There were three distinct phases to Joseph Schmidt’s
eight-year recording career. He began with HMV – Electrola, as it was
locally known – before signing for Ultraphon for the three-year period
covered by this Telefunken Legacy double set. His most productive and
probably best-known recordings however were the 80 odd sides made for
Parlophone from 1933. Schmidt was born in Bukovina in 1904, then part
of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He trained in the cantorial Jewish tradition
and later in Berlin with Weissinborn but because of his restricted height
– he was 4’11" – an operatic career was never a serious possibility.
He was in that respect fortunate that increasing popularity of radio
broadcasts – including an extensive series of opera broadcasts – brought
him popularity and the interest of major recording companies. Ultraphon/Telefunken
recorded him in 37 sides – in this set there are second takes of two
items – Tosti’s Marechiare and Knauer’s Der Emigrant, the
former a very rare first take and the latter in a different arrangement
recorded nine months apart. The records are a mixture of arias, German
and Italian songs, and operetta. As was the prevailing custom most of
the Italian arias are sung in German – he retains the original language
for such as Tosti’s Vorrei morire and Arturo Buzzi-Peccia’s Lolita.
Herbert Grenzebach, Ultraphon’s first recording manager, is quoted
in the sumptuous and properly extensive booklet notes as saying that
at his audition Schmidt’s voice sounded rough at the top with a "cutting"
quality to it but that on replaying the test discs and cutting the frequency
range slightly the voice emerged with attractive ease. Whatever the
ramifications of his strident top it’s clear that he possessed a superb
instrument capable of great flexibility and power, well modulated, if
not exceptionally well supported at the bottom of the range. The top
however was capable of glittering attack, clarion in its implications,
and his breath control was superb. Whether the lack of operatic experience
was a cause or whether the recordings were somehow deficient he never
sings quite softly enough – he certainly doesn’t float a pianissimo
in the way many of his contemporaries routinely did. But Schmidt was
a tenor of tremendous gifts, an interpreter of surprising subtlety and
many of these Ultraphons attest to his sheer distinction, not least
in the lesser rank German songs, of which there are an unavoidable many.
Some of the accompaniments are soupy and scrappy –
contingents drawn from various Berlin orchestras such as the Stadtische
and Staatsoper and the Philharmonic itself were used though various
other groups, including Lajos Kiss’ famous Gipsy Orchestra, are also
to be found here. The unnamed accompaniment to Recondita armonia
for example, the first recording from August 1929, is horribly provincial,
with a mass of swimmy fiddles and a generally glutinous air. Schmidt
almost invariably rose implacably above such poor backing and in truth
the standard improves markedly. He lays down an early challenge to Tauber
in Dein ist mein ganzes Herz – he hasn’t quite the conversational
charm but it’s a sign of his burgeoning reputation in the operetta field
in the Weimar Berlin of the late twenties. With Irene Eisinger he essays
Wer hat die Liebe uns ins Herz gesenkt a matter of a few months
after its stage premiere with Tauber; a treasurable performance this.
He tries just a little too hard in Mascagni’s Mamma quel vino e generoso,
or in its German translation, Mutter, der Rote war allzu feurig.
Ciampi’s Nina demonstrates his excellent control of line
sustained by perfect breathing; the band here is noticeably well behaved
for him. The August 1930 Marechiare is a rara avis. Some copies
were released on Ultraphon A575 but it’s September’s recording that
is the one generally known and rightly so. The re-recording was necessary
to enable Schmidt to deal with the strain of his top notes that mar
the earlier performance; he also took the occasion slightly to quicken
the tempo. The Bartered Bride extract with the estimable Michael
Bohnen has slightly muddied lower frequencies but is still a sonorous
and exciting performance. In Questo o quella Schmidt employs
some discreet portamenti and his idiosyncratic Italian consonants; it’s
a good, rather stout attempt but not one that can match contemporary
Italian performances. In Una furtive lagrima he even embellishes
the line – tastefully so – and takes some of the interpolated high notes.
Of the German songs the standout is Robert Stolz’s Du sollst der
Kaiser meiner Seele sein. Schmidt brings ardour, simplicity and
enormous beauty of tone to a song that deserves all these qualities
– a magnificent performance of a stunning tune. There’s strong and passionate
declamation in Halévy’s Rachel, quand du Signeur and the
novelty of two takes of Der Emigrant – one with a piano ending,
the other, from the following year with orchestral.
These Telefunken Legacies are superbly produced with
nostalgic 78 style record sleeves and in book format with text and photographs
of high quality; Hansfried Sieben’s note is a mini-essay that documents
Schmidt’s Ultraphon years – and beyond – with zeal and colour. I enjoyed
every minute of these generous discs.
Jonathan Woolf
With Irene Eisinger, soprano
(Wer hat die Liebe uns ins Herz gesenkt)