Ernestine Schumann-Heink (1861–1936) was the most admired contralto of her time. Renowned for her Wagner singing, she appeared in a Ring Cycle conducted by Mahler, and sang at Bayreuth from 1896–1906. She also created the rôle of Clytemnestra in Strauss’s Elektra, and was admired by Brahms for her interpretation of his Alto Rhapsody. She appeared in the opera houses of Dresden, Hamburg and Berlin, as well as London’s Covent Garden, and, following her American début in Chicago in 1898, joined New York’s Metropolitan Opera where she sang for more than three decades. This 2-CD set includes the records made for the American Victor Company between 1911–20. Among the selections featured are opera arias from Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Daida, Lieder by Schubert and Brahms, and popular songs by Stephen Foster, Ethelbert Nevin, Edward MacDowell and Arthur Sullivan.