Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Dame
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
DBE
(
9 December
1915
in
Jarotschin
in
Prussia
-
3 August
2006
in
Schruns
,
Austria
) was a
German
-
British
soprano
. She was one of the most famous opera singers of the 20th century as well as a famous
recitalist
. She was particularly known for singing the music of
Mozart
,
Schubert
,
Strauss
, and
Wolf
.
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
was born in Jarotschin in the province of Posen in
Prussia
. Schwarzkopf showed an interest in music from an early age. She first sang in an opera in
1928
when she took the part of Eurydice in a school production of
Gluck's
Orfeo ed Euridice
in
Magdeburg
, Germany. In 1934, Schwarzkopf started to study in
Berlin Hochschule fur Musik
, then she changed teachers and started working with the
coloratura
soprano
Maria Ivogun as well as with Ivogun's husband, the pianist Michael Raucheisen.
Schwarzkopf gave her first professional performance at the
Deutsche Oper Berlin
on
15 April
1938
, as the Second Flower Maiden (First Group) in Act II of
Richard Wagner
's
Parsifal
. She sang in Berlin for four years, during which time she joined the
Nazi Party
. Because of this she was later not allowed to appear in the United States.
[1]
In
1942
, she was invited to sing with the
Vienna State Opera
, where her roles included Konstanze in Mozart's
Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail
, Musetta and later Mimi in
Puccini
's
La boheme
and Violetta in
Verdi
's
La traviata
.
In 1945, Schwarzkopf was given
Austrian
citizenship
so that she would be allowed to sing in the
Vienna State Opera
. In
1947
and
1948
, Schwarzkopf appeared on tour with the Vienna State Opera at London's
Royal Opera House
at
Covent Garden
on 16 September 1947 as Donna Elvira in Mozart's
Don Giovanni
and at
La Scala
on 28 December 1948, as the Countess in Mozart's
The Marriage of Figaro
, which became one of her most famous roles.
From that time on she was invited to sing all over the world, including at
La Scala
,
Milan
and the
San Francisco Opera
.
In March 1946, Schwarzkopf had been invited to
audition
for
Walter Legge
. Legge was a man who produced
classical music
recordings in Britain. He had founded the
Philharmonia Orchestra
. Legge asked Schwarzkopf to sing
Hugo Wolf
's
lied
Wer rief dich denn?
. He thought she was so good that he gave her an exclusive
contract
with
EMI
. They worked a lot together, and they were married on
19 October
1953
in
Epsom
,
Surrey
; Schwarzkopf now had British citizenship because of her marriage to an Englishman.
In the 1960s, when Schwarzkopf sang in operas she nearly always sang one of her five favourite operatic roles: Donna Elvira in Mozart's
Don Giovanni
, Countess Almaviva in
The Marriage of Figaro
, Fiordiligi in
Cosi fan tutte
, Countess Madeleine in
Strauss's
Capriccio
, and the Marschallin in
Der Rosenkavalier
. She was also good at singing Alice Ford in
Verdi's
Falstaff
. On the EMI label she made several "champagne operetta" recordings like
Franz Lehar
's
The Merry Widow
and
Johann Strauss II
's
The Gypsy Baron
.
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 only sang in
lieder
recitals
.
On
17 March
1979
, Walter Legge had a serious
heart attack
. His doctors told him to rest, but instead of resting he went to Schwarzkopf's last recital two days later in
Zurich
. Three days later, he died.
After retiring, Schwarzkopf taught and gave
master classes
around the world, especially at the
Juilliard School
in
New York City
. She was well known for being an extremely strict teacher who stopped her pupils to
criticize
every little bit of detail. After living in
Switzerland
for many years, she went to live in Vorarlberg, 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. She received many other awards.
Schwarzkopf died in her sleep during the night of 2?3 August 2006 at her home in the village of Schruns, in Vorarlberg, western Austria, aged 90.
- ↑
The Guardian
(Michael H Kater)
Triumph of the wilful
24 August 2006
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
Academics
| |
---|
Artists
| |
---|
People
| |
---|
Other
| |
---|