Anna Gottlieb

Who was Anna Gottlieb?

Maria Anna Josepha Francisca Gottlieb was an Austrian soprano. She was the first Pamina in Mozart's opera The Magic Flute.

She was born in Vienna, one of four sisters. Her parents were actors, who worked in the German theatre company of the Nationaltheater, and all four sisters were raised to the family trade, working as actresses as children. Anna first acted at the Burgtheater at age five. Shortly after she turned 12, she premiered the role of Barbarina in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. At fifteen, she appeared in the role of Amande in Paul Wranitzky's Opera Oberon, König der Elfen. This production featured in the leading role the soprano Josepha Hofer, who was Mozart's sister-in-law and later premiered the role of the Queen of the Night in Mozart's The Magic Flute.

When in 1789 the actor and impresario Emanuel Schikaneder brought his troupe to be the resident company at the Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna, Gottlieb became a soprano in the company, singing in various Singspiele. When Mozart composed The Magic Flute for the Schikaneder company, he chose Gottlieb, aged seventeen, for the leading role of Pamina, the pinnacle of her career.