Estelle Liebling (April 21, 1880 – September 25, 1970) was an American soprano, composer, arranger, music editor, and celebrated voice teacher and vocal coach.

Born into the Liebling family of musicians, she began her professional opera career in Dresden as a leading coloratura soprano in 1898 when she was just 18 years old.

Many of her students were famous singers and entertainers or other public figures, including sopranos Beverly Sills, Amelita Galli-Curci, Maria Jeritza, Kitty Carlisle, and Margaret Truman; baritones Titta Ruffo and Alexander Sved; Wagnerian tenor Max Lorenz; dancer Adele Astaire; actresses Joan Crawford, Gertrude Lawrence, and Meryl Streep; socialite Irene Mayer Selznick; and Hollywood gossip queen Louella Parsons.

[2][1] Her father and his three brothers, George, Emil, and Solly Liebling, were all pupils of Franz Liszt and had successful careers as pianists and composers.

Liebling made her professional opera debut in September 1900 at the Semperoper in Dresden as the title heroine in Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor.

[7] She performed other coloratura soprano roles at that opera house, including Rosina in Rossini's The Barber of Seville and the Queen of the Night in Mozart's The Magic Flute.

"[2]Liebling also performed leading roles with the Opéra-Comique and the Staatsoper Stuttgart before returning to the United States to make her debut at the Metropolitan Opera (Met) as Marguerite de Valois in Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots on February 24, 1902.

[1] She returned to the Met in 1903 as Musetta in Puccini's La bohème with Marcella Sembrich as Mimì, Enrico Caruso as Rodolfo, Giuseppe Campanari as Marcello, and Arturo Vigna conducting.

One of the stops on that tour was at Tomlinson Hall in Indianapolis in which she performed "The Bell Song" from Delibes' Lakmé, Sousa's The Snow Baby, and Solovey on September 18, 1902.

[9] The Indianapolis Sentinel review of the performance stated: "the audience had “save[d] its best applause for Miss Liebling” and that "Miss Liebling, who is vocal soloist this season for all of Sousa’s indoor concerts has the artistic temperament, is magnetic, is endowed with a pure soprano voice of exceptional range and adequate power, and is blessed with a most attractive stage presence.

[9] She was particularly admired for her performances of one new aria, "Charmant oiseau" from Felicien David’s La Perle du Brésil which was a showpiece for both her coloratura soprano and Sousa band flutist Marshall Lufsky.

[9] Speaking of that experience, Liebling stated, " A command performance at Windsor Castle for King Edward VII was the thrill of my young life.

[9] A reviewer in the Burton Mail of Liebling's performance on her British tour stated: "[She] possesses a soprano voice of unusual brilliancy and flexibility, and with a very wide compass...clear flute-like quality...and she tripped up and down the chromatic scales and gave the trying staccato passages with no more apparent difficulty than the brilliant bird she was supposed to imitate.

"[13]After a month off, Liebling rejoined Sousa and his band for another fall tour in the United States which began in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, on August 30, 1903.

[9] Stops along this tour included appearances at the Cincinnati Fall Festival, the Indiana State Fair, and a concluding run at the Pittsburgh Exposition from September 29 through October 3, 1903.

[9] New performance repertoire sung by Liebling during this tour included Sousa’s Maid of the Meadow, Voices of Spring by Johann Strauss, the aria "A vos jeux, mes amis" from Thomas's Hamlet, the aria "Legere hirondelle" from Gounod's Mireille, Ethelbert Nevin's "Mighty Lak' a Rose", and "Go To Sleep, Slumber Deep" from Victor Herbert's Babes in Toyland.

The tour commenced at the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, and featured Liebling performing Isabella's aria from Ferdinand Hérold’s Le pre aux clercs with an added flute obbligato by Marshall Lufsky and a band arrangement by Herbert L.

[4][1] Mosler was wealthy, and the couple resided for many years in a luxurious penthouse at 145W 55th Street in the same building where Liebling later established her private voice studio on a lower floor.

[4] She mainly taught out of a private studio in New York City, with the exception of three years teaching as a member of the voice faculty at the Curtis Institute for Music from 1936 to 1938.

[3] She stated "Miss Liebling was the last surviving pupil of Mathilde Marchesi, one of the great vocal teachers of all time.

"[18] Sills continued to study with her up until Liebling's death 34 years later, and she described her as a demanding teacher who was strict and formal in lessons, but could also be incredibly kind and maintained an excellent sense of humor.