Elisabeth Schwarzkopf: From Flower Maiden to Marschallin (Amadeus)

This lavishly illustrated pictorial biography of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, one of the truly great sopranos of the post-war era of last century, is an absolute treat for fans. After a short foreward by Schwarzkopf’s great fellow lieder-singer, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, it prefaces the pictures by an interview with Lillian Fayer, the “Viennese photographer to the stars”, which helpfully sets the background to the collection. Schwarzkopf herself collaborated on the book, supplying photos from her private collection - including some surprising shots from an early appearance in German movies.Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (1915-2006) began her opera career 1938 at the Deutsche Oper Berlin (then called Deutsches Opernhaus). She gradually narrowed her range of roles down to those mainly written by Mozart and Strauss - becoming most famous as the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier (Strauss). This became her signature role and her performance was filmed by Paul Czinner at Salzburg and released in 1962. This film also featured Anneliese Rothenberger as Sophie, Sena Jurinac as Octavian and Otto Edelman as Baron Ochs, as well as a host of other prominent performers; the conductor was Herbert von Karajan. Schwarzkopf also travelled widely, performing in the great opera houses of the world and giving leider recitals, notably with the accompanists Gerald Moore and Geoffrey Parsons. In later years she taught and some of her “master classes” were televised in the 1980s.This book covers mainly her opera roles, along with casual shots of her on holidays or with colleagues and friends. It includes tributes from musical luminaries and ends with a poignant record of a visit and interview in the last year of her life by her publisher, Charles Scribner III. It is followed by a selected discography, index of names and photo credits.

This is a loving "coffee table book" tribute to one of the greatest singers ever. The pictures are gorgeous. Some of them are studio glamour shots; others seem to come from family snapshots. Some are candid (but professional) shots of rehearsals and performances. Some of the pictures involve the best "Marlene Dietrich lighting." There are prose introductions and conclusions, but the important thing is the breath-taking series of pictures spanning her entire life. There are also little verbal tributes from fellow artists, reminding us what a great lady and a great friend she was. You can get through the written parts of the book in minutes, but you might want to spend longer looking at the fabulous photographs over and over and over.There are absolutely no hints of anything negative about her life or career. This is a tribute, not a biography. And these pictures are the greatest possible tribute of all. They should inspire you to rush to your CD player and put on some Mozart and Strauss operatic excerpts.

This book is listed as a biography, which is a little misleading. It's actually a collection of photographs with a few short essays written at the beginning and end. But oh boy, what photographs! They feature Schwarzkopf throughout her career in all of her best roles, including the Marschallin, the Countess, Fiordiligi and Donna Elvira. You also get shots of many other great singers who were her contemporaries, including Otto Edelmann, Christa Ludwig, Graziella Sciutti, Maria Callas, Dietrich Fischer Dieskau, Erich Kunz, Sena Jurinac, and Anneliese Rothenberger. Gazing at all these photographs really makes me feel jealous that I wasn't born 40 years earlier so I could have heard Schwarzkopf sing live, especially since she mentioned in the book that she doesn't even recognize herself from her recordings on CD.

What a find this was. A friend had been traveling to Vienna a year or so ago and found this tribute just arrived in the bookstores. He bought and mailed copies to me and another fan here in Toronto. It was bilingual (German & English); this advertised edition is only in English but otherwise appears unchanged.I had collected books about this extraordinary singer (and a few others) over the years. One of the main joys here is that Schwarzkopf seems to have relented in her personal quest not to be photographed in her last years. So those of us who cared can finally enjoy a number of photographs from this time -- ones that show the confidence we all know but also the joy she attained. Over the past years she was able to pass on much of the rich technical and interpretive skills she'd honed for decades. The late pictures show a serene person -- but one still very much devoted to protecting the high art she had served. And what an array of contributing friends and colleagues. Great tributes.André

This book was a small dissapointment. It has very, very little text and many photos, but also many empty spaces. Half a page with a rather small photo - and then emptiness. I suppose this is a try to expose the often most beautiful pictures in the best way possible. Many photos are similiar, you can contemplate Dame Elisabeth's great beauty, but it is the same face on side after side. All in black and white. And with no comments. One can compare this book to two other picture books: Birgit Nilsson's "My memoirs in pictures" and the more recently Vittoria Crespi Morbio's "Maria Callas. The La Scala years". Nilsson's book is filled with pictures, no empty spaces here, and most important, she herself makes very interesting comments to every single picture! The book about "La Divina" also has very little text and very many pictures. But the pictures are large, mostly in colour, and shows all the costumes from her great roles at La Scala. The two latter books really have "five stars status".

Photographs were excellent but facts were sparse.

This is a beautifully presented book and well worth having for the lovely photographs. The text is interesting but not in any way a complete biography. I very much hope that a well balanced biography will appear sometime. The earlier one from Alan Jefferson does not give a fair picture of the life and work of this great artist.