Ernestine Schumann-Heink (15 June 1861 – 17 November 1936) was a Bohemian-born Austrian-American operatic dramatic contralto of German Bohemian descent.

She was born Ernestine Amalie Pauline Rössler on 15 June 1861 to a German-speaking family at Libeň (German: Lieben),[2] Bohemia, Austrian Empire, which is now part of the city of Prague, Czech Republic.

He had been stationed in northern Italy (then an Austrian protectorate), where he met and married Charlotte Josepha Goldman, who was Jewish and with whom he returned to Libeň.

[3] Her operatic debut was on 15 October 1878 at the Dresden Royal Opera House, where for four seasons she played the role of Azucena in Il trovatore,[8] and served as principal contralto when she was 17.

[9] In 1882 she married Johann Georg Ernst Albert Heink (1854–1933), secretary of the Semperoper, the Saxon State Opera Dresden; this violated the terms of their contracts, and both had their employment abruptly terminated.

Ernestine remained in Dresden to pursue her career, and eventually rejoined her husband when she secured a position at the Hamburg Opera.

[10] She came to the United States to make a brief foray into Broadway theatre, playing in Julian Edwards' operetta Love's Lottery, in which her performance was noted for the fact that she often broke off to ask the audience whether her English was good enough.

This last boy was born in New York City, named by his good-humored mother with suggestion of the doctor who delivered the baby.

[14] While fighting a legal battle in Germany over her husband's estate, she filed her United States naturalization papers on 10 February 1905, and became a U.S. citizen on 3 March 1908.

They then moved to 500 acres (2.0 km2) of farm land located just outside San Diego, California,[16] purchased by her in January 1910, where she would live for most of the rest of her life.

On 10 September 1912, Schumann-Heink performed a benefit concert at the church to raise money to purchase the adjacent Presbyterian manse, Cleveland's birthplace.

She toured the United States raising money for the war effort, although she had relatives fighting on both sides of the war – including her sons August Heink, a merchant sailor who had been impressed into the German submarine service, Walter Schumann, Henry Heink and George Washington Schumann, all in the United States Navy.

[22][23] In 1926, then 65, she had begun a weekly radio program, in addition to announcing her plans to "teach forty American girls"; Schumann "spent considerable time advising women to forgo politics, smoking and unchaperoned dancing, and to devote themselves to bringing up children".

"[25] The copy also included ATC's statement "When smoking, she prefers Lucky Strikes because they give the greatest enjoyment and throat protection."

[1][17] Her funeral was conducted by the American Legion at the Hollywood Post Auditorium, and she was interred at Greenwood Memorial Park in San Diego.

On Memorial Day, 30 May 1938, a bronze tablet honouring Schumann-Heink was unveiled by her granddaughter, Barbara Heink, at the Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park, San Diego.