11 Facts About Erna Sack

Erna Dorothea Luise Sack was a German lyric coloratura soprano, known as the German Nightingale for her high vocal range.

Erna Sack studied at the Prague Conservatory, and later privately in Berlin with Oscar Daniel.

Erna Sack's career accelerated in 1930 when her uncanny ability to sing stratospheric high notes, including "C above high C", was discovered.

In 1935, Erna Sack made her first series of concert tours, to Austria, the Netherlands, France, and the United Kingdom.

Erna Sack appeared in the world premiere of Strauss's Die schweigsame Frau as Isotta, a role in which her special commitment earned her the gratitude of both Strauss and Karl Bohm.

Erna Sack seemed to work tirelessly, at the opera, in concert tours, and touring, including to Rome where she appeared in Mozart's The Magic Flute with a cast that included Tito Schipa and Licia Albanese, Copenhagen, Oslo, and, for the first time, the United States, where she shared a platform at Carnegie Hall with Joseph Schmidt and Richard Tauber singing a duet from Lehar's The Merry Widow.

Erna Sack had some difficulty when asked to sing at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, being asked to sing the roles of Rosina and Donizetti's Lucia in the Italian language, because she argued that she had not had sufficient time to re-learn those roles in their original language.

Erna Sack later toured South Africa and South-West Africa, and she returned to West Germany in 1950.

Erna Sack ended her concert career with one final tour of West Germany in the autumn of 1954, a concert at Constitution Hall, Washington, DC in 1956 and a brief tour of East Germany in 1957, and then withdrew from public life.

Erna Sack appeared in numerous films produced in Germany such as Flowers from Nice and Nanon, the latter being one of the most famous operettas produced in this period.

Erna Sack died in a Mainz clinic on 2 March 1972 following an operation for cancer.