Quintessential Austro-German lyric soprano Elisabeth Schumann brought a floating, silvery (no other term will do) voice to her heartfelt, uncalculating art, endearing herself to audiences in both Europe and America. The freshness that informed her singing never failed her, even as she entered her sixties. Schubert's songs found in her an ideal interpreter for all of those written from a woman's perspective.
Born in the province of Thuringa, Schumann studied first in Dresden with Natalie Hänisch, later working with Marie Dietrich in Berlin before undergoing her final training...