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& ...

. 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 s ...

, 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 ...

, 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. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

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 ...

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 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, ...

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

(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 the myth of Orpheus and set to a libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi. It belongs to the genre of the '' azione teatrale'', meaning a ...

'' in

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebu ...

, 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 univers ...

, 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 teacher ...

, 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 ye ...

; but now, as the daughter of a banned school teacher, she was not allowed to enter university and she commenced music studies at the

. Schwarzkopf made her professional debut at the

Deutsche Oper Berlin The Deutsche Oper Berlin is a German opera company located in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin. The resident building is the country's second largest opera house (after Munich's) and also home to the Berlin State Ballet. Since 2004, the D ...

(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 ''Parsifal'' ( WWV 111) is an opera or a music drama in three acts by the German composer Richard Wagner and his last composition. Wagner's own libretto for the work is loosely based on the 13th-century Middle High German epic poem ''Parzival ...

''. 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 The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

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 The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...

. 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 ' () ( K. 384; ''The Abduction from the Seraglio''; also known as ') is a singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Gottlieb Stephanie, based on Christoph Friedrich Bretzner's ''Belmont und Constanze, oder Di ...

'', Musetta and later Mimì in Puccini's ''

La bohème ''La bohème'' (; ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions '' quadri'', '' tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giusep ...

'' and Violetta in

Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the ...

'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 ow ...

''. 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 ...

, 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 The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal ...

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'' (; Köchel catalogue, K. 527; Vienna (1788) title: , literally ''The rake (stock character), Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Pon ...

'' 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 premi ...

'', 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 ''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a '' Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that in ...

'', in performances sung in English, and at La Scala on 29 June 1950 singing Beethoven's '' Missa solemnis''. 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 Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the ...

'', Marguerite in Gounod's ''

Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroa ...

'', Elsa in Wagner's '' Lohengrin'', as well as her first Marschallin in Richard Strauss's ''

Der Rosenkavalier (''The Knight of the Rose'' or ''The Rose-Bearer''), Op. 59, is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel ''Les amours du chevalier de Faublas'' ...

'' 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 ...

'' at the Piccola Scala. On 11 September 1951, she appeared as Anne Trulove in the world premiere of Stravinsky's ''

The Rake's Progress ''The Rake's Progress'' is an English-language opera from 1951 in three acts and an epilogue by Igor Stravinsky. The libretto, written by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, is based loosely on the eight paintings and engravings '' A Rake's Prog ...

''. Schwarzkopf made her American concert debut with the

Chicago Symphony Orchestra The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) was founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891. The ensemble makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival. The music director is Riccardo Muti, who began his tenu ...

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, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th and 57th Streets. Designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built ...

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 San Francisco Opera (SFO) is an American opera company founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola (1881–1953) based in San Francisco, California. History Gaetano Merola (1923–1953) Merola's road to prominence in the Bay Area began in 1906 when h ...

on 20 September 1955 as the Marschallin, and her debut at the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is opera ...

on 13 October 1964, also as the Marschallin. In March 1946, Schwarzkopf was invited to audition for Walter Legge, 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, ...

. 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 ...

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 county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

; Schwarzkopf thus acquired British citizenship by marriage. Schwarzkopf would divide her time between

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 ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a "castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (usua ...

'', 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''. 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 ...

'' 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 The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely ...

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 , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

in 1976, and became a Dame Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(DBE) in 1992. Schwarzkopf died in her sleep during the night of 2–3 August 2006 at her home in Schruns,

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( , ; gsw, label= Vorarlbergisch, Vorarlbearg, , or ) is the westernmost state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is the state with th ...

, Austria, aged 90. Her ashes, and those of Walter Legge, were buried next to her parents in Zumikon near

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Z ...

, 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

operatic portrayals, her two commercial recordings of Strauss's ''Four Last Songs'' and her recordings of lieder, especially those of

Wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

. Schwarzkopf is generally considered to have been the greatest German

lyric soprano A lyric soprano is a type of operatic soprano voice that has a warm quality with a bright, full timbre that can be heard over an orchestra. The lyric soprano voice generally has a higher tessitura than a soubrette and usually plays ingenues and ot ...

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 Partymembership 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 The Royal Swedish Academy of Music ( sv, Kungliga Musikaliska Akademien), founded in 1771 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies in Sweden. At the time of its foundation, only one of its co-founder was a professional musician, Ferdin ...

* 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 The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

* 1982: Mozart Medal of the city of

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

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 The UNESCO Mozart Medal is an award named after Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and administered by UNESCO. Recipients * Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, 1991 * Alicia Terzian, 1995 * Elfi von Dassanowsky, 1996 * Igor Moiseyev, 2001, for "outstanding contributio ...

* 1992: Dame Commander of the

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 Peter Sellars (born September 27, 1957) is an American theatre director, noted for his unique contemporary stagings of classical and contemporary operas and plays. Sellars is professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), whe ...

)'' "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 The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the '' Venus de Milo''. A central ...

Museum to spray graffiti on the ''

Mona Lisa The ''Mona Lisa'' ( ; it, Gioconda or ; french: Joconde ) is a half-length portrait painting by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, it has been described as "the best kno ...

'', but some opera directors are spraying graffiti over masterpieces." – ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

'' interview, 15 October 1990 * "Many composers today don't know what the human throat is. At

Bloomington, Indiana Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the central region of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the seventh-largest city in Indiana and the fourth-largest outside the Indianapolis metropolitan area. According to the Mo ...

, 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 ...

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 The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'', 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 se ...

'' ( Klemperer),

(Warner Classics 1961) Brahms * '' A German Requiem'' (Klemperer),

(Warner Classics 1961) Humperdinck * '' Hänsel und Gretel'' ( 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 h ...

'' (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 Austria-Hungary, Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The Libretto, librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein (writer), Leo Stein, based the story – concerning ...

'' ( Kunz, Gedda) (1953) Naxos 8.111007 Mozart * ''

'' (

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 ...

) (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 possesse ...

as Donna Anna. * '' Le nozze di Figaro'' (

) (Warner Classics 1959) * ''

'' (Otto, Karajan) (1954) Naxos 8.111232-34 * '' Die Zauberflöte'' ( Otto Klemperer) (1960) ( EMI 5673852). She plays the First Lady. * ''

'' ( Rudolf Moralt) (1949) (Gala GL100.501) Puccini *''

Turandot ''Turandot'' (; see below) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, posthumously completed by Franco Alfano in 1926, and set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. ''Turandot'' best-known aria is " Nessun dorma", ...

'' as Liù ( Tullio Serafin,

Orchestra; 1957 EMI Classics) Callas 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. Joka ...

(Gedda, Prey, Kunz) (1954 Otto Ackermann, Philharmonia Orchestra & Chorus) EMI Classics 67535 ADD monaural 2CDs: 56:00, 44:11 Richard Strauss * ''

'' ( 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 Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (28 May 1925 – 18 May 2012) was a German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music, one of the most famous Lieder (art song) performers of the post-war period, best known as a singer of Franz Schubert's Lieder, ...

, Nicolai Gedda,

Wolfgang Sawallisch Wolfgang Sawallisch (26 August 1923 – 22 February 2013) was a German conductor and pianist. Biography Wolfgang Sawallisch was born in Munich, the son of Maria and Wilhelm Sawallisch. His father was director of the Hamburg-Bremer-Feuerversich ...

) (1957) Warner Classics CDS 7 49014-8 Verdi * '' Messa da Requiem'' (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 tradit ...

'' (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 The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Ama ...

, 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 Croatian fa ...

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 t ...

and Erich Kunz; 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

External links

Bach Cantatas biography

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf Museum in Hohenems/Austria
* BB
Obituary: Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
* ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' ( Alan Blyth
Obituary: Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
* ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'
Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
(obituary) * ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...