原始出處：http://0rz.net/971Fk

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Opera Singer, Dies at 90

 











 

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, the German-born soprano whose interpretations of Strauss and Mozart made her one of the most dazzling artists of her time, died yesterday at her home in Austria. She was 90.

Her death was reported by
Austrian state television. Citing a funeral home director, the
broadcaster, ORF, said Miss Schwarzkopf had died in the town of Schruns
in Austria's westernmost province, Vorarlberg. No cause of death was
given.

To her legions of admirers, Miss Schwarzkopf was a
peerless interpreter of Strauss's Marschallin, Mozart's Donna Elvira
and other operatic roles. But her image was tarnished in her later
years by revelations that she had lied about the extent of her
association with the Nazis during World War II.

Not only had she
performed for the Nazis, it was learned, but she had also been a member
of the party. In her defense, she said that for an artist needing work,
joining the party had been 「akin to joining a union.」

For a
singer of such unquestionable stature, Miss Schwarzkopf's work was
controversial. In her prime, she possessed a radiant lyric soprano
voice, impressive technical agility and exceptional understanding of
style. From the 1950』s until the 1970』s, she was for many listeners the
high priestess of the lieder recital, a sublime artist who brought
textual nuance, interpretive subtlety and elegant musicianship to her
work.

But others found her interpretations calculated, mannered
and arch (the 「Prussian perfectionist,」 one critic called her), and
complained that in trying to add textual vitality, Miss Schwarzkopf
resorted to crooning and half-spoken dramatic effects.

Connoisseurs and critics could be surprisingly divided about her basic vocal gifts.

Will Crutchfield, reviewing some live recordings of Miss Schwarzkopf in
recital, wrote in The New York Times in 1990: 「It was always clear that
she had a superior voice (a smooth, glamorous lyric soprano) and
superior technical command.」 Yet Peter G. Davis, writing in The Times
in 1981, described her career as 「a triumph of intelligence and
willpower over what was basically an unremarkable voice.」

The
consensus, however, was that in roles like the Marschallin and other
Strauss heroines (Ariadne in 「Ariadne auf Naxos,」 the countess in
「Capriccio」), as well as Mozart's Fiordiligi and Countess Almaviva and
Wagner's Eva and Elsa, she could sing incomparably, with shimmering
tone and richness and charismatic presence.

She was an
uncommonly beautiful woman, despite a visible gap between her two front
teeth that she never bothered to correct, with light hair and deep-set
gray eyes. For a time in her younger years she pursued a career as a
film actress and might have succeeded had she continued.

A
hard-working, self-challenging singer, she performed 74 roles in 53
operas, including Anne Trulove in the world premiere of Stravinsky's
「Rake's Progress」 in Venice in 1951. Her lieder repertory included
hundreds of songs by Schubert, Schumann, Mozart and Strauss, and she
was a pioneering champion of the songs of Hugo Wolf, which she sang
with insight and affecting beauty.

Olga Maria Elisabeth
Frederike Schwarzkopf was born on Dec. 9, 1915, in Jarotschin, Germany,
in what is now west-central Poland. Both her parents were Prussian.
Friedrich Schwarzkopf, her father, a classics schoolmaster, was an
easygoing intellectual. Her mother, the former Elisabeth Frohling, was
an efficient homemaker who took charge of her adored only child's
education and budding musical career.

Friedrich Schwarzkopf's
work as a teacher necessitated that the family move several times. When
Elisabeth was 13, they settled in Magdeburg, Germany, where she studied
piano, guitar, viola and organ and developed a naturally high, light
voice that kept her in demand for concerts at school and local amateur
performances.

The family moved to Berlin in 1933, the year Hitler
came to power. Miss Schwarzkopf attended the Berlin Royal Augusta
School and later won admission to the Hochschule für Musik. In 1934,
before beginning her formal training, she won a grant from the League
of National Socialist Students for a cycling and camping trip to
England, where she learned English. She retained a fondness for the
country, which after the war embraced her as an artist and made her a
Dame of the British Empire in 1992.

At the music school, students
were required to attend daily lectures on Hitler's National Socialist
movement, and in 1935, when she was nearly 20, Miss Schwarzkopf joined
the student association of the National Socialist Party. Alan
Jefferson, a Schwarzkopf biographer, said she became führerin of the
student organization and that one of her responsibilities as
ideological leader was to 「keep an eye on other students.」

Her
teacher at the Hochschule für Musik, Lula Mysz-Gmeiner, though
distinguished in her field, inexplicably believed that Miss Schwarzkopf
should be a contralto. It was not until after her formal training, in
1938, when she began singing with the Berlin State Opera, that Miss
Schwarzkopf came into her own vocally.

During this time she
gained a reputation as a singer fiercely determined to leap from the
small roles typically assigned a newcomer into substantive parts. The
director of the company, Wilhelm Rode, had won the favor of Joseph
Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister. One reason Miss Schwarzkopf
later gave for cooperating with the Nazis was that it was incumbent on
aspiring singers in the company to support the party.

But until
the 1980』s, she maintained that she had never officially joined the
Nazi Party. She denied having done so in three Allied questionnaires in
1945, a time during the occupation when former party members were
usually barred from public performance in Germany.

In 1982,
however, a music historian at the University of Vienna, Oliver
Rathkolb, published a doctoral dissertation that revealed details of
her party membership. The information had come from documents
discovered in the Allied Denazification Bureau in Vienna and
subsequently moved to the National Archives in Washington.

According
to these records, Miss Schwarzkopf applied for membership on Jan. 26,
1940, and was accepted on March 1 of that year, becoming Nazi member
No. 7548960. Scholars and authors have since placed her application for
party membership even earlier.

In an interview with The Times
in 1983, Miss Schwarzkopf denied she had been a party member. But when
told of these documents by The Times, she admitted that she had joined
the party. 「We thought nothing of it,」 she said. 「We just did it.」 In a
letter to The Times, she expanded on her explanation: 「It was akin to
joining a union, and exactly for the same reason: to have a job.」

In
other interviews, she quoted in her defense the first line of Tosca's
famous aria: 「Vissi d'arte,」 which translates, 「I lived for art.」

Discussion
of her Nazi past re-emerged briefly in connection with tributes to her
on her 80th birthday. Mr. Jefferson's biography, 「Elisabeth
Schwarzkopf,」 which came out at the time, raised debate about her
wartime role, depicting her as an ambitious singer who was focused on
furthering her career.

As a Nazi, Miss Schwarzkopf gave
performances at party functions and sang for Waffen SS troops at the
front. Some researchers believe she became a member of Goebbels's
Reichstheaterkammer, working in the propaganda ministry and appearing
in some films.

Still, if she had hoped that party affiliation
would quickly advance her career at the Berlin State Opera, it did not
work as planned. She was still expected to sing, sometimes nightly, bit
roles in 「Carmen,」 「Die Fledermaus」 and frothy operettas.

Her
breakthrough came with the dauntingly difficult coloratura role of
Zerbinetta in 「Ariadne auf Naxos,」 which she first sang in late 1940.
Her performance won the attention of Maria Ivogün, a noted exponent of
the role. Miss Ivogün was so impressed, she took on Miss Schwarzkopf as
a private student, coaching her in the high soprano repertory, and
training her as a lieder singer. Miss Schwarzkopf was soon engaged by
the Vienna State Opera.

She realized that her future lay with
the lyric soprano repertory. Engagements followed at the first postwar
Salzburg Festival in 1947, where she worked with the conductor Wilhelm
Furtwängler, and in subsequent summers, when she formed a close working
relationship with the conductor Herbert von Karajan. She also toured
with the Vienna State Opera in 1947, traveling to London, where she
performed in 「Don Giovanni」 and 「Fidelio」 at Covent Garden.

The
London performances were an enormous success, and she was invited to
join the newly founded Covent Garden company. She sang with the company
for the next five years, performing not just her German repertory but
also Violetta, Mimi, Gilda, and Massenet's Manon, all in English.

Her
career and repertory choices were now being shaped by Walter Legge,
then a music administrator and critic. Born in London in 1906, Legge
had no formal training in music but was musically astute. He had been
an assistant to Sir Thomas Beecham and was largely responsible for
forming the Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus.

After the war,
Legge worked mainly for recording companies. It was during a scouting
trip to Vienna in search of new talent for EMI Records that the
severe-looking, bespectacled Legge first heard Miss Schwarzkopf in an
audition. Thus began an artistic partnership that grew into a life
partnership. Legge, then divorced from his first wife, Nancy Evans, a
mezzo-soprano, married Miss Schwarzkopf in 1953.

Opinion is
divided about the effect Legge had on Miss Schwarzkopf as an artist. He
tended to treat her as a musical and intellectual inferior. He was
capable of berating her in public when she failed to meet his approval.

But he introduced her to a wealth of repertory, especially the songs of
Hugo Wolf, and as artistic director of EMI Records, he supervised her
recordings, coaching her in detail and ensuring that the engineers
captured her voice at its best. Given Miss Schwarzkopf's association
with the Nazis, there was some trepidation about launching her American
career. Her debut in the United States was delayed until October 1953,
but that performance, a single sold-out song recital at Town Hall in
New York, captivated the critics.

This was followed in late 1954
by an American tour, which ended back at Town Hall. A critic for
Musical America wrote that Miss Schwarzkopf's singing at Town Hall had
「displayed the exquisite finish, technical mastery and interpretive
felicity that had marked her debut recital here last season.」

In the fall of 1956 she sang a recital at Carnegie Hall. It was the first time the hall had ever been sold out for a program of German lieder.

Miss Schwarzkopf's American operatic debut came in 1955 with the San Francisco Opera
as the Marschallin. Mildred Norton, a critic for The Saturday Review,
reported that a capacity audience had saluted a 「memorable new Princess
Werdenberg.」 Miss Schwarzkopf, she wrote, was 「a poised and vibrant new
personality with a vocal radiance and a personal grace.」

Her debut at the Metropolitan Opera
did not occur until October 1964, again as the Marschallin. Though
Raymond Erickson, a critic for The Times, noted less freshness and
bloom in Miss Schwarzkopf's voice (she was nearly 49), he said she had
「conquered her listeners, and the roar that filled the house when she
took her bows must be the kind that the most vain prima donna could ask
for.」

Outside the Metropolitan Opera House, there were scattered
protests over her wartime career, and Miss Schwarzkopf had a chilly
relationship with the Met's general manager Rudolf Bing, an
Austrian-born Jew. Besides her six performances of the Marschallin that
debut season, she sang only one more time at the Met, a Donna Elvira in
1966.

But she performed frequently in New York in recital and
with orchestras and continued to win devoted admirers around the world.
Many of her EMI recordings became immediate classics. Among them were
her Mozart song album with the pianist Walter Gieseking and her
Schubert song album with the pianist Edwin Fischer, both recorded in
1952; her 1957 recording of 「Rosenkavalier,」 conducted by Karajan, and,
one of her finest achievements, her 1959 recording of 「Capriccio,」
conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch.

As her career slowed, she
began giving master classes, usually teaming with Legge, gaining a
reputation as an insightful but almost impossibly exacting coach. In
1977-78, she embarked on a swan song recital tour, mostly accompanied
by the pianist Geoffrey Parsons, who was her partner for her official
farewell recital in Zurich on March 19, 1979. Two days later, Legge,
who had become embittered that his talents were no longer sought by
recording companies, died of a heart attack at 72.

Miss
Schwarzkopf leaves no immediate survivors. Asked once whether she
regretted having had no children, she replied, 「I have 500 children,
the songs I sing.」

Daniel J. Wakin contributed reporting for this obituary.

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從小大到住過的地方，似乎附近都沒有什麼特別的書店。

小時候總是去學校對面的書店兼文具店。有兩家。一家規模比較小，可是賣很多小叮噹和尼羅河女兒（:p）。另一家規模比較大，可是我想不起來在那裡買了什麼書，因為，去那裡總是買文具。

常去的書店反而是以前在公館台電大樓對面的金石堂。總是趁每週去上英文課的時候順便搬書。舊版銘黃色山水封面的金庸就是在那裡買的。如今，這家金石堂也不見了，金庸也不知改版了幾次。舊版都在某次聚會上送給了學長學弟，以便清出書櫃，放更多書。

後來，誠品世貿店開了。在這裡買過的書，依舊比不上買過的文具多。想不到沒過幾年，隨著書店從地下室搬到地面層，連誠品都不見了。

再過幾年，金石堂也來了，可是要走大約十分鐘，在醫院對面。金石堂嘛，裡頭的氣氛不適合找書，只適合「外帶」，買了就走。

現在的住處附近也沒有特別的書店。真要說，也只有一家小小的書報店。就在學校附近，可是很少在裡頭看到學生。就連二十分鐘路程外的金石堂，也是門可羅雀。

究竟我們需要怎樣的書店呢？

誠品信義店也開了，簡直像是書店終極版。可是我在裡面總不安穩，心情總是浮浮的。四樓的日文書店則是冷得待不下去。

究竟我想要怎樣的書店？


不過，住永和附近的朋友有福了。有一家特別的書店要開幕了喔。這週六，請到「小小書房」去參加慶生會吧。

★小小書房的開店日記

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   今晚的Zimerman實在太棒了！怎麼能這麼好聽呢。
   比上次還好聽呀（大心）。

   尤其是下半場的蕭邦B小調第三號奏鳴曲（Op.58），聽得如癡如醉。聽Slenczynska 老奶奶彈這首，其實沒什麼感覺。可是Zimerman今晚彈得實在太棒太棒了！聽完這首，高興得想哭。實在太美了。

   上半場一開始的莫札特KV330也很可愛，可是還沒到令人屏息的地步。拉威爾的《高貴而感傷的圓舞曲》很藝術的感覺，虛無縹緲，可是並不難懂，沒什麼距離感。蓋希文的前奏曲很幽默，很像隨口哼唱的曲子。

   聽上半場的時候一直在想，Zimerman的手指尖應該圓滾滾的很可愛又很柔軟吧，好想摸好想摸摸。今天鋼琴前面沒有麥克風呢。樂音聽起來好像羽毛輕巧地在空中飛啊飛，心裡一直出現驚歎號。


   聽過William Campbell的Mazurka，大概是在辦公室不專心聽，覺得Mazurka不對胃口。或許是聽現場真的不一樣，或許就是Zimerman有魔力，他今晚彈什麼都好聽啊。到了B小調第三號奏鳴曲，全部爆發出來，覺得自己心臟也不敢跳了（怕心跳聲太吵）、呼吸也忘了，好想把那些美麗的音符都吃進去，聽著就覺得非常好吃啊。曲子結束，還等不及最後一點餘韻消失，忍不住拍手。我想全場應該在此刻都同時感到一種狂喜吧？如果是其他類型的音樂會，可能大家都會開始丟東西上臺？（我大概真的會丟螢光棒上去）


   安可曲大放送耶。
   可是聽到附近的人說：他在香港也是彈這首。
   （應該是這「幾」首吧？等一下翻翻CD。）
   頓時嫉妒心大爆炸！哼哼哼哼，早知道人家就不管三七二十一，趁過境的時候跑去買票順便訂機票！（噴淚，嫉妒嫉妒。）

   連簽名都大放送，一百人。
   可是等聽完安可曲衝下樓買CD再衝去排隊，早就排在一百名外了。雖然想過要不要死賴不走看看有沒有機會，還是放棄。看看明天大師班有沒有機會好了。真希望明天的大師班可以摸摸手。


=========================================
曲目：
莫扎特：C大調鋼琴奏鳴曲，K330
拉威爾：高雅而感傷的圓舞曲
蓋希文：三首前奏曲
蕭邦：馬厝卡舞曲，作品第24號
蕭邦：b小調第三號鋼琴奏鳴曲，作品58

W.A. Mozart: Sonata in C-major, K330
M. Ravel: Valses nobles et sentimentales
G. Gershwin: 3 Preludes
F. Chopin: Mazurkas, Op. 24
F. Chopin: Sonata No.3 in B-minor, Op.58

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我想，都是先前耍自閉的後果。

心心念念要躲掉搜尋引擎。可世事當然不盡如人意。
不想被搜尋的，一定會整片搜出來。
現在想要營業開張，搜尋引擎就是不來。

啊，天啊，我真是搞不懂搜尋引擎是怎麼一回事。

難道你在跟我鬧脾氣嗎？

親愛的搜尋引擎，請趕快來追我吧。
我的書好想被人買走啊。（烤焦麵包上身）



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終於養了小水滴，豬兒的生日剛好是2006年6月23日。
其他水滴都好可愛喔，大家都長大了。豬兒的兩個新朋友都長得好可愛，什麼時候豬兒才會長大呢？

每天開電腦就先讓豬兒出去玩。不曉得是不是「名字即命運」，小水滴改名豬兒之後，成天睡覺。ㄟ，這樣實在不行喔！

希望豬兒快快長大，變成可愛的小水滴。

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今天也去看了這部電影，觀眾還不少呢。

這麼多年，盧安達（Rwanda）這個地名一直在我記憶中迴盪不去，因為，大屠殺發生那年，我正巧在國外看到新聞。短短片段，不超過三十秒的畫面，對當時還是高一學生的我，卻太驚怖。泥水充沛的瀑布，跟著河水流下的不只是河水，還有一具具屍體。赤裸裸的暴行，讓我不知道該做何反應。當時我甚至不知道Rwanda在哪裡，卻記得那恐怖的畫面。

上個月去華盛頓特區，順道參觀Holocaust Museum。行前，J君就警告我那是個很spooky的地方，我對這段歷史也有心理準備。只是，再怎麼有心理準備，任何人面對那麼黑暗的人性，一定都會感到羞愧又害怕。

看到電影裡印上Hutu字樣的護照，很難不想起當年納粹也在猶太人的身分證明上印了大大的J字。聽旁白說胡圖族與圖西族之間的外貌分別，也一定會想起當年納粹花費了多少心力、設計出多少儀器，將原本應該是開闊包容的人類學應用在種族分隔上。

人類似乎一直在重複自己的歷史。遞換的只有時間空間，人性的黑暗卻一直不曾消失。

看到聯合國那些大國紛紛放棄無助的盧安達人民，我也想起美國的羅斯福政府是怎樣懦弱地拒絕向德國納粹抗議或向猶太人伸出援手。不同的是，猶太人在各國終究還有些勢力，而那些盧安達人民卻真的如塵土遭人拋棄，幾乎是永無翻身之日。

Holocaust Museum其實並沒有特意塑造「悲情」的環境。只是，看著素淨牆上，那些倖存者寫下的詩句或話語，血液裡好像慢慢被哀傷充滿一樣。拿著受難者的護照，你甚至無法隨著受難者走完人生最後一段，因為那是比死亡還可怕的境地。

不論是Holocaust Museum或盧安達飯店這部電影，都像是記憶的刺青。真真實實在觀看的人的心上，刺上一刀，要我們記得那些已經逝去的。要我們眼見自己族類的殘忍和不理性，要我們一起承擔旁觀的罪惡。




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The Blue Hearts／Linda Linda Linda

ドブネズミみたいに  美しくなりたい
写真には写らない  美しさがあるから

リンダリンダ　リンダリンダリンダ
リンダリンダ　リンダリンダリンダ

もしも  僕がいつか君と出会い話し合うなら
そんな時は  どうか愛の意味を知って下さい
リンダリンダ　リンダリンダリンダ
リンダリンダ　リンダリンダリンダ

トブネズミみたいに  誰よりもやさしい
ドブネズミみたいに  何よりもあたたかく

リンダリンダ　リンダリンダリンダ
リンダリンダ　リンダリンダリンダ

もしも  僕がいつか君と出会い話し合うなら
そんな時は  どうか愛の意味を知って下さい
愛じゃなくても  恋じゃなくても  君を離しはしない
決して負けない強い力を  僕は一つだけ持つ

リンダリンダ　リンダリンダリンダ
リンダリンダ　リンダリンダリンダ

リンダリンダ　リンダリンダリンダ
リンダリンダ　リンダリンダリンダ
リンダリンダ　リンダリンダリンダ
リンダリンダ　リンダリンダリンダ

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