Johanna Magdalena Willmann (13 September 1771 – 23 December 1801) was a German soprano, one of a family of musicians. She appeared in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

and at the court opera in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Life

Willmann's father, Johann Ignaz Willmann (1739–1815) was a musician, playing flute, violin and cello. Magdalena and her siblings

Maximilian Maximilian, Maximillian or Maximiliaan (Maximilien in French) is a male given name. The name " Max" is considered a shortening of "Maximilian" as well as of several other names. List of people Monarchs *Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (1459� ...

and

Walburga Walpurga or Walburga ( ang, Wealdburg, la, Valpurga, Walpurga, Walpurgis, sv, Valborg; c. AD 71025 February 777 or 779), also spelled Valderburg or Guibor, was an Anglo-Saxon missionary to the Frankish Empire. She was canonized on 1 May c. 870 ...

were born in Bonn between 1767 and 1771; her half-sister

Caroline Caroline may refer to: People * Caroline (given name), a feminine given name * J. C. Caroline (born 1933), American college and National Football League player * Jordan Caroline (born 1996), American (men's) basketball player Places Antarctica * ...

, daughter of Ignaz and his second wife Marianne de Tribolet, was born in 1796. Ignaz became in 1767 a member of the chamber orchestra of the

Elector of Cologne The Archbishop of Cologne is an archbishop governing the Archdiocese of Cologne of the Catholic Church in western North Rhine-Westphalia and is also a historical state in the Rhine holding the birthplace of Beethoven and northern Rhineland-Palati ...

in Bonn. The family moved to Vienna in the 1770s, and Ignaz joined the '' Tonkünstler-Sozietät''. In 1784 he arranged a concert in which Magdalena and her siblings Maximilian and Walburga gave their Viennese concert debut."Willmann, Familie"
''Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon online'', 15 May 2006. Retrieved 11 February 2023. She studied singing with

Vincenzo Righini Vincenzo Maria Righini (22 January 1756 – 19 August 1812) was an Italian composer, singer and kapellmeister. Life and career Righini was born in Bologna and studied singing and composition with Padre Martini in his home town. Initially ...

in Vienna, and made her first appearance on the stage in December 1786, in

Ignaz Umlauf Ignaz Umlauf (1746-1796) was an Austrian composer. He was Kapellmeister of the new German National Singspiel of Emperor Joseph II beginning from 1778 to his death. His son Michael Umlauf (1781-1842) was also a notable composer, and his daughter Elis ...

's ''Der Ring der Liebe''. She came to Bonn in 1788. In the summer of 1790,

Luísa Todi Luísa Rosa de Aguiar Todi (9 January 1753–1 October 1833) was a popular and successful Portuguese mezzo-soprano opera singer. Early life Luísa Todi was born Luísa Rosa de Aguiar on 9 January 1753 in Setúbal, Portugal. In 1765, her family m ...

sang in Bonn;

Alexander Wheelock Thayer Alexander Wheelock Thayer (October 22, 1817 – July 15, 1897) was an American librarian and journalist who became the author of the first scholarly biography of Ludwig van Beethoven, still after many updatings regarded as a standard work of refer ...

wrote: "Magdelena's quick apprehension caught her style, and a few months later she surprised her audience with a grand aria perfectly in the great Italian manner." It is thought that

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

met her around this time, and became more attached to her during the trip in 1791 of Bonn musicians to

Mergentheim Bad Mergentheim (; Mergentheim until 1926; East Franconian: ''Märchedol'') is a town in the Main-Tauber-Kreis district in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It has a population of around 23,000. An officially recognized spa town since 1926, B ...

.Paul Nettl. "Mergentheim" and "Willmann, Magdalena" in ''Beethoven Encyclopedia''.

Philosophical Library {{Infobox publisher , name = Philosophical Library , image = , caption = , parent = , status = , traded_as = , predecessor = , founded = 1941 , founder = Dagobert D. Runes , successor ...

, New York. 1956. In the summer of 1791 she made a concert tour with her family, visiting Mainz, Frankfurt, Darmstadt, Mannheim, Munich and other towns. At

Dischingen Dischingen is a municipality in the district of Heidenheim in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The municipality consists of several smaller villages that have been absorbed into Dischingen, Ballmertshofen, Demmingen, Dunstelkingen, Eglin ...

, the summer residence of the Prince of

Thurn and Taxis The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis (german: link=no, Fürstenhaus Thurn und Taxis ) is a family of German nobility that is part of the ''Briefadel''. It was a key player in the postal services in Europe during the 16th century, until the end ...

, she took the part of Belmonte in Mozart's ''

Die Entführung aus dem Serail ' () ( K. 384; ''The Abduction from the Seraglio''; also known as ') is a singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Gottlieb Stephanie, based on Christoph Friedrich Bretzner's ''Belmont und Constanze, oder Die ...

'', other parts being taken by the Princess, the Duchess of Hildburghausen and others of the aristocracy. In July 1793, the Willmann family left Bonn for Italy, and

Peter Winter Peter Winter, later Peter von Winter, (baptised 28 August 1754 – 17 October 1825) was a German violinist, conductor and composer, especially of operas. He began his career as a player at the Mannheim court, and advanced to conductor. When the ...

engaged her for the opera which he composed for the carnival at Venice in 1794. In 1795 Magdelena made a tour through Germany. Returning to Vienna in that year, she was engaged at the Imperial opera. She married in 1799 A. Galvani, a Trieste merchant, and she remained in the Vienna opera until her premature death in 1801. Thayer wrote: "She was very beautiful in person, and upon her return to Vienna, Beethoven renewed his acquaintance with her and (on the testimony of her niece) offered her his hand. Her voice was of phenomenal extent, ranging from high soprano to contralto." He quoted

Ernst Ludwig Gerber Ernst Ludwig Gerber (29 September 1746 in Sondershausen, Germany – 30 June 1819 in Sondershausen) was a German composer, organist, cellist, and author of a famous dictionary of musicians. His father, Heinrich Nikolaus Gerber (1702–1775), a ...

: "She belongs to the most celebrated German singers, renowned for her wonderfully deep and at the same time remarkably pleasing voice, for her execution and fine taste in delivery, and for her exquisite acting; so that nothing remains to be desired."

References

Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Willmann, Magdalena 1771 births 1801 deaths Women singers from the Holy Roman Empire German operatic sopranos 18th-century German women opera singers