Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Dame Olga Maria Elisabeth Friederike Schwarzkopf, (9 December 19153 August 2006) was a German-born Austro-British
soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261  Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...
. She was among the foremost singers of
lieder In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French sp ...
, and is renowned for her performances of Viennese
operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...
, as well as the operas of
Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...
, Wagner and
Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...
. After retiring from the stage, she was a voice teacher internationally. She is considered one of the greatest sopranos of the 20th century.


Early life

Schwarzkopf was born on 9 December 1915 in
Jarotschin Jarocin () (german: Jarotschin) is a town in west-central Poland with 25,700 inhabitants (1995), the administrative capital of Jarocin County in Greater Poland Voivodeship. Jarocin is a historical town, having been founded and granted city righ ...
in the
Province of Posen The Province of Posen (german: Provinz Posen, pl, Prowincja Poznańska) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1848 to 1920. Posen was established in 1848 following the Greater Poland Uprising as a successor to the Grand Duchy of Posen, w ...
in Prussia, Germany (now Poland) to Friedrich Schwarzkopf and his wife, Elisabeth (). Schwarzkopf performed in her first opera in 1928, as Eurydice in a school production of Gluck's ''
Orfeo ed Euridice ' (; French: '; English: ''Orpheus and Eurydice'') is an opera composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck, based on Orpheus, the myth of Orpheus and set to a libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi. It belongs to the genre of the ''azione teatrale'', mea ...
'' in Magdeburg, Germany. In 1934, Schwarzkopf began her musical studies at the
Berlin Hochschule für Musik The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in Berlin, Germany, is the largest art school in Europe. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four research universiti ...
, where her singing tutor,
Lula Mysz-Gmeiner Lula Mysz-Gmeiner (born Julie Sophie Gmeiner; 15 August 1876 – 7 August 1948) was a German concert contralto and mezzo-soprano born in Transylvania, who performed lieder recitals in Europe and the United States. She was an academic voice teach ...
, attempted to train her to be a mezzo-soprano. Schwarzkopf later trained under Maria Ivogün, and in 1938 joined the Deutsche Oper.


Early career

In 1933, shortly after the Nazis came to power, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf's father, a local school headmaster, was dismissed from his position by the new ruling authorities for having refused to allow a Nazi party meeting at his school. He was also banned from taking any new teaching post. Until Friedrich Schwarzkopf's dismissal, the probability was that the 17-year-old Elisabeth would have studied medicine after passing her
Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...
; but now, as the daughter of a banned school teacher, she was not allowed to enter university and she commenced music studies at the
Berlin Hochschule für Musik The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in Berlin, Germany, is the largest art school in Europe. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four research universiti ...
. Schwarzkopf made her professional debut at the Deutsche Oper Berlin (then called Deutsches Opernhaus) on 15 April 1938, as the Second Flower Maiden (First Group) in act 2 of
Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
's '' Parsifal''. In 1940 Schwarzkopf was awarded a full contract with the Deutsches Opernhaus, a condition of which was that she had to join the Nazi party. Since the theme was brought up in the dissertation of the Austrian historian Oliver Rathkolb in 1982, the question of Schwarzkopf's relationship with the Nazi Party has been discussed repeatedly in the media and in literature. There was criticism that Schwarzkopf, not only in the years immediately after the war but also in confrontation with revelations made in the 1980s and 1990s made contradictory statements, including in regard to her membership in the NSDAP (Member No. 7,548,960). At first, she denied this and then with varying explanations defended it. In one version, for example, she claimed that she joined the party only at the insistence of her father who, himself, had earlier lost his position as school principal after forbidding a Nazi program in the school. Further publications discussed her musical performances during the war before Nazi party conferences and for units of the Waffen-SS. Her defenders argue in favor of her claim that she always strictly separated art from politics and that she was a non-political person. In 1942, she was invited to sing with the Vienna State Opera, where her roles included Konstanze in Mozart's '' Die Entführung aus dem Serail'', Musetta and later Mimì in
Puccini Giacomo Puccini (Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long lin ...
's '' La bohème'' and Violetta in Verdi's''
La traviata ''La traviata'' (; ''The Fallen Woman'') is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on ''La Dame aux camélias'' (1852), a play by Alexandre Dumas ''fils'' adapted from his own 18 ...
''. Schwarzkopf starred in five feature films for Reich Minister of Propaganda
Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 19 ...
, in which she acted, sang and played the piano.


Post-war career

In 1945, Schwarzkopf was granted Austrian citizenship to enable her to sing in the Vienna State Opera (''Wiener Staatsoper''). In 1947 and 1948, Schwarzkopf appeared on tour with the Vienna State Opera at London's Royal Opera House at
Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...
on 16 September 1947 as Donna Elvira in Mozart's ''
Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; Vienna (1788) title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanis ...
'' and at
La Scala La Scala (, , ; abbreviation in Italian of the official name ) is a famous opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the ' (New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala). The premiere performan ...
on 28 December 1948, as the Countess in Mozart's ''
The Marriage of Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' ( it, Le nozze di Figaro, links=no, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premie ...
'', which became one of her signature roles. Schwarzkopf later made her official debut at the Royal Opera House on 16 January 1948, as Pamina in Mozart's '' The Magic Flute'', in performances sung in English, and at La Scala on 29 June 1950 singing Beethoven's ''
Missa solemnis {{Audio, De-Missa solemnis.ogg, Missa solemnis is Latin for Solemn Mass, and is a genre of musical settings of the Mass Ordinary, which are festively scored and render the Latin text extensively, opposed to the more modest Missa brevis. In French ...
''. Schwarzkopf's association with the Milanese house in the early 1950s gave her the opportunity to sing certain roles on stage for the only time in her career: Mélisande in Debussy's '' Pelléas et Mélisande'', Iole in Handel's '' Hercules'', Marguerite in Gounod's '' Faust'', Elsa in Wagner's '' Lohengrin'', as well as her first Marschallin in Richard Strauss's '' Der Rosenkavalier'' and her first Fiordiligi in Mozart's ''
Così fan tutte (''All Women Do It, or The School for Lovers''), K. 588, is an opera buffa in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was first performed on 26 January 1790 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte w ...
'' at the Piccola Scala. On 11 September 1951, she appeared as Anne Trulove in the world premiere of Stravinsky's '' The Rake's Progress''. Schwarzkopf made her American concert debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on October 28 and 29, 1954, in Strauss's '' Four Last Songs'' and the closing scene from '' Capriccio'' with Fritz Reiner conducting; her
Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...
debut was a
Lied In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French s ...
er recital on 25 November 1956; her American opera debut was with the San Francisco Opera on 20 September 1955 as the Marschallin, and her debut at the Metropolitan Opera on 13 October 1964, also as the Marschallin. In March 1946, Schwarzkopf was invited to audition for
Walter Legge Harry Walter Legge (1 June 1906 – 22 March 1979) was an English classical music record producer, most especially associated with EMI. His recordings include many sets later regarded as classics and reissued by EMI as "Great Recordings of the ...
, an influential British classical record producer and a founder of the
Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Richard Strauss, W ...
. Legge asked her to sing
Hugo Wolf Hugo Philipp Jacob Wolf (13 March 1860 – 22 February 1903) was an Austrian composer of Slovene origin, particularly noted for his art songs, or Lieder. He brought to this form a concentrated expressive intensity which was unique in late Ro ...
's
lied In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French s ...
''Wer rief dich denn?'' and, impressed, signed her to an exclusive contract with EMI. They began a close partnership and Legge subsequently became Schwarzkopf's manager and companion. They were married on 19 October 1953 in Epsom,
Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
; Schwarzkopf thus acquired British citizenship by marriage. Schwarzkopf would divide her time between
lied In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French s ...
er recitals and opera performances for the rest of her career. When invited in 1958 to select her eight favourite records on the BBC's '' Desert Island Discs'', Schwarzkopf chose seven of her own recordings, and an eighth of Karajan conducting the ''Rosenkavalier'' prelude, as they evoked fond memories of the people she had worked with. In the 1960s, Schwarzkopf concentrated nearly exclusively on five operatic roles: Donna Elvira in ''Don Giovanni'', Countess Almaviva in ''The Marriage of Figaro'', Fiordiligi in ''Così fan tutte'', Countess Madeleine in Strauss's ''Capriccio'', and the Marschallin. She was also well received as Alice Ford in Verdi's ''
Falstaff Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare and is eulogised in a fourth. His significance as a fully developed character is primarily formed in the plays '' Henry IV, Part 1'' and '' Part 2'', w ...
''. However, on the EMI label she made several "champagne operetta" recordings like Franz Lehár's ''
The Merry Widow ''The Merry Widow'' (german: Die lustige Witwe, links=no ) is an operetta by the Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt t ...
'' and Johann Strauss II's ''
The Gypsy Baron ''The Gypsy Baron'' () is an operetta in three acts by Johann Strauss II which premiered at the Theater an der Wien on 24 October 1885. Its German libretto by Ignaz Schnitzer is based on the unpublished 1883 story ''Saffi'' by Mór Jókai. Jokai ...
''. Schwarzkopf's last operatic performance was as the Marschallin on 31 December 1971, in the theatre of La Monnaie in Brussels. For the next several years, she devoted herself exclusively to lieder recitals. On 17 March 1979, Walter Legge suffered a severe heart attack. He disregarded doctor's orders to rest and attended Schwarzkopf's final recital two days later in Zurich. Three days later, he died.


Retirement and death

After retiring (almost immediately after her husband's death), Schwarzkopf taught and gave master classes around the world, notably at the Juilliard School in New York City. After living in Switzerland for many years, she took up residence in Austria. She was made a doctor of music by the University of Cambridge in 1976, and became a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1992. Schwarzkopf died in her sleep during the night of 2–3 August 2006 at her home in Schruns, Vorarlberg, Austria, aged 90. Her ashes, and those of Walter Legge, were buried next to her parents in Zumikon near Zürich, where she had lived from 1982 to 2003.


Legacy

Her discography is considerable both in quality and in quantity and is distinguished for her Mozart and
Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...
operatic portrayals, her two commercial recordings of Strauss's ''Four Last Songs'' and her recordings of lieder, especially those of Wolf. Schwarzkopf is generally considered to have been the greatest German lyric soprano of the twentieth century and one of the finest Mozart singers of all time with an "indescribably beautiful" voice. Schwarzkopf's entry in ''The Grove Book of Opera Singers'' concludes: "Although she dismissed her
azi Party ''Azi'' (''Today'' in Romanian language, Romanian) is a Romanian daily newspaper published in Bucharest. The paper was started in 1990. Today was also the name of a literary magazine published monthly in Romania, from March 1932 to August 1938, ...
membership as a professional necessity, her reputation has remained tarnished by what seems to have been an active party membership."


Awards

* 1950: Lilli Lehmann Medal, Mozarteum International Foundation, Salzburg * 1959: 1. "Orfeo d'Oro", Mantua (?) * 1969: ''Orphée d'or'' recording award from the Académie du disque lyrique in Paris * 1961: Edison Award, Amsterdam * 1961: Awarded the title Deutsche Kammersängerin * 1964: Honorary member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music * 1967: Stockholm television award for best European soprano Stockholmer * 1971: Hugo-Wolf Medal * 1974: Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany * 1982: Mozart Medal of the city of Frankfurt am Main * 1983: Honorary member of the Vienna State Opera and title of Kammersängerin * 1986: Commandeur de l'
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...
* 1991: UNESCO Mozart Medal * 1992: Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to music * 2002: * 2012: Voted into
Gramophone Hall of Fame Launched by ''Gramophone'' magazine in late 2011, the Gramophone Hall of Fame is an annual listing of the people (artists, producers, engineers, A&R directors and label founders) who have contributed to the classical record industry. Fifty individ ...


Quotations

* ''(After being asked about Peter Sellars)'' "There are names I do not want mentioned in my home. Do not say that name in my presence. I have seen what he has done, and it is criminal. As my husband used to say, so far no one has dared go into the Louvre Museum to spray graffiti on the '' Mona Lisa'', but some opera directors are spraying graffiti over masterpieces." – '' Newsweek'' interview, 15 October 1990 * "Many composers today don't know what the human throat is. At Bloomington, Indiana, I was invited to listen to music written in
quarter tone A quarter tone is a pitch halfway between the usual notes of a chromatic scale or an interval about half as wide (aurally, or logarithmically) as a semitone, which itself is half a whole tone. Quarter tones divide the octave by 50 cents each, a ...
s for four harps and voices. I had to go out to be sick." – ''Newsweek'' interview, 15 October 1990 * ''(Asked in 1995 if she would sing in the cultural climate of the 1990s if she were much younger)'' "It's a kind of prostitution now. There is nobody I envy. There's a disintegration of integrity in our profession."


Recordings

*''Recital at Carnegie Hall'' (1956), EMI in "Great Performances of the Century", 1989"Elisabeth Schwarzkopf Recital"
review by John von Rhein, '' Chicago Tribune'', 30 April 1989
Bach * ''
St Matthew Passion The ''St Matthew Passion'' (german: Matthäus-Passion, links=-no), BWV 244, is a '' Passion'', a sacred oratorio written by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1727 for solo voices, double choir and double orchestra, with libretto by Picander. It sets ...
'' ( Klemperer),
Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Richard Strauss, W ...
(Warner Classics 1961) Brahms * '' A German Requiem'' (Klemperer),
Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Richard Strauss, W ...
(Warner Classics 1961) Humperdinck * ''
Hänsel und Gretel "Hansel and Gretel" (; german: Hänsel und Gretel ) is a German fairy tale collected by the German Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 in Grimms' Fairy Tales, ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' (KHM 15). It is also known as Little Step Brother and Little ...
'' ( Karajan) (1953) Naxos 8.110897-98 Lehár * ''
Das Land des Lächelns ''The Land of Smiles'' (German: ') is a 1929 romantic operetta in three acts by Franz Lehár. The German language libretto was by and Fritz Löhner-Beda. The performance duration is about 100 minutes. This was one of Lehár's later works, and ...
'' (Ackermann) (1953) and excerpts from Lehár Operettas Naxos 8.111016-17 * ''
Die lustige Witwe ''The Merry Widow'' (german: Die lustige Witwe, links=no ) is an operetta by the Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt t ...
'' (
Kunz Kunz, Künz, or Kunze is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Kunz (singer) (Marco Kunz, born 1985), Swiss singer *Adrian Kunz (born 1967), Swiss international footballer * Alfred Kunz (Catholic priest) (1931–1998), American murde ...
, Gedda) (1953) Naxos 8.111007 Mozart * ''
Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; Vienna (1788) title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanis ...
'' (
Carlo Maria Giulini Carlo Maria Giulini (; 9 May 1914 – 14 June 2005) was an Italian conductor. From the age of five, when he began to play the violin, Giulini's musical education was expanded when he began to study at Italy's foremost conservatory, the Conserva ...
,
Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Richard Strauss, W ...
) (Warner Classics 1959) with
Joan Sutherland Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, (7 November 1926 – 10 October 2010) was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano known for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s. She possessed ...
as Donna Anna. * '' Le nozze di Figaro'' (
Carlo Maria Giulini Carlo Maria Giulini (; 9 May 1914 – 14 June 2005) was an Italian conductor. From the age of five, when he began to play the violin, Giulini's musical education was expanded when he began to study at Italy's foremost conservatory, the Conserva ...
,
Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Richard Strauss, W ...
) (Warner Classics 1959) * ''
Così fan tutte (''All Women Do It, or The School for Lovers''), K. 588, is an opera buffa in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was first performed on 26 January 1790 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte w ...
'' (Otto, Karajan) (1954) Naxos 8.111232-34 * '' Die Zauberflöte'' ( Otto Klemperer) (1960) ( EMI 5673852). She plays the First Lady. * '' Die Entführung aus dem Serail'' ( Rudolf Moralt) (1949) (Gala GL100.501) Puccini *'' Turandot'' as Liù ( Tullio Serafin,
La Scala La Scala (, , ; abbreviation in Italian of the official name ) is a famous opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the ' (New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala). The premiere performan ...
Orchestra; 1957 EMI Classics)
Callas Maria Callas . (born Sophie Cecilia Kalos; December 2, 1923 – September 16, 1977) was an American-born Greek soprano who was one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century. Many critics praised her ''bel cant ...
as Turandot Johann Strauss II * '' Die Fledermaus'' (Gedda, Karajan) (1955) Naxos 8.111036-37 *
Der Zigeunerbaron ''The Gypsy Baron'' () is an operetta in three acts by Johann Strauss II which premiered at the Theater an der Wien on 24 October 1885. Its German libretto by Ignaz Schnitzer is based on the unpublished 1883 story ''Saffi'' by Mór Jókai. Jok ...
(Gedda, Prey, Kunz) (1954 Otto Ackermann, Philharmonia Orchestra & Chorus) EMI Classics 67535 ADD monaural 2CDs: 56:00, 44:11 Richard Strauss * '' Der Rosenkavalier'' ( Herbert von Karajan) (1956) (EMI 77357) The Marschallin was considered her signature-role. * '' Four Last Songs'' / ''
Arabella ''Arabella'', Op. 79, is a lyric comedy, or opera, in three acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, their sixth and last operatic collaboration. Performance history It was first performed on 1 July 1933 at the Dr ...
'' (highlights) (Ackermann, Matacic) (1953, 1954) Naxos 8.111145 * ''Four Last Songs'' (Szell; 1965; Warner Classics "Great Recordings of the Century"; Cat: 0724356696020) * '' Ariadne auf Naxos'' (Streich, Karajan) (1954) Naxos 8.111033-34 * '' Capriccio'' (
Christa Ludwig Christa Ludwig (16 March 1928 – 24 April 2021) was a German mezzo-soprano and occasional dramatic soprano, distinguished for her performances of opera, lieder, oratorio, and other major religious works like masses, passions, and solos in symp ...
, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Nicolai Gedda, Wolfgang Sawallisch) (1957) Warner Classics CDS 7 49014-8 Verdi * ''
Messa da Requiem The ''Messa da Requiem'' is a musical setting of the Catholic funeral mass ( Requiem) for four soloists, double choir and orchestra by Giuseppe Verdi. It was composed in memory of Alessandro Manzoni, whom Verdi admired. The first performance, at ...
'' (Di Stefano, De Sabata) (1954) Naxos 8.111049-50 Richard Wagner * ''
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (; "The Master-Singers of Nuremberg"), WWV 96, is a music drama, or opera, in three acts, by Richard Wagner. It is the longest opera commonly performed, taking nearly four and a half hours, not counting two breaks between acts, and is traditio ...
'' (Karajan) (1951) Naxos 8.110872-75


Video

She can be seen in two videotaped performances as the Marschallin: * ''Schwarzkopf Seefried Fischer-Dieskau'', a black-and-white DVD of these three singers. Schwarzkopf performs the Act I Finale from ''Der Rosenkavalier'', from a performance filmed in London, 1961. Published by Warner Classics, Catalog number DVB 4904429. * '' Der Rosenkavalier: the Film'', a color videotape/DVD of a full length performance conducted by Herbert von Karajan with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra from the 1961 Salzburg Festival, featuring
Sena Jurinac Srebrenka "Sena" Jurinac () (24 October 1921 – 22 November 2011) was a Bosnian-born Austrian operatic soprano. Biography Jurinac was born in Travnik, Bosnia-Herzegovina (then part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia), the daughter of a Croatia ...
,
Anneliese Rothenberger Anneliese Rothenberger (19 June 191924 May 2010) was a German operatic soprano who had an active international performance career which spanned from 1942 to 1983. She specialized in the lyric coloratura soprano repertoire, and was particularly adm ...
,
Otto Edelmann Otto Edelmann (5 February 1917 – 14 May 2003) was an Austrian operatic bass. Life Edelmann was born in Vienna and studied singing with Gunnar Graarud. His debut was at Gera as Figaro in Mozart's '' The Marriage of Figaro''. He later sang ...
and
Erich Kunz Erich Kunz (20 May 1909 in Vienna – 8 September 1995 in Vienna) was an Austrian operatic baritone, particularly associated with the roles of Papageno and Beckmesser. Life and career Born in Vienna, Kunz was educated at the Vienna Music Acad ...
; film directed by
Paul Czinner Paul Czinner (30 May 1890 – 22 June 1972) was a Hungarian-born British writer, film director, and producer. Biography Czinner was born to a Jewish family in Budapest, Austria-Hungary. After studying literature and philosophy at the Universi ...
. Published by KULTUR. ASIN: B0043988GM.


Notes and references


Further reading

* Jefferson, Alan ''Elisabeth Schwarzkopf'' Northeastern University Press (August 1996)
Chapter One extract
* Legge, Walter; postscript by Schwarzkopf, Elisabeth; ed. Sanders, Alan ''Walter Legge: Words and Music'' Routledge (1998) * Liese, Kirsten, ''Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. From Flower Maiden To Marschallin''. English translation: Charles Scribner. Molden, Vienna 2007. ; Amadeus Press, New York, 2009. * Sanders, Alan ''The Schwarzkopf Tapes: An artist replies to a hostile biography'', Classical Recordings Quarterly and The Elisabeth Schwarzkopf/Walter Legge Society, (2010) * Sanders, Alan and Steane, John B. ''Elisabeth Schwarzkopf: A Career on Record'', Amadeus Press (January 1996) * Schwarzkopf, Elisabeth ''Les autres soirs'' Tallandier (August 16, 2004) * Schwarzkopf, Elisabeth ''On and Off the Record: A Memoir of Walter Legge'' Faber and Faber (December 31, 1982) ; Scribner (March 1982) ; (paperback) ; University of British Columbia Press (January 1, 2002)


External links


Bach Cantatas biography

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf Museum in Hohenems/Austria
* BB
Obituary: Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
* '' The Guardian'' ( Alan Blyth
Obituary: Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
* '' The Times'
Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
(obituary) * '' The Daily Telegraph'
Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
(obituary) * '' The Washington Post'' (Adam Bernstein
Renowned Coloratura Soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, 90
(obituary) * ''The Washington Post'' (Tim Page

(appreciation) * Norman Lebrecht
Schwarzkopf's Career Had Somber Side
* BB
Soprano Schwarzkopf dies aged 90
* BB
Diva's 'place in history assured'
* ''The Guardian'' (Charlotte Higgins
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf dies at 90
*
Prewar photo of Schwarzkopf as Zerbinetta
(scroll down)
Discography
warnerclassics.com

from sopranos.freeservers.com
Another Discography
(Capon's Lists of Opera Recordings) {{DEFAULTSORT:Schwarzkopf, Elisabeth 1915 births 2006 deaths Lieder singers Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Singers awarded knighthoods German operatic sopranos People from the Province of Posen People from Jarocin Nazi Party members Berlin University of the Arts alumni Österreichischer Kammersänger Naturalised citizens of Austria Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) Honorary Members of the Royal Academy of Music Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres 20th-century German women opera singers Voice teachers Women music educators Women in Nazi Germany