Karoline Stern

Karoline Stern , née Stern (born April 10, 1800 in Mainz , † April 10, 1887 in Berlin ) was a German opera singer ( soprano ). She inspired Heinrich Heine to write his poem To a singer - When she sang an old romance .

life and work

Karoline Stern was the daughter of the Jewish violinist Joachim Stern and his wife Regina, née Bamberger. She received her first singing and music lessons from her father. Later she studied singing with the music teacher Anton Joseph Heideloff. Karoline Stern made her debut as an opera singer on October 20, 1816 at the Trier Theater . Then she went to Düsseldorf, where she met the Heine family. There she inspired Heinrich Heine to write his poem To a singer, which was published in 1827.

After a brief engagement in Aachen, Karoline Stern went to the court theater in Stuttgart as prima donna . In 1825 she went to the National Theater in Munich . Also at the Theater Augsburg and at the stage of Wurzburg she sang. She sang the leading roles in operas by Mozart , Rossini , Weber and Meyerbeer . In 1841 she ended her career as an opera singer, but continued to perform as a concert singer. She gave her last concert in 1855, after which she spent the evening of her life in Berlin with her son, the violinist and concertmaster Julius Stern (~ 1823–1904).

According to the rabbi and historian Meyer Kayserling, Karoline Stern was the first Jewish singer to take the stage and be celebrated.

She was married to the musician Joseph Stern.

Web links

Karoline Stern in the Bavarian Musicians' Lexicon Online (BMLO)
Karoline Stern at Operissimo on the basis of the Great Singer Lexicon
To a singer (Book of Songs, 1827) ; Poem by Heinrich Heine on wikisource.org

Individual evidence

↑ For Kutsch / Riemens, the date of birth is April 16, 1800. The age in the Berlin death register is given as 89 years, so she would have been born in 1797 or 1798.
↑ Death Register StA Berlin III, No. 460/1887
↑ Women's life in Magenza. The portraits of Jewish women from the Mainz women's calendar and texts on women's history in Jewish Mainz, Mainz 2010, p. 12
↑ In Kutsch / Riemens, their son is mistakenly identified with Julius Stern (1820–1883); but it is a different person.
↑ Meyer Kayserling: The Jewish women in history, literature and art, Leipzig 1879

personal data
SURNAME	Stern, Karoline
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German opera singer (soprano)
DATE OF BIRTH	April 10, 1800 or April 16, 1800
PLACE OF BIRTH	Mainz
DATE OF DEATH	April 10, 1887
Place of death	Berlin

[1] For Kutsch / Riemens, the date of birth is April 16, 1800. The age in the Berlin death register is given as 89 years, so she would have been born in 1797 or 1798.

[2] Death Register StA Berlin III, No. 460/1887

[3] Women's life in Magenza. The portraits of Jewish women from the Mainz women's calendar and texts on women's history in Jewish Mainz, Mainz 2010, p. 12

[4] In Kutsch / Riemens, their son is mistakenly identified with Julius Stern (1820–1883); but it is a different person.

[5] Meyer Kayserling: The Jewish women in history, literature and art, Leipzig 1879