Dear co-vocalisters,
I am back from the Schubertiade where I heard a few
excellent concerts and listened for a week to a
masterclass of Gundula Janowitz (was suposed to be
Fischer Dieskau, who had to undergo a minor sugery).
I immediately thought about her when I read the
discussion about learning a role by listening to cd's.
One of her repeated questions - when somebody made a
funny mistake - was: 'which cd did you listen to?' She
appeared to be not without self-criticism, as she told
us after a few days, she once asked this question to a
young soprano, who answered: But ms. Janowitz, it as
your cd!' So, Gundula Janowitz continued, 'don't copy
anybody's faults, not even mine'.
In my own - limited - experience, listening to a cd to
get a general view is ok, but after that you have to
have a very critical look at the the partiture, while
listening to a recording of a practice session. With
pieces I knew very well from cd, I found out that I
was making many mistakes, small ones, but also
mistakes that were hard to get rid of, whereas with
new or almost new pieces it took me more time to learn
them, but at least I learned to do them right from the
beginning.)
I like it much more to work on a piece first, (while
combining a bit far-sighted reading and playing piano
with three fingers) and then listen to a cd. It is
nice to find out that the singers you like most, do it
more or less like you. But if you're in a hurry,
getting a genarl view per cd, might speed it up and
lsiteing to ensembles etc. on a cd can be quite
practical.
On Janowitz:
BBC today writes (in artist of the week) about her:
'When Gundula Janowitz was summoned to the Vienna
State Opera - at the behest of conductor Herbert von
Karajan - she was earning her living as a farming
journalist and laughed off the telephone call as a
hoax until she was called back by an earnest official
of the Staatsoper.
She says of her time in Vienna: "It was fantastic.
Karajan taught me everything. How the music is
structured, its high points, its deep points. He
taught me what music is."
In Vienna one generation of Mozart singers hands down
the tradition to the next - and Janowitz is no
exception, citing the great soprano Elisabeth
Schwarzkopf as a key influence.
Janowitz remains Viennese in outlook, with a
particular flair for Richard Strauss and Mozart, but
has sung on stages around the world, including The New
York Metropolitan Opera, Glyndebourne, Covent Garden,
La Scala Milan and the Paris Grand Opera. She also
spent a year as Opera Director at Graz.
Her major roles have included Mozart's Pamina,
Wagner's Eva and Elisabth, Strauss's Countess, Empress
and Arabella and Puccini's Mimi'
A few exerpts from the masterclass soon.
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