ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a biography of mid- to late-19th-century singer Thekla Friedlander. She was spotted on the platform on 21 May 1868, still a student, alongside her sister Marie, at Leipzig's Musikverein Euterpe, performing songs for two sopranos by Salomon Jadassohn. In 1873, at the Gewandhaus, Thekla sang the roles of Nausicaa and Pallas Athene in Bruch's Odysseus with Gura and Amalie Joachim, but she was still noticed as 'eine Anfangerin'. In March 1876, after having made a first appearance at the Crystal Palace ('Sombre forêt', Schumann and Schubert), she sang at three further Pops concerts, delivering the Lieder which were becoming so popular. At the concert of 22 March 1879 she took part in Henschel's new cycle of Serbisches Liederspiel, and in April and May she took part in the Richter concerts, singing the Rhinemaiden's music. On 27 June 1888 Thekla gave a concert at the Portman Rooms.
