Ema Pukšec

Ilma de Murska (. Eigtl Ema Pukšec, married Eder, born February 6, 1834 in Ogulin ( Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia ), † January 14, 1889 in Munich) was a Croatian opera singer (soprano ).

Life

Pukšec began at the age of five years to play the piano. After her family moved to Zagreb in 1850, she began to sing, thinking about a possible career in opera after. In 1851 she married a soldier named Joseph Eder, with whom she had two children (Alfons and Hermina ). In 1857 she moved with her own family in Graz and in 1860 to Vienna to study at the conservatory. For a short time she also studied in Paris with Mathilde Marchesi.

1862 began her operatic career that would last over twenty years. She made her debut this year in Florence ( Italy) as Lady Harriet in Martha. They then went on a European tour with performances in Budapest (Hungary ), Spain and Italy. As a representative of the Berlin Theatre she appeared as a guest on August 16, 1864 at the Troubadour by Giuseppe Verdi in Vienna. They ended up staying until August 10, 1873 in Vienna, when she sang Ophelia in the very first performance of Hamlet at the Vienna Court Opera.

In 1865 Ilma de Murska made ​​her debut in London as Lucia di Lammermoor at Her Majesty's Theatre in London's West End. In Vienna, as well as in London, she was soon called "the Croatian Nightingale" known. Having Vienna in 1873 turned his back, she had guest appearances in Hamburg, Berlin and Paris. In 1873 and 1874, she led a tour of the United States. For a short time she has also worked as a teacher at the conservatory in New York City.