# A Great SingerTakes Pupils



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Here's a charming period piece, not awfully enlightening but fun to watch. It appears to be from the late '20s or early '30s, and gives us the contralto Ernestine Schumann-Heink, somewhere around age 70, showing off some of her American voice students. We get a tiny bit of her pedagogical philosophy -"forget you have a tongue, a nose, or anything..." - an exhortation to establish singing and opera in America (her adopted homeland), and a sample of the elderly diva's own singing, a bit short of breath but still clear.






Schumann-Heink (1861- 1936) was very popular in America beyond the operatic sphere in her later years, performing for the troops in WW I, hosting a weekly radio program, and singing "Silent Night" on the air every Christmas from 1926 to 1935. She was the first Klytemnestra in Strauss's _Elektra_ in 1909.About that she said, "It was an awful din...We were a set of mad women." During rehearsals Strauss is supposed to have said, "Play louder. I can still hear Madame Schumann-Heink." She lost most of her money in the 1926 stock market crash and had to come out of retirement to earn money. Her last MET performance was of Erda in the _Ring_ in 1932.

Still considered by many the greatest contralto in recording history, Schumann-Heink had a voice of considerable power and wide range, embracing contralto and mezzo roles, and an impeccable technique that enabled her to sing everything from Wagner to bel canto and Lieder. A great example of her technical prowess is the drinking song from Donizetti's _Lucrezia Borgia:_


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Woodduck said:


> Here's a charming period piece, not awfully enlightening but fun to watch. It appears to be from the late '20s or early '30s, and gives us the contralto Ernestine Schumann-Heink, somewhere around age 70, showing off some of her American voice students. We get a tiny bit of her pedagogical philosophy -"forget you have a tongue, a nose, or anything..." - an exhortation to establish singing and opera in America (her adopted homeland), and a sample of the elderly diva's own singing, a bit short of breath but still clear.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I have a delightful recording of a radio programme where Schumann-Heink speaks on her birthday (75th?) in 1936. She is too old to sing, but Rosa Ponselle does and pays tribute to her. I love her recording of Erda's monologue and perhaps will get the CDs I have of her recordings out for a play later.

"It was an awful din...We were a set of mad women." could be a review of the excellent Elektra I saw in Berlin earlier this year, which was a pantheon performance.

N.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

What a fantastic treat. Made my day, it did. Many thanks.


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## aussiebushman (Apr 21, 2018)

Thank you for the information about her being the first Klytemnestra - the choice being that of Strauss. She also sang the Alto Rhapsody for Brahms himself, who refused to accept applause without her alongside him.

There are so many stories concerning her career, including the disappointment of her father when she returned from Dresden with a contract after he had gone to great pains to talk her into becoming a dressmaker or teacher - anything but a singer.

Much of the information above is from the sleeve notes of the RCA disk (Mono VIC1409). There are so many wonderful tracks on that album. Also worth getting if you can find it is the Rubini GV514 album where Eric Rees's sleeve notes are also excellent. He puts Schumann-Heink into a "special category" that defies analysis and quotes as examples her performances of the Erlkonig and Brindisi

One example of her brilliance is here: *



* (Those members who decry "old" recordings please refrain from comment - this recording is from 1906). Forget the "frying bacon" and listen to the voice!


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

^^^ The Tchaikovsky song is wonderful. She sings like a great violist. I'll bet Brahms was pleased with her singing of the Alto Rhapsody.


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## aussiebushman (Apr 21, 2018)

Have just found the Youtube clip of the Schubert Erlkonig. It was recorded in 1927 when she was 65 and she was past her prime.

A better example of her abilities is Que faro *



*


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## Solitudine (Aug 6, 2021)

There're some flaws in her technique. Some problems had been shown in her earliest recordings(1903 to 1906) — the disharmony to the middle and chest register, and the high notes habit of "shout". Her diction was also strange, but due to the limited sound quality of acoustic records, it is difficult to make a real judgment. Some of her electric records in her later years sounded terrible(In the songs that used light enginery from beginning to end and focus on the middle register, her performance was OK) and shown some of the problems she had in her 40s.

Clara Butt, Louise Homer, Sigrid Onegin, Marian Anderson were better than her.


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

Woodduck said:


> Still considered by many the greatest contralto in recording history, Schumann-Heink had a voice of considerable power and wide range, embracing contralto and mezzo roles, and an impeccable technique that enabled her to sing everything from Wagner to bel canto and Lieder. A great example of her technical prowess is the drinking song from Donizetti's _Lucrezia Borgia:_


Ugh, I'm late to this thread and the video above isn't available anymore but I found the new one:


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## Solitudine (Aug 6, 2021)

Azol said:


> Ugh, I'm late to this thread and the video above isn't available anymore but I found the new one:


In fact, this recording shows that there are some problems in her Passaggio, and the chest register is too 'natural voice'. But the charm of music itself and her clever handling can divert the audience's attention to a certain extent.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Solitudine said:


> In fact, this recording shows that there are some problems in her Passaggio, and the chest register is too 'natural voice'. But the charm of music itself and her clever handling can divert the audience's attention to a certain extent.


What are the "problems" (plural, I note) with her passaggio? As I listen to her toss this off, doing everything with power, ease and flair, I don't thing anything is diverting my attention from anything.


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## Solitudine (Aug 6, 2021)

Woodduck said:


> What are the "problems" (plural, I note) with her passaggio? As I listen to her toss this off, doing everything with power, ease and flair, I don't thing anything is diverting my attention from anything.


Tremble, the timbre is empty, and the intonation is often stuck in the gap of the piano key. I think it has something to do with the large proportion of natural voice in her chest register.But in this kind of work, I think her shortcomings can be ignored


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## Operasinger (May 28, 2021)

Solitudine said:


> Tremble, the timbre is empty, and the intonation is often stuck in the gap of the piano key. I think it has something to do with the large proportion of natural voice in her chest register.But in this kind of work, I think her shortcomings can be ignored


Listen from around minute 2:10. She makes beautiful elegant transitions between her registers. Very controlled and beautiful. In my opinion. 
I also heard in the past a recording of her from when she was much older and got very bad impression from it about her singing. But now after listening to this recording it just looks like, once again, a great singer and artist who started with really great technique, for some reason, stopped working on her register transitions and lost her good abilities. Which is just very sad.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Operasinger said:


> Listen from around minute 2:10. She makes beautiful elegant transitions between her registers. Very controlled and beautiful. In my opinion.
> I also heard in the past a recording of her from when she was much older and got very bad impression from it about her singing. But now after listening to this recording it just looks like, once again, a great singer and artist who started with really great technique, for some reason, stopped working on her register transitions and lost her good abilities. Which is just very sad.


It pays to listen to more than a single sample when we talk about a singer's technique and the course of her career.

Here is Schumann-Heink at age 48, in Meyerbeer's _Le Prophète_ - "Ah, mon fils." 



 Solid up and down, no problem with registers.

From the same year (1907), Mozart: 




From a year later, some sheer fun: 




From 1915, age 54: 




And, last but far from least, also from 1915: 




Schumann-Heink (1861-1938) made her professional debut in 1876 at age 15 in the alto solo part of Beethoven's 9th symphony, and her operatic debut two years later at Dresden's Royal Opera House, where she quickly became the principal contralto. When she made the last two recordings above, she had been singing professionally, and singing a wide repertoire ranging from Lieder to heavy dramatic roles of Verdi, Wagner and Strauss, for forty years. In those recordings she is still clearly in something close to her vocal prime, as far as the primitive recordings allow us to judge. It's pretty obvious that she did a lot more than "start" with great technique.

It's worth considering all of the above when talking about her (inevitable) vocal decline. As far as I'm concerned, she was more than entitled to it.


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## Solitudine (Aug 6, 2021)

Woodduck said:


> It pays to listen to more than a single sample when we talk about a singer's technique and the course of her career.
> 
> Here is Schumann-Heink at age 48, in Meyerbeer's _Le Prophète_ - "Ah, mon fils."
> 
> ...


There are problems in the passaggio of the first three recordings.

The fourth and fifth songs are much better. However, as for the fifth work, her performance in other recorded versions is still unstable. This version is relatively the best.

These recordings were included in two albums about her published by Romophone company, which were digitally remastered by Mr. Ward Marston.

From the root of her voice problem, it may also be related to her mother tongue habits.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Solitudine said:


> There are problems in the passaggio of the first three recordings.
> 
> The fourth and fifth songs are much better. However, as for the fifth work, her performance in other recorded versions is still unstable. This version is relatively the best.
> 
> ...


I find Schumann-Heink's imperfections quite trivial, and her diction sounds fine (what are "mother tongue habits"?). Should we live to hear another contralto with her range, power, tonal clarity and agility on our stages and recordings, we should all get down on our knees.


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## Solitudine (Aug 6, 2021)

Woodduck said:


> I find Schumann-Heink's imperfections quite trivial, and her diction sounds fine (what are "mother tongue habits"?). Should we live to hear another contralto with her range, power, tonal clarity and agility on our stages and recordings, we should all get down on our knees.


Maybe there's something wrong with my ears. No matter how she sings, she was right


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Solitudine said:


> Maybe there's something wrong with my ears.


No, you probably just attach more importance to certain aural qualities. Few singers are perfect. Within reason, we can differ in what we like and tolerate, and what we consider significant flaws. The current matchups offered by Bonetan bring out our similarities and differences in interesting ways.

There's also the question of recording quality and how it affects our perception. When we aren't hearing the exact sound of a voice our brains have to compensate to some degree, and listeners will differ in what they think they're hearing.


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## Operasinger (May 28, 2021)

Woodduck said:


> *It pays to listen to more than a single sample when we talk about a singer's technique and the course of her career.*
> 
> Here is Schumann-Heink at age 48, in Meyerbeer's _Le Prophète_ - "Ah, mon fils."
> 
> ...


You are right and I have rushed to conclusion here. And then also wrote it down…  It's not true what I said, she actually kept her great technique at list till her 60s.

Also I want to clarify that I didn't mean to say that she had great technique from the beginning just randomly, by force of nature or anything like that. I meant to say that she must have been brought up by a good teacher, she must have worked her *** off when she was young and she achieved great technique- and that was the starting point of her career.


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## Operasinger (May 28, 2021)

Thank you for posting all this recordings!

@Solitudine





The first one has around 2:59 min, a show of mastering her transition from Chest to mix voice- portamento upward with crescendo while transitioning from the chest to mix- wow!!!! (Usually singers used to stay in the chest in this kinds of musical moments).

Her Mozart is amazingly agile! With her huge voice it's crazy how she manages to be so agile and light here but still not losing her beautiful color.

I love the third recording!! 
And her Dalila might be my favorite rendition of this aria that I heard so far. Her voice is so clear and I love how she emotionally conveys it.

Also in one of the recordings here she makes a great long decrescendo on a high note gets to a real pp ….. a dream
Thanks!


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