Elisabeth Schwarzkopf RIP
I am too young to have heard Elisabeth Schwarzkopf in opera but I did hear her twice in recital. The first occasion was at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle in the early 1970s. I was completely taken with the beauty of her voice, her aristocratic stage manner, her detailed interpretations and her wonderful ability to communicate to an audience. A few years later I heard her in what I think was her farewell recital at Covent Garden.
Her operatic repertoire was surprisingly wide during her career (74 roles I read in one obituary), but once she could she settled on a few roles which she sang supremely, as her recordings bear witness. From Mozart there was the Countess in “Figaro”, Fiordiligi in “Cosi” (her come scoglio once heard, never forgotten) and incomparably great, her Donna Elvira in “Don Giovanni”. From Verdi there was a delightful Alice Ford in “Falstaff” and finally there was her Strauss. Her recording of the Marschallin is one of the greatest displays of the vocal art: the moment in the first act when she sings of creeping in the middle of the night to stop the clocks always finds me holding my breath and (literally) sitting on the edge of my seat.
Away from opera, she enjoyed a formidable reputation in Viennese operetta as well as making memorable recordings of Handel’s Messiah (with Klemperer) and Verdi’s Requiem (with Giulini). There is also a beautiful and tasteful Christmas album.
One of the more controversial turns in her career was a series of televised master classes that she did for the BBC. She was criticised for being cruel and rude to the young singers. I took a completely opposite view. I thought she paid the singers the respect of expecting from them the standards that she set for herself. So master classes, which can so often be bland or slightly patronising, became real crucibles of musical exploration. Nothing slip-shod was allowed to pass and she would quite happily have a singer repeat a passage again and again until a fault was eradicated or a new insight gained. I thought these classes were a revelation and count them an enormous influence in my own understanding and appreciation of the singer’s art.
I leave to last what I consider to be her greatest contribution to music and that is her performance and recording of German lieder. Her performances were based on her naturally beautiful voice and impeccable technique. To that she added her interpretative skills: every note, every word, every syllable was examined to establish its place in the whole. As long as vocal art is valued these are recordings that will be treasured and wondered at.
She was yet another of that remarkable generation of singers born in the two decades from 1910-1930. I pay tribute to her and salute her as one of the greatest.
Her operatic repertoire was surprisingly wide during her career (74 roles I read in one obituary), but once she could she settled on a few roles which she sang supremely, as her recordings bear witness. From Mozart there was the Countess in “Figaro”, Fiordiligi in “Cosi” (her come scoglio once heard, never forgotten) and incomparably great, her Donna Elvira in “Don Giovanni”. From Verdi there was a delightful Alice Ford in “Falstaff” and finally there was her Strauss. Her recording of the Marschallin is one of the greatest displays of the vocal art: the moment in the first act when she sings of creeping in the middle of the night to stop the clocks always finds me holding my breath and (literally) sitting on the edge of my seat.
Away from opera, she enjoyed a formidable reputation in Viennese operetta as well as making memorable recordings of Handel’s Messiah (with Klemperer) and Verdi’s Requiem (with Giulini). There is also a beautiful and tasteful Christmas album.
One of the more controversial turns in her career was a series of televised master classes that she did for the BBC. She was criticised for being cruel and rude to the young singers. I took a completely opposite view. I thought she paid the singers the respect of expecting from them the standards that she set for herself. So master classes, which can so often be bland or slightly patronising, became real crucibles of musical exploration. Nothing slip-shod was allowed to pass and she would quite happily have a singer repeat a passage again and again until a fault was eradicated or a new insight gained. I thought these classes were a revelation and count them an enormous influence in my own understanding and appreciation of the singer’s art.
I leave to last what I consider to be her greatest contribution to music and that is her performance and recording of German lieder. Her performances were based on her naturally beautiful voice and impeccable technique. To that she added her interpretative skills: every note, every word, every syllable was examined to establish its place in the whole. As long as vocal art is valued these are recordings that will be treasured and wondered at.
She was yet another of that remarkable generation of singers born in the two decades from 1910-1930. I pay tribute to her and salute her as one of the greatest.
posted by Alnwickian at 4:56 pm
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