Frieda Hempel was born in Germany, but became a natuaralized US citizen. She studied in Leipzig and Berlin, after which her early career was centered at the Berlin Königliche Oper (debut in 1905 as Mrs Ford in Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor). She was first heard at Covent Garden in 1907 in a double bill as Mozart’s Bastienne and Humperdinck’s Gretel, then as Eva and Mrs Ford. Her fine schooling and purity of tone immediately marked her out, but her big London success came during Beecham’s Drury Lane season of 1914, when she sang the Queen of Night (perhaps her most famous part) and the Marschallin, a role she had introduced to Berlin in 1911 and to New York in 1913. Her Metropolitan debut on December 27 1912, as Marguerite de Valois in a brilliantly cast Les Huguenots, began a period of seven years with that company, during which she settled in New York. She sang Eva and Euryanthe there under Toscanini, besides many of the lighter Verdi, Rossini and Donizetti parts, in which she was regarded as the natural successor of Sembrich. After a farewell Metropolitan appearance on February 10, 1919, in Crispino e la comare, she devoted herself mainly to a concert career. (Desmond Shawe-Taylor)
In this Victor recording of the Ernani aria, she displays an amazing vocal agility and that trademark purity of tone.