Amélie Heussner Nikisch (28 December 1862 – 18 January 1938) was a Belgian soprano, actress, voice teacher, and composer.

Early life

Amélie Augusta Heussner was born in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Career

As a young woman, Heussner played

soubrette A soubrette is a type of operatic soprano voice ''fach'', often cast as a female stock character in opera and theatre. The term arrived in English from Provençal via French, and means "conceited" or "coy". Theatre In theatre, a soubrette is a c ...

roles in operas in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

and

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

. She taught voice lessons after she married in 1885. While her husband, Arthur Nikisch, was conducting the

Boston Symphony Orchestra The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the " Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in 1881, ...

from 1890 to 1893, she frequently performed with the orchestra as a soprano soloist. "If anything, Mme. Nikisch's work as a vocalist might be characterized as too finished for the appreciation of the general public", noted an American newspaper in 1891, "free from all the tricks and devices that are too frequently resorted to for effect and applause". Nikisch wrote music and lyrics for light operas. Her compositions included the operettas ''Prinz Adolar und das Tausendschönchen'' (1907, with Ilse Friedlaender), ''Meine Tante, deine Tante'' (1909), ''Daniel in der Löwengrube'' (1914, with Friedlaender), and ''Immer der Andere'' (1915). One of her voice students was American soprano

Eleanor Painter Strong Eleanor Painter Strong (September 12, 1885 – November 3, 1947) was an American opera singer and actress. Early years and education Strong was born in Waterville, Iowa, as Eleanor Painter on September 12, 1885, to Mary Ellen and John Paint ...

Personal life

Amélie Heussner married Hungarian conductor Arthur Nikisch (1855–1922) in 1885. They had four children; their younger son was pianist

Mitja Nikisch Mitja Nikisch was a classical pianist and dance band leader, born in Leipzig, Germany on 21 May 1899 and died in Venice, Italy on 5 August 1936. Career Mitja Nikisch was the son of the celebrated Hungarian orchestral conductor Arthur Nikisch an ...

(1899–1936). Amélie Nikisch died in 1938, in Berlin, aged 75 years. Her daughter Eleanora (Nora) Schindler married a Jewish actor, and fled Nazi persecution with help from the Nikisches' musical contacts, moving to the United States in 1941.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nikisch, Amelie 1862 births 1938 deaths Musicians from Brussels Belgian composers Belgian women Belgian operatic sopranos Expatriates in the United States