Marie Dietrich (Soprano) (Weinsberg, Germany 1865 - Berlin, Germany 1940)

She studied at the conservatory of Stuttgart (with Ferdinand Jäger, who was Vienna´s first Siegfried) and later became the leading soprano of the Berlin Court Opera House. She also was a pupil of the famous Pauline Viardot-Garcia (the daughter of the even more famous spanish tenor Manuel Garcia and sister of the even far more famous Maria Malibran) in Paris. After a short career as a concert singer, she started her operatic career in 1888 at the Court Opera in Stuttgart and came to Berlin in 1891. As early as in 1912 she gave her farewell to the stage in the role of Marie in ‘’Waffenschmied’’ by Lortzing. The public always compared her with her colleague Emilie Herzog (1859-1923), the unrivaled star of many performances at the Kroll Opera House (later "Neues Königliches Opernhaus"). Dietrich was a shy person, not the type of star who liked to travel - although she had successfully appeared in Bayreuth in 1888 as the Flower Girl in ‘’Parsifal’’. Dietrich prefered the more intimate atmosphere of Berlin (and to avoid the competition with the more ambitious Emilie Herzog, she renounced most of the great primmadonna roles). She remained in the Court Opera House till 1915. She married tenor Robert Philipp (1852-1933).

Chronology of some appearances

1888 Stuttgart  Court Opera

1888 Bayreuth Festival

18911915 Berlin Court Opera

RECORDINGS FOR SALE

G&T, Berlin 1903-04/05
Carmen (Bizet): Sonntag war's with Karl  Jörn 044014 47½y

G&T, Berlin 1903-05/06
Martha (Flotow): Lass' mich dir sagen with Karl Jörn 44216  1754x

Zonophone, Berlin 1906-01
Trovatore (Verdi): Miserere with Karl Jörn (as Gerini) X-24128

G&T, Berlin 1906-09
Rienzi (Wagner): Ich sah die Städte (w. chorus) 43836 4704h 

Homophone, Berlin 1907-02-28
Robert le diable (Meyerbeer): Gnaden-Arie 1453

G&T, Berlin 1907-03
Mignon (Thomas): Ihr Freunde kommt (w. chorus) 043072 0720v

Odeon, Berlin 1909
Complete Pagliacci (Leoncavallo): with Marák, Philipp, van Hulst, Bronsgeest & chorus

Gramophone, Berlin 1911-11-15
Siegfried (Wagner): Nun sing! with Heinrich Knote 044182 2100c