Irmgard Seefried

Irmgard Seefried0:00

This download is the only extract the BBC has of this edition of Desert Island Discs. The presenter was Roy Plumley.

Presenter0:08

Madame Seyfried, were you brought up to hear a lot of music as a child?

Presenter0:12

Your parents were musical.

Irmgard Seefried0:14

Yeah, since I really uh since I really can think.

Irmgard Seefried0:17

Music was always round me. My father was a marvelous man. He was a he he had a marvelous uh voice himself, very beautiful tenor, uh but uh his parents uh didn't like for him to be a singer. So he was brought up as a he was a schoolmaster.

Presenter0:30

Yeah.

Presenter0:33

You were born in Bavaria.

Irmgard Seefried0:34

I'm born in Bavaria, close to the uh Swiss border, you see.

Presenter0:38

Do you remember your very first appearance in front of an audience?

Irmgard Seefried0:41

Yes, well I have done it already when I have been five years against the big chorus.

Presenter0:46

Rhythm

Irmgard Seefried0:46

Yeah, I sang it already, but I can't remember what it was. I think it was a very big thing. Uh it was quite uh something for me to sing against this chorus, but I think I came quite nicely through. And then three years later I sang the first opera already. I mean I have been eight years, I sang the Gretel in in Henslung Gretelof by Humpertink.

Presenter0:57

And

Presenter1:04

Oh yes.

Presenter1:06

When did you decide that music was to be your career? Quite early?

Irmgard Seefried1:09

Yes, I think so, yes.

Presenter1:11

So when you left school you went to

Irmgard Seefried1:13

I went directly to Hers Conservatoire.

Presenter1:15

Way.

Irmgard Seefried1:15

In Augsburg?

Presenter1:17

I I remember reading you learned over twenty operatic roles at the

Irmgard Seefried1:20

Yeah, that's exactly right, yes. When I had my first um coming in in Aachen,

Irmgard Seefried1:26

So I brought in a in a big suitcase twenty five

Irmgard Seefried1:30

Is this in English right? Volume 4. Score, that's right.

Presenter1:32

Volume 2 volumes. Oh, that's a score. Score. That's right, yes.

Presenter1:36

This was your operatic debut in Armenia.

Irmgard Seefried1:39

In Aachen, yes, yes. I sang in that time with Kara and he was he was the first conductor there.

Presenter1:44

Carry on.

Irmgard Seefried1:44

Yeah, and I suppose you're not.

Presenter1:45

What was your first role?

Irmgard Seefried1:47

My first role was backstage, you see, because I was the priest, the first priest in Aida.

Presenter1:52

Yes. Now I know that your debut at Aachen was in nineteen thirty-nine and it is right on the Belgian border.

Presenter1:59

It must have got a bit noisier there in the spring of nineteen forty.

Irmgard Seefried2:01

It was a very hard time I would say so you see when you are a young girl coming there all by yourself without anybody around you and we had to sing nearly every day and so during the night there was the bombing, it was not so easy for us, you see.

Presenter2:14

Yes. And of course it through Aachen came the invasion of Belgium.

Irmgard Seefried2:14

Of course it's not a

Irmgard Seefried2:17

I just was in middle of the war, I would say, so yes. And then after three years, I decided to go to Vienna.

Irmgard Seefried2:25

And I thought I'm going away from war, but I mean I came there, the whole things came to this place.

Presenter2:32

You went from Aachen Direct to Piano.

Irmgard Seefried2:33

Direct? No, I I I got first the invitation going to the Staats opera of Dresden.

Presenter2:39

Uh

Irmgard Seefried2:39

Because Carl Boom, he was the the the

Presenter2:39

But

Irmgard Seefried2:42

Very general Music, director of uh Dresden.

Irmgard Seefried2:45

And he was looking for me and in I said, Yes, I'm coming and but overnight he went to Vienna.

Presenter2:52

Yeah, so

Irmgard Seefried2:52

So I had suddenly draced an enviana, you see.

Presenter2:56

Before the end of the war the Vienna Opera House was destroyed, wasn't it?

Irmgard Seefried3:00

Yes, I was there.

Presenter3:01

Well

Irmgard Seefried3:01

As a matter of fact, yes, we went every day to the opera house just like a family being together.

Presenter3:06

Yeah.

Irmgard Seefried3:06

And then it was nearly, I think it was twelve days before ending of war.

Presenter3:06

And the

Presenter3:10

Uh

Irmgard Seefried3:10

The opera house was bombed, you see, and I was there, I was fighting against the fire. All the company tried to save the opera house. Yes, it was very sad for us, you see.

Presenter3:14

All the company tried to save the opera house.

Presenter3:18

Had you been playing there right up to the last one?

Irmgard Seefried3:20

Unto that, yes, yes. I think there, you see. Without any fee, which was something for us.

Presenter3:26

Conditions were terribly hard in Vienna at that time.

Irmgard Seefried3:27

But you see it's it's a

Irmgard Seefried3:32

It's a funny feeling when you look back. I mean, it's still very strong in your heart. It wasn't just.

Presenter3:37

It wasn't just ensemble playing, there was a real ensemble feeling of living in the country.

Irmgard Seefried3:39

Real ensemble feeling of living in the country.

Presenter3:44

How long was it before the company could start singing together again?

Irmgard Seefried3:48

Well, we only took us only fourteen days, you see.

Presenter3:50

You see it?

Irmgard Seefried3:51

We started already the war was for us over in the middle of April.

Irmgard Seefried3:56

And we started already at the beginning of May with Marriage of Figaro again. That was the only production.

Presenter4:01

That was

Irmgard Seefried4:02

I s we had to well, we had no house anymore, so we had we went to the Volks Opera, which is the second house in Vienna, it's the second opera house.

Presenter4:10

Good bra.

Irmgard Seefried4:11

And uh there we started again and uh there we sang twenty-eight times only marriage of figure in one month.

Presenter4:17

That was quite a month's work.

Irmgard Seefried4:18

I would say so, yes.

Presenter4:19

Uh

Presenter4:20

And of course you had not so far been able to start an international career before the war.

Presenter4:25

How soon afterwards were you able to begin singing abroad?

Irmgard Seefried4:28

Well, it it started directly with the company together. You see, we went uh off Yana, we went it was forty seven.

Irmgard Seefried4:38

We took our first big tour down to Nice. That was marvelous at our after after war, coming to Nice. Oh, unbelievable.

Presenter4:46

On the Mediterranean, yeah, yeah.

Irmgard Seefried4:47

Yes, yes. And then we came to uh to Paris. Our first visit in Paris, or Champs-Élysées. And you came to London?

Presenter4:54

And you came to London, of course, because

Irmgard Seefried4:56

Yes, there we came to London, exactly. It was my first visit for London.

Presenter5:00

And when was your New York debut?

Irmgard Seefried5:02

Fifty one, on the Metropolitan and for Councils.

Presenter5:07

Would you say that opera is still a major part of your life?

Irmgard Seefried5:11

No.

Presenter5:11

Yeah.

Irmgard Seefried5:11

No, you're still a

Presenter5:11

You're still a permanent member of the Vienna Company?

Irmgard Seefried5:13

Yes, that's the only company I I I'm always since I w since forty-three I'm with this company.

Presenter5:20

Yeah.

Irmgard Seefried5:20

And I just got in in June.

Presenter5:23

Yeah.

Irmgard Seefried5:23

Very famous. I'm a famous person now, you see?

Presenter5:26

What happened?

Irmgard Seefried5:27

Well, you don't have this in this country. I don't know. It's terribly difficult to translate. I am a honored member of the Vienna Philharmon.

Presenter5:34

Yeah.

Presenter5:37

Brother.

Irmgard Seefried5:39

Do you have this here? No, no, no. No, we don't have any

Presenter5:40

No, we don't have anything of the sort.

Irmgard Seefried5:42

But you have honour here, yeah?

Irmgard Seefried5:46

Yeah.

Irmgard Seefried5:47

Yeah.

Presenter5:47

Piano or Russian or France.

Irmgard Seefried5:48

Yeah

Presenter5:50

You met your husband uh at at the piano opera house didn't you?

Irmgard Seefried5:52

Yes, at that time he was the leader of the

Irmgard Seefried5:56

Viennese uh philharmonic and uh

Irmgard Seefried5:59

When I came there, we met us during a recording of Meister Singers, you see?

Presenter6:03

Yes. Wolfgang Schneider, huh?

Irmgard Seefried6:05

Wolfganger Hannah.

Presenter6:06

And you've made many tours together since.

Irmgard Seefried6:08

Yes, oh this is this is marvelous. I mean it's not always very easy for a singer to sing against uh a very good violinist because uh you have to learn quite a lot, but uh I think I like it very much. I got my real, I would say the real deep musician feeling from him.

Presenter6:23

Your home is Vi in Vienna, isn't it?

Irmgard Seefried6:25

My home is in Vienna, out of Vienna, exactly. In the Wein Bang Weinberg, no, this is a special name here, Vi Vin Vineyard, Vineyard, you say?

Presenter6:33

Yeah, well, among the vineyards. Yes, outside the city.

Irmgard Seefried6:35

Yes, outside the city. So the vine is directly in my house, you know?

Presenter6:39

You make your own wine?

Irmgard Seefried6:40

Oh, no, no, it would be too sour. I could

Presenter6:41

Put it too sour, I agree.

Presenter6:44

How much time during the year can you spend in Vienna?

Irmgard Seefried6:47

Well, something around three months, something so.

Presenter6:50

Yes.

Presenter6:52

There must be a great art in planning a recital programme. How do you set about this?

Irmgard Seefried6:56

Well, you see, this is really my favorite working what I have, because there I'm my own boss and uh I always um

Irmgard Seefried7:06

built my program for every different town and every different country because I I nearly was uh round the world. And this makes me very happy because you see, fine when you are with audience together they can understand your language is

Irmgard Seefried7:21

better. But I think much more in foreign countries without

Irmgard Seefried7:26

any understanding of of the words.

Presenter7:28

Yeah.

Irmgard Seefried7:28

Uh

Presenter7:28

Yes, you sing mostly um leader, mostly German songs.

Irmgard Seefried7:32

Yes, I would say so. Yes, yes, I do.

Presenter7:34

And these in a way must be explained and made easy for a foreign orchid audience.

Presenter7:40

Your eyes

Irmgard Seefried7:41

They must have the feeling after a little while that everybody can understand. It's sometimes not so easy because you have to find the real point in the heart and in the soul.