Josephine Gallmeyer by F Wendling

Josephine Gallmeyer
(Josephine Tomaselli)
27 Feb 1838 - 3 Feb 1884
Austrian Soprano and Actress

Her mother was the singer Tomaselli and her father the opera singer Michael Greiner. She was illigetimate, but after her mother married the actor C. Gallmeyer (1816-1867) and he accepter her as their child her last name became Gallmeyer. Josephine made her debut in Brünn when she was only fifteen years old. Nestroy brought her to Vienna in 1856, but their co-operation was little succesful. She returned to Brünn and only returned to Vienna in 1862 when Friedrich Strampfer engaged her at the Theater an der Wien. This time she quickly became a favourite of the public, singing in opera's, operettes and performing folk songs. She lived at the Praterstrasse.As director of the Strampfertheatre at the Tuchlauben (1874) she lost most of her fortune and she was was pressed by financial worries until her death, allthough she toured succesfully in the USA in 1882-1883.