Wilhelmina Raab by Wesenberg (1)

Wilhelmina Raab, born Wilhelmina Bilik (1848-1917); Czech soprano.
She studied singing at the Conservatory of St. Petersburg with Henriette Nissen-Saloman, as well as at the Conservatory of Vienna with Falconi. In 1871 she made her debut at the Imperial Opera in St. Petersburg as Mathilde in Rossini's "William Tell". Here she remained until 1884. During this period she sang at various important world premières of Russian operas. In 1874 she created Natalya in Tchaikovsky's "Oprichnik", in 1875 Tamara in Rubinstein's "The Demon" and in1876 Oksana in "Vakula the smith" also by Tchaikovsky. In 1877 she sang at the Russian première of Rubinstein's "The Maccabees" the role of Noëmi. In 1880 she created the role of Alyona Dmitriyevna in Rubinstein's "The merchant Kalashnikov" and in 1881 Agnès Sorel in Tchaikovsky's "The maid of Orleans". She had a virtually unlimited creative power, what enabled her to perform multiple roles in the same Opera: Gorislava and Lyudmila in Glinka's "Ruslan and Ludmilla", Kupava and the title character in "Snegourotchka/The Snow Maiden" by Rimsky-Korsakov, Queen Marguerite and the page Urbain in Meyerbeer's "Les Huguenots" and Donna Anna and Donna Elvira in Mozart's "Don Giovanni". Among her most memorable roles were Marguerite in "Faust", Gilda in "Rigoletto", Elsa in Lohengrin and Aida. After she retired from the stage she worked at the Conservatory of St. Petersburg as a vocal teacher.