Debut in San Francisco

Americans have heard German Soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf in everything from Bach's B Minor Mass to Lehar's The Merry Widow--on records. But, except for scattered concerts, they have not heard her in person. This season, the San Francisco Opera gave her a chance to show off not only her brilliant singing but also her remarkable acting. Her roles: the Marschallin in Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier and Donna Elvira in Mozart's Don Giovanni. Her score: bull's-eyes in both roles.

The Marschallin in Rosenkavalier is too often sung by a fading, overripe diva. But 39-year-old Soprano Schwarzkopf, handsomely filling her boudoir gown, looked blonde and beautiful. In fact, when she broke down and sobbed over her waning youth at the end of Act I, she needed all her acting skill to make the moment convincing. Best of all, her water-pure soprano floated out and illuminated her big scenes.

In Don Giovanni as a red-wigged Donna Elvira, Schwarzkopf first denounced her seducer with flashing temper, then melted into moving sorrow as she realized what sort of fellow the don was. With sure technique, she hushed her eager admirers in the audience until she finished her big Act II aria. As she ended the song, she cupped her hands before her in supplication and got her reward: thunderous applause and cheers during four curtain calls.

Diva Schwarzkopf was handsomely supported in Rosenkavalier by New York City Opera's Contralto Frances Bible and German Bass Baritone Otto Edelmann, in Don Giovanni by Metropolitan Opera Basso Cesare Siepi and Soprano Licia Albanese and the Rochester (N.Y.) Philharmonic's Conductor Erich Leinsdorf in both. Standout: Leo Kerz's imaginative, fluid settings projected behind fixed arches onto a backdrop screen. Ahead for the enterprising San Francisco Opera this season: the U.S. premiere of Sir William Walton's Troilus and Cressida (TIME, Dec. 13), and a revival of Rimsky-Korsakov's Coq d'Or with first-rate Negro Coloratura Mattiwilda Dobbs.

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