Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
International opera star.
On the island
Eight records
because there's a kind of sadness in his voice that reaches me at strange moments
Da tempeste (Cleopatra's aria from Giulio Cesare)
I felt while I'm on my desert island I may want to reminisce a little bit about the night that it all happened
Final scene of SalomeFavourite
Welitsch was really the first singing actress I ever saw on stage
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:52How well do you think you could stand loneliness?
Oh, pretty well. I'm a compulsive talker even when there's nobody around, so that I'm never at a loss for company.
Presenter asks
1:08What would be the greatest consolation of being on this island? What would you be happiest to have got away from?
noise, I think, and in some respects the pressures of the kind of life I lead, which is really a little overwhelming.
Presenter asks
6:17Had you got a goal in mind at this time? Was it opera you were aiming at, or was it just this question of earning a living and getting experience?
No, I always wanted to be … an opera star. … we learned about [Jeritza] being carried through the streets by her fan and entertaining royalty. And I decided not just an opera singer for me, I was going to be an opera star and have champagne sip from my slipper.
The keepsakes
Presenter asks
How long ago was it that you made that breakthrough?
It was nineteen sixty-six. … I'm a late bloomer and I think it was very good that I bloomed late because I don't think I ever could have survived the pressures as a younger woman if this had happened to me when I was twenty eight.
Presenter asks
16:25You have a reputation for being without nerves before a performance. Is that true, or are you just good at disguising them?
No, I really I'm too old now to be nervous. I've lived through my nervous period. And my theory is that if there was anybody else who could do it better than I was doing it, they'd be up there doing it. … I'm 43 now. I don't feel it's necessary for everybody to love me.
Presenter asks
20:51Could you build somewhere to live?
Probably not. I'm rather inefficient at building anything. I'd probably hide under a big leaf and just get dripped down by the rain. I don't think I'd fare very well.
“I was a little wunderkind, as they say.”
“I have had always considered myself a singing actress, never just a singer. I get very bored with pretty voices. I think pretty singing is nice for twenty minutes and then what else is new?”
“I'm a late bloomer and I think it was very good that I bloomed late because I don't think I ever could have survived the pressures as a younger woman if this had happened to me when I was twenty eight.”
“I took the scissor and I cut the costume up in four pieces and very carefully folded it and I said, 'Now you go make that costume silver, please.'”
“When [Welitsch] came out with this shock of red hair and this overly white skin … she was the decadent Salome of all times. It was … half child and half leper. … I realized that for each role you really must take on that person as an outer skin.”