1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Schröder-Devrient, Wilhelmine

SCHRÖDER-DEVRIENT, WILHELMINE (1804–1860), German operatic singer, was born on the 6th of December 1804, in Hamburg, being the daughter of the actress, Sophie Schröder (1781–1868). Her first impersonation was at the age of fifteen as Aricia in Schiller’s translation of Racine’s Phèdre, and in 1821 she was received with so much enthusiasm as Pamina in Mozart’s Zauberflöte that her future career in opera was assured. In 1823 she married Karl Devrient, but was separated from him in 1828, afterwards making two other marriages. Meanwhile she had maintained her popularity at Dresden and elsewhere. She made her first Paris appearance in 1830, and she sang in London in 1833 and 1837. As a singer she combined a rare quality of tone with dramatic intensity of expression, which was as remarkable on the concert platform as in opera. She died in Coburg on the 26th of January 1860.

See E. von Glümer, Erinnerungen an Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient (Leipzig, 1862); and A. von Wolzogen, Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient (Leipzig, 1863).