Elisabeth Schwarzkopf

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Elisabeth Schwarzkopf at the Lucerne Music Festival in 1948

Dame Olga Maria Elisabeth Frederike Legge-Schwarzkopf, DBE (born December 9, 1915 in Jarotschin , Province of Posen , †  August 3, 2006 in Schruns , Austria) was a German - British opera and lied singer. She was considered one of the leading sopranos of the second half of the 20th century, best known for her interpretations of Mozart and Strauss operas. Quite a few important critics, conductors and colleagues considered and still consider Elisabeth Schwarzkopf - next to Maria Callas - to be the most important representative of her field in the 20th century.

Life

Youth in Germany

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf was the only child of the grammar school teacher Friedrich Schwarzkopf and his wife Elisabeth, née. Happy, born. From childhood she showed great interest in music, besides singing she also learned piano, guitar, violin and organ. At the age of 13 she sang Eurydice in a school performance of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice in Magdeburg . In 1934 she began her vocal studies at the Berlin University of Music , first as a contralto (with Lula Mysz-Gmeiner ) and mezzo-soprano , later as a coloratura soprano (with Maria Ivogün and Heinrich Egenolf ). She also attended Georg Vollerthun's song class .

On April 15, 1938, she made her debut at the German Opera House in Charlottenburg as the second flower girl in Wagner's Parsifal . She stayed in Berlin for four years; her artistic breakthrough took place in 1940: with her debut as Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos , she aroused the interest of the coloratura soprano Maria Ivogün , who she now taught as her private student in the soprano repertoire and lied.

Schwarzkopf was not interested in the natural inherent tone, which was often held up against her, but in a precise idea and imagination of the sound of the song to be singed. It also did not discolour the vowels, but rather muffled them, as they were used to from Italian opera. In her best times she had a perfectly safe intonation that she only lost in her last years.

Career in Vienna

In 1942 she was hired by Karl Böhm in addition to her Berlin engagement at the Vienna State Opera. There she took part in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio and later also sang Mimi in Puccini's La Bohème and Violetta in Verdi's La traviata .

After the Second World War she played Mimi and Violetta again in the alternative quarters of the State Opera in the Theater an der Wien . Josef Krips and Herbert von Karajan built the famous Vienna Mozart Ensemble around them. The European tours of the State Opera took her in 1947 as Donna Elvira in Mozart's Don Giovanni to London (Royal Opera House) and in 1948 to La Scala in Milan , in the role of Marschallin from Strauss' Rosenkavalier , which became one of her most important roles.

Schwarzkopf made his official debut at the Royal Opera House on January 16, 1948 as Pamina in Mozart's Magic Flute and at La Scala on June 29, 1950 in Beethoven's Missa solemnis . On September 11, 1951, she sang Anne Trulove in the premiere of Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress . Since that time she has also appeared regularly (especially in Mozart operas) at the Salzburg Festival . She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera on October 13, 1964 as Marschallin. Her recording (1966) of Richard Strauss's Four Last Songs under George Szell also remains legendary .

Walter Legge

In March 1946 Herbert von Karajan introduced the young singer Walter Legge , the then producer of the British EMI (“His Master's Voice”, HMV), who was in Vienna on a “voice search”. The singer was invited to a "trial singing" with him. She worked with him and Herbert von Karajan on the piano on Hugo Wolf's song Who called you? and got an exclusive contract. The professional collaboration with Legge also turned into a personal relationship; they married on October 19, 1953 in Epsom, England. In collaboration with Legge, she has now formed her own unmistakable singing style of a cool, "silver" smoothness, an extremely vocal, subtle nuance and always slightly distant performance from the models of the great singers of her time. Her repertoire has always remained true to the German song tradition of the 19th century and late romanticism .

On the advice of her husband, Schwarzkopf reduced her stage repertoire to her star roles in the following years: Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni , the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro , Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte , Countess in Strauss' Capriccio and the Marschallin in Rosenkavalier. In addition, she sometimes sang the role of Alice Ford in Verdi's Falstaff .

Singing teacher

In the 1980s, Schwarzkopf began teaching singing in her master classes. She also required her ruthless harshness towards herself from her students, as well as an unconditional will to clarify articulation, phrasing and vocal perfection. As much as their courses were feared, the knowledge and skills they acquired were also coveted. She taught nearly 500 singers in her master classes. Her students include Thomas Hampson , Matthias Goerne , Hans-Günther Dotzauer , Josephine Pilars de Pilar , Simone Kermes , Cornelius Hauptmann , Annett Illig and Aga Mikolaj .

farewell

Schwarzkopf had her departure from the opera on December 31, 1971 in the Monnaie Theater in Brussels in her star role, the Marschallin (only the first act). In the following years she devoted herself only to the song , the last recital took place on March 17, 1979 in Zurich . The singer has lived in Vorarlberg since 2002 and continued to give private lessons. Her second master class in 1988 at the Hugo Wolf Academy Stuttgart and her last master class with Hugo Wolf songs in Vienna in 2003 were documented on film. On her 90th birthday, the baritone Matthias Goerne gave a recital with Hugo Wolf songs of her choice with Eric Schneider on the piano in Hohenems .

Criticism because of their NSDAP membership

Since the topic was dealt with in the dissertation of the Austrian historian Oliver Rathkolb from 1982, the relationship of the singer to National Socialism has repeatedly been addressed in the media and specialist literature. It was criticized that Schwarzkopf made contradicting statements both in the immediate post-war period and in confrontation with the revelations of the 1980s and 1990s and, among other things, initially denied her NSDAP party membership since 1940 (membership number 7,548,960) and then defended it with various explanations. According to one version, for example, she only joined the party on the advice of her father, who himself had previously lost his position as director because of the prohibition of a National Socialist event at his school. Critics accused the singer, however, of typical repression mechanisms and ruthless careerism during the Nazi era.

In other publications it was discussed that she had singing appearances at party events and during the war in front of units of the Waffen-SS . Schwarzkopf's defenders argued with their assertions that they had always strictly separated art and politics and that they were themselves an apolitical person. In its obituary dated August 4, 2006, the FAZ summed up: "The fact that she had covered up the missteps, even when the matter was not openly admitted, was criticized by some more than the beneficiaries of the Nazi cultural system itself."

death

Tomb in Zumikon

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf died at the age of 90. Her urn was buried in Zumikon near Zurich , where she lived from 1982 to 2003, in a family grave with that of her husband, Walter Legge, next to her parents. Her written estate can be found in the Elisabeth Schwarzkopf Museum of the Schubertiade Vorarlberg in Hohenems . The museum opened in August 2011.

Honors (excerpt)

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (Amsterdam, 1961)

The Swedish King Gustav VI. In 1964 Adolf awarded her the medal "Litteris et artibus". In 1983 she was elected to the chapter of the Order Pour le mérite for Science and the Arts . In 1990 it was the country Baden-Wuerttemberg to Professor appointed. Schwarzkopf also received honorary doctorates from Cambridge University (1976), American University Washington (1982) and Glasgow University (1990). In 1992 Queen Elizabeth II made her Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire .

Quotes

"In duets with 'other good female voices ( Irmgard Seefried , Elisabeth Grümmer ) , there are sound mixes that are among the most beautiful that can be heard from female voices." 'She sang with the nuances of words of a subtle actor and the fine colors of a great painter.' "

- Jürgen Kesting , 2006

" Schwarzkopf, on the other hand, [...] always refused the direct physicality of singing. Rather, the technical is dominant for its effect: the flawless intonation still at the highest pitch, the head voice cultivated down to the last, an incredibly strict legato and the uniform timbre across all registers - siren-like intense, but always matt-shimmering like mother-of-pearl. "

- Jan Brachmann, 2006

“ Exemplary breathing, tremendous accuracy when translating the musical text, a special preference for linguistic accuracy in connection with the singing. So the combination between word and tone, no one will imitate it so quickly, to this day. And at the same time of a vocal beauty, of a voluminous, but never overly lavish voice, but that is so natural and so everything just happened quite normally. For me one of the great role models of the female singer guard. "

- Wolfgang Sawallisch , 2006

“ In a passage from his memories he [Legge] described how he let her [Schwarzkopf] study the greats of the past on the loudspeaker: Rosa Ponselle with her creamy timbre, Meta Seinemeyer , who sang more Italian as a German soprano than many Italians, Frida Leiders Dramatic tension, Lotte Lehmann's all-embracing generosity - all of this should come to a synthesis in his wife's singing. [...] In all of the recordings that she loved herself, [...] the artistic effort worked down to the last fiber can be felt, an effort which, however, seemed to dissolve into an effortless sound. "

- Jens Malte Fischer, Süddeutsche Zeitung , 5./6. August 2006

“ A Marschallin, an Ariadne, a Countess in the 'Capriccio' and who knows how much else we will never hear again in this quality. [...] The term 'faithfulness to the work' was combined undisturbed with imagination and a grasp that immediately captivates the audience, as it was so closely, so compellingly not to be experienced in any of her predecessors and will certainly not be felt in any subsequent artist. "

- Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau , June 4, 2007

Discography

Filmography

  • Elisabeth Schwarzkopf - Portrait of a Singer. A film by Wolf-Eberhard von Lewinski. Production: SR . Broadcast in the first on the occasion of the artist's 70th birthday in December 1985.
  • The relentless art - master class song with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf . A film by Syrthos J. Dreher, 92 min., Stuttgart 1988, SDR. The abridged version (60 min.) Broadcast on SWR 3, SRG / DRS and Classica. Original title I do not want to be cruel, but the fastest way , later changed at the request of E. Schwarzkopf. Divided into 6 different lessons (eg “From the seat of the voice”, “From legato”, “From understanding the text”, “From playing the piano”). The last, “The Legacy,” is a 30-minute interview.
  • “ I heard you! “Elisabeth Schwarzkopf teaches songs by Hugo Wolf. A film by Norbert Beilharz, 60 min., Production: SWR , first broadcast: October 12, 2003
    Documentation of her last master class at the International Hugo Wolf Academy in Stuttgart with Evgenia Grekova, Radu Cojocariu, Gundula Schneider, Agust Olafsson, Jae Eun Lee and Hartmut Höll at the piano.
    - Elisabeth Schwarzkopf Masterclass , the same film is shortened by a quarter of an hour
  • The Rosenkavalier. Film by Paul Czinner, with Schwarzkopf, Edelmann, Jurinac, Kunz, Rothenberger, Dir. H. von Karajan, Salzburg 1960, 192 min. On DVD
  • Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. A Viennese Evening. Conducted by Willi Boskowsky, recording of a Viennese evening, October 31, 1963 by Radio Canada, DVD, b / w, 49 min., Format 4: 3, NTSC, pay attention to the regional code. IT sings Viennese blood, don't be angry, if you give yourself roses in Tyrol, Viljalied, Vienna Vienna
  • Elisabeth Schwarzkopf soprano. Recordings of concerts in London 1961, London 1970 (Gerald Moore) and Paris 1967 (conductor: Berislav Klobučar ). Partly b / w. DVD medici arts NTSC.
  • Participation in the feature films The Defender Has the Word , Germany 1943/1944 with R. Fernau and Heinrich George and Das Mädchen von Saint Coeur , short film from 1939/1940, both stored in the Federal Film Archive in Berlin-Wilmersdorf, rights with the Murnau Foundation
  • 1986 film portrait of Alan Benson, UK. Duration 60 min. ES talks about her life and her career. Impressions from the master class in Aldeburgh complete the film portrait.
  • ES masterclass. Documentation, Germany, 2000, 60 min. It was possible to observe how she taught the Russian singer Evgenia Grekova at her last masterclass. They practiced Mozart's Pamina together.
  • ES in conversation with August Everding. Since Capo first broadcast on May 17, 1986, 60 min.
  • ES in conversation with Karl Löbl on December 12, 2004 live from the Vienna State Opera. 55 min

literature

Obituaries

Student (selection)

Web links

Commons : Elisabeth Schwarzkopf  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Elisabeth Schwarzkopf  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Schwarzkopf received British citizenship in 1953 through her marriage to Walter Legge .
  2. ↑ answers.com
  3. ↑ Mirko Weber: Sensitive at a distance . In: Die Zeit , No. 50/2005
  4. ↑ Oliver Rathkolb: Political Propaganda of the American Occupying Power in Austria 1945 to 1950: A Contribution to the History of the Cold War in Press, Culture and Broadcasting Policy . University of Vienna, Vienna 1982 (dissertation). See also: Oliver Rathkolb: Loyal to the Führer and God-Grace : Artistic Elites in the Third Reich . ÖBV, Vienna 1991, ISBN 3-215-07490-7 .
  5. ↑ Party member since March 1, 1940, at their request of January 26, 1940. Cf. Fred K. Prieberg : Handbuch German Musicians 1933–1945 . Kiel 2004, CD-ROM Lexicon, p. 9461.
  6. ^ John Tagliabue: Germans Explore Ties of Musicians of Nazis . In: The New York Times , March 17, 1983, p. 17. Hendrik Bebber: It was a wonderful life . Alan Jefferson's controversial Schwarzkopf biography was released in London yesterday . In: Berliner Zeitung , January 12, 1996. David Mermelstein: Hoopla With Dark Undertones . In: The New York Times, Aug 4, 1996, p. 22; see the criticism . James R. Oestreich: Video View: Maestros Serving Other Masters . In: The New York Times, July 20, 1997, p. 22. Anthony Tommasini: Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Opera Singer, Dies at 90 . In: New York Times , August 4, 2006. Gerhard R. Koch: The singer of the century: To the death of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf . In: FAZ , August 4, 2006. Cornelius Hauptmann: Another - very personal - obituary . ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Neue Musikzeitung , August 2006. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nmz.de
  7. ↑ Schwarzkopf Museum Hohenems
  8. ↑ Thomas Strünkelnberg: Elisabeth Schwarzkopf died at the age of 90 years . Singer was considered one of the greatest sopranos of the 20th century . In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung , August 4, 2006
  9. ↑ Jan Brachmann: A siren of the intellect . In: Berliner Zeitung , August 4, 2006
  10. ↑ Wolfgang Sawallisch pays tribute to Elisabeth Schwarzkopf: voice with "overwhelming beauty". Deutschlandfunk , August 4, 2006, ondemand-mp3.dradio.de (MP3) ( Memento from August 30, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
  11. ↑ Rosa Ponselle in the English language Wikipedia
  12. ^ Elisabeth Schwarzkopf: The interpreter of the interpreter . In: FAZ , June 6, 2007
  13. ↑ Table of contents ( Memento from February 19, 2006 in the web archive archive.today )
  14. ↑ Meeting in the world
  15. ↑ Report in the time
  16. ↑ Elisabeth Schwarzkopf Masterclass
personal data
SURNAME Schwarzkopf, Elisabeth
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Legge-Schwarzkopf, Olga Maria Elisabeth Frederike (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-British opera and lied singer
DATE OF BIRTH December 9, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Jarotschin , Poznan Province
DATE OF DEATH August 3, 2006
Place of death Schruns , Austria