On Jul 3, 2008, at 8:52 PM, Celia A. Sgroi wrote:
> Does anyone know if Schwarzkopf actually did confine
> herself to 6 roles after she felt under the influence of Sv-- oops!
> Walter Legge? And if I ever knew what the six roles were, I have long
> forgotten. The Marchallin, obviously . . . .
>

Apparently she did do just the 6. They were listed in an article in
the 70s, I think.

Mozart: Donna Elvira, Countess Almaviva, Fiordiligi
Strauss: Marschallin, Countess Madeleine
Verdi ("just for fun"): Alice Ford

All those are fine, but how much she denied herself! No Ariadne
(except for the mid-50s recording), no Arabella (she recorded
excerpts and said "nobody ever asked her" for the role onstage....
yeah, right).
> > > First question: What would the six opera roles have been?
>
> I have racked my brains to come up with 6 roles that DFD could have
> sung convincingly over a long period of time that would not have
> plunged him into absolute boredom and despair after two years.
> Confining myself to only the roles he actually sang on stage, I came
> up with the following:
>
> Count Almaviva (Mozart)
> Don Alfonso (Mozart)
> Mandryka (R. Strauss)
> Barak (R. Strauss)
> Falstaff (Verdi)
> Amfortas (Wagner)
>
> Obviously I have included some roles that you don't think he did all
> that well, Jon, and a couple you didn't mention at all.
>
Yes, and I confess that I cheated a bit for the sake of symmetry, and
because I just plain forgot some things. There are roles on your list
that fit him like a glove and that he did splendidly as far as one
can tell from live recordings: Amfortas, Barak, Mandryka -- all
wonderful.
> If I went 20th century, the list would be:
>
> Doktor Schoen (Berg)
> Doktor Faust (Busoni)
> Gregor Mittenhofer (Henze)
> Cardillac (Hindemith)
> Mathis (Hindemith)
> Lear (Reimann)
>
All fine achievements (and one could add Wozzeck), very much to his
credit. And now that you mention Mittenhofer -- WHY is there still no
complete recording of this great 20th-century opera? It has a
terrific (and very original) Auden-Kallman libretto, vivid roles,
accessible and dramatically effective music... has everybody
forgotten it?

Jon Alan Conrad
Department of Music
University of Delaware
conrad@...