Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, RIP

[egoodstein]

Robert posted this at Goddesses. Sad to see the passing of a true talent and true legend .

Renowned soprano Schwarzkopf dead
> Opera giant was 90
>
> VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- Famed soprano Elisabeth
> Schwarzkopf, one of the greatest voices of the 20th
> century, died at her home in western Austria early
> Thursday, state television reported. She was 90.
>
> Schwarzkopf, ranked alongside Maria Callas as a giant
> of the opera and concert stage, died about 1:15 a.m.
> in the town of Schruns in Austria's westernmost
> province of Vorarlberg, where she most recently lived,
> state broadcaster ORF said, citing a local funeral
> home director. No cause of death was given.
>
> Schwarzkopf, who retired in 1975, captivated audiences
> and critics alike during a career that spanned four
> decades.
>
> Her leading roles, ranging from Elvira in Mozart's
> "Don Giovanni" to the Marschallin in Richard Strauss'
> "Der Rosenkavalier," were immortalized on records and
> CDs. So were her recitals of lieder -- German songs of
> a lyrical, often popular character.
>
> After her retirement she admitted having applied to
> join the Nazi Party in 1939 but she said it was "akin
> to joining a union" so that should could further her
> singing career.
>
> Performing with an array of famous conductors,
> including Wilhelm Furtwaengler, Otto Klemperer,
> Vittorio de Sabata and Herbert von Karajan, the
> German-born soprano was a "diva assoluta," an absolute
> star.
>
> "Perhaps never again will there be a recitalist like
> here," wrote Andre Tubeuf, one of Europe's most
> influential music critics and one of her many
> enthusiastic admirers.
>
> Schwarzkopf was born December 9, 1915, in Jarotschin
> in what was then eastern Germany, but which became the
> Polish town of Jarocin in the redrawing of national
> boundaries after World War I ended three years later.
>
> Her family moved to Berlin, where she became a
> prize-winning student at the Berlin Hochschule fuer
> Musik, now part of the Berlin University of the Arts.
>
> A wrong analysis by her first voice teacher, who
> thought she was a contralto, almost thwarted her
> ambitions, she recalled later. Her mother recognized
> the danger and made her change teachers.
>
> Schwarzkopf first was paid to sing as a member of the
> chorus in a 1937 recording of Mozart's "The Magic
> Flute" under the baton of Sir Thomas Beecham.
>
> One year later, she made her operatic debut at the
> Berlin Municipal Opera as one of the flower maidens in
> Richard Wagner's "Parsifal." Given short notice, she
> learned the part overnight. Two years later she
> already was singing prominent parts, including as
> Zerbinetta in Strauss' "Ariadne on Naxos."
>
> Tuberculosis forced her to rest for a year, just after
> she was signed by the Vienna State Opera. Following
> recovery in 1944, she could sing only a few weeks in
> Vienna before Allied air raids sent the curtains
> falling on all stages.

[jhar26]

A sad day for music lovers the world over, although you wouldn't know from the attention it gets in the press, at least not over here.

"Famous soprano Schwarzkopf dies" it read in the newspaper this morning. Mind you, it did so on page 27 in the bottom right hand corner. I'm glad I had my magnifying glass with me because otherwise I wouldn't have noticed.

It's a sad world indeed when the death of one of the great artists of the 20th century is as good as ignored. On the other hand, if you want to know the latest news about Britney playing basketball with her baby, Madonna being nailed to the cross in her new show (all for the good fight against aids, you know) or Christina shaking her ass in clothes from the 1920's in her latest clip and calling it jazz I'm sure the press will keep you informed about all the latest developments. Good to know that they got their priorities.

Gaston

[egoodstein]

>>A sad day for music lovers the world over, although you wouldn't know from the attention it gets in the press, at least not over here.

"Famous soprano Schwarzkopf dies" it read in the newspaper this morning. Mind you, it did so on page 27 in the bottom right hand corner.<<

**At least her passing was a 'headline banner' on AOL 'entertainment' section online for awhile I noticed. To be honest that surprised me-- usually it's the antics of some pop star de jour or whatever, or lately Mel Gibson's drinking and driving follies. . 'Course in media terms, ES also had been out of the headlines and loop for several years, & so thus not significant in media terms as things go these days. Ed

[jhar26]

Famed Soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf Dies

news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060804/ap_en_mu/obit_schwarzkopf_10

Gaston

[egoodstein]

Nice article about her, from Wall St. Journal. Ed

MUSIC

A Vocal Beauty Who Could Be a Beast
By BARRYMORE LAURENCE SCHERER
August 10, 2006

Of the many great classical singers since World War II, there are comparatively few whose voices are recognizable almost by a single note. Like Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti and the late Birgit Nilsson, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, who died at age 90 on Aug. 3, was one.

Among the finest Lieder singers of the 1950s and '60s, Schwarzkopf was often ranked beside the revered baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau for her interpretations of Schubert, Richard Strauss and Wolf songs. A poised and beautiful woman, she was an opera star of the first magnitude, a true diva, commanding the stages of Vienna, La Scala, Covent Garden, Salzburg and, only briefly, the Metropolitan in the great Mozart and Strauss roles. She could plumb the emotional depths of Bach cantatas and melt your heart in Viennese operetta. Schwarzkopf's voice was a limpid lyric soprano, its tone enhanced with a burnished sheen comparable to that of fine old silver. Her singing fairly defined the Austro-German school of vocalism and bespoke a personal, national individuality that has become rare in our modern age of international musical standardization, when singers, musicians and entire orchestras, for all their technical excellence, often seem interchangeable.

As much as she was admired, she was criticized. There were those who disliked the Germanic bell-like focus of her voice. On some of her recordings, such as the 1952 "Marriage of Figaro" under Herbert von Karajan, her prominent, rapid vibrato in the Mozart opera is sometimes uneven. Moreover, as she was trained in the period before the post-World War II bel-canto revival, rapid coloratura passagework -- which we now take for granted in singers like Cecilia Bartoli -- was never really part of Schwarzkopf's stock in trade.

But the most frequent criticism leveled at Schwarzkopf was that her singing was cold, too calculated, too patrician. This perception stemmed in part from her identification with certain regal operatic roles, most notably the Countess in "The Marriage of Figaro" and the Marschallin in Richard Strauss's "Der Rosenkavalier." She was the finest Marschallin of the postwar generation. Her beauty and natural dignity ideally suited the character: an 18th-century Austrian princess married to an indifferent husband. Schwarzkopf's insightful performances of the role are preserved on the classic 1956 recording (EMI) and 1962 film, both under Karajan.

She was outstanding, too, as Donna Elvira in Mozart's "Don Giovanni," as the Countess in Strauss's "Capriccio" and in the demanding title role of Strauss's "Ariadne auf Naxos." Yet she could also whip up delectable froth as Rosalinde, the crafty heroine of Johann Strauss II's merry "Die Fledermaus." Schwarzkopf always emphasized the importance of revealing the psychology behind any vocal work, and the equivalent importance of spontaneity and emotion. This rings true in her exquisite legato and enunciation when she again played the Countess in "The Marriage of Figaro," this time in a 1959 EMI recording conducted with exceptional sympathy by Carlo Maria Giulini. Her performance of the aria "Porgi amor" -- "God of love, assuage my sorrow, return to me my treasure, or at least let me die" -- refutes all accusations of coldness. The poised restraint of her singing of this aria, or of those in Bach's "St. Matthew Passion" (recorded in 1961 under Otto Klemperer), evokes in my mind the polish of Antonio Canova's marble statue of "The Three Graces" -- on close scrutiny great subtleties reveal themselves beneath the smooth, polished surface.

Schwarzkopf was famous for her self-possession. Even at her New York concert farewell at Carnegie Hall in 1975 she was notably unsentimental. At the end of the evening she rewarded the rapturous audience with encores -- but then walked to the piano (minus her accompanist) and firmly closed the keyboard.

As a renowned teacher of public master classes she was notorious for withering criticism of students she deemed not up to her exacting standards. It is possible that her offstage bluntness was a result of her relationship with the acerbic EMI record executive Walter Legge, whom she married in 1953. Legge, endowed with exceptionally astute taste in music, personally expanded Schwarzkopf's repertoire, coaching her and overseeing her recordings. For example, when she was preparing "St. Matthew Passion," Legge had her study the starkly moving religious paintings of the 15th-century German artist Matthias Grünewald. But while playing Svengali to her Trilby, Legge was not above embarrassing his wife in public with his critical barbs. She learned her cruelty from a master.

Perhaps nowhere did she make her mark as clearly as in her definitive 1966 recording of Strauss's "Four Last Songs" with George Szell and the Berlin Radio Symphony. The long, arching vocal melodies of Strauss's valedictory lieder demand consummate breath control and the ability to maintain a quiet emotional intensity over a long stretch of time. This is supremely apparent in the third song, "Beim Schlafengehen" (On Going to Sleep). This deeply moving song is a favorite of Strauss lovers, and its performance reveals why Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, at the peak of her vocal powers, was the pre-eminent Strauss interpreter of her day. Her career had its share of controversy, stemming from her well-documented ties to the Nazi Party during her youth. She was not alone in this: Other great artists like Karajan, Wilhelm Fürtwängler and Klemens Krauss had also played with that demonic fire to a greater or lesser degree. But when listening now to this song, and to so many other Schwarzkopf performances in her recorded legacy, we can only be thankful for the extraordinary music she made, and thankful that, while she herself is now silenced, her artistry will continue to resound.

Mr. Scherer, author of the 1996 book "Bravo!: A Guide to Opera for the Perplexed" (Dutton-Plume), writes on classical music for the Journal.

[jhar26]

Great article, Ed. A fitting tribute to an outstanding talent. Thanks for posting.

Interesting point, and one I agree with is that todays classical artists often sound excellent but interchangeable compared to those from the past, and not just the singers. I mean, the Toscanini sound was definitely very different from the Klemperer sound. One would never have mistaken a Furtwangler recording for one of Karajan, and so on. There's much less of that today.

Gaston