La Forza del Destino. With her in the cast were Tino Pattiera as Alvaro, Robert Burg as Carlo, Friedrich Plaschke as Padre Guardiano, Ludwig Ermold as Melitone, Grete Nikisch as Preziosilla, Heinrich Tessmer as Mastro Trabuco, Robert Büssel as Alcade, Willy Bader as the Marquis di Calatrava, and Paul Schöffler as the surgeon; Fritz Busch conducted.  This was a landmark performance, not only in Seinemeyer’s career. It has often been said that this performance marked the beginning of the “Verdi Renaissance” in Germany.  For many years, Verdi’s operas, except for a few favorites such as Aida, Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, and La Traviata, which had never lost their popularity, had been out of favor in Germany.  They were considered old-fashioned compared to Wagner’s music dramas.  Then, in 1924, Werfel, who had long admired Verdi’s works, published his novel Verdi: A Novel of the Opera; it is probably the publication of this novel, not the performance of Forza del Destino, that truly marked the beginning of the Verdi Renaissance in Germany.  After publishing his Verdi novel, which was a great success in Germany, Werfel published an edition of Verdi’s letters, and then turned to his translation of Forza del Destino. Werfel’s is not a literal translation; in fact, it is not only a translation, but a re-working of the libretto; the sequence of events in Act 3 is changed. His translation was performed first in Altenburg in 1925, but that performance seems to have attracted little attention and is almost forgotten today.  Rather, it is the Dresden premiere, with Seinemeyer, which has always been remembered. There are several reasons why Dresden became a center of the Verdi Renaissance.  The Dresden Opera’s artistic director was Fritz Busch, who was a great admirer of Verdi’s operas.  Also, Dresden had an ensemble of singers whose voices were highly suitable to Verdi’s works; Seinemeyer was one of the most important of these singers, and she was very much a leading figure in the Verdi Renaissance. After the Dresden premiere, Forza was performed in many other German cities in the next few seasons. Other Verdi operas were revived as well, including Don Carlo, Macbeth, I Vespri Siciliani, and Luisa Miller.  Werfel himself translated Simon Boccanegra and Don Carlo; his translations of these two works were first performed in Vienna in the 1930s.  The Dresden premiere of Forza del Destino attracted much attention, and was considered a major event. Important figures from Germany’s musical and literary world attended the performance; there is an interesting story about three famous authors--Brecht, Bronnen, and Döblin--who were angry because they were not given the best seats in the house, and walked out in protest.  Seinemeyer gave a wonderful performance and was generally considered to be the best in the cast; she received almost universal praise, while the men in the cast were criticized.  Werfel himself was thrilled with Seinemeyer’s performance; afterwards, he wrote the following letter to her: “Miss Seinemeyer, I must tell you that you have accomplished a great feat of singing tonight! Such a warm voice does not exist anymore on the German stage.  The line of your singing is perfect. The peace aria [“Pace, pace, mio Dio”] in your calm and thoroughly beautiful rendition was deeply moving for the entire house. I think Verdi himself would have experienced sheer joy in your singing!”  Later the same year, Seinemeyer repeated her success in Forza in Leipzig, but sources disagree as to the exact date of her performance.  The research notes of Charles Jahant list March 1926 as the month when she sang Forza in Leipzig; if this were true, the performance probably took place in late March, after the Dresden premiere on the 20th. But Jürgen Schebers’ Gustav Brecher und die Leipziger Oper 1923-1933 (Leipzig, 1990) says that Forza was not performed in Leipzig until the 1926-27 season. While Seinemeyer was in Leipzig, she also gave a concert of Strauss songs.  Seinemeyer also made a guest appearance in Chemnitz in 1926, but so far I have been unable to determine whether this was an opera or a concert.  After Seinemeyer’s triumph in Forza del Destino, she became the best-loved soprano of the Dresden Opera, and a leading figure in Dresden  society as well.  Her performances sold out the house, and she acquired a huge following of opera fans, who called her “the beloved Seinemeyer”. Such devotion to one singer was rare in Germany, where people tended to go the opera to hear the whole performance and not just the star singer.  Unfortunately, the Forza performance that brought Seinemeyer to the height of her popularity may also have marked the  beginning of her fatal  illness.  A review of Forza in the Berliner Tageblatt, which otherwise praises her highly, mentioned that she showed signs of fatigue by the end of the performance. A good friend of hers, John Hague, also says that her illness began around this time, in 1926. However, there is evidence that Seinemeyer’s illness may have begun quite a bit earlier than this.  Charles Jahant’s research notes indicate that Seinemeyer was invited to go to the U.S. in 1922, the year before her tour with the German Opera Company, but was too ill to go.  Also, while she was in the U.S. in 1923, she was too ill to sing the role of Sieglinde, and she cancelled several performances for which she had been scheduled. These cancellations may have been due to an earlier, unrelated illness, but they may also have been caused by the illness that was ultimately to prove fatal.  The nature of Seinemeyer’s illness has long been mysterious.  Many obituaries said she died of the flu which she had caught in London,  or merely stated that she died after an illness, without being more specific than that. However, it was definitely known at the time that she had a blood disease; this was mentioned in a more detailed obituary in the Neue preussische Kreuz-Zeitung (Berlin).  It is almost certain that Seinemeyer’s illness was chronic leukemia.  Leo Riemens, in his notes to Rococo LP 5218, says that “recent research has proved most conclusively that she was suffering from leukemia.”  Unfortunately, Riemens does not give a source for his statement.  Seinemeyer’s friend John Hague says that her illness was tuberculosis, but that is certainly incorrect; if that were the case, she would have been unable to sing as well as she did, since tuberculosis would have destroyed her breath control.  Hague wrote this thirty-nine years after her death, and may have remembered incorrectly. What is known for certain about her illness is that it was a blood disease, and it lasted at least three years.  Seinemeyer’s activities in 1926 included a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Dresden on March 28, a little over a week  after her triumph in Forza del Destino; the other soloists were Helene Jung, Curt Taucher, and Friedrich Plaschke; Fritz Busch was the conductor. In April, she made more recordings for Parlophon, including “Cäcilie” and “Morgen!” by Strauss; the Willow Song from Otello, sung in German; “Sie entfloh’, die Taube so minnig” (Antonia’s aria) from Hoffmanns Erzählungen, and “Wie nahte mir der Schlummer” and “Und ob die Wolke sie verhüllte” from Der Freischütz.  On July 8, 1926, Seinemeyer made her debut at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, as Sieglinde in Die Walküre with Else Gentner Fischer as  Brünnhilde, Friedrich Schorr as Wotan, Rudolf Ritter as Siegmund, Karin Branzell as Fricka, and Alexander Kipnis as Hunding; Fritz Reiner was the conductor.  Die Walküre was repeated on July 12; then, on the 15th,  Seinemeyer sang Agathe in the first performance of Der Freischütz at the Teatro Colón. Seinemeyer sang very well, as she did in all her Buenos Aires performances, but she was unfortunate in her tenor partners, especially in this opera; the tenor who sang the role of Max, Richard Schubert, sang badly and left after the first performance. Rudolf Ritter replaced him on July 19, but he gave only a mediocre performance. The rest of the cast was the same for both performances: Friedrich Schorr as Kaspar, Alexander Kipnis as the Hermit, Nina Morgana as Ännchen, Gustav Schützendorf as Ottokar, Antonio Nicolich as Kuno and Samiel, and Arnold Gabor as Kilian; Fritz Reiner conducted the first performance and Karl Riedel the second.  Die Walküre was repeated yet again on July 20.  Then, on the 30th, Seinemeyer sang Elisabeth in Tannhäuser, a role she  shared with Else  Gentner-Fischer.  Rudolf Ritter sang the title role; Friedrich Schorr was Wolfram; Alexander Kipnis was the Landgrave Hermann, and Karin Branzell was Venus; Fritz Reiner conducted.  On Aug. 6, Seinemeyer sang the last of her Buenos Aires roles: Eva in Die Meistersinger.  In the cast with her were Friedrich Schorr as Sachs, Rudolf Ritter as Walther, Alexander Kipnis as Pogner, Karin Branzell as Magdalene, Max Bloch as David, and Gustav Schützendorf as Beckmesser; Fritz Reiner was once again the conductor. Meistersinger was repeated on the 8th, and Seinemeyer’s final performance in Buenos Aires was Tannhäuser on the 10th.  Seinemeyer was received very well in Buenos Aires, and she may have sung elsewhere in South America as well; several articles refer to a  tour of South America.  So far, I have been unable to find anything about performances by Seinemeyer in other South American cities. Also, it seems that her illness troubled her while she was in Buenos Aires, and she had to return early to Europe.  After her return to Dresden, Seinemeyer sang the role of the Countess in a new production of Le Nozze di Figaro, or Figaros Hochzeit, as it  was called in the German translation.  The first performance was on Oct. 3, 1926, and the cast included Ludwig Ermold as Figaro, Liesel von Schuch as Susanna, Robert Burg as the Count, Grete Nikisch as Cherubino, Elfriede Haberkorn as Marcellina, Willy Bader as Bartolo, Hanns Lange as Basilio, Heinrich Tessmer as Curzio, Robert Büssel as Antonio, and Erna Berger as Barbarina; Fritz Busch conducted. The Countess became one of Seinemeyer’s great roles, but at least one critic gave the production itself a negative review, saying that the singers did not work well together as an ensemble.  Shortly after Le Nozze di Figaro, Seinemeyer made her first electric recordings; the very first was “Suicidio” from La Gioconda, recorded on  Oct. 12. This was also her very first recording in Italian.  As in all her recordings in that language, her Italian diction is very good; Seinemeyer’s Italian seems, at least to me, to be much better than that of many German singers of her time. All her other recordings made during that session were in German: “Als Sieger kehre heim” [Ritorna vincitor] from Aida, “Man nennt mich jetzt Mimi” from La Bohème, and three duets with Pattiera:“Du kommst daher” [Act 4 duet] from Andrea Chenier, “O du süssestes Mädchen” [O soave fanciulla] from La Bohème, and “Die Bersi hat sich meiner angenommen” [Act 2 duet] from Andrea Chenier.  In the following year, 1927, Seinemeyer made frequent guest appearances.  In the spring, she was scheduled to sing  Tosca in Leipzig,  but she cancelled because of illness, and Fanny Cleve took her place.  In May, Seinemeyer and other members of the Dresden Opera company visited Geneva; on the 18th of that month, she sang the Countess in Le Nozze di  Figaro with Grete Nikisch as Susanna; on the 20th, she sang the Marschallin in a performance of Der Rosenkavalier that included Ludwig Ermold as Baron Ochs, Elisa Stünzner as Octavian, and Grete Nikisch as Sophie; Fritz Busch was the conductor.  Seinemeyer was received very well by the critics.  On June 22, Seinemeyer gave the first of two guest performances at the Staatsoper of Vienna.  She sang Tosca, with  Alfred Piccaver as  Cavaradossi and Emil Schipper as Scarpia, with Reichenberger conducting. Two days later, on the 24th, she sang Aida with Piccaver as Radames, Rosette Anday as Amneris, Alfred Jerger as Amonasro, and a very young Luise Helletsgruber as the offstage Priestess; Robert Heger was the conductor. Unfortunately, Seinemeyer’s Tosca was rather badly received by at least one Vienna critic.  The critic of the Neue freie Presse compared her Tosca unfavorably to that of Jeritza, who was his ideal Tosca.  In fact, the very first thing he said in his review was that Tosca was a poor choice of role in which to make her Vienna debut, since the Viennese had such strong memories of Jeritza.  Seinemeyer’s interpretation was, at least for this critic, too restrained, compared to Jeritza’s much wilder Tosca. Basically, however, the Neue freie Presse critic liked the sound of Seinemeyer’s voice, calling it “a pleasantly timbred... soprano”, and praised her singing of “Vissi d’arte”, although commenting that he had heard it sung better.  And it appears that Seinemeyer had problems with the acoustics of the opera house, although the reviewer comments that such problems were quite common with guest artists.  By the last act, her voice tired out. One wonders if this was only a case of first-night nerves, or if her illness had struck once again. In spite of these problems, though, the audience appears to have received her well, although they gave most of their applause to Piccaver, who was a great favorite of theirs.  I have yet to find a review of Seinemeyer’s Aida in Vienna, although the  Neue freie Presse critic commented that it would probably be a better role for her than Tosca.  Did this rather cold reception in the Vienna press prevent Seinemeyer from being offered a contract by Vienna?  It was  the custom for  the Vienna Staatsoper to offer two guest appearances to a singer they were considering for a contract.  That was exactly what they gave Seinemeyer. This fact, and the evidence of the negative review, may lead one to believe that the Vienna Staatsoper had been considering Seinemeyer for a contract, but changed their minds in light of the reception she received, at least by the press. But so far I do not have any direct evidence of this. The Vienna Staatsoper may not have been considering making Seinemeyer a permanent member of their company at all.  On Aug. 5, 1927, Seinemeyer returned to Berlin, but this time to the Staatsoper, for a performance of Forza del Destino.  This was the  Staatsoper’s famous production of Forza which had had its premiere on April 30 of that year with Gertrud Bindernagel as Leonora. Seinemeyer took over the role for at least one of the subsequent performances. Tino Pattiera was Alvaro, Heinrich Schlusnus was Carlo, and Emanuel List was Padre Guardiano; Leo Blech conducted.  Shortly thereafter, probably in August or early September, Seinemeyer gave a concert in Görlitz; it is not known what the  program was.  Towards the beginning of the Dresden opera season, in September or October, she sang Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte, with Grete Nikisch as Dorabella, Liesel von Schuch as Despina, Max Hirzel as Ferrando, Paul Schöffler as Guglielmo, and Ludwig Ermold as Don Alfonso; Fritz Busch conducted. In the autumn of 1927, Seinemeyer sang Aida in Kiel, with Max Hirzel as Radames, and on Dec. 10 she gave a concert in Berlin with bass Michail von Gitowsky, who was substituting for Emanuel List; Wolfgang Rosé was the accompanist.  At this concert, Seinemeyer sang Strauss' "Cäcilie" and "Morgen", as well as arias from Der Freischütz.  She also sang in Teplitz-Schönau earlier in the year, during the 1926-27 season, although I have not been able to find a date for this appearence.  The fact that she gave so many guest performances, in so many different places, during one year, shows that Seinemeyer was not just a “local” singer who rarely left Dresden, as has sometimes been thought.  Her career was actually quite extensive; surprisingly so, when one considers her illness. It would not have been easy to do this much travelling, in addition to the actual performances, with such a serious illness. It would have been understandable if she rarely left Dresden; the remarkable thing is that Seinemeyer managed to travel so extensively and still keep her voice in the best condition, as can be heard in the recordings she made late that year, on Dec. 27. Her voice soars effortlessly above the chorus in “Die Wunden brennen fühl’ ich nicht” [La Vergine degli angeli] from Forza. The magnificent Forza duets with Ivar Andrésen were made at the same session.  Without a doubt, Seinemeyer’s extensive travels took a toll on her health.  In the next year, it appears that the  number of her stage  appearances declined, although this was accompanied by increased activity in the recording studio. On Apr. 1, 1928, Seinemeyer was the soprano soloist in a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Dresden; the other soloists were Helene Jung, Waldemar Henke, and Friedrich Plaschke; the conductor was Hermann Kutschbach.  The next day, Seinemeyer went to Berlin, where she sang the Countess in Nozze at the Deutsche Oper in a performance conducted by Bruno Walter; with her in the cast were Baumann, Guttmann, and Rajdl. In May, she made a guest appearance in Magdeburg, although I have been unable to find the details of this appearance.  On Sept. 12, 1928, Seinemeyer sang the title role in the Dresden premiere of Manon Lescaut. Max Hirzel was Des Grieux and Robert Burg was Lescaut; also in the cast were Adolf Schoepflin, Heinrich Tessmer, Robert Büssel, Elfriede Haberkorn, Hanns Lange, Ludwig Eybisch, Rudolf Schmalnauer, and Julius Puttlitz; Hermann Kutschbach conducted.  The production was not well-received by some critics, who were more accustomed to Massenet’s opera. The critics disliked the opera itself, and one critic said that Seinemeyer’s voice was too “lyric-dramatic” for the role of Manon, and preferred the soubrettish voice of Angela Kolniak, who took over the role. Obviously, he had the two Manons confused! The Dresden Opera had a difficult time deciding whether to do Puccini’s opera or Massenet’s, which was more popular at the time.  Eventually, they decided on Puccini’s because they thought the role of Des Grieux in Manon Lescaut would be more suitable to Pattiera’s voice.  As it turned out, however, Pattiera was unable to sing in the premiere because of commitments elsewhere, so Hirzel took the role.  Later, when Pattiera returned, he sang Des Grieux to Seinemeyer’s Manon; Max Lorenz sang several performances as well.  Paul Schöffler alternated with Robert Burg as Lescaut.  It is not known whether Angela Kolniak was originally scheduled to take over the title role from Seinemeyer, or whether Seinemeyer’s illness forced her to cancel. At least one source says that her illness troubled her during this production.  Seinemeyer’s illness did not, however, prevent her from making a few guest appearances in 1928.  As already stated, she  sang in Berlin  and Magdeburg that year.  She also gave two performances of Le Nozze di Figaro in The Hague, the first of which took place on Nov. 24, with Ludwig Ermold as Figaro, Lotte Schöne as Susanna, Herbert Janssen as the Count, Maria Rajdl as Cherubino, Gertrud Wentscher-Lehmann as Marcellina, and Eduard Kandl as Bartolo; Egon Pollak was the conductor. Seinemeyer also made another appearance in Teplitz-Schönau earlier in the year, during the 1927-28, but I do not know the details of this appearance.   On the whole, however, the number of her performances seems to have been fewer in 1928; her illness was almost certainly the reason for  this.  At times, she was forced to cancel some very important performances. On one occasion, Toscanini came to Dresden to hear her in Forza del Destino. Was he thinking of inviting her to La Scala? It is impossible to say at this point. In any case, he wished to see the production whose fame had spread to Italy. But, as it turned out, Seinemeyer was very ill that day and was forced to cancel; since the Dresden Opera had no other Forza Leonora, the opera was changed to Die Aegyptische Helena. Seinemeyer certainly would not have cancelled such an important performance if she had not been terribly ill. Fritz Busch, in his autobiography, does not give a date for this cancelled performance, but the episode must have taken place in 1928 or 1929, since Die Aegyptische Helena had its premiere in June 1928.  Seinemeyer made up for this less frequent stage activity by making more recordings. Some of her best recordings were made in 1928; these include her “Liebestod”, which, in my opinion, stands with the best recordings of the “Liebestod” of that time, although Seinemeyer was never to sing Isolde on stage; the Schubert Lieder “Gretchen am Spinnrade”, “So lasst mich scheinen” [Mignon II], and “Die junge Nonne”, the Tosca cantata and “Vissi d’arte”; “La mamma morta”; the Rosenkavalier recordings with Emanuel List and the final trio with Merrem-Nikisch and Stünzner, and these are only my personal favorites; she recorded a total of 29 sides in 1928; more than in any other year.  It has been suggested that she made so many recordings in order to pay her medical bills. That is possible, but I also believe that she made these recordings because she loved to do it.  Her enthusiasm for making recordings has already been noted.  Also, with less stage activity, she had more time in which she could record.  And it would have taken less energy to make these recordings than to perform a full-length opera on stage.  So, it was a way of saving her energy while still doing something she loved. Also, I believe that, by this time, Seinemeyer knew she was dying and wished to leave a lasting legacy.  At this point, it is impossible to say when, exactly, Seinemeyer realized she was dying.  Certainly she knew for a long time that she was seriously ill, but probably in the first few years she thought there was still hope that her life could be saved. But by 1928, she may have realized the end was near. The last lines of “So lasst mich scheinen” [Mignon II], which she recorded that year, could be significant: I have felt deep pain enough. Sorrow has aged me [too] soon - make me for ever young again! (Translation by R. Kinloch Anderson, 1971). It is impossible to tell anything from the lines of a song, of course, but it certainly is interesting that Seinemeyer chose to record this particular song at that time. Whatever the case may be, she knew time was short, and she probably felt that, by making these recordings, she would always be remembered.  On Dec. 12, 1928, Seinemeyer sang the role of Gräfin Ludmilla in Schubert's rarely-performed opera Die Weiberverschwörung in  Dresden; the  cast also included Max Lorenz, Waldemar Staegemann, Ludwig Eybisch, Rudolf Schmalanauer, Grete Nikisch, Helene Jung, Elfriede Haberkorn, Erna Berger, and Heinrich Tessmer; Fritz Busch conducted. A few days later, on Dec. 17, Seinemeyer sang the role of Margiana in Peter Cornelius’ Der Barbier von Bagdad; with her in the cast were Ivar Andrésen in the title role, Curt Taucher as Nureddin, Helene Jung as Bostana, Heinrich Tessmer as Kadi, and Robert Burg as the Caliph; Fritz Busch was the conductor. That same month, she gave a concert in Dresden with Frieder Weissmann as her accompanist, where she performed some songs composed by Weissmann.  Early in 1929, Seinemeyer sang a requiem in Breslau.  Then, on Jan. 26, she sang her last new role: Lisa in Pique  Dame.  The cast  of Pique Dame included Tino Pattiera as Hermann, Friedrich Plaschke as Tomsky, Robert Burg as Yeletsky, Hanns Lange, Rudolf Schmalnauer, Heinrich Tessmer, Robert Büssel, Irma Tervani  as the Countess, Helene Jung, Elfriede Haberkorn, Erna Berger, and Ludwig Eybisch; Fritz Busch conducted. The production was very well received, and Stravinsky was in the audience for the premiere.  A few days later, on Jan. 28th and 29th, Seinemeyer was scheduled to give two concerts in Saarbrücken, but these were  probably cancelled  because of illness.  The concerts were advertised in the Allgemeine Musik-Zeitung of Jan. 25, 1929; Reger’s Böcklin-Suite and Janacek’s Sinfonietta were to be performed at the same concerts. But in the review of these concerts in the Allgemeine Musik-Zeitung of Apr. 12, there is no mention of Seinemeyer, and it says that Helge Roswaenge sang arias. Roswaenge was probably called in as a last-minute substitute when Seinemeyer cancelled.  Seinemeyer gave a concert in Plauen on Feb. 22, and she was the soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Dresden on March 24; the other soloists were Martha Adam, Anton Maria Topitz, and Ivar Andrésen; Fritz Busch conducted.  Between March and May 1929, Seinemeyer made her last recordings.  On March 18, a group of four songs was recorded:  Liszt’s “O lieb, so  lang du lieben kannst”, Weingartner’s “Liebesfeier”, and Rubinstein’s “Es blinkt der Tau” and “Die Nacht”. These are among the most beautiful of Seinemeyer’s recordings, and they show that her voice has lost none of its strength, in spite of her illness; if anything, her voice sounds stronger and more passionate than ever before.  Liszt’s “O lieb”, especially, is powerfully emotional.  I believe--and this is only speculation on my part--that she meant these songs as a last gift to Weissmann. Certainly, the choice of Liszt’s “O lieb” seems significant: Love for as long as you can! Love for as long as you may! The hour comes, the hour comes, When you will stand at the grave and mourn. (The translation is my own.) There is no doubt in my mind that, by this time, Seinemeyer knew she had not much longer to live.  On Apr. 24, Seinemeyer and Curt Taucher recorded the Siegmund/Sieglinde duet from the end of Act I of Die Walküre, beginning with “Der  Männer Sippe”and continuing through “...Wälse genannt”.  The last part of the duet, starting with “War Wälse dein Vater”, was actually recorded, but remains unpublished.  This amazing recording shows that Seinemeyer  was still at the height of her powers vocally; it is among her very best, in spite of the weak tenor. (This is only my opinion of Taucher, but it seems to be widely shared.)  Her performance, in my opinion, compares favorably with that of Lotte Lehmann in her famous 1935 recording conducted by Bruno Walter.  A more interesting comparison, though, is to Lehmann’s 1921 version of “Der Männer Sippe”; this, like Seinemeyer’s version, was recorded when the singer was 33.  In my opinion, Seinemeyer’s shows a more fully developed voice, well on the way towards developing into a Wagnerian dramatic soprano who would have eventually been a great interpreter of Brünnhilde and Isolde--something which Lehmann never became.  This is not to belittle Lehmann’s achievement; her 1935 recording is deservedly considered the standard by which Sieglindes are judged. But that recording was made much later, at the height of her career.  It is amazing that Seinemeyer’s recording, made at the age of 33, comes so near to that level.  And it is also incredible that Seinemeyer could make such a great recording when she had less than four months to live.  Seinemeyer made her very last recordings on May 3, 1929.  These were of the Senta/Dutchman duet from Der fliegende Holländer, beginning  with “Wie aus der Ferne”; her Dutchman was Robert Burg.  The recordings remain unpublished, and I do not know whether they still exist.  Seinemeyer, always a perfectionist, was not satisfied with the way she sang, and  wanted to work some more on these recordings after her return from London. But by that time, she was too ill to do any more recording.  On May 9, 1929, Seinemeyer made her debut at London’s Covent Garden.  It seems that, for a while, it had been uncertain whether  Seinemeyer would be able to sing in London.  The Allgemeine Musik-Zeitung of Feb. 22, 1929 lists the German singers who would be going to Covent Garden that year; the list does not include Seinemeyer. The announcement that Seinemeyer would go to Covent Garden did not appear until the Apr. 19 issue of Allgemeine Musik-Zeitung. Seinemeyer’s health was very uncertain at this point, and she probably did not decide until April that she would be able to go to London.  Her debut role in London was Sieglinde in Die Walküre, with a wonderful cast that included Lauritz Melchior as Siegmund,  Frida Leider as  Brünnhilde, Wilhelm Fassbinder as Wotan, Alexander Kipnis as Hunding, and Maria Olczewska as Fricka; Robert Heger conducted.  Seinemeyer’s performance was very well-received, although  the critics said they sometimes had a  hard time hearing her over the orchestra: “Mme. Meta Seinemeyer, a newcomer to Covent Garden, sang the part of Sieglinde.  Her subtle acting and charming presence combined  with a voice of warm and sympathetic quality to make a most human figure of Sieglinde.  Mme. Seinemeyer’s voice is not quite strong enough, especially on the middle and lower notes, to come through some of the big  orchestral climaxes, even with a conductor so considerate to the singers as Herr Robert Heger.  Apart from this, Mme. Seinemeyer took her place worthily beside a Brünnhilde and a Fricka whose excellence is now familiar to Covent Garden audiences.” (The Times, May 10, 1929). “Madame Meta Seinemeyer, the new Sieglinde, comes from Dresden.  Within the limits imposed by a voice which has freshness and  clarity rather than power--indeed, hardly sufficient power to carry well in the big spaces of our opera house--she made a very pleasant impression. Hers was a Sieglinde of appealing grace and charm, with an economy of gesture from which not a few opera singers might learn a useful lesson.” (Daily Telegraph, May 10, 1929). “It was in the latter section of the Ring, by the way, that that delightful soprano, Meta Seinemeyer, filled the grateful role of  Sieglinde.  She elicited unqualified praise from all sides except one, but, as the regular critic of the paper in question happened to be away that night attending the Dvorak  Festival at Prague, there was no necessity to pay much heed to the isolated opinion of his deputy.” (Herman Klein, in an overview of the Covent Garden season in The Gramophone).  This lack of power in the voice was almost certainly due to illness.  The critics did not know that Seinemeyer was ill. On the evening after her debut, May 10, 1929, Seinemeyer substituted at the last minute for Lotte Lehmann as Elsa in Lohengrin. The cast included Erik Enderlein in the title role, Maria Olczewska as Ortrud, Ivar Andrésen as King Heinrich, Wilhelm Fassbinder as Telramund, and Viktor Madin as the Herald; Robert Heger conducted. Act I was broadcast on the BBC.  During the performance, Seinemeyer won over some  disappointed Lehmann fans.  Josephine O’Donnell, the secretary at Covent Garden, tells the story, although she mistakenly says the opera was Die Walküre instead of Lohengrin: One evening a great favourite had to disappoint her huge circle of admirers, owing to a sudden feverish cold, and again we were fortunate in having a very good substitute.  She was, however, quite unknown at Covent Garden, and as people clustered round the doors of boxes there were many expressions of discontent before Die Walküre started. At the first interval I passed two dowagers and heard one say to the other: “But how very fortunate!  I was in such a naughty temper when the Act began--but she sings delightfully!” “And looks charming, too!” said the friend, “I hope she comes to sing something another year.” Alas, she was never heard again, for a fortnight later the newcomer, poor Meta Seinemayer, [sic] was dead, having developed influenza on the return journey to Dresden. (Josephine O’Donnell, Among the Covent Garden Stars. London: Stanley Paul & Co., Ltd., 1936, p. 137-38).  On May 16, Seinemeyer sang Eva in Die Meistersinger with Friedrich Schorr as Sachs, Fritz Wolff as Walther, Alexander Kipnis as Pogner, Eduard Habich as Beckmesser, Hans Clemens as David, and Anny Andrassy as Magdalene; Bruno Walter was the conductor.  She received wonderful reviews for her Eva, and there were no longer any  complaints about lack of power in the voice:   “Madame Seinemeyer has managed to take the measure of our opera house since her début as Sieglinde last week.  She was a charmingly  girlish Eva, and her voice invariably rang delightfully fresh, clear, and pure.  Here, again, one enjoyed the sense of complete ease conveyed by the singing.” (Daily Telegraph, May 17, 1929).  Seinemeyer repeated her Eva on the 20th, with Rudolf Bockelmann as Sachs and Ivar Andrésen as Pogner.  The next  evening, the 21st, she  gave her last performance in London.  She sang Sieglinde in Die Walküre, with Florence Austral, who was returning to Covent Garden after several years, as Brünnhilde, Walter Widdop as Siegmund, Rudolf Bockelmann as Wotan, Alexander Kipnis as Hunding, and Maria Olczewska as Fricka; Albert Coates conducted. Act III had been scheduled to be broadcast on the BBC, but the broadcast was cancelled at the last minute because Bockelmann’s contract did not allow the performance to be broadcast. In the reviews of this performance, the focus is quite naturally on Austral, a great favorite returning after a long absence, but Seinemeyer was also reviewed very well: “Meta Seinemeyer’s Sieglinde, too, was credible, human, and deeply moving.”  (Daily Telegraph, May 22, 1929). In the reviews I have seen of her second Sieglinde, there is no mention of lack of volume.  Seinemeyer’s performances at Covent Garden were a great success, and the Covent Garden management, not knowing she was so seriously ill,  invited her back for the next season.  She was considered one of the best of the newcomers in the 1929 season.  In an overview of the season, the Saturday Review says: “Among the newcomers, Miss Meta Seinemeyer and Mr. Fritz Wolff have created very favourable impressions.  From what I have been  told, I should probably add Mr. Rudolf Bockelmann’s name to these others, if I had had the good fortune to hear him.  Miss Seinemeyer is a most attractive soprano, with a warm voice and a real sense of style both in  singing and acting.  Her tone was not quite strong enough for Sieglinde’s music, but her Eva is one of the best I have ever seen--so fresh and girlish, without any of that kittenish archness which singers of the part so often substitute for real youth.  Like Mr. Schorr, who made Sachs a man of strong personality and rich humour, Miss Seinemeyer is able to get her effects quietly, and nothing could be lovelier than the soft notes of these two voices, which have remarkable carrying power even at piano.” (Saturday Review, May 25, 1929).  And Seinemeyer won the hearts of the London audiences as well.  After her death, an advertisement for her recordings appeared in The Gramophone, saying that many readers had requested a list of all her recordings.  Amazingly, considering the advanced state of her illness at the time, Seinemeyer's Covent Garden performances were not her last.  She sang at least one more performance in Dresden: Der Rosenkavalier on June 9, 1929. A few sources have said that she sang Sieglinde at the Paris Wagner Festival in June, but this is an error; a review in La revue musicale says that Emmy Kruger sang the role. It may be that Seinemeyer was originally announced for the Paris Wagner Festival and was forced to cancel because of illness, but I have no evidence of this.  She also cancelled a guest appearance in Berlin that summer.  While Seinemeyer was in London, she caught the flu, which was going around London; Florence Austral had it as well. The flu probably caused her leukemia to go into its final stages.  After she left London, she went to several different places to try to find a cure: various places in Switzerland, Westerland on Sylt, and finally Bad Kissingen, where she stayed until the beginning of August.  During the first week of August, she was taken by a special car from Bad Kissingen to the Johannstädter Hospital in Dresden. On Aug. 19, she was given a blood transfusion with blood that a friend had donated.  The transfusion did not work, and she died that evening, between 7:30 and 8:00.  A few hours before her death, she was married on her hospital bed, in a Jewish ceremony, to Frieder Weissmann. All of Dresden mourned “the beloved Seinemeyer”.  On Aug. 23, she was buried in the Stahnsdorfer Friedhof in Berlin. Many important figures from Germany’s musical world, as well as a huge crowd of admirers, attended the funeral.  The orchestra of the Berlin Staatsoper played, and Helene Jung, who had sung so often with her in Dresden, sang a last tribute to her friend Seinemeyer.  Seinemeyer was an extremely intelligent artist. She studied her roles very thoroughly; as her friend John Hague said, “No role was ever undertaken without at least a year’s study and preparation and nothing could induce her to appear in any part unless she herself was completely satisfied with her conception of the role both vocally and histrionically.”She was a perfectionist, and absolutely devoted to her art; she had only a few personal friends, not because of lack of friendliness--she could be quite witty and charming--but because her art always came first. Seinemeyer delved into all aspects of her art, as can be seen by her interest in the recording process itself, which was so unusual for singers of that time. And even though she was selective in her choice of roles, she was quite versatile. She sang at least 43 roles in 39 operas, ranging chronologically from Mozart to Busoni and Strauss, and ranging in mood from light operetta to the tragic heroines of Verdi and Puccini. Seinemeyer included roles from German, Italian, French, and Russian opera in her repertoire, although everything was sung in German, as was the custom at German opera houses at the time. As can be heard on her recordings, she sang very well in Italian, and I believe that it would have been only a matter of time until she was invited to sing an Italian opera in the original language, outside of Germany.  Her favorite role, and the one that had made her famous, was, after all, Verdi’s Leonora in Forza del Destino.  At the time of her tragic death at 33, Seinemeyer’s voice was still developing. She began her career as a lyric soprano, singing in several light operettas. Then she developed into a jugendlich-dramatische soprano, and it was in this vocal category that she was hired for the Dresden Opera. But in her last few recordings, at least in my opinion, it seems that she was developing further, into a dramatic soprano. Her last published recording, of Sieglinde, shows this development; her voice seems more powerful than it had been even a few years before.  I believe that, had she lived even a few more years, she would have become a dramatic soprano and taken on the huge Wagnerian roles such as Brünnhilde and Isolde. Her “Liebestod”, recorded in 1928, already shows that she had made progress towards becoming a dramatic soprano; I think it compares favorably with Leider’s early recording. It is a wonderful recording, in spite of Seinemeyer’s lack of experience with the role.  The voice itself is poignant, emotional, haunting and intense.  Fritz Busch rightly described her as having “tears in  the voice”.   And she did not put the tears into her voice because she knew she was dying; that quality is there, in her very earliest recordings, before she even knew of the seriousness of her illness.  It can be heard, for example, in  her first recording for Parlophon, “Von Blut gerötet war meine Schwelle” (“La mamma morta” in German). Seinemeyer also had the ability to make high notes seem to vanish into thin air. Listen, for example, to her “Pace, pace mio Dio” and what she does with the climactic high notes: “her controlled swelling and diminishing sustained high notes”, as Lord Harewood describes it in Opera on Record. Some critics have said that her high notes are weak, but I disagree. I think she shows remarkable control of her high notes.  If any weakness can be heard, I wonder how much of it is attributable to her illness. Seinemeyer’s illness must certainly have had some effect on her voice. What is amazing is that she sang so well with such a serious illness; it is incredible to think what she might have sounded like if she had been perfectly healthy.  Seinemeyer’s low notes were very strong as well; for an example of her low notes at the very best, listen to the portion of Sieglinde’s “Der Männer Sippe” beginning with “ein Greis in grauem Gewand”.  And Seinemeyer had a great ability to distinguish between characters; her Sieglinde is a completely different person from her Mimi, who in turn is a completely different person from her Agathe, to mention only a few examples.  She could also handle the changes of mood within an aria very well; for a good example of this, listen to "Wie nahte mir der Schlummer” from Der Freischütz.  In spite of some slurred diction, she manages to convey every emotion that Agathe is feeling.  It is my strong belief that Seinemeyer was headed towards a major international career.  Her success in London would certainly  have led to more international appearances.  And I think it is interesting that she made so many recordings in  Italian.  To mention only her more famous German colleagues: Lehmann and Leider made very few recordings  in Italian; Rethberg did not make many recordings in Italian until her great international career began.  And Seinemeyer’s command of the Italian language is quite impressive; I very rarely hear traces of her German  accent.  Did Seinemeyer make so many recordings in Italian because she was planning to sing her Italian roles in the original language, outside of Germany? In this regard, it is interesting that, by 1929, all her recordings are once again in German.  Could this have been because by this time, she was certain she was dying and had given up all thoughts of singing her roles in Italian?  It is impossible to tell at this point, but it is an observation I have made.   As it is, Seinemeyer had a more extensive career than some people realize.  A few critics have accused her of being  only a “local”  singer who rarely travelled outside of Dresden.  Jens Malte Fischer, for example, says she had only a regional career and lacked star quality; he also belittles her successes in the U.S. and England.  As I have attempted to show, she sang in many places outside of Dresden, and met with success almost everywhere she went, or at least, everywhere for which I can find documentation; the only major exception seems to have been Vienna.  As for her supposed lack of star quality, Fischer does not even mention her huge following of admirers in Dresden, and the crowd which attended her funeral. She was clearly loved in London, among other places where she appeared.  Seinemeyer was definitely not merely a “local” singer.  But, of course, she would have become even greater if she had lived longer.  I firmly believe that, if she had not died so young, she would be remembered today as one of the greatest ever.   Acknowledgements    I would like to thank the following people who have helped me in various ways: Claire Butler, who first introduced me to Seinemeyer, Harold  Bruder, Stanley Henig, Tom Kaufman, Larry Lustig, Tom Peel, John Ryan, Andreas Schmauder, Ralf Schumacher, and John Yoh. Special thanks go to Ingeborg Baumgärtner for help with German translations. And I would like to express my thanks to two people in particular: Charles Mintzer, for providing me with copies of Charles Jahant’s research notes on Seinemeyer as well as entries from the journal of Heinz Bernhardt, and Russ Hornbeck, who has done extensive research in the Berlin Opera Archive, for providing me with dates and casts for many of Seinemeyer’s Berlin performances.  His help has been invaluable.  This article represents the first step towards what I hope will become a full-length biography of Seinemeyer. As can be seen, I still have much research left to do, and I hope that some more Record Collector readers will be able to help me. In particular, I need help on the details of her Dresden career, since I have not been able to get access to the Dresden newspapers, except for the articles that are to be found in the collection assembled by Hertha Seinemeyer.  Also, I have made a Seinemeyer website, which readers are invited to visit. The website address is http://www.seinemeyer.com/  Included in the website is a list of Seinemeyer’s operatic repertoire, a detailed performance chronology which includes all her performances I know of, a discography, a brief biography, photos, sound clips, and performance and recording reviews. Eventually I will include pages on Frieder Weissmann and other colleagues of Seinemeyer. Vicki Kondelik (www.seinemeyer.com )