Blazing her way through Europe and America as the nonpareil embodiment of Strauss' Elektra, Rose Pauly won from critics and audiences alike the recognition that she was one of the century's greatest singing actresses (though "acting singer" would be more accurate). Providing a large voice, incisive musicianship, and an appropriately tragic appearance as Elektra, she was unmatched during the period in which she sang the role. Her close identification with the daughter of Agamemnon somewhat obscured the fact that she excelled in other dramatic roles as well. Reports of a tempestuous personal life were closely held until after the singer's death and were not really a factor in the singer's well-deserved celebrity. Pauly studied with Rosa Papier-Paumgartner, the famous contralto, pedagogue, and wife of composer/writer Hans Paumgartner. Pauly's debut has been variously reported as having taken place in Hamburg and Vienna. The 1917 - 1918 season in Hamburg appears to have brought her first stage appearance as a secondary singer in Martha, but the ensuing five years found her performing ever-larger roles in Gera, Karlsruhe, and Cologne. It is reported that it was Cologne where conductor Otto Klemperer first heard the soprano and engaged her for the Kroll Opera in Berlin to star in numerous productions from 1927 to 1931, including an opening production of Fidelio. While some sources report a debut at the Vienna Staatsoper as early as 1923, her real years of ensemble membership there were between 1929 and 1936. Though she first essayed the Empress in Strauss' monumental Die Frau ohne Schatten, she later took up the role of the Dyer's Wife to even greater success. Likewise, she surrendered Elsa (Lohengrin) in favor of Ortrud. Pauly sang and acted nearly all of the major Wagner and Strauss roles, as well as demonstrating an ability to make something extraordinary of a number of roles from contemporary opera. After performing the title role in the German premiere of Janácek's Kàta Kabanová in Cologne, she created a stir as Jenùfa at the Berlin Staatsoper. Agave in Egon Wellesz's Die Bakchantinnen (a role she created) and Maria in Ernst Krenek's Der Diktator provided their own special moments and further acclamation followed her performances in works by Berg, Schilling, Hindemith, Schrecker, and d'Albert (Tiefland). Despite her wide-ranging mastery of the dramatic repertory, Pauly was most celebrated for her Elektra. Both at Vienna and at the Salzburg Festival, her interpretation was regarded as overwhelming. At the former institution, she was appointed Kammersängerin. In Italy, Pauly became known as "La Duse tedesca," the German (Eleonora) Duse and her portrait was hung next to Duse's in Trieste's Verdi Opera House. Pauly made her first American appearance in a March 18, 1937, New York Philharmonic concert performance of Elektra. After a prolonged ovation, a host of the musical elite streamed backstage to offer their congratulations. Olin Downes proclaimed her "the greatest and most dramatic singer in this part to have been heard in this country." Pauly's Metropolitan Opera debut as Elektra the following January brought more encomiums, Lawrence Gilman deeming it a "superb impersonation," one of "clarity and eloquence." When Pauly repeated the role for her May 5, 1938, Covent Garden debut, the notoriously hard-to-please Ernest Newman extolled her "devotion and intensity" and "beautiful as well as commanding singing." Among Pauly's all too few recordings are excerpts from Elektra and a stunning awakening scene from Strauss' Die Ägyptische Helena.