Opera Singer. A premier coloratura soprano of the late 19th century, she remains one of the legendary names in operatic history. Born Prakseda Marcelina Kochanska at Wisniewczyk, Polish Galicia in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire, she was raised in a musical family and learned to play both the violin and the piano from a young age. Her vocal talent was not discovered until she entered the Vienna Conservatory in 1875; advised by no less than the great Franz Liszt to concentrate on voice study, she was sent to Milan the next year where she trained with Giovanni Battista Lamperti. Taking her mother's maiden name for the stage, she made her operatic bow at Athens on July 3, 1877 as Elvira from Vincenzo Bellini's "I Puritani" and while in the Greek capital also sang Amina in Bellini's "La Sonnambula" and the title leads of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" and Giacomo Meyerbeer's "Dinorah". Scheduled to bow in Vienna, her debut was cancelled by her first pregnancy, though she did use her downtime for further study. Marcella was to sing Lucia at Dresden in 1878 and and was to bow with the same role at London's Covent Garden on June 12, 1880 and at New York's Metropolitan Opera on October 24, 1883. While in New York Marcella astonished the audience at a benefit concert by playing portions of a de Beriot violin concerto and a Chopin mazurka for piano as well as by singing Rosina's arias from Rossini's "The Barber of Seville". During the 1883 season she sang Amina and Rosina as well as two Verdi roles, Violetta in "La Traviata" and the doomed Gilda of "Rigoletto", and while Marcella had great success the company's financial picture at that point was bleak, resulting in her return to Europe for the next several years. Over the coming seasons she was heard throughout the continent as well as in Russia and England, her roles including several of Mozart's ladies, among them Susanna in "The Marriage of Figaro", Zerlina of "Don Giovanni", The Queen of the Night from "The Magic Flute", and Konstanze of "The Abduction from the Seraglio". Some of Marcella's other noted portrayals included Eva in Wagner's "Die Meistersinger", Mimi of Puccini's "La Boheme", Ophelia in Ambrose Thomas' "Hamlet", and Elsa of Wagner's "Lohengrin". Though she was called the "Polish Patti", the reference was to her repertoire and vocal prowess not to her personality, as she had none of Dame Adelina's unpleasant traits; indeed Marcella was almost unique for a prima donna in being a genuinely nice person who got along with everybody. Returning to the Metropolitan in 1898, she reigned supreme until her 1909 retirement, eventually logging 466 performances with the venerable company. In San Francisco on a Metropolitan tour at the time of the great earthquake of 1906, she headlined a Carnegie Hall concert to raise money for the victims. Marcella continued to give recitals until 1917, the year of her husband's death; by the time she left the stage she was well established as a teacher at Philadelphia's Curtis Institute and at New York's Juillard, numbering Alma Gluck and Queena Mario among her distinguished students and in addition catering to stars such as Maria Jeritza who were in need of a 'tune-up'. A staunch Polish patriot all her days, she was President of the Polish-American Relief Committee during World War I and raised large sums for her fellow countrymen. Marcella lived out her days in the Lake George region of New York and at her demise was returned to Germany for burial next to her husband. Today the Kosciuszko Fountation honors her memory with a Marcella Sembrich Vocal Competition and her Bolton Landing, New York home is run as a museum by the Marcella Sembrich Memorial Association. Her recordings made for Columbia and later for RCA Victor have never been out of print and remain available on CD.
Opera Singer. A premier coloratura soprano of the late 19th century, she remains one of the legendary names in operatic history. Born Prakseda Marcelina Kochanska at Wisniewczyk, Polish Galicia in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire, she was raised in a musical family and learned to play both the violin and the piano from a young age. Her vocal talent was not discovered until she entered the Vienna Conservatory in 1875; advised by no less than the great Franz Liszt to concentrate on voice study, she was sent to Milan the next year where she trained with Giovanni Battista Lamperti. Taking her mother's maiden name for the stage, she made her operatic bow at Athens on July 3, 1877 as Elvira from Vincenzo Bellini's "I Puritani" and while in the Greek capital also sang Amina in Bellini's "La Sonnambula" and the title leads of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" and Giacomo Meyerbeer's "Dinorah". Scheduled to bow in Vienna, her debut was cancelled by her first pregnancy, though she did use her downtime for further study. Marcella was to sing Lucia at Dresden in 1878 and and was to bow with the same role at London's Covent Garden on June 12, 1880 and at New York's Metropolitan Opera on October 24, 1883. While in New York Marcella astonished the audience at a benefit concert by playing portions of a de Beriot violin concerto and a Chopin mazurka for piano as well as by singing Rosina's arias from Rossini's "The Barber of Seville". During the 1883 season she sang Amina and Rosina as well as two Verdi roles, Violetta in "La Traviata" and the doomed Gilda of "Rigoletto", and while Marcella had great success the company's financial picture at that point was bleak, resulting in her return to Europe for the next several years. Over the coming seasons she was heard throughout the continent as well as in Russia and England, her roles including several of Mozart's ladies, among them Susanna in "The Marriage of Figaro", Zerlina of "Don Giovanni", The Queen of the Night from "The Magic Flute", and Konstanze of "The Abduction from the Seraglio". Some of Marcella's other noted portrayals included Eva in Wagner's "Die Meistersinger", Mimi of Puccini's "La Boheme", Ophelia in Ambrose Thomas' "Hamlet", and Elsa of Wagner's "Lohengrin". Though she was called the "Polish Patti", the reference was to her repertoire and vocal prowess not to her personality, as she had none of Dame Adelina's unpleasant traits; indeed Marcella was almost unique for a prima donna in being a genuinely nice person who got along with everybody. Returning to the Metropolitan in 1898, she reigned supreme until her 1909 retirement, eventually logging 466 performances with the venerable company. In San Francisco on a Metropolitan tour at the time of the great earthquake of 1906, she headlined a Carnegie Hall concert to raise money for the victims. Marcella continued to give recitals until 1917, the year of her husband's death; by the time she left the stage she was well established as a teacher at Philadelphia's Curtis Institute and at New York's Juillard, numbering Alma Gluck and Queena Mario among her distinguished students and in addition catering to stars such as Maria Jeritza who were in need of a 'tune-up'. A staunch Polish patriot all her days, she was President of the Polish-American Relief Committee during World War I and raised large sums for her fellow countrymen. Marcella lived out her days in the Lake George region of New York and at her demise was returned to Germany for burial next to her husband. Today the Kosciuszko Fountation honors her memory with a Marcella Sembrich Vocal Competition and her Bolton Landing, New York home is run as a museum by the Marcella Sembrich Memorial Association. Her recordings made for Columbia and later for RCA Victor have never been out of print and remain available on CD.
Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/85556158/marcella-sembrich: accessed
), memorial page for Marcella Sembrich (15 Feb 1858–11 Jan 1935), Find a Grave Memorial ID 85556158, citing Johannisfriedhof Tolkewitz, Dresden,
Stadtkreis Dresden,
Saxony,
Germany;
Maintained by Find a Grave.
Add Photos for Marcella Sembrich
Fulfill Photo Request for Marcella Sembrich
Photo Request Fulfilled
Thank you for fulfilling this photo request. An email has been sent to the person who requested the photo informing them that you have fulfilled their request
There is an open photo request for this memorial
Are you adding a grave photo that will fulfill this request?
Oops, some error occurred while uploading your photo(s).
Oops, something didn't work. Close this window, and upload the photo(s) again.
Make sure that the file is a photo. Photos larger than 8Mb will be reduced.
All photos uploaded successfully, click on the <b>Done button</b> to see the photos in the gallery.
General photo guidelines:
Photos larger than 8.0 MB will be optimized and reduced.
Each contributor can upload a maximum of 5 photos for a memorial.
A memorial can have a maximum of 20 photos from all contributors.
The sponsor of a memorial may add an additional 10 photos (for a total of 30 on the memorial).
Include gps location with grave photos where possible.
No animated GIFs, photos with additional graphics (borders, embellishments.)
This memorial already has a grave photo. Please indicate why you think it needs another.
There is no plot information for this memorial. Your photo request is more likely to be fulfilled if you contact the cemetery to get the plot information and include it with your request.
You are only allowed to leave one flower per day for any given memorial.
Memorial Photos
This is a carousel with slides. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots. Use Escape keyboard button or the Close button to close the carousel.
Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried.
Show Map
If the memorial includes GPS coordinates, simply click 'Show Map' to view the gravesite location within the cemetery. If no GPS coordinates are available, you can contribute by adding them if you know the precise location.
Photos
For memorials with more than one photo, additional photos will appear here or on the photos tab.
Photos Tab
All photos appear on this tab and here you can update the sort order of photos on memorials you manage. To view a photo in more detail or edit captions for photos you added, click the photo to open the photo viewer.
Flowers
Flowers added to the memorial appear on the bottom of the memorial or here on the Flowers tab. To add a flower, click the Leave a Flower button.
Family Members
Family members linked to this person will appear here.
Related searches
Use the links under See more… to quickly search for other people with the same last name in the same cemetery, city, county, etc.
Sponsor This Memorial
Remove advertising from a memorial by sponsoring it for just $5. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option.
Share
Share this memorial using social media sites or email.
Save to
Save to an Ancestry Tree, a virtual cemetery, your clipboard for pasting or Print.
Edit or Suggest Edit
Edit a memorial you manage or suggest changes to the memorial manager.
Have Feedback
Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you.
You may not upload any more photos to this memorial
"Unsupported file type"
Uploading...
Waiting...
Success
Failed
This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has photos
This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded photos to this memorial
This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has photos
This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded photos to this memorial
Invalid File Type
Uploading 1 Photo
Uploading 2 Photos
1 Photo Uploaded
2 Photos Uploaded
Added by
GREAT NEWS! There is 1 volunteer for this cemetery.
Sorry! There are no volunteers for this cemetery. Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request.
Enter numeric value
Enter memorial Id
Year should not be greater than current year
Invalid memorial
Duplicate entry for memorial
You have chosen this person to be their own family member.
Reported!
This relationship is not possible based on lifespan dates.
0% Complete
Saved
Sign in or Register
Sign in to Find a Grave
Sign-in to link to existing account
There is a problem with your email/password.
There is a problem with your email/password.
There is a problem with your email/password.
We encountered an unknown problem. Please wait a few minutes and try again. If the problem persists contact Find a Grave.
We’ve updated the security on the site. Please reset your password.
Your account has been locked for 30 minutes due to too many failed sign in attempts. Please contact Find a Grave at [email protected] if you need help resetting your password.
This account has been disabled. If you have questions, please contact [email protected]
This account has been disabled. If you have questions, please contact [email protected]
Email not found
Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person.
Sign in to your existing Find a Grave account. You’ll only have to do this once—after your accounts are connected, you can sign in using your Ancestry sign in or your Find a Grave sign in.
We found an existing Find a Grave account associated with your email address. Sign in below with your Find a Grave credentials to link your Ancestry account. After your accounts are connected you can sign in using either account.
Please enter your email to sign in.
Please enter your password to sign in.
Please enter your email and password to sign in.
There is a problem with your email/password.
A system error has occurred. Please try again later.
A password reset email has been sent to EmailID. If you don't see an email, please check your spam folder.
We encountered an unknown problem. Please wait a few minutes and try again. If the problem persists contact Find a Grave.
Password Reset
Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code.
Registration Options
Welcome to Find a Grave
Create your free account by choosing an option below.
or
Ancestry account link
To create your account, Ancestry will share your name and email address with Find a Grave. To continue choose an option below.
or
If you already have a Find a Grave account, please sign in to link to Ancestry®.
New Member Registration
Email is mandatory
Email and Password are mandatory
This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. Resend Activation Email
Your password is not strong enough
Invalid Email
You must agree to Terms and Conditions
Account already exists
Please check the I'm not a robot checkbox
Internal Server error occurred
If you want to be a Photo Volunteer you must enter a ZIP Code or select your location on the map
You must select an email preference
We have sent you an activation email
Your new password must contain one or more uppercase and lowercase letters, and one or more numbers or special characters.
We just emailed an activation code to
Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account.
cemeteries found in will be saved to your photo volunteer list.
cemeteries found within miles of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list.
cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list.
Within 5 miles of your location.
Within 5 kilometers of your location.
0 cemeteries found in .
0 cemeteries found.
Add a cemetery to fulfill photo requests
You can customize the cemeteries you volunteer for by selecting or deselecting below.
Search above to list available cemeteries.
Getting location…
Loading...
Loading...
No cemeteries found
Find a Grave Video Tutorials
Default Language
Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. If you notice a problem with the translation, please send a message to [email protected] and include a link to the page and details about the problem. Thanks for your help!
Preferred Language
We have set your language to based on information from your browser.