Anne Sofie von Otter: Swan Song
Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo-soprano. Photo credit: Ewa Marie Rundquist. Image source: Cal Performances
The Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter turned 70 this year. She has had a long and illustrious career in concert, in opera, and on recordings. If her concert in Berkeley's Hertz Hall two Sundays ago was her last public appearance in the Bay Area, it was a fitting farewell: a performance of Franz Schubert's Schwanengesang (Swan Song, 1829).
Schwanengesang is a collection of fourteen of the last lieder Schubert wrote before his death at age 31 in November 1828. The songs are settings of texts by two poets, Ludwig Rellstab and Heinrich Heine, plus a final song that sets a poem by Johann Gabriel Seidl. The songs were not intended as a cycle by the composer, but probably instead conceived as two separate collections, each devoted to a single poet. As a result, the collection lacks coherence of subject and tone. Their grouping as a set was the decision of Schubert's publisher Tobias Haslinger, who also provided the title. (Schubert wrote two earlier songs with the title "Schwanengesang"; neither is included in Schwanengesang.) Von Otter performed the songs in their published order without an intermission, accompanied on a period-appropriate fortepiano by Kristian Bezuidenhout.
With their short metrical lines and regular rhyme schemes, Rellstab's poems work better as song lyrics than they read on the page. Perhaps the best-known of the seven Rellstab songs in Schwanengesang is "Ständchen" (Serenade), here performed by contralto Nathalie Stutzmann accompanied by Inger Södergren:
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Leise flehen meine Lieder Durch die Nacht zu Dir; In den stillen Hain hernieder, Liebchen, komm' zu mir! Flüsternd schlanke Wipfel rauschen In des Mondes Licht; Des Verräthers feindlich Lauschen Fürchte, Holde, nicht. Hörst die Nachtigallen schlagen? Ach! sie flehen Dich, Mit der Töne süßen Klagen Flehen sie für mich. Sie verstehn des Busens Sehnen, Kennen Liebesschmerz, Rühren mit den Silbertönen Jedes weiche Herz. Laß auch Dir die Brust bewegen, Liebchen, höre mich! Bebend harr' ich Dir entgegen; Komm', beglücke mich! |
My melodies plead softly through the night to you; down within the silent grove, beloved, come to me! Whispering slender treetops rustle in the moon's pale light; That a betrayer will eavesdrop There's no need to fear. Do you not hear the nightingales calling? Ah, you they implore; with their voices sweetly singing they send my entreaties to you. They understand the heart’s keen yearning, they know the pain of love; with their notes so silvery they touch every tender heart. Let your heart, too, be moved, beloved, hearken to me! Trembling, I await your coming! Come, bring me happiness! |
To provide von Otter with some respite, Bezuidenhout performed two solos. The first, Schubert's Impromptu in C minor, D 899 No. 1 (1827), came after the first group of six of the seven Rellstab songs, ending with "In der Ferne" (Far Away).
Kristian Bezuidenhout. Image credit: Marco Borggreve. Image source: Festival Ghent
After the second group of four songs, which began with Rellstab's "Abschied: Ade, du muntre, du fröhliche Stadt, Ade!" (Farewell, you lively, you cheerful town!) and ended with Heine's "Das Fischermädchen" (The Fisher-Maiden), Bezuidenhout performed the Andante from Schubert's Sonata No. 13 in A major (1819). The Andante flowed almost imperceptibly into the first song of the final group of four, "Die Stadt" (The City), without a pause for applause.
Schubert's Heine songs have a darker sound than his Rellstab settings, and are filled with imagery of death and loss. From the final group of Heine songs, "Am Meer" (By the Sea), again performed by Stutzmann and Södergren:
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Das Meer erglänzte weit hinaus Im letzten Abendscheine; Wir sassen am einsamen Fischerhaus, Wir sassen stumm und alleine. Der Nebel stieg, das Wasser schwoll, Die Möwe flog hin und wieder; Aus deinen Augen liebevoll Fielen die Tränen nieder. Ich sah sie fallen auf deine Hand, Und bin aufs Knie gesunken; Ich hab’ von deiner weissen Hand Die Tränen fortgetrunken. Seit jener Stunde verzehrt sich mein Leib, Die Seele stirbt vor Sehnen; – Mich hat das unglücksel’ge Weib Vergiftet mit ihren Tränen. |
The sea glittered wide before us in the last rays of the sun; we sat by the fisherman’s lonely house, we sat silent and alone. The mist thickened, the waters surged, a seagull soared back and forth. From your eyes, so filled with love, the tears flowed down. I watched them fall on your hand. I sank upon my knee; I, from your hand so white, Drank away the tears. Since that hour my body is yearning, My soul dies of longing; I have been poisoned forever by her disconsolate tears. |
With the passage of time von Otter's voice has lost a touch of the purity of tone, perfection of intonation, and sustained breath support so evident in her earlier recordings. However, her communicative power as an artist remains undiminished. As the last chords of the last song in Schwanengesang—the incongruously sprightly "Die Taubenpost" (The Pigeon Post)—faded away, the audience responded with an extended standing ovation.
The artists generously offered an encore: Schubert's "Abschied von der Erde" (Farewell to the world), a poem spoken by the character Mechthild in her death scene from Adolf von Pratobevera's play Der Falke (The Falcon), for which Schubert wrote a keyboard accompaniment. The reading was a powerful reminder of the acting skill that von Otter brought to all of her operatic roles. Many thanks to Cal Performances for bringing her to Berkeley; if Schwanengesang was the last time we'll have the opportunity to see her in concert, she left us wanting more.
Anne Sofie von Otter: Three favorite performances
We first became aware of von Otter as a soloist on the recording of Handel's Messiah performed by the English Concert conducted by Trevor Pinnock. Her performance of "He was despisèd" remains our favorite, which is saying a great deal, since we also own recordings of this aria by Lorraine Hunt and Andreas Scholl.
After hearing her in Handel we sought out her other recordings. The very next one we found became a favorite that we still return to frequently, 30 years on: Opera Arias: Mozart, Haydn, Gluck (Arkiv Produktion, recorded 1995) in which she was again accompanied by The English Concert and Pinnock (themselves a recommendation; Pinnock always seems to choose the right tempo, and The English Concert was and remains among the premier period instrument orchestras).
Image source: Presto Music
The selections on the album are not the usual collection of standards. Of course she includes Cherubino's "Voi che sapete" (You who know what love is) from Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, as an example of her excellence in trouser roles. She also performs arias of Donna Elvira and Zerlina from Don Giovanni. But there's nothing from Dorabella's role in the third Mozart-Da Ponte opera, Cosi fan tutte; instead, Otter and Pinnock include arias from the less-well-known Mozart operas Lucio Silla, La finta Giardiniera, and La clemenza di Tito, as well as from three Gluck and three Haydn operas. By itself this disc is an education in late 18th-century operatic styles, and was our introduction to the operas of Haydn as well as at least two of the three Gluck operas.
"O del mio dolce ardor bramato oggetto" (O beloved object of my sweet passion) from Gluck's rarely-performed opera Paride e Elena (Paris and Helen, 1770):
The film A Late Quartet (2012, directed and co-written by Yaron Zilberman) brought von Otter to the attention of a broader audience. In the film she plays the deceased wife of the fictional Fugue Quartet's cellist Peter (Christopher Walken). To commune with her memory, he puts on her recording of "Mariettas Lied" from Erich Korngold's opera Die Tote Stadt (The Dead City, 1920). Here is a different recording of the aria, performed with a piano quintet (arrangement by pianist Bengt Forsberg) rather than full orchestra:
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Glück, das mir verblieb, rück zu mir, mein treues Lieb. Abend sinkt im Haag bist mir Licht und Tag. Bange pochet Herz an Herz Hoffnung schwingt sich himmelwärts. Naht auch Sorge trüb, rück zu mir, mein treues Lieb. Neig dein blaß Gesicht Sterben trennt uns nicht. Mußt du einmal von mir gehn, glaub, es gibt ein Auferstehn. |
Joy, stay with me. Come to me, my true love. Night falls now; You are my light and day. Our hearts beat as one; our hopes rise heavenward. Though sorrow darkens all, come to me, my true love. Bring your pale face close to mine. Death cannot separate us. If you must leave me one day, know that there is a life after this. |
After the Berkeley concert, my partner and I wanted to hear more of von Otter. Usually we don't listen to music after a concert, wanting to give ourselves some time to absorb the experience. But in honor of what may have been our last opportunity to see her perform live, that night we watched scenes from the excellent 1994 Vienna production of Richard Strauss's opera Der Rosenkavalier (1911) directed by Otto Schenk and accompanied by the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Carlos Kleiber. In that production von Otter is a superb Octavian, fully worthy of being mentioned in the company of other great Octavians such as Brigitte Fassbaender and Elina Garanča.
Here is the exquisite final love duet from Der Rosekavalier. Von Otter's Sophie is Barbara Bonney, Sophie's father Faninal is Gottfried Hornik, and the Marschallin is Felicity Lott:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EolhXNJBbU
Von Otter's recordings and our memories of her concert performances will be among our most treasured. Below I offer a list of posts on E&I that discuss her or that include linked or embedded performances:
- The songs of Erich Korngold and Reynaldo Hahn: Erich Korngold, "Mariettas Lied" (1 January 2009)
- Opera Guide 5: L'incoronazione di Poppea" Claudio Monteverdi, "Pur ti miro" (14 August 2009)
- Ten recordings you many not know—but should: Christoph Gluck, "O del mio dolce ardor" (13 April 2015)
- Why we live in cities: Five exceptional musical performances: Concert by von Otter and Andreas Scholl accompanied by Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra conducted by Nicholas McGegan (25 May 2016)
- Five songs: "Traumgekrönt" (Dream-crowned) from Alban Berg's Sieben frühe Lieder (Seven Early Songs, 1905-1908) with both orchestral and piano accompaniment, and "Liebesbriefchen" (Love-note) from Erich Korngold's Sechs einfache Lieder (Six simple songs, 1911-1913) (17 August 2017)
- The first Black prima donna: Vittoria Tesi: Final quartet from Gluck's Le cinesi (9 April 2022)
- Every Valley: Handel's Messiah: Handel, "He was despisèd" (13 April 2025)
- A season of Handel operas, part 4: Ariodante: Handel, "Scherza infida" (7 June 2025)
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