Emmy Destinn
Emmy Destinn (Ema Destinnová; 26 February 1878 – 28 January 1930) was a Czech operatic dramatic soprano. She had a career both in Europe and at the New York Metropolitan Opera. She was one of the greatest opera singers of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Also recorded as Ema Destinnová · Emilie Pavlína Věnceslava Kittlová · Ema Destinnova · Emma Destinn
Emmy Destinn

Moravian Library in Brno · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Name
- Emmy Destinn
- Birth Name
- Emilie Pavlína Jindřiška Kittlová
- Born
- 26 February 1878
- Birthplace
- Nové Město, Prague, Čechy, Austria-Hungary
- Died
- 28 January 1930
- Place of death
- České Budějovice, Czechoslovakia
- Occupation
- Singer
- Nationality
- Czechoslovakia
- Fields
- poetry · music · opera · literature
- Languages
- Czech · German
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Documentary summary
Emmy Destinn (Ema Destinnová; 26 February 1878 – 28 January 1930) was a Czech operatic dramatic soprano. She had a career both in Europe and at the New York Metropolitan Opera. She was one of the greatest opera singers of the 19th and 20th centuries.
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Note VALÉORINE
Emmy Destinn (1878–1930) was a composer, musician and opera singer, among other activities, of Czechoslovak nationality. The composer was born in Prague and died in České Budějovice.
Emmy Destinn worked in Olomouc. Activity centred on literature, music and opera.
The work spans opera. Languages used include Czech and German.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 28 September 2026
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Authority files
museum · 8424f636-ad38-49cf-b7e1-6f3270aee748 · wikidata · Q271731 · wikipedia · Emmy Destinn
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Emmy Destinn • Native Name — Ema Destinnová • Birth Name — Emilie Pavlína Jindřiška Kittlová • Born — 26 February 1878 • Birthplace — Nové Město, Prague, Čechy, Austria-Hungary • Died — 28 January 1930 • Place of death — České Budějovice, Czechoslovakia • Genre — Opera • Occupation — Singer • Instrument — Vocals • Years Active — 1898–1926
Biography
Biography
• Illustration — "Una partita a poker" – a crucial scene of Puccini's La fanciulla del West; Minnie – Emmy Destinn; Johnson – Enrico Caruso; Sheriff Jack Rance – Pasquale Amato Destinn was born Emilie Pavlína Jindřiška Kittlová in Nové Město, Prague, Čechy, in what was then Austria-Hungary. She was baptized Catholic at Kostel svatého Štěpána.[1] Her family soon left Prague and until the age of 14, Emmy grew up in Milešov, where her father owned mines. In 1892, she was sent to a German boarding school in Prague to learn German, playing the piano and the violin, but Anna Adamcová, a member of the National Theatre, advised her to improve her singing.[2] Her voice teacher since age 13 had been Marie von Dreger Loewe-Destinn, and the young singer began using her teacher's surname as a tribute. She was let go after the short engagement at the Dresden Opera and declined by Prague National Theatre in 1897.[3] She debuted on 19 July 1898 at the Berlin Court Opera as Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana. She made such progress that the intendant of the Berlin Court Opera engaged her at once when she was brought to intendant's notice. She was only nineteen at the time, but her voice and her acting soon won the Berlin public. Her engagement in Berlin lasted until 27 October 1909. She sang in 54 operas, including 12 premieres. Her fame became international in 1901 when she was invited to sing the part of Senta in Der fliegende Holländer at Germany's Bayreuth Festspielhaus. She returned to sing the same role the next year.[4] Destinn made her London debut at Covent Garden's Royal Opera House on 2 May 1904, as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni. She appeared there in several operas for the next two seasons, including the London premiere of Madama Butterfly with Caruso. Her Metropolitan Opera debut came in 1908 with an acclaimed performance of Aida, after she was released from her contract with the Berlin Court Opera. Two years later at the Met, she created the role of Minnie in the premiere of Puccini's La fanciulla del West, again opposite Caruso, and under the direction of Arturo Toscanini.[5] • Illustration — Memorial of Emmy Destinn near Třeboň While she was highly successful in the lighter roles of Wagner's operas, her spinto voice—although large in size, with a ringing top register—was better suited to German music of a less declamatory type. She also excelled in the French part of Carmen, in which she was said to rival Calvé, and in the Italian roles of Aida, Madama Butterfly and Leonora (in Il trovatore).[6] Destinn's career suffered a fatal blow in World War I. She returned to her homeland after the start of the war in 1914, but her links with the patriotic Czech resistance caused her passport to be revoked. She was interned at her chateau for the remainder of the conflict. By the time that she returned to the Met in 1919, her voice had become rusty and she had been replaced in the hearts of New York audiences by a new generation of singers, although she did still continue to sing with the company until 1921.
Last years and death
Last years and death
Destinn returned to Czechoslovakia, where in 1923, she married Joseph Halsbach, a Czech air-force officer. She retired from the stage in 1926. Destinn died from a stroke aged 51, on 28 January 1930, in České Budějovice, Czechoslovakia. She was interred in the Vyšehrad cemetery in Prague.
Identity
Identity
Emmy Destinn is recorded as translator, opera singer, pedagogue, poet and writer. Identity and origins. The authorities additionally record the headings Ema Destinnová, Emilie Pavlína Věnceslava Kittlová, Ema Destinnova and Emma Destinn. Her recorded languages were Czech and German.

Emmy Destinn, 1878-1930, full-length portrait, facing right, in costume
Herman Mishkin · This image is available from the United States Library of Congress 's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID cph.3b01971. This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached

Ema
Muzeum JH · Foto
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 3 entries
1878
Emmy Destinn born at Prague.
Undated
Prima Voice꞉ Emmy Destinn, 1907-1921 is digitised and catalogued by Internet Archive.
1930
Emmy Destinn died at České Budějovice.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Prague.
Birth place
České Budějovice.
Death place
Legacy
Her likeness appeared in 1996 on the 2,000 Czech koruna banknote.[7] The main-belt asteroid 6583 Destinn is named after her.
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q271731: Emmy Destinn
Reputable secondary · Wikidata
- “Emmy Destinn”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Institutional database
- MusicBrainz artist record for Emmy Destinn
Scholarly · MetaBrainz Foundation
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.The Catalogue. katalog.ahmp.cz.
- 2.Dům domácí péče Milešov. O Emě Destinové a jejím působení v Milešově.
- 3.Státní hudební vydavatelství. Československý hudební slovník I. A–L. 231. 1963.
- 4.Macy, Laura Williams. The Grove Book of Opera Singers. Oxford University Press. 2008. 978-0-19-533765-5.
- 5.Emmy Destinn Czech singer. Encyclopedia Britannica.
- 6.Hudební Slavnosti Emy Destinnové. www.festival-ed.cz.
- 7."Czech Bank Issues Updated 2,000 Koruna" by Kerry Rodgers, numismaster.com (27 August 2007)
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
Institutional database
MusicBrainz artist record for Emmy DestinnMetaBrainz Foundation
Verifiedreference work
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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