# Round Three " Meine Lippen: Guden, Sills Schwartzkopf



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)




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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

WOW! You've certainly left the best until last!

Of the seven versions we've heard, I was only familiar with the Schwarzkopf. I don't know Giuditta, but I know the text of the song and enough about operetta to know that this is a Hungarian style cabaret/night club number and it's no surprise that the two oldest recordings (Gueden's and Schwarzkopf's) get this idiom better than the others. This is supposed to be a sexy, seductive number (think Marlene Dietrich or R'n'B - yes, you read that correctly!) Most of the versions heard thus far didn't have the playful sensuality that I want in this song and those that got close were deemed inauthentic by others.

Of these three there were things to enjoy in each. Sills throws herself into the piece with confidence that makes a good start and despite a few lapses in pronunciation I liked her interpretation, although it's still too prim and proper. Gueden is even more of a Hausfrau, but sings with style and taste in genuine Viennese mode. However, this isn't a Strauss nineteenth century operetta and needs a much more sensual delivery.

Perhaps Sills or Gueden would win if paired with any of the first four sopranos, but Schwarzkopf's version is definitive. Firstly the words are as clear as if she were talking (see the thread about vocal individuality and the importance of singing with a naturally produced voice). Secondly, her phrasing and delivery of the words are gently playful and thirdly she is sensual and sexy (not something I usually associate with her). The way she sings the main chorus 'meine Lippen sie kuessen so heiss' softly with a seductive piano is just what the piece is crying out for, despite the instinct to sing the start of a refrain mezzo forte. Her version truly has it all.

N.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I can add little to The Conte's excellent review. It was a pleasure to hear Gueden in an idiom so natural to her, though the very sound of her voice is too sweet for a character I gather is something other than that. It's a little shocking to hear the pig-tailed girl next door talking about hot kisses (or at least it would have been when I was growing up in an earlier era). Sills is really terrific, enjoying herself thoroughly in repertoire I wasn't aware she ever tackled. I see from a quick search that she sang _The Merry Widow _at the very end of her career, when her voice was no longer what it had been, but there is certainly no vocal debility here. Her German sounds correct, though a bit lacking in sharpness, but I'm not complaining.

That brings us to Schwarzkopf, who, as Conte says, has it all, except possibly a free and easy high "b" at the end. Her tasty sexiness, spiced with a dash of fierceness, doesn't surprise me; she even manages to rouse a bunch of men to chime in at the end.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Hmm. Not being a fan of either Sills or Schwarzkopf, I cannot vote for either, however accomplished they may seem. I liked Gueden’s version for her voice, though the recording is a little shrill, but the high notes have a nice ring to them. There is not much of a flirty character in the aria, but I think she gets the style right. Gueden by default.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

It is interesting that so many clamored for Schwartzkopf but so far she has gotten half the number of votes as the winners in the other contests. Maybe videos do better in polls. Strange.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> It is interesting that so many clamored for Schwartzkopf but so far she has gotten half the number of votes as the winners in the other contests. Maybe videos do better in polls. Strange.


It's probably a holiday thing. I don't know where Tsaraslondon is, for one, but we know what he'll do when he returns.

BTW, I didn't realize that Beverly Sills was so svelte. She looks terrific in that little black number.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> It is interesting that so many clamored for Schwartzkopf but so far she has gotten half the number of votes as the winners in the other contests. Maybe videos do better in polls. Strange.


Maybe others are still hung-over from New Year's.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

I just think that Mr. Lehar had the picture of Beverly Sills stamped clearly in the back of his head when he wrote this.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> It's probably a holiday thing. I don't know where Tsaraslondon is, for one, but we know what he'll do when he returns.
> 
> BTW, I didn't realize that Beverly Sills was so svelte. She looks terrific in that little black number.


She wasn't but slimmed down quite a bit in the 70's and looked great. The voice was already past it's peak so it is hard to say if it affected her singing. She lost around 40 or possibly 50 pounds but not as radically as Callas lost. Regarding hangovers, after I left the Baptist church ( I went to seminary) I gave over to sin but never drink. I've never been drunk in my life LOL. Just drunk on Wagner and Bellini.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> It's probably a holiday thing. I don't know where Tsaraslondon is, for one, but we know what he'll do when he returns.
> 
> BTW, I didn't realize that Beverly Sills was so svelte. She looks terrific in that little black number.


Im here. I just haven't got round to properly listening and replying to this round yet.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> It is interesting that so many clamored for Schwartzkopf but so far she has gotten half the number of votes as the winners in the other contests. Maybe videos do better in polls. Strange.


Could it be partly because there are three to choose from and spread the votes between instead of just two?

N.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Despite the various attractions of all three performances, this was an easy choice for me with Schwarzkopf way ahead of the game, and way ahead of anyone else we've heard so far. I doubt I'll ever hear it sung better.

If I say that Güden made me think of Sonja Henie, Sills of Betty Hutton or Doris Day, but Schwarzkopf brought to mind the Dietrich of _The Blue Angel_, then maybe you will get what I mean.Güden sounds just that bit too sweet, Sills just a bit too wholesome but Schwarzkopf is slyly sensual, knowing and seductive and gets the character just right. It helps that she has Otto Ackermann in the pit, and in fact this whole record of Operetta Arias that it's taken from is easily the best operetta album I've ever heard.










If you don't own it, or haven't heard it, then don't hesitate. I had a friend who didn't much like Schwarzkopf, but he absolutely loved this album and it is indeed a winner, guaranteed to lift my spirits when I'm down.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Tsaraslondon said:


> Despite the various attractions of all three performances, this was an easy choice for me with Schwarzkopf way ahead of the game, and way ahead of anyone else we've heard so far. I doubt I'll ever hear it sung better.
> 
> If I say that Güden made me think of Sonja Henie, Sills of Betty Hutton or Doris Day, but Schwarzkopf brought to mind the Dietrich of _The Blue Angel_, then maybe you will get what I mean.Güden sounds just that bit too sweet, Sills just a bit too wholesome but Schwarzkopf is slyly sensual, knowing and seductive and gets the character just right. It helps that she has Otto Ackermann in the pit, and in fact this whole record of Operetta Arias that it's taken from is easily the best operetta album I've ever heard.
> 
> ...


Nice to hear from you. So well written, friend!!!!!! Happy New Year. I am just glad I found some good competition for the divine Schwartzkopf.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

nina foresti said:


> I just think that Mr. Lehar had the picture of Beverly Sills stamped clearly in the back of his head when he wrote this.


Somehow I doubt that. If Lehar had the picture of anyone in his head I think it would probably have been that of Marlene Dietrich in _The Blue Angel_, which came out four years before *Giuditta* was first staged. Of all the versions we've heard, Schwarzkopf gets closest to that style.


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