Helena Forti
Helena Forti (April 25, 1884 – May 11, 1942) was a dramatic soprano active 1906 – 1924, closely associated with the Dresden royal court opera, known for her beauty, voice and strong stage presence. She sang all Wagner's opera heroines, in Dresden, Bayreuth and internationally. Other repertoire included the title role in Verdi's Aida, Santuzza in Mascagni's Cavalleria and contemporary works such as Marietta in Korngold's Die tote Stadt. She created the role of Myrtocle in d'Albert's Die toten Augen. Her Sieglinde in Die Walküre in Braunschweig was described by the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik as "Equally endowed with youth, beauty and vocal means... (Forti) immerses herself so intensely in her role that one believes the transformation of the virgin-Goddess into a human form." After retiring from the stage she taught voice and acting in Gera, Düsseldorf and Vienna. She died in Vienna, where she lived with her stage director and Intendant husband, Walter Bruno Iltz. Family Helene Minna Antonie Therese Fiedler in Berlin, on April 25, 1884. An alternative birth date is 25 April 1886. Forti was "a true stage child" to theater-parents. Her father Anton Johann Fiedler, born August 29, 1838, "so called Forti", was an operatic tenor