Pauline de Ahna

Pauline Maria Strauss- de Ahna ( born February 4, 1863 in Ingolstadt, † May 13, 1950 in Garmisch -Partenkirchen ) was a German soprano and wife of composer Richard Strauss.

Life

Pauline de Ahna was daughter of the Bavarian Army General Adolf de Ahna and niece of the Berlin Court Opera Singer Eleonore de Ahna and the violinist Heinrich de Ahna. 1887 she met the conductor Richard Strauss know, they followed at the Weimar Court Opera as a student. 1890 was de Ahna her debut as a soprano. On September 10, 1894 married in the Castle St. Vitus Church in Marquartstein Richard Strauss. Pauline Strauss -de Ahna continued to perform as a singer. She was considered an outstanding interpreter of his songs, and Strauss often gave concerts with his wife. Your somewhat tomboyish style was legendary among friends of the house. Strauss himself sat her in the figure of Christine in the autobiographical opera Intermezzo quite a loving memorial. The couple first lived in Munich and since 1898 in Berlin, where Pauline de Ahna in 1906 gave up her job as a singer. 1908 moved into the couple Strauss a villa in Garmisch. In 1918 the couple moved to Vienna in 1945 to Baden in Aargau, then to Ouchy and finally to Montreux. 1949, the couple returned back to Garmisch -Partenkirchen, where both died shortly after the other.