And I must admit that, unlike Ralph, I could find little of merit either in Marianne Schech’s Senta or in her Sieglinde for Solti in his set of Act Three of Die Walküre (recorded at about the same time) when I reviewed them relatively recently. She may have had the advantage of strong projection in her favour during the 1950s (which would have justified her regular employment in German theatres and on recordings) but these had worn decidedly thin by the 1960s. Her Senta appears to have evoked contrasting responses from critics even in 1960 (not 1962 as I stated erroneously in my review). Philip Hope-Wallace in Gramophone referred to her “tendency to go sharp at climaxes, as she does with a momentary constriction at the triumphant finish of her Ballad. In the earlier stages,” he continued, “she maintains the pitch but sounds far too nervous”. Harold Rosenthal in Opera complained that “one misses the rapturous tones and mood that Rysanek displayed at Bayreuth last summer; and Miss Schech is being over-cautious at times”.
When the recording was reissued, Alan Blyth in Gramophone remarked that her singing was “seldom imbued with the air of troubled desperation and ecstasy exhibited by the great Sentas,” and “Schech's idiomatic singing hardly ever suggests the distraught young lover.” In another review he described her as “matronly and uninvolved.” William Mann, writing in Opera on Record (edited by Blyth) summed her up as “Rusty and unloveable…most of the time.” And the Stereo Record Guide was even less complimentary: “In the cruelly exposed notes of Senta’s ballad she lets out a few noises more reminiscent of the Flying Scotsman, and occasionally she squeezes herself sharp.” The writer here was presumably Edward Greenfield.
On the other hand William Youngren in Fanfare was far more measured in his judgements, if not as enthusiastic as Ralph Moore: “Schech does not have a beautiful voice, and…at first she sounds a bit old for Senta (she was fifty-six at the time). But her Ballad is strong and passionate, her tone is pure, and her pitch and rhythm are right on. As the performance proceeds, one begins to hear in her portrayal an edge of fanatical intensity—which seems just right for Senta, a girl who fell in love with a picture and then committed suicide.” “Would we,” he concludes, “really want a Senta who sang ‘beautifully’?”
I must admit, on a purely personal level, that yes, I would prefer a Senta who sang beautifully as well as one who could project the fanaticism and passion of the young girl – which is a pretty tall order in its own right. As it I find the sounds produced by Marianne Schech, as I commented in my review of the, far from beautiful; quite apart from the matter of poorly tuned phrases also noted by Philip Hope-Wallace and Edward Greenfield, I find her vocal projection as the opera progresses becomes increasingly and distressingly out of control. What on stage might have been quite acceptable and even exciting, I do find to be a serious blot on my enjoyment of the recording as a whole. At all events what Ralph Moore calls her “security” is incontrovertibly in opposition to the contemporary views of her as “nervous” and “over-cautious.”
Is there an ideal Senta? And the answer is “probably not.” Nobody could probably fulfil all the requirements of the role. But there are some very good ones.
Message Thread
« Back to index | View thread »
Thank you for taking part in the MusicWeb International Forum.
Len Mullenger - Founder of MusicWeb