Her first appearance was as Pamina in Mozart’s “Zauberflote,” at the Vienna theatre, January 20, 1821.  The debutante was warmly welcomed by an appreciative audience, and the terrors of the young girl of seventeen were quickly assuaged by the generous recognition she received.  The beauty of her voice, her striking figure and port, and her dramatic genius, combined to make her instantly successful.  Wilhelmina Schroeder was tall and nobly molded, and her face, though not beautiful, was sweet, frank, and fascinating—­a face which became transfigured with fire and passion under the influence of strong emotion.  Her vocal organ was a mellow soprano, which, though not specially flexible, united softness with volume and compass.  In intonation and phrasing, her art, in spite of her youth and inexperience, showed itself to be singularly perfect.  Though she rapidly became a favorite, her highest triumph was not achieved till she appeared as Leonora in the “Fidelio.”  In this she eclipsed all who had preceded her, and Germany soon rang with her name as that of an artist of the highest genius.  Her own account of her first representation of this role is of much interest: 

“When I was studying the character of Leonora at Vienna, I could not attain that which appeared to me the desired and natural expression at the moment when Leonora, throwing herself before her husband, holds out a pistol to the Governor, with the words, ‘Kill first his wife!’ I studied and studied in vain, though I did all in my power to place myself mentally in the situation of Leonora.  I had pictured to myself the situation, but I felt that it was incomplete, without knowing why or wherefore.  Well, the evening arrived; the audience knows not with what feelings an artist, who enters seriously into a part, dresses for the representation.  The nearer the moment approached, the greater was my alarm.  When it did arrive, and as I ought to have sung the ominous words and pointed the pistol at the Governor, I fell into such an utter tremor at the thought of not being perfect in my character, that my whole frame trembled, and I thought I should have fallen.  Now only fancy how I felt when the whole house broke forth with enthusiastic shouts of applause, and what I thought when, after the curtain fell, I was told that this moment was the most effective and powerful of my whole representation!  So, that which I could not attain with every effort of mind and imagination, was produced at this decisive moment by my unaffected terror and anxiety.  This result and the effect it had upon the public taught me how to seize and comprehend the incident, so, that which at the first representation I had hit upon unconsciously, I adopted in full consciousness ever afterward in this part.”

Not even Malibran could equal her in the impersonation of this character.  Never was dramatic performance more completely, more intensely affecting, more deeply pathetic, truthful, tender, and powerful.