Marianne Brandt by Unknown

Marianne Brandt, born Marie Bischof (1842-1921); Austrian contralto/mezzo-soprano. She made her debut in 1867 as Rachel in Halevy's "La Juive" and was afterwards associated for a number of years with the Royal Opera in Berlin. She sang at the premières of Max Bruch's "Hermione" (1872) and Rubinstein's "Die Maccabäer" (1875). At the "Bayreuther Festspiele" in 1882 she created (in coorperation with Amalia Materna and Therese Malten ) the rôle of Kundry at the première of Wagner's "Parsifal". In the years 1884-1884 she gave 160 performances (16 different rôles) at the Metropolitan in New York; among them the first "Tristan und Isolde" in 1886. Her voice is preserved on 3 Pathé-cylinders from 1905 (You-Tube).