Brigitte Fassbaender was born on 3 July, 1939 in Berlin. She studied singing with her father, the celebrated baritone Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender, at the Nuremberg Conservatory and joined the Bavarian State Opera in Munich in 1961, where her first leading role was Nicklausse in The Tales of Hoffmann. She first sang Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier) in Munich in 1967, and it was in this role that she launched her international career in 1971 at Covent Garden, and made her Met debut in 1974. In addition to her operatic triumphs, she also achieved success in the concert hall as a Lieder singer.