Emmy Charlotta Achté née Strömer (14 November 1850 – 2 December 1924) was an operatic
mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano (, ), or mezzo ( ), is a type of classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A bel ...
, the first prima donna of the
Finnish Opera. She performed in
Helsinki
Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...
from 1873 to 1879, excelling in dramatic roles. She was also a voice teacher for over 40 years, starting an opera class at the
Helsinki Institute of Music.
Biography
Born in
Oulu
Oulu ( , ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of North Ostrobothnia. It is located on the northwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Oulujoki, River Oulu. The population of Oulu is approximately , while the Oulu sub-regio ...
on 14 November 1850, Emmy Strömer studied singing in
Helsinki
Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...
under
Emilie Mechelin. From 1869 to 1873, she received further training in
Stockholm
Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
under Fredrika Stenhammar and in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
under Jean-Jacques Masset.
In 1875, she married
Lorenz Nikolai Achté, the conductor of the Finnish Opera.
When
Kaarlo Bergbom opened the
Finnish Opera in 1873, Achté played all the main mezzo-soprano roles until 1879. These included Azucena in ''
Il trovatore'', Valentine in ''
Les Huguenots
() is an opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer and is one of the most popular and spectacular examples of grand opera. In five acts, to a libretto by Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps, it premiered in Paris on 29 February 1836.
Composition history
'' ...
'' and Pamina in ''
The Magic Flute
''The Magic Flute'' (, ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. It is a ''Singspiel'', a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue. The work premiered on ...
''.
[ She also gave concerts in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Germany and in 1878 sang at the opera in ]Gothenburg
Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...
as a guest star. She is also remembered for her work as a voice teacher over a period of 40 years from 1874. In the early 1880s, she studied further in Dresden
Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...
under Eugen Hildach.[ In 1892, Achté performed in ]Sibelius
Jean Sibelius (; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often ...
' choral symphony '' Kullervo'' and in 1896, she played Chatelaine in his '' Jungfrun i tornet''.
Achté served as a teacher at her husband's Cantor-Organist school. After his death in 1900, she headed the establishment until 1922. From 1910 to 1913, she ran a private opera school and in 1912 she initiated an opera class at the Helsinki Institute of Music. From 1910, she also taught drama and song at Helsinki's Swedish Theatre, directing a number of operas from 1912.
Emmy Achté was the mother of the internationally famous opera singers Aino Ackté and Irma Tervani. She died in Helsinki on 2 December 1924.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Achte, Emmy
19th-century Finnish women opera singers
Finnish operatic mezzo-sopranos
1850 births
1924 deaths
Singers from Helsinki
Musicians from Oulu