Livia Frege

Virginia Livia Frege, née Gerhardt (13 June 1818 – 22 August 1891) was a German singer (soprano), Prima Donna of the Leipzig Stadttheater, arts patron and co-founder of the Leipzig Bach Society. She was referred to as the "Queen of Leipzig's romantic song singing". Frege is best known for her performances of the works by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. She was trained as a soprano by Christian August Pohlenz in Leipzig. In 1834, she took lessons from the singer Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient in Dresden in order to perfect her skills.

Career Livia Gerhardt made her debut on 9 July 1832 at the age of 14 in the Leipzig Gewandhaus in a concert by Clara Wieck with an aria and a duet by Ferdinando Paer. In the following two years she performed 32 roles including Julia in I Capuleti e i Montecchi by Vincenzo Bellini, Alice in Robert le diable by Giacomo Meyerbeer, Page Cherubin in The Marriage of Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Rosine in The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini and others. In spring 1835, she made a guest appearance at the Weimar Theater and in July 1835 received an engagement at the Königsstädtische Theater in Berlin. Livia Frege only appeared occasionally after her marriage, mostly at charity and church concerts and in 1843 sang the role of Peri in the world premiere of Schumann's oratorio Das Paradies und die Peri op. 50.

Freges regularly welcomed musicians and their friends in their apartment at Bahnhofstrasse 6 (today Georgiring) in Leipzig and the summer residence in Abtnaundorf. Frege died in Abtnaundorf.

Personal life In 1836 Livia Gerhardt married the lawyer Woldemar Frege. Her husband came from a very wealthy and important Leipzig merchant family. as well as Ferdinand David and was also in a lively correspondence with Franz Liszt.

Honors At the golden wedding anniversary in 1886, the Frege family received the hereditary title of nobility from King Albert of Saxony.

Liviastrasse in Leipzig's Waldstrasse district was named after Livia Frege in 1889.

Several works are dedicated to Livia Frege, including:

Felix Mendelssohn, Sechs Lieder op.57 Heinrich Marschner, Der Gefangene, for solo voice and pianoforte op.141 (first edition 1849) Robert Schumann, Op. 36, 6 Gedichte (1840), (first edition in 1842) Robert Schumann, Op. posth. 142, 4 Gesänge (1852), (first edition in 1858 Clara Schumann, 6 Lieder from "Jucunde" von Hermann Rollet for solo voice with pianoforte op. 23 (composed 1853, first edition 1856).