Leocadie Gerlach

Vilhelmine Leocadie Theresia Gerlach (née Bergnéhr; 26 January 1826 – 13 September 1919) was a Danish-Swedish mezzo-soprano opera singer who sang at the Royal Danish Theatre from 1845 to 1866.

The Swedes suggested she should go to Paris for further training but she was encouraged by Jonas Collin to join the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen where she could study under Henrik Rung.

She went on to play a wide variety of roles, including Therese in Friedrich Kuhlau's Røverborgen, Etle in Emil Hartmann's Liden Kirsten, the queen in Heinrich Marschner's Hans Heiling and Madam Voltisubito in J.L.

[1] In 1947, after she had performed with the German operatic soprano Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient at the summer palace of Sanssouci, Bergnéhr received a travel grant which enabled her to spend a year in London studying under Manuel García.

Her roles in subsequent years included Vilhelmine in Édouard Du Puy's Youth and Folly, Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni and Susanne in his Le nozze di Figaro.