Elisabeth Schwarzkopf

This famous German soprano was one of the foremost lieder singers of the last century. In this filmed recital from 1969 with her regular partner, pianist Gerald Moore, she includes some of the songs by Gluck, Schubert, Schumann and Wolf that she sang in her Schubert Club recital. The artists introduce their selections:

Schwarzkopf was also renowned in opera, especially in Mozart and Richard Strauss. Here she is in her most celebrated role, the Marschallin in Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier. In this scene from the 1960 filmed version of the opera, conducted by Herbert von Karajan, the character reflects on the implacable passing of the years: having been married off fresh from the convent not so long ago, she now must already accept that one day soon people will look at her as “the old Princess”:

Artist note by Richard Evidon