Did anyone else start crying at 9:50 when Elisabeth Schwarzkopf demonstrated with her still amazing voice? So beautiful. I learn so much from her, even though she is long gone.
Well I din cry exactly but it is great to see how how well she could demonstrate in '87. Yes, absolutely, it is quite poss to learn from these recorded m'classes of Chevalier ES. The pupil here is of c opening the jaw much too much
Because she was fit with a strong back. No reason why as a sop she shouldn't be able to sing beautifully a phrase or two and indeed a complete song. Be thankful you are not a baritone who according to tradition will usually have to retire at 63 yrs( tho' yes, some have not had to- and we know more as the years have passed about how to get over the reasons why usually our voice has been found lacking after this sort of age)
Translated the first half, I don't really speak German though, so it's mostly based on the Dutch subtitles. ie. The translation's probably not that accurate, but enough to get the gist of it. Some parts are actually pretty funny when you see Schwarzkopf saying them. ES=Schwarzkopf MK= Miranda van Kralingen 0:19 ES: A bit too slow 0:41 ES: That's too little for the orchestra. When you go down into the middle setting (I think she means the mixed voice?) you have to give more. 1:00 Away from you. 1:26 ES: "der Regen" Don't you want to breathe before "Blumen''? It's beautiful if you can do [without breathing]. 1:34 MK : That's fine. 1:59 ES: Yes good! MK: Oh, I'm astonished ES: I could have you sing with less, here with the piano, but you do need that much with an orchestra. (To the audience) It's sounds odd that she must give so much, but that's how it is. 2:31 ES: 'schauert'. When you encounter unusual words in the poems like this one, then you must bring them clearly. You don't just say: "The summer shudders quietly." That's poetically expressed, and must be intelligible. You really need that "sch." 3:13 ES: Your mouth, again, remains open too long for the medium setting. Stay small. Concentrate. It shouldn't sound as if you were singing it here as Lied. It must carry, through the orchestra. And that doesn't mean louder, but more concentrated. 3:48 Still too open. Say: "Sommer." You mustn't open it more than that. That's why you need those muscles, otherwise it becomes a sad (glum) sound. 4:08 It must be done with [those muscles], even with a bass. You can tell by the sound whether someone does or doesn't do that. 4:19 These muscles. Upwards. 4:39 ES: What happened there? "Seinem Ende." While there's such a good stepping stone (literally: springboard). That "m." 4:50 Straight from that ''m." 4:58 ES: No. You sing "seinem Eee--" and than you let it develop, you must bring that "e" immediately. 5:20 It's a bit too little. You need more. Here as well. But don't open the mouth any further. On the contrary, place it in the resonance. 6:13 It's beautiful. Delicious. 6:19 But that doesn't work with the orchestra. 6:55 That way it becomes too dark. Why ? In the mask, especially at "um Blatt." 7:15 In the mask. That goes for the whole setting. 7:26 No, not there. THERE. Where the "m" is located. Don't you hear the tenors walking about the theatre [humming]. 7:39 And we must too, there, in the medium setting. 8:07 Very beautiful. But it's really not enough, you are making a water painting, a very light, undefined water painting, but it's not. 8:49 ES: Not that long. MK: Now it's TOO long. That's because of the searching. ES: In the last second it's right. 9:06 A launch. - (to the audience) But she was right. In principle it's right, although you all don't do it. Only very shortly beforehand. 9:25 Not that. Must you do that when breathing? Do you have too? Don't do it. 9:41 Now it's become too wide. It's somewhere else. (Begins singing)
Finally some time to do the second half. This was really difficult especially the bit about (what I think was) resonance placement. Also she talks/shows a lot about aperture, but that's pretty self-explanatory when you watch the video. I like the bit where Kralingen asks Schwarzkopf to sing along (as did the rest of the audience XD) 10:05 MK Can you sing along? ES: Yes. 10:16 Don’t do that. Not like that. Here, that goes down. Not the head. 10:39 And while always doing this. 10:50 (imitating the student whilst singing) That’s what you do. [they do it correctly] 11:08 It’s still different somewhere else. This has to go down. It must really be there. The lower jaw must go all the way down. 11:36 Again too little. The idea is right, but still even more, because of the orchestra. 11:43 MK: I can now feel what you mean. If you sing along I may get it right. ES: Alright. Do you understand it now? [MK Signals ‘not really’] Again then, one more time, go. 12:52 ES: [Laughing] The things they do to you here… and now alone. [laughs]. 13:20 Small! Small! Small! 13:43 Of course we are now both much too loud. [laughs] softly! 14:23 Smaller! Smaller. Good. 14:54 Much more. In the mask. Otherwise it won’t work. 15:07 Higher. 15:22 That’s what we are waiting for! MK: Of course. Me too. ES: It’s not easy in all this heat. The “Rosen” must be all the way in the head. It can’t be helped. They must be entirely in the head . 16:03 Misunderstood. NOT too wide. In the head, in the “Glocke”. It’s like this. The support is like this, and then you let it resonate above in the dome. Not AAAA, but aau [XD]. In the dome. 16:27 MK: Too little ES: Yes it’s too little, and too little truly supported. 16:40 Not entirely. First you must find this one. 17:16 On then. 17:20 Too little. For here yes. But… 17:42 Good. Good. MK: That has to be more. ES: A bit. And in the mask. Don’t pull up the lip. Too little. No, not that. In the head. In the head. 18:26 Now you can breathe. 18:34 Also towards there [I think she’s referring to the ‘dome’]. No, you do [imitates MK, then MK does it correctly]. 18:54 Come up. It’s the chestvoice. But very lightly. No. Make it so small that not even a matchstick can go in between. 19:68 A bit more 19:18 You can breathe again before “Augen”. So the conductor won’t have to run. 19:31 That’s not long enough. 19:57 A long “z”. 20:05 Gone. That gives you some idea. It’s fine. You still have time.
Wow! Even after retirement Schwartzkopf had much the same voice as when she was still singing. And I love Strauss's four last songs -- Schwartzkopf is often cited as being the ultimate interpreter of Strauss. So wonderful to see her passing on her knowledge and experience to the next generation, the now world famous Miranda Van Klingeren being a case in point.
A student of mine translated a bit more of the German. Here are some take aways: A few takeaways: - she is often asking the singer to "give more" or "much more" but still wants it "small," "gathered/concentrated" - a lot of the people in the comments are trying to summarize the advice by saying she wants the singer to sing "in the mask" or less dark but if you watch and listen to the whole thing you see a pattern and her advice changes with the music. The lowest notes in chest need to be "broad" and "bright" and pretty forward in order to carry over an orchestra. The middle voice needs to be felt "in the mask" near the nose and where the sound "m" is made. The high notes need to be high up "in the head, in the bells, in the skull"--less forward and less frontal than the singer's habit. In general the singer opens her mouth too wide for all of this, while a smaller opening allows her to access this more concentrated placement more often throughout her range. - "you have to give more" in the middle range when singing with orchestra - "...and that doesn't mean mean louder, it means more concentrated." - the "e" sound comes directly from the "m" before it, the same place - opening the mouth too wide loses that concentration - as the melody goes more into the middle voice, the "mask" is more important -- she doesn't want it too forward or too far back--she describes it as "where an M would be" - "matt" needs to be small for more concentration, and staying in that small place for what follows keeps it. - the "bright a" needs to be smaller to work. - as the melody goes higher it needs to go "into the head, into the bells" -- not broad or forward but up into the skull - as the melody goes into chest voice it needs to be brighter to be heard over the strings.
She is absolutely brilliant. Reminds me of my undergrad voice teacher, Martha Lipton. Tough as nails and exacting, but knew her stuff so well. That is what I believe made them world class singers. The attention to detail is amazing!
Masterpiece of teaching how to sing. Singing out of the mask. Articulation, singing, word and music en detail. Have heard Schwarzkopf several times with these „Four last songs“. Maximum of a voice could do. Will die for this.
Its crazy if you think that she is 75 here and still has so much energy and most of all - still a beautiful voice! At that age?! An amazing singing ability. It shows she really had the right technique.
Frau Schwarzkopf unterrichtet exzellent. Es ist bemerkenswert wie sich der Klang und Stimmsitz bei der Sängerin unter den Anweisungen verbessert und die sowieso schon sehr schöne Stimme an Klangschönheit gewinnt. Besonders berührend finde ich den Moment wo Elisabeth Schwarzkopf zusammen mit Miranda van Kralingen die Stelle singt. Man kann viel lernen von diesem Unterricht. Danke.
Mme. Schwarzkopf is very exacting, but that's what makes an experience with her so valuable. This singer has a hooded sound that she was taught. Inside the head of the singer it is misleading, suggests more resonance than is actually being produced. Here she's being largely coaxed to reverse this and sing in "the mask" but muscle memory is very hard to change.
themotownboy1 right. Especially at age 71. The shimmering high Gs on “Sommer lächelt” are very impressive, as is the steadiness of her voice. No wobble in this voice. At ALL.
Er was een conservatorium student waarvan ze toen zei: "Es ist toch erschrecklich was von die Conservatorium kommt...." Dat vond ik niet kunnen....arme jongen...
Mit über 70 zeigt Schwarzkopf ihre Stimme noch jung und präsent in den wenigen Beispielen, die sie bringt. Egal was man von ihrem Unterrichtstil und Gesangstil halten mag. Fantastischer Klang, aber man versteht leider nix.
Such attention to detail; I think she lived in her own world a made her own rules but I often noticed that her focus was always on diction and the exact sound to create her interpretation, if it made her face look ugly that didn’t matter, whatever mouth or jaw shape was best for sound came first. Nowadays they all seem to show their big shiny veneers all the time and make acting faces, the vocal suffers. So even if you think she was a tough teacher the detail and attention is intense and her pupils all seem to respond. Yes, I know time changes and modern ideas are different, but not necessarily better !
Check by yourself: say 'a' by 'usual' lips and by lips open to the front like Schwarzkopf did at (10:58). You'll be surprised how much volume your voice have!
Sie hat aber auch nie den Fehler gemacht, ihre Stimme zu vergewaltigen und ein für sie unpassendes Repertoire zu singen, wie z.B. die schweren Verdipartien.
Nein, Frau Scharzkopf war das night. Kate Bush war besser. Ihre Stimme war reiner und hatte eine große Reichweite. Aber Popmusik wird in der klassischen Welt nicht erkannt. Nur Leute in der klassischen Musik können etwas Gutes tun ....
I would never want to sing after one of her Masterclass. Too much facial reveal of not satisfied with the person singing. Oh yi yi yi. But she is still a favorite of mine!
Well, nasty doesn’t seem like the right word. She had one way that worked for her and some of her students, and she really wanted them to imitate her exactly. I heard this from a reliable source who worked closely with a student of hers.
Für 72 ist die Schwarzkopf noch erstaunlich fit. Ob das das Singen und die Atmung war? Und sie hat auch keine dickes Vibrato, wie man das oft bei alten Sängerinnen hört.
Doch, sie wurde sehr bekannt, auch international. Sie sang große Rollen in Opernhäusern auf der ganzen Welt, erhielt den Diamond Tulip Award von José Carreras, und vieles mehr!
The poor girl is a bag of nerves. Why doesn't Schwarzcopf let her complete a phrase and then look back over it rather than hectoring relentlessly throughout? Imagine if you were a student carpenter trying to carve out a dovetail joint, and your apprentice master was standing over you screeching "No! Not like that, like this! Faster! Slower! To the right, to the left!". You'd make a complete mess of it. Hopeless teacher.
Bitte nicht nachmachen Leute, die Frau hat extrem verfärbt gesungen. Ihr Gesichtskirmes und das Maskensingen macht es noch schlimmer. Brustimme ist praktisch nicht vorhanden, bei beiden nicht. 12:21
...genau meine Meinung !!! ihre Fans klatschen..naja das kennt man. Leider ist da absolut kein Körper drunter....tödlich für die Opernbühne !!! Gesichtskirmes trifft auch zu....davon bin ich absoluter Gegner.
