The celebrated German-born English soprano, (Olga Maria) Elisabeth (Friederike) Schwarzkopf, was the daughter of Friedrich Schwarzkopf and his wife, Elisabeth Fröhling. From the very beginning, Elisabeth showed an interest in persuing a career in music. She performed in her first opera in 1928, as Eurydice in a school production of Orfeo ed Euridice in Magdeburg, Germany. She was also in demand in concerts and local amateur performances.

In 1934, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf applied for entrance to the Berlin Hochschule für Musik and was accepted. Elisabeth began studying with Lula Mysz-Gmeiner, who began training Elisabeth as a mezzo-soprano. Elisabeth's mother demanded that her daughter be transferred, and Elisabeth began studying with a Dr. Egonolf, who was convinced of Elisabeth's potential as a coloratura soprano. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf trained with Dr. Egonolf for over a year before joining Berlin's Deutsche Oper as a junior soprano on April 13, 1938. Two days later, she made her professional stage debut as the Second Flower Maiden (First Group) in Act II of Wagner's Parsifal. Elisabeth sang at the Deutsche Oper for four years, during which she became a member of the German Nazi Party, leaving Berlin only to sing in one performance as Adele in Die Fledermaus at the Paris Opera when the Deutsche Oper went on tour in September 1941. She left the Deutsche Oper in 1946 and joined the Theater an der Wien in Vienna, where she enjoyed considerable success in roles like Mimi in La Bohème and Violetta in La Traviata. She left the company in 1950 to begin her international career. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf is probably the only singer in history to sing under two names in a single performance. In October 1941, she sang Adele for the first of a series of Die Fledermaus performances but was demoted to the role of Ida for the remainder of the performances. In retaliation, Elisabeth kicked off her shoe during a performance, damaging the huge canvas screen at the back of the set. Her punishment was that she couldn't always sing in productions using her own name. Therefore, in a performance of Parsifal, the role of the Second Flower Maiden (First Group) was sung by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, and the role of the First Page is credited to Maria Helfer, Elisabeth's pseudonym for the month following the Fledermaus incident. When the Vienna State Opera went on tour from 1947 to 1948, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf joined them and was able to travel to Europe's leading opera houses. With the Vienna State Opera, she made her debut at London's Royal Opera House on 16 September 1947 as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and her La Scala debut on December 28, 1948 as the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier. Her real debut at the Royal Opera House was as Pamina in Die Zauberföte on January 16, 1948 and her real La Scala debut was in a performance of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis on June 29, 1950. She didn't make her Metropolitan Opera debut until October 13, 1964, as the Marschallin.