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Popp was an accomplished coloratura soprano in the early years of her career, but later as her voice changed color slightly, she moved with great success into the lyric repertoire, and still later, into the lighter Strauss and Wagner operas. She had the ideal voice and personality for Viennese operetta, and was one of the best Rosalindes and Hanna Glawaris of her time. She was also a celebrated recitalist and lieder singer, and in both recitals and on the opera stage had a charming stage presence. Her untimely death in 1993 (the same year that saw the early deaths of Arleen Auger and Tatiana Troyanos) prematurely ended a major career. When she was a child, while she sang in local choirs, her primary interest was acting, and after high school, not being certain of what she wanted for a career, she entered the Bratislava Academy to study drama. Anna Hrusovska-Prosenkova, a voice teacher at the Academy, happened to hear her singing during a performance of Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, and of...