The elegance of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf’s soprano, particularly in the operas of Mozart and Richard STRAUSS, will be long remembered, as will her attractive and believable presentation of the dramatic aspects of these roles. Her extensive recordings contain gems of the Viennese operetta, as well as recitals of German lieder, distinguished by exquisite control and apparent effortlessness.
Schwarzkopf was born on December 9, 1915, in the small town of Jarotschin near Poznan, Poland. Her parents moved to Germany when she was still a small child, and she attended school in Magdeburg, where she studied viola and organ, and played the glockenspiel in the school marching band. From early youth her voice was in demand, and she played Eurydice in Gluck’s Orfeo in a school production when she was only 13. In 1934, she entered the Hochschule für Musik, where she studied for a year with the famous singer Lula Mysz-Gmeiner, who tried to make a contralto (the lowest female voice) of her.
Schwarzkopf was accepted into graduate studies at the Opera School, Berlin, and joined the semi-professional Favre Solistenvereinigung ensemble. Her debut at the Berlin Städtische Oper came in 1938, where within only 36 hours, she prepared for the role of the Second Flower Maiden in Parsifal. She studied later with Maria Ivogün to develop her true soprano range, and Michael Rauchiesen, Ivogün’s husband, became Schwarzkopf’s accompanist in lieder recitals.
From 1938 to 1940, she appeared in small solo parts including the First Boy in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and the Woodbird in Wagner’s Siegfried. By 1941, she was assuming secondary principal roles such as Oscar in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera and Musetta in PUCCINI’S La bohème.
From 1942 to 1944, Schwarzkopf made guest appearances at the Vienna State Opera. After an assassination attempt on Hitler was made in 1944, the artists at the opera were instructed to become part of the labour force at an armaments factory, but in defiance of this order, she continued to sing at the opera until it was destroyed in the Allied bombing. She was able to escape from Vienna only a few hours before the Soviet occupation began.
The end of the war meant wider opportunities for German artists, and Schwarzkopf toured England in 1947, appearing at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden as Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and as Marzelline in Beethoven’s Fidelio. She was invited to join the Covent Garden opera company and stayed until 1951, singing the roles of Verdi’s heroines Violetta and Gilda, and Puccini’s Mimi, Manon, and Butterfly, in English, as well as German roles.
Schwarzkopf’s association with the conductor Herbert von KARAJAN began when he became producer and conductor at La Scala, Milan, in 1948, where Schwarzkopf made her debut as the Countess in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro. She sang at the Salzburg Festival in 1949, and in 1953 made her American debut with a recital in New York. Her first opera appearance in the U.S. was in San Francisco in 1955, where she sang Donna Elvira, and the Marschallin in Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier, a role with which she was identified for many years.
In the concert hall, she was best known for her lieder recitals, but also sang in oratorio from Bach’s Passions to TIPPETT’S A Child of Our Time. Her interpretations of the songs of Hugo Wolf were outstanding, and she made many superb recordings with the famous accompanist Gerald Moore. Schwarzkopf married EMI record executive Walter Legge in 1953, and her performances are well represented in the EMI record catalogue.
Jane Prendergast
SEE ALSO:
OPERA; OPERETTA; VOCAL AND CHORAL MUSIC.
Jefferson, Alan. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (London: Gollancz, 1996);
Rasponi, Lanfranco. The Last Prima Donnas (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982).
Mozart: Lieder, Die Zauberflöte; Richard Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier (highlights); Verdi: Four Sacred Pieces; Requiem.