Henrietta Sontag

Henriette Sontag (1806–1854), b. Gertrude Walpurgis Sontag, was an operatic soprano and one of the most distinguished singers of the first half of the 19th century. Sontag enrolled at the Prague Conservatorium of Music, but her meteoric rise on the stage soon led her to abandon her studies. Among her many triumphs were the title role in the world premiere of Euryanthe (Vienna, 1823) by Carl Maria von Weber, for which she was chosen by the composer himself, and the soprano part in the premiere of Beethoven’s ninth symphony (1824). Sontag performed all over Europe, including Warsaw, where she won the enthusiastic admiration of a young Fryderyk Chopin.