Pauline de Ahna

Pauline Maria de Ahna (4 February 1863 – 13 May 1950), also known as Pauline Strauss, was a German operatic soprano and the wife of composer Richard Strauss. Her singing career was closely tied to her husband's career as a conductor and composer. From 1890 until 1894 she was committed to the Staatskapelle Weimar and from 1894 until 1897 she was committed to the Bavarian State Opera, during which times her husband was the principal conductor of those theaters. She also sang with her husband conducting at the Bayreuth Festival and in the world premiere of his first opera Guntram. Other houses at which she performed included the Berlin State Opera, La Monnaie, and the Liceu. Her repertoire included leading roles in the operas of Beethoven, Humperdinck, Mozart, von Weber, and Wagner. After she gave birth to their son Franz Strauss in 1897 she retired from the opera stage. She thereafter continued to periodically perform in concerts of her husband's music, particularly Lieder. Strauss credited her as his muse for many of his compositions, including the title role in Salome, the Countess Madeleine in Capriccio, and the Four Last Songs among others.

Biography De Ahna was born in Ingolstadt, the daughter of General Adolf de Ahna. There she became acquainted with Richard in 1887 while he was a conductor for the Bavarian State Opera, and she soon after began studying voice with him privately. When Richard returned to the Bavarian State Opera in 1894, she became a principal singer there until her last opera performance in 1897. Roles she performed in Munich included, Agathe in Der Freischütz, Leonore in Fidelio, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, and Ada in Wagner's Die Feen. In 1906, the couple purchased a block of land at Garmisch-Partenkirchen and had a villa (Strauss Villa) built there with the down payments from the publisher Adolph Fürstner for Richard's opera Salome. They both resided there for most of the rest of their lives, with the exception of time spent at a property they owned nearer Vienna, and some time spent in Switzerland directly after World War II.