Elena Gerhardt - London, Europe, Russia and USA Before 1914

London, Europe, Russia and USA Before 1914

Gerhardt first appeared at the Leipzig Opera as Mignon, in June 1905, and also performed Charlotte in Massenet's Werther there, under Nikisch, being coached by his student Albert Coates as Korrepetitor. Nikisch arranged and accompanied her 1906 London debut, first in a Mischa Elman concert, and then in a Lieder recital (songs of Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Wolf, etc.) at the Bechstein Hall. In April 1907 she first sang at the Royal Albert Hall, with an orchestra under Nikisch. Thereafter she returned to England annually until 1914 for autumn seasons, including regular tours of the provinces with Hamilton Harty or her loyal accompanist Paula Hegner.

The partnership with Nikisch was preserved in two series of records made in 1907 and 1911, made in Berlin. A particular triumph was their appearance in the 1908 season of the Philharmonic Society in London. She sang by invitation to entertain royal guests to the Coronation of George V and Queen Mary in 1911. Nikisch introduced her into the highest circles, including the Villa Wahnfried. She sang in many European capitals - Vienna, Budapest, Prague, Copenhagen, Christiania (Oslo) - and with old musical Societies at Cologne and Frankfurt, annually in Paris and London, and under Mengelberg at The Hague. Nikisch usually accompanied the first Lieder concert at each centre, after which other accompanists took over. Alexander Siloti arranged her first visit to Russia (to Moscow) in 1909, and until the War she sang there and in St Petersburg.

Gerhardt made her American debut at the Carnegie Hall in January 1912, with Paula Hegner, and was then in Cincinnati and Philadelphia with Leopold Stokowski (singing the Wesendonck Lieder), and with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Max Fiedler, before finally combining there with Nikisch and the London Symphony Orchestra tour. In London in 1912 she performed the Angel in Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius, a role more associated with her 'rival' and friend Julia Culp. Her second American tour was in early 1913, opening with the Boston Symphony under Karl Muck, and with Erich J. Wolff as accompanist, who died during the tour. They visited Boston, New York, Baltimore, Washington and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Next season she sang in Paris, Moscow, Scandinavia, Hungary, Austria, Holland, Italy, Scotland and England, culminating in London in July 1914 at the Queen's Hall under Richard Strauss - her last appearance there for eight years.