a southern gal in the north

I have created a new photo album – Garden Growing.  Its over on the side bar.  Just a place to keep ongoing photos from the garden – i love to take semidaily shots.  This is the biggest garden I have had so its exciting to me to see the changes.

Captions to be added later.  Enjoy!

The Times August 04, 2006

Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
December 9, 1915 – August 3, 2006
German soprano whose partnership with her record producer husband created an indelible impression on the world stage

RADIANT was an adjective applied frequently to Elisabeth Schwarzkopf by critics and others. It was used with justification. The word well described the famed and inimitable Schwarzkopf interpretations of certain heroines in Strauss operas, such as the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier and the Countess in Capriccio. It was altogether appropriate to her performance in lieder, with Wolf and Strauss (again) to the fore, to which she turned when she gave up the stage.

And it was quite right for Elisabeth Schwarzkopf herself, with her mane of hair acting almost like a halo, which remained golden well into old age. She was totally professional in all that she did, right through to her personal appearance. She used to tell the story of her arrival, with her mother, in gloomy, bomb-torn Vienna. They had little or no money, but her mother insisted that their meagre luggage contained one impressive and expensive-looking dress for auditions.

It was in Vienna that Schwarzkopf came to the ears of Walter Legge, the recording manager of EMI. They met in the Cafe Mozart in a Harry Lime world, went directly to the Musikverein, where Legge gave her an audition of an inordinate length, which even Herbert von Karajan, who was present, described as cruel. But that started a partnership — with quite substantial involvement from Karajan — on stage and on record which was to last almost 30 years.

Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf – Comment – Times Online.

By ANTHONY TOMMASINI
Published: August 3, 2006

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, the renowned German-born soprano and one of the most intelligent and dazzling artists of her time, died today at her home in western Austria. She was 90.

Her death was reported by Austrian state television, The Associated Press said.

To her many admirers, Miss Schwarzkopf was a peerless interpreter of Strauss’s Marschallin, Mozart’s Donna Elvira, and other operatic roles. But her luster was tainted in her later years by revelations that she had lied about the extent of her association with the Nazis during World War II.

For a singer of such unquestionable stature, Miss Schwarzkopf’s work was controversial. In her prime, she possessed a radiant lyric soprano voice, impressive technical agility and exceptional understanding of style. From the 1950’s until the 1970’s, she was for many listeners the high priestess of the lieder recital, a sublime artist who brought textual nuance, interpretive subtlety and elegant musicianship to her work.

(click link below – its a long obit)

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Opera Singer, Dies at 90 – New York Times.

NOTE:  at 7pm there is now a link to the obit  on the front page of the website’s home page (see next entry) but still no listing on Obit page nor on the Music page

You wonder what it takes to get an item on the NYTimes website… Its MANY hours since the announcement of the death of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and NOTHING anywhere actually on the NYT website.  

If you search for her, you find this…. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/arts/AP-Obit-Schwarzkopf.html

but there is no link on any of the pages (yet)

From Robert Aubry Davis

We have just received news that we have lost one of the great artists of the 20^th century—we have two specials planned, one centering around her work with Richard Strauss, including the great Der Rosenkavalier, and the other with her work in art song, Mozart, and the much-requested Die Fledermaus which we acquired as a VOX premiere for this special.

They will begin next Tuesday, and I will make sure you are updated as to times and repeats. I wish I could share with all of you some of the letters we have received of those who have attended great performances of the past, but many have centered on Schwarzkopf and her artistry

Charlotte Higgins, Arts correspondent
Thursday August 3, 2006
Guardian Unlimited

Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, arguably the greatest soprano of the postwar years, died peacefully in her sleep on Wednesday night at her home in Schruns on the Austrian-Swiss border. She was 90.

She was loved for her matchless lieder singing as well as for her operatic work. In the opera house, she was particularly feted for her Mozart roles – especially her Countess, Donna Elvira and Fiordiligi – as well as her Marschallin. She created the role of Anna Trulove in Stravinksy’s The Rake’s Progress, and entered British folklore when, asked to appear on Desert Island Discs, she chose eight of her own recordings. She was also tinged with notoriety after it was revealed she had been a member of the Nazi party.

According to Edward Greenfield, the Guardian’s music critic emeritus: “She was one of the very greatest of all singers. She combined every quality you wanted in a great soprano. What made her so special was the unique timbre of her voice and her unique responsiveness to words, particularly German – together with her great charisma and beauty. She was also a wonderful actress.”

Her unflinching brand of Prussian perfectionism was well known. Her longtime recital partner, pianist Gerald Moore, called her “the most cruelly self-critical person imaginable”, marking her scores with “arrows, stabs, slashes and digs”.

She joined the Nazi party in 1938, as a young singer in the Deutsche Oper ensemble in Berlin. However, according to Greenfield: “She said that she was blackmailed – unless she joined the party, she was told, her contract would not be renewed. If that had happened, she would have had to find work in a munitions factory. Her singing career would have been at an end.”

After the war, she met Walter Legge, the famous, and, to some, dominating, British record producer, who signed her to the label HMV. She later made a prodigious number of great records under his auspices. “They had some amazing rows, but it was true love between them,” said Greenfield. “He never openly praised her.”

Guardian | Soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf dies, aged 90.

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Keep bugs from hovering about you while you're working with fabric softener sheets.

It seems many flying insects, like those tiny, but annoying, gnats that cluster around your head, don't like the smell of scented dryer sheets. Regular scent Bounce is the brand most often touted as having this insect repelling ability, but gardeners have reported success with other brands too. I guess it depends on your bugs and your chemistry.

Tuck a sheet under your hat brim and maybe in your socks or sleeves too.

http://gardening.about.com/

A knitting friend’s dog is featured in the episode below this week! 

FRIDAY AUGUST 4  9P et/pt: Greta & Hoss, Storm, and Chula
Can Cesar help Hoss, a young Akita, control his aggression and save his family's house from being destroyed? After numerous trips to the vet and no solid answers, a Newfoundland, Storm, won't eat. And with the help of a new GPS-based tool and some good old calm-assertive energy, Cesar sets out to make runaway Chula more of a homebody.

National Geographic Channel – Dog Whisperer: Episodes.

Almost finished the garden – herb garden to finish planting (see garden blog – link on side bar – for more details) and then done for this season.  Yes, I know its late but I put it in from scratch – totally grass and rubbish – so its taken awhile.

I have been working on the Flower Basket Shawl – its about all i can manage to do at the end of a long hard day in the garden especially with the heat we have had this past couple of weeks.

Progress shot (with my favorite knitting bag and inspiration as a bonus).

And a closer look.

Yeah it looks like .. not much right now.  But there is a pattern – I am in the “repeat the pattern until its the size you want” section.  Its an interesting pattern – don’t quite have the rhythm yet but that is probably cause I have been mainly knitting it at night and am usually more tired than normal from the garden work this past month.    I did notice last night that it’s starting to make a little more sense .

I am using Peruvian Baby Cashmere in a gorgeous deep purple – the color is much prettier than is showing up.  Its the first shawl I am using close to laceweight yarn – the ones I have made til now have been in heavier weights like alpaca in a DK weight; so I am looking forward to the blocking process which will be more revealing for the shape and pattern of the shawl than the ones I have made so far. 

ok time to water my garden again –