Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Opera and concert singer, known as a great artist of the Opera House and Concert Hall.
On the island
Eight records
Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini
I have sung Meistersinger with Toscanini and in Salzburg, and I will always remember especially the first performance, which has been so out of this world, and how happy I was to be able to sing Eva with him
I love this record very very much. I love the art of Kathleen Ferrier and Bruno Walter has been to me always one of the very great. He was my guide, my musical guide through so many years
She has been a very beloved friend of mine, and I have admired her as an artist tremendously, and I wouldn't dream to go to any desert island without having her voice with me
Wenn ich sterbe, hüllt in Blumen meine Glieder
When I die, give me a shroud of flowers
Because I think Souzay is a singer of great charm. And I like him personally, I like him as an artist
Beginning of the slow movement of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony
Franz Schalk, Vienna Philharmonic
Franz Schalk has been the director of the Vienna State Opera, and he has really guided my first steps to international artist. He was like a father to me
Wien, Wien, nur du allein
the thought of Vienna. I am not a person who lives in the past, but this is a past which I have to take with me
Lotte Lehmann, Maria Olchevska, Elizabeth Schumann
I would like very much to take with me the trio of Rosen Cavalier. Is it very bad to have records of one's own voice?
In conversation
Presenter asks
2:52Many people have said that Toscanini was rather a frightening person to work with. Did you find him so?
Oh yes, I should think so. I don't think there is one singer living who was not frightened of Toscanini, and if the singers say they are not, then they don't say the truth. I was always, till the last time I sang with him, always frightened to death. It is not that what shall I say, it was a kind of magic of his personality and that we knew he wanted so very much perfection. And if one did something wrong, musically wrong, or something which displeased him, we were so desperate to displease him. Therefore everybody wanted to give one's best. … And that made us so very frightened.
Presenter asks
4:47Was there a lot of music in your life as a child?
Yes, house music. Not anything classic, but we always sang at home, the whole family.
Presenter asks
7:32Which did you find more satisfying, opera or the concert hall?
Oh, in the time I was an opera singer there didn't exist anything else for me than opera. But when I stopped singing opera and I started to sing Lieder, a new world really opened for me and I was very happy in this world.
The keepsakes
The luxury
I think I would take my paint box along, because uh my hobby is painting. I don't know how long these colours would last there. But people have uh oh, ten or twenty five thousand years before Christ, they have painted already and they have invented colours, so I don't see why I couldn't. Out of uh wood or leaves, I will find a way.
Presenter asks
9:22What do you think of young singers? What is the most common basic failing?
I think in an interpretation. Because so many young singers think if they know a song very well and if it's technically right, that then this is the finish, but to me it's only the beginning.
Presenter asks
11:25How would you be able to look after yourself on the island?
Yes, that is something which I cannot quite figure out. But you see, I think if the necessity is there, then one will find the way to live there. I don't know, are there savages on that island? Oh, no, no. Now that's good. Then I have no reason to be frightened that I will be murdered and perhaps turned into a nice soup for those savages.
Presenter asks
14:40If you could take one book, leaving aside the Bible or Shakespeare, what would it be?
I think I would take Goethe's Faust with me.
“No. Up till now I have stuck very carefully to civilization.”
“I was always, till the last time I sang with him, always frightened to death. It is not that what shall I say, it was a kind of magic of his personality and that we knew he wanted so very much perfection.”
“When I stopped singing opera and I started to sing Lieder, a new world really opened for me and I was very happy in this world.”
“Because so many young singers think if they know a song very well and if it's technically right, that then this is the finish, but to me it's only the beginning.”
“Yes, that is something which I cannot quite figure out. But you see, I think if the necessity is there, then one will find the way to live there.”