Elisabeth Schwarzkopf & Gerald Moore – Wolf: The Italian Songbook (2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

In 1947 a brilliant generation of Austro-German singers represented the Vienna State Opera for a short season at Covent Garden. Among those known to London audiences from before the war were Maria Cebotari and Hans Hotter; new were Anton Dermota, Erich Kunz and an array of sopranos headed by Hilde Gueden, Sena Jurinac, Emmy Loose, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Irmgard Seefried and Ljuba Welitsch. For one famous evening Richard Tauber joined the cast of Don Giovanni before entering the hospital in which he died four months later. It was a season which, more than any other event at the time, reassured opera-goers that traditions survived and that singing of real distinction, even greatness, might yet be heard in the postwar world.

The Donna Elvira at these performances was Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (born in 1915), who was singled out in reviews for the warmest and most consistent praise of all. This was the year in which her name became an international property. She was 31 and already a singer of considerable experience. Her operatic debut dated back to 1938 with the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where for long she was confined to small or soubrette parts which, she was advised, would continue to be her lot unless she signed up to the party membership requirements that were statutory under the Nazis. The decision was a hard one, but her father, though antipathetic to the regime, advised her to accept. Her career advanced, but was disrupted by a severe bout of tuberculosis. After her recovery, she was engaged by Karl Böhm for the Vienna Opera, making her debut there in 1944. Two years later, EMI’s talent scout and leading producer, Walter Legge, heard her as Rosina in The Barber of Seville: ‘a brilliant, fresh voice shot through with laughter, not large but admirably projected, with enchanting high notes’. She began recording with him almost immediately, at the start of a period incomparable in the history of the gramophone for the breadth of repertoire and the quality of performance.

Throughout the 1950s and 60s (which was also the age of Callas and Tebaldi, Gedda and Corelli, Gobbi and Fischer-Dieskau) Schwarzkopf was at the centre of all this. It is sometimes alleged that she had an unfair advantage, being by then married to Legge and, by extension, to a major recording company. Such an argument might be tenable if her achievements as a leading opera and concert singer had not matched up. But they did. In Bayreuth, Salzburg, Milan, Paris, London and the USA she won the recognition of audiences and critics. And, as the years went by, she gained in serious attention from the critics and in devotion from the public. She looked after her voice, and it lasted. Her final appearance on stage was in 1971, when she sang the first act of Der Rosenkavalier in Brussels. And she continued in recital until 1979, the year of Legge’s death and of her own 64th birthday.

Her operatic repertoire was wider than is commonly remembered: in early years, for instance, she regularly sang the coloratura role of Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos, and later at La Scala was heard as Elsa, Marguerite and Mélisande. But two composers were central, Mozart and Richard Strauss. The most enduring of her roles in Mozart were Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni. In Strauss she was most closely associated with the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier, though in her own affections the Countess in Capriccio probably came to be the most fondly remembered. Happily there is much more on record, including some prized live recordings such as her radiant Eva in Die Meistersinger at Bayreuth in 1951. Still richer is the series of song recitals, in which Mozart, Schubert and Strauss shared pre-eminence with Hugo Wolf.

Schwarzkopf’s recitals became treasured events throughout the world. Often the programmes confined themselves to the great Lieder composers, and it was a particular triumph that she could fill the Royal Festival Hall in London to capacity for a recital devoted entirely to the songs of Wolf.

Tracklist:
1. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil I: No. 1, Auch kleine Dinge (02:07)
2. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil I: No. 2, Mir ward gesagt, de reisest in die Ferne (02:05)
3. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil I: No. 3, Ich seid die Allerschönste (01:36)
4. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil I: No. 4, Gesegnet sei, durch den die Welt enstund (01:38)
5. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil I: No. 5, Selig ihr Blinden, die ihr nicht zu schauen (01:37)
6. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil I: No. 6, Wer rief dich denn? (01:13)
7. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil I: No. 7, Der Mond hat eine schwere Klag’ erhoben (02:06)
8. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil I: No. 8, Nun laß uns Frieden schließen (01:54)
9. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil I: No. 9, Daß doch gemalt all deine Reize wären (01:40)
10. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil I: No. 10, Du denkst mit einem Fädchen mich zu fangen (01:08)
11. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil I: No. 11, Wie lange schon war immer mein Verlangen (02:34)
12. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil I: No. 12, Nein, junger Herr (00:50)
13. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil I: No. 13, Hoffärtig seid Ihr, schönes Kind (00:45)
14. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil I: No. 14, Geselle, woll’n wir uns in Kutten hüllen (02:13)
15. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil I: No. 15, Mein Liebster ist so klein (01:33)
16. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil I: No. 16, Ihr jungen Leute (01:11)
17. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil I: No. 17, Und willst du deinen Liebsten sterben sehen (02:25)
18. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil I: No. 18, Heb auf dein blondes Haupt (02:00)
19. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil I: No. 19, Wir haben beide lange Zeit geschwiegen (02:26)
20. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil I: No. 20, Mein Liebster singt am Haus in Mondenscheine (01:29)
21. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil I: No. 21, Man sagt mir, deine Mutter woll’ es nicht (01:05)
22. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil I: No. 22, Ein Ständchen Euch zu bringen (01:15)
23. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil II: No. 23, Was für ein Lied soll dir gesungen werden? (01:52)
24. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil II: No. 24, Ich esse nun mein Brot nicht trocken mehr (01:57)
25. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil II: No. 25, Mein Liebster hat zu Tische mich gelanden (00:59)
26. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil II: No. 26, Ich ließ mir sagen (01:58)
27. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil II: No. 27, Schon streckt’ ich aus im Bett die müden Glieder (01:51)
28. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil II: No. 28, Du sagst mir, daß ich kein Fürstin sei (01:23)
29. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil II: No. 29, Wohl kenn’ ich Euren Stand (01:53)
30. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil II: No. 30, Laß sie nur geh’n (01:28)
31. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil II: No. 31, Wie soll ich fröhlich sein (01:51)
32. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil II: No. 32, Was soll der Zorn, mein Schatz (01:47)
33. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil II: No. 33, Sterb’ ich, so hüllt in Blumen meine Glieder (03:00)
34. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil II: No. 34, Und steht Ihr früh am Morgen auf vom Bette (02:40)
35. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil II: No. 35, Benedeit dir sel’ge Mutter (04:20)
36. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil II: No. 36, Wenn du, mein Liebster, steigst zum Himmel auf (01:46)
37. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil II: No. 37, Wie viele Zeit verlor ich (01:29)
38. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil II: No. 38, Wenn du mich mit den Augen streifst (01:39)
39. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil II: No. 39, Gesegnet sei das Grün und wer es trägt! (01:30)
40. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil II: No. 40, O wär’ dein Haus durchsichtig wie ein Glas (01:34)
41. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil II: No. 41, Heut Nacht erhob ich mich, um Mitternacht (01:30)
42. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil II: No. 42, Nicht länger kann ich singen (01:04)
43. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil II: No. 43, Schweig einmal still (01:03)
44. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil II: No. 44, O wüßtest du, wie viel ich deinetwegen (01:30)
45. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil II: No. 45, Verschling’ der Abgrund meines Liebsten Hütte (01:28)
46. Gerald Moore – Italienisches Liederbuch, Teil II: No. 46, Ich hab’ in Penna einen Liebsten wohnen (00:57)