Release Date: 31 March 2006
Label: Naxos - Historical / Naxos Historical
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 747313314522
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: STRAUSS, R.
Description
Great Singers Elisabeth SchwarzkopfRichard Strauss: FourLast Songs / Arabella (Highlights) "Schwarzkopf sings Strauss". The description isapt as invariably her singing and interpretation did complete justice to thecomposer's many demands. She had all the requisite vocal qualities for afirst-rate singer of the music of Richard Strauss: radiance, tenderness, vocal colour,always alive to the nuances of the text, and very observant of what thecomposer demanded. It also helped that she had a lively and engaging stagemanner. She always possessed an enquiring mind, working long and hard to masterall these requirements. In addition, she was a very hard taskmaster of herself,never resting on her laurels. Little wonder that she was recognised rightly asone of the finest singers of her time.Elisabeth Schwarzkopf was born in Jarocin, near Poznan on 9 December 1915.She studied initially in Berlin with the contralto Lula Mysz-Gmeiner, who was ofthe view that her student had a similar vocal range. Schwarzkopf made her stagedebut as one of the Flower Maidens in Parsifal with the Berlin Stadtische Oper in 1938. It was, however, in September 1940 that she was given herfirst major Strauss assignment: Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos. She was24 years of age at the time. Unhappy with her voice, afterwards Schwarzkopfwent to study at the Hochschule f?â??r Musik in Berlin with the soprano MariaIvog?â??n, herself a famous previous exponent of the part. She portrayed and sangthe r?â??le of Carmen in sequences from the 1939 German film Drei Unteroffiziere,followed in 1943 by Nacht ohne Abschied, in which she appeared in astage production of Verdi's La traviata opposite tenor Peter Anders. (Bothfilms were subsequently banned by the Allies after 1945 as being too propagandist.)The following year Schwarzkopf appeared in a small r?â??le in Der Verteigiger hat das Wort, singing the song 'Mona' inelegant surroundings.During the years 1940 and 1943 Schwarzkopf sang a number of Liederby Strauss, recordings she made with the accompanist Michael Raucheisen forGerman radio being preserved. These illustrated the lightish quality of hervoice at this time. In November 1942 she was invited by the conductor Karl Bohmto join the Vienna State Opera. Illness delayed her debut, however, until thespring of 1944. At this stage of her career she was a coloratura, later lyricsoprano, singing suchr?â??les as Blondchen in Die Entf?â??hrung aus dem Serail, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro,Musetta in La Boh?â?¿me, and Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia. It wasfollowing a performance in the latter r?â??le in the Theater an der Wien inSeptember 1946 that her life would change for ever when she was auditioned byEMI's recording impresario Walter Legge. Not only did she survive a verydemanding experience but was able to accompany other singers who were laterauditioned.Schwarzkopf's repertoire continued to grow when she took onthe r?â??le of Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, the only surviving examplebeing th
Tracklisting
William Primrose
William Primrose
Vinay:Nbc So&Chorus:Toscanini
Vienna Po:Knappertsbusch
Vienna Po:Furtwangler
Vienna&Berlin Po:Furtwangler
Various Composer
Various (1923-1955)
