Elisabeth Augusta Wendling, (née Sarselli; 20 February 1746 (baptised) – 10 January 1786) was a German soprano

Soprano

A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...

, for whom Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...

 wrote the role of Electra in his opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 Idomeneo, re di Creta

Idomeneo

Idomeneo, re di Creta ossia Ilia e Idamante is an Italian language opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto was adapted by Giambattista Varesco from a French text by Antoine Danchet, which had been set to music by André Campra as Idoménée in 1712...

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Elisabeth was born in Mannheim

Mannheim

Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....

. There were four musicians in the original Idomeneo from the Wendling family. She usually sang with her sister-in-law Dorothea Wendling

Dorothea Wendling

Maria Dorothea Wendling Stuttgart, 21 March 1736 - Munich, 20 August 1811, was a German soprano.She is probably best remembered today for being the singer for whom Mozart wrote the role of Ilia in Idomeneo, re di Creta.-References:...

, after her début in 1762 in Sofonisba by Tommaso Traetta

Tommaso Traetta

Tommaso Michele Francesco Saverio Traetta was an Italian composer.-Biography:Traetta was born in Bitonto, a town near Bari, near the top of the heel of the boot of Italy. He eventually became a pupil of the composer, singer and teacher Nicola Porpora in Naples, and scored a first success with his...

. Later she occasionally sang as the prima donna

Prima donna

Originally used in opera or Commedia dell'arte companies, "prima donna" is Italian for "first lady." The term was used to designate the leading female singer in the opera company, the person to whom the prime roles would be given. The prima donna was normally, but not necessarily, a soprano...

, most famously as Anna in Günther von Schwarzburg

Günther von Schwarzburg (opera)

Günther von Schwarzburg is a Singspiel in three acts by Ignaz Holzbauer set to a German libretto by Anton Klein. Loosely based on events in the life of the 14th century German king, Günther von Schwarzburg, the opera premiered on 5 January 1777 at the Hoftheater in the Mannheim...

(1777) by Ignaz Holzbauer

Ignaz Holzbauer

Ignaz Jakob Holzbauer was a composer of symphonies, concertos, operas, and chamber music, and a member of the Mannheim school. His aesthetic style is in line with that of the Sturm und Drang "movement" of German art and literature.Holzbauer was born in Vienna...

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In a letter, Mozart says he has been introduced to her by Cannabich

Christian Cannabich

Johann Christian Innocenz Bonaventura Cannabich , was a German violinist, composer, and Kapellmeister of the Classical era...

 and that she was Karl Theodor

Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria

Charles Theodore, Prince-Elector, Count Palatine and Duke of Bavaria reigned as Prince-Elector and Count palatine from 1742, as Duke of Jülich and Berg from 1742 and also as Prince-Elector and Duke of Bavaria from 1777, until his death...

's mistress, is very good-looking, and a good musician. Elisabeth had been greatly praised by Mozart's father and thus was chosen for the role of Electra.

In 1785 she was engaged to sing in Alessio Prati’s Armida abbandonata, but fell ill and had to hand the role to her niece Gustl Wendling; she never sang in public again. She died in Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

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