Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Opera singer
On the island
Eight records
Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 "Choral": IV. Ode to Joy
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Leonard Bernstein
I'd love to start with the Ninth Symphony of Beethoven, which I think is so wonderful, it's so joyous, and it's something that we're all longing for today, that we could live in peace together, that all men could be brothers and live joyfully together. And I think this is a theme that I would always want to have.
because of my many, many years of singing in children's choirs, I would love to have The Happy Wanderer, which is sung by the Oberkeshena Children's Choir. And at the time when I was in this choir, this was a big hit, and we always wished that we could sing as well as they did, and it was a wonderful time.
Hänsel und Gretel: Evening Prayer
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Elisabeth Grümmer
I would love to take Hanslingretto, because it's such a a pure, such a wonderful piece. And I would like you to play, if you could, the prayer just before they go to sleep.
Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467: II. Andante
Because of my Zurich time, uh Cortens Bule married Geza Anders, a concert pianist, and We have kept our friendship. Geyser was such a wonderful person, and fortunately he died a few years ago. And they have a son, Gratian, who is about the age of my daughter, and they live just down the road. And my daughter, Susanna, absolutely adores and loves Grazian, and they play together. And I love, first of all, of course, piano music. And I would dearly love to take My dearest friend, Geza. And I would love to have him playing the concerto for piano and orchestra number twenty one in C major.
L'incoronazione di Poppea: Pur ti miroFavourite
Elisabeth Söderström and Helen Donath
I chose it because I so seldomly get a chance to sing this type of music. But I was very, very fortunate to have this chance. It was in Paris. I had John Vickers as my partner, and it was the most wonderful experience for me, and particularly this last duet.
Siegfried: Ewig war ich, ewig bin ich
Yes, it's very difficult having such a varied repertoire and singing all the Wagner, but I think I really must choose Brunhilde, and I think it must be the Ewisch Waarisch von Siegfried, because I think this music is so exquisite, so wonderful.
St Matthew Passion, BWV 244: In Tears of Grief
Concertgebouw Orchestra, conducted by Eugen Jochum, and the Netherlands Radio Chorus
I would love to take the chorus from the Saint Matthew Passion in Tears of Grief.
Der Rosenkavalier: Closing Duet
Well, I would love to take something from The Rose and Cavalier, because The Rose and Cavalier has been accompany me somehow all my career through, and now I sing the marshalling which I'm singing at Coffin Garden at the moment. But every time I leave in the third act after this wonderful tat set. I always stand on the side of the stage and listen to this. Wonderful, exquisite last duet, and I have always a sneaky little wish that I were still on stage and could be able to sing it, because I think it is so wonderful.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:35Could you endure loneliness for a long time?
Oh yes, absolutely. Well, as an opera singer one finds oneself very often sitting alone in a hotel. and uh oh I find all sorts of things to do.
Presenter asks
3:22You had the misfortune to lose your mother and brought up your father, is that right?
Yes, my mother died unfortunately, very young. She was only twenty-eight and I was just three years old. But my father was a wonderful man, and he did everything he worked during the day, and it was very difficult to find people to help, and so we had sort of various housekeepers coming and going.
Presenter asks
7:21As a schoolgirl, did it ever occur to you that you might one day be a professional singer?
I hoped I mean, at the at the time I began, of course, I never dreamt of anything like uh what has happened to me. I was quite happy singing uh local concerts for old age pensioners and entertaining people in hospital and doing the Messiah and Elijah and I mean we did these every Saturday and it was wonderful.
The keepsakes
The book
New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology
Felix Guirand
because I'm fascinated with mythology and I would love to once have really time to get all of these gods and people sort of sorted out, who is related to who and when they were born and what they did
The luxury
I thought I could take my piano. … Yes, an upright piano. But could I have sort of a piano stool? Which would, you know, be full of lovely bath salts and and cream, you know, so that I could really sort of make, you know, really spoil myself.
Presenter asks
8:58Did you do operatic work straightaway [at the Royal College of Music]?
No, the first year at the Royal College of Music I thought I because I wasn't sure if I would make it, I wanted to get all the qualifications so that I could be a school teacher. You know, if I didn't make it, I I wanted to get my diploma and everything so that then I could go back to Wales and maybe do the odd messiah and teach in a school or something like this. And so the first year I just studied music and everything and got my ARCA and It was only the second season that uh they asked me if I would go into the opera school and the first thing I did was Hansel in Hansel and Gretel. And I was absolutely in seventh heaven because I mean I just didn't realize how wonderful it was and it was then that I knew what I had to do because being dressed as a boy with sort of patchy trousers on and no shoes and running around and you know it was it was so wonderful that it was quite clear to me this is what I was meant to do.
Presenter asks
25:14When did you begin to sing Wagner, and what was your first Wagnerian role?
I was very lucky because I started here at home, and I had Sir George Shulty, who was just wonderful, such a wonderful help, and Hans Hotter was at that time doing the production of The Ring here, and I sang Siglinda. Of course I had sung Valkyries and Things before at Covent Garden also. But Siglinto was the first Big Role.
Presenter asks
31:28In opera things go wrong. What has been your worst moment?
Oh, we have had very many funny moments. I mean, like one night in Hamburg, for instance, I was singing Salome. And uh they forgot To tell the man, the hinker, the one that cuts the head off, you know, John the Baptist. They forgot to tell him that there was a performance, and so when the moment came no one came in, because they didn't discover he wasn't in the theatre until it was too late. And I must say that it was a very nervous moment for me because I didn't quite know whether I should jump into the cistern and sort of get it there myself or whether I should just wait and see, you know, whether I would have to sing it didn't come at all.
“I mean, a a singer of course has a wonderful advantage maybe over other people, and that is that you can sing your own favorite music.”
“When I won the scholarship to come to the Royal College of Music, it was a very exciting time for me, but at the same time a very tragic time. Because the day that the news arrived that I was accepted. My father died just two hours before the letter arrived, and so it was a very mixed day. I was absolutely shattered, as you can imagine. But nevertheless, it gave me great strength because I knew how much my father wanted me to be a singer.”
“I stayed with the Metzo for a while and uh actually then when I finished college I stayed in the Royal College of Music in the Opera School for well, I was there for four years actually, in in all.”