Frida Katherina Benneche (June 10, 1880[1] – after 1943), sometimes written as Frida Bennèche or Freda Benneche, also known as Frida Windolph, was an American coloratura soprano.
Early life
Benneche was born in New York City.[2][3][4] Her mother was Magdalena Goelz Benneche.[5] Her German-born father Edward Benneche was a businessman,[6] and was president of the Arion Society, a German-American musical club in New York.[7][8] She attended Miss Jaudon's School,[9] studied violin and piano as a young woman,[10] trained with Eugenie Pappenheim in New York,[11] and studied voice with Theresa Seehofer in Berlin.[12]
Career
As Frida Windolph, she sang at musicales hosted by Pappenheim,[13] and made some recordings for Phono-Cut Records early in her career.[14] Benneche, a coloratura soprano, sang in concerts and church festivals in Europe, including at the Hamburg Summer Opera.[15] She moved back to the United States in 1914.[12][16] She toured in the United States,[17] and made recordings of German-language songs on the Victor label in 1916 and 1917.[16][18] "Her records are said to be some of the finest made," reported the Musical Courier in 1917, adding that "her voice is sweet without the least trace of shrillness."[19]
Flautist Paul Henneberg composed two works for Benneche.[12] She sang at Fourth of July festivities in Delaware Water Gap in 1918,[20] and gave two radio concerts in 1924.[7][21][22] She toured in Germany in 1926.[23] In 1943 and 1944, she was a voice teacher in New York City.[24]
Personal life
Frida Benneche married architect August Paul Windolph in 1901; they divorced after 1910. She married metallurgist Erich Alfred Beck in 1919.[5][25]
References
^She gave this birthdate in an Emergency Passport Application to the United States embassy in Berlin, dated August 8, 1914; via Ancestry.
