ABSTRACT

This chapter presents a biography of mid- to late-19th-century Victorian vocalist Hermine Rudersdorff. The lady known, for most of her long career as a performer and a teacher in Britain, Europe and America, as 'Madame Rudersdorff' was one of the most outstanding and versatile vocalists of the Victorian era. In 1839, Rudersdorff took his daughters to London and launched Hermine on the metropolitan concert platform. On September 26, Rudersdorff mounted what was billed as a (Manchester) debut concert for his daughter at the Manchester Athenaeum. By 1842 (12 January), Mlle Rudersdorff was a member of the company (billed as 'from Milan' rather than 'from Karlsruhe') at the Frankfurt Stadttheater ('at 4000 gulden per month', says one biog), singing in her first weeks the roles of Elvira ('Ein blühendes Mädchen mit klang und umfangreichen Organ'), Desdemona, Donna Anna and Norma.