Schroter, Corona Elisabeth Wilhelmina

1748-1802

Celebrated soprano, and one of the most gifted and beautiful of the singers associated with the early history of the Weimar Theatre, which has been called the mother of endowed playhouses. Corona Schroter was born at Guben, Germany, and first appeared at the age of fourteen in concert. Two years later she was heard in Leipsic, and from 1778 was engaged at Weimar in the service of the Duke Charles Augustus, who established a theatre opposite the Withum Palace, paying all the salaries from his private purse. Goethe was the director, and Corona was the only professional in the company. She was vocalist to the Dowager Duchess Anna Amalia of Weimar and was a chief ornament of that brilliant court from 1780. An old print shows the singer with Goethe in the characters of Orestes and Iphigenia. Corona was a sister of Johann Samuel Schroter, a pianist and composer. She was especially celebrated for her singing of adagios, excelling in a sustained style. She composed twenty-five songs which were highly praised in their time and which were published about 1786.