Auguste Götze

Auguste Götze (or Goetze; 24 February 1840 – 29 April 1908) was a German classical singer, actress, playwright, and a distinguished voice teacher. Götze was born in Weimar where she initially trained in music with her father, the tenor Franz Götze. In her later years, she had her own singing school in Leipzig as well as teaching in the conservatory there. She died in Leipzig at the age of 68 after several years of increasingly poor health.

Life and career

Götze was born in Weimar to Franz Götze (1814–1888) and Karoline Götze née Müller (1812–1847). Her father had begun his musical career as a violinist with the Weimar court orchestra and later became a tenor opera singer who sang in the first Weimar performances of Wagner's operas Tannhäuser and Lohengrin. Her mother, a former opera singer and actress, had been paralyzed and bedridden for much of Götze's childhood and died when she was seven years old. She was initially educated at a local school in Weimar but also received intensive lessons from her father in piano and singing. In 1853 Götze moved to Leipzig with her father when he was appointed a singing professor at the Leipzig Conservatory. Her father's friend, Franz Liszt, greatly admired her singing and encouraged her to pursue an artistic career. When she made her debuts as a concert singer in 1860 in Weimar and Jena, Liszt himself accompanied her on the piano. She was described by contemporaries as having a well-balanced contralto voice of rare depth and charm.