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November 11, 1956 - Image 4

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Page Four THE MICHIGAN DAILY Sunday, November 11, 1956
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
No Time for Politics, But A Great Deal of Hard Work
By A. TSUGAWA red gown, wearing her blond, close- Richard Strauss lied about the rounded by about twenty students, with the orchestra for that even-
The second of August in Strat- cropped hair like a feather crown, young lady who would rather have mostly women, nuns, all arranged ing's concert. In the program, she
ford, Ontario, two years ago the makeshift surroundings were three kisses from her lover than in a row behind her on the stage. was to sing Mozart's motet Exul-
was pleasantly hot, the air after quickly forgotten, eyes not know- eggs and birds from her parents A girl in green was leaning tate Jubilate (k. 165) and Bach's
wa eg adbid foi er aensagainst the pin ign.Hrsecular cantata, No. 202, "Weichet -
sundown rapidly cooling off to ing whether to gaze at the radiant because she knes the kisses would voie
becuseshekne th kiseswoud vicewas pleasant and light, but' Nu." What followed counts (along
breezy comfort. But in the mid- gown. the white crown of fluffy not stop at three), my recollec- here phrasing and dynamics were with the previous afternoon's re-
afternoon, the sun was merciless hair or the smiling blue eyes- tion brings forth only the human- he hmsing and itl) amteasre
al feeble. The music stopped, and cital) among my most absorbing
and all morning large groups of None of this mattered, however. ( ized nobility of the musical lines, then musical ex
men worked a fire truck, spray- when she began to sing, because the meticulous, pure shaping o p te could see Miss Schwarz- experiences.
ing torrents of water on the roof it was then hard to decide wheth- the classical phrases in Schuberts s tkh ,e r self san 4 had never observed a rehearsal
of the Music Halt, in their endless er what engulfed us was her per- An Die Musik where the river of
fforts to ke about three measures masterfully. before, and I was amazed by
en ep te interior cooler sonality, her personality in her her warm voice seemed to over- the spontaneous give-and-take
than the outside. songs or the music itself that she flow the banks. I felt as if I were I decided this must be Miss among the musicians. The Festival
At three o'clock in the after- seemed to be able to actualize in confronting music itself. vce k hs s r Orchestra was a very small chain-
noon, the inside of the Hall was their purity. The building itself The recital was not long and we voice students of the Toronto Con- ber group of younger performers
still stifling, the wide expanse of was mesmerized. left the hall regretfully to get some' servatory. I remembered a notice from the Toronto Symphony. Their
the wooden walls (looking for all1 supper. Afterwards, my brother about such a course, to last a week' freo t Trto p s Bhyd
rv announced in one of the Festival ~director at Stratford was Boyd
its reconditioning like a mammoth TI!ere were sons by Gluck, Bach, and I walked along the Avon Riv- Neel.
barn) visibly emanating heat. The but the majority were lieder er, while trying not to be attacked brochures. Miss Schwarzkopf g e a t u r e d
jammed crowd, gathered to hear by Schubert, Brahms and Hugo by the vicious swans. The girl sang again, proceedng freely while singing - frequently
the lieder recital by Elisabeth Wolf. At this late date, I remeem- We heard a voice coming from perhaps five measre beyondsopping to suggest changes in
Schwarzkopf, fanned themselves ber the entire recital only as a the music hall, and having noth- where she was previously halted stopping to sg cyn s in
Moewords from Miss Schwarz-' phrasing and in dynamics. She
and wiped their faces, making all solid whole, a complex image made eing to do, we went over to investi- e 'sang through the Mozart motet
manner of effort to ignore their up of a red gown and her cool, gate. When we looked in the win- kopf, which we could barely hear; twice movement at a time; after
sweaty clothes. smiling eyes: and although the dow, we saw Miss Schwarzkopf each try suggesting various ad-
But when Miss Schwarekopf ap- songs she san were various both seated at the piano with Paul onstration. eahtryt aug eti res bal-
peared on the stage in a bright in form and feeling, there was the' Ulanowsky, her accompanist, sur-' At this poit my brother had an ts intouder oboe, sprighler
to leave to go and see Julius Cae- .
sac, for the cannon had gone off, aviten figurations, etc. Seeing her
warning stragglers to hurry, The sing in person and repeating the
practice, however, continued for same thing over, was revealing of
twenty minutes more. I don't re- many of her techniques. I still
member the song the girl was sing-remember with amazement, her
x ing - though there were broad, management of a very difficult
mcoloratura passage which began
dnelow nsy unduIatink up wa in the middle voice. With the
on slowly; and I think it wa;slightest heaving of her chest,
one of the Wagner "Wesendoneck
and no apparent muscular change
The alteation of e two trials her face, the voice leapt up
into the head tones, finely spun
of the same song; one by a nov- Ind clear. The second run of the
ice who sang earnestly, the best "alleluia" was the ost brilliant
'asheia wasld tthe otoet brilliante
she could; the other by a master I have head. The vocal lines were
who coul do almost anything she
> willed her voice to do, was in it- managed subtly and articulated
so as to increase in tension up to
self a seminar in the creative pro- the glorious high penultimate note
cess. Miss Schwarzkopf did not ch was met full and square in
need to worry about what her
voice was going to do: so instead beautiful tone.
S Ishe seemed to Oe gazing, in her The rehearsal performance of
mind's eye, at what there was in' this work was far more vibrant
the cluster of notes theat eas the and elegant than the actual per-
song, and what it would offer up formance that night: and yet, that
only, of course, at the moment evening's performance seemed to
of singing, the voice and the music me to be more spontaneous and
were one. ,jubilant than her performance of
Finally, Miss Schwarzkopf stood . the same work on records with
up, and sang the song fromn the which I had long been familiar.
beginning to the emd, effortlessly, The technique of the members
I despite a whole afternoon of seng- of the orchestra posed problems
ing: and although we recognized en the Bach can a.a, especially
- the fragments of the song what the first cellist sho was erform-
- ~ we heard at the end seemed some eem the basso continuo line with
thing totally different and veey the harpsichordist. Two of the
much alive. 0novements of the canetata had
e . Then the lesson was over, andis id, highly onanented bass
the ladies slowly acatr, and the cellist had diffi-
culty manipulating them. Miss
HEN I saw Miss Sehwarzkocf Scehwarzkopf was most encourag-
walk out of the door I sent en. She gestured with her whole
up to her and asked her if she body, imitating the contour of the
would have tine the next day to scal lie - at ese point ak-
- talk to me (even before I knew mg te cellist to hit the bottom
Iwhat I was doing). She cocked her note of a descending figure hard-
- head to one side quizzically and er, nearly giving a shimmy and a
said: "It all depends on how the bump to demonstrate it. She
- - ~rehearsals go tomorrow. I might seemed literally to respond kines-
be too exhausted . . "But she thetically to the musical lines as
seemed to stop to plan further and written oe the staft.
then brightly said, 'Come to 'the The practice for the Bach was
A *' rehearsal tomorrow and after that more piece-meal - becauee of the
we might meet for lunch." difficulties the work offered the
I aked if I might bring my instrumentalist, and work lasted
'brother and she said that was all until almost one o'clock.
ight.
H ere She turned around and walked Then we met Miss Schwaetzkopf
away along the river to the bridge. and walked over to the hotel
*P for lunch. On the way over, we
it was vacation for my brother asked her how she liked the Ra-

Chattanooga Choo - Choo... and me so we kept appropriate vies 'estival
hours, and at ten thirty we ambled w s just err e
Strata - Jet. ..Hard -top or Convertible. over to the Music Hall. Somehow said, "I was programmed for only
musiciano and Is vie de Boh two arias with the orchestra, and
When she travels in this button-down collar, see associated in my mind, and I that seemed like cheating the pub-
strisspededin y i cover' lic so I s-as very generous with
Striped docron-and-cotton shirt dress. was greatly surprised to discover encores." Then aec mentioned
Miss Schwarzkopf already on the eng men te mnner
Comfortable and, above all, crease resisttant, stg eerigsm uoWl'heavineg met Lotte Lehmann earli-
C mf b.stage rehearsing some Hugo Wolfr in the summer, and of receiving
Ssogs. She was dressed en a com-
Sizes 7 to 15 in beautiful color cofbinations. ortable two-piece beige suit of a charm piece of a chimney sweep-
a squarish cut with large pockets. er's broom which had accompan-
Sh uis not i age tough ied Miss Lehmann in all her per-
2 She did not sing any song through formances. "It's for good luck."
to the end, but only parts of it Miss Schwazkopf sang at the
and the practice lasted for ten ienn Opera for an ar th-
minutes after we got there. Some- Vienna Opera foe many years af-
one (probably an usher) told me I tee her debut; but since 1956, she
one(prbaby a user)tol mehas been with the 'Theatro alla
the rehearsal had been going on bcala in Milan. What did she
since eight thirty. The Mignon think of the performers there?
song that begins "Kennst Du das "ia Cl a - thwm h
Land?" is among the few I re- "Maria Callas -that woman is
member her singing half-way a miracle! Simply a miracle," she
through. I regretted the few hours said emphatically.
FOR TOWN AND COLLEGE of extra sleep I had gotten. We also talked a bit about her
Then the musicians began to musical education at the Hochs-
302 South State Street gather, and at eleven o'clock, Miss chule fur Musik in Berlin .. .
_ _ _h__ _ _ _n__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _rehearse about musical education today ...

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