Elisabeth Schwarzkopf: Performance Perfectionist
A prominent musician blessed with a flawless voice, this soprano gave compelling performances that continue to draw interest to this day.
Throughout her career, Schwarzkopf split her performances between concerts and the opera, showing great panache in both arenas. Her operatic repertoire tended to focus on works by composers such as Mozart and Strauss, whilst she also became a shining star of Lieder performances.
Schwarzkopf pushed herself to heights previously inaccessible to her contemporaries, and her repertoire became expansive and widely appreciated. The soprano’s stage performances were wonderful, and it was during these moments that Schwarzkopf truly came into her own. The singer was breathtaking in prima donna roles such as Countess Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni.
As her career continued, Schwarzkopf restricted herself somewhat to these centre-stage roles, whereas in the past she had performed a wide variety of repertoire.
The noted classical music record producer, Walter Legge, married Schwarzkopf in 1953, coincidentally affording the singer seemingly endless opportunity for recording. After Legge’s death in 1979, Schwarzkopf ceased her performance career and pursued teaching. She was a strict and demanding mistress, her high expectations undoubtedly brought about by years of success and celebration.
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf was made a Dame in 1992, and passed away in early August 2006.
As an hommage to this wonderful musician, we have added a number of her studio and live recordings — including rarities such as this famous song by Dvořák that was not part of her usual lieder repertoire.
Puccini’s Mimì is a role that Schwarzkopf sang on stage in her early years, as were Violetta, Musetta and several other roles not normally connected with her name.
This is a genuine live recording from the first Bayreuth Festival after World War II. Herbert von Karajan, Otto Edelmann and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf are only a few names from the stellar cast of this brilliant recording that has been famous since its first release. Karajan and Schwarzkopf only participated in the Bayreuth Festival in 1951, when Karajan also conducted the ‘Ring’, in which Schwarzkopf sang Wellgunde.
For many years Elisabeth Schwarzkopf regularly appeared at the Salzburg Festival, singing operatic roles, concerts, and recitals. This 1953 recital, completely consisting of lieder by Hugo Wolff, is legendary not least because it is the only lieder programm with Wilhelm Furtwängler as an accompanist. We have added the complete recital this week.
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf took on the role of Cressida in Walton’s opera shortly after the world premiere at London’s Covent Garden Opera House. Soon after this opening, the composer decided to make a recording of a number of important scenes with this cast. On hearing these excerpts, one can only regret that no complete recording was made.
One of Schwarzkopf’s most famous recordings, and one of the best recordings of Strauss’s song cycle.
