From time to time, I look up names of singers and then go online to see if they have any performances on YouTube. This was the case with Lotte Schädle, and I was very pleasantly surprised. Her career was mainly in the German-speaking countries, and this is possibly why I hadn’t heard of her.
She had a lovely lyric coloratura voice, and she was a famous interpreter of Bach. She had beautiful word placement, and a beautiful upper register. By now, I must sound like a broken record, but there was no drag on her voice. By this, I mean that there was nothing to impede the airflow from her lungs to the resonating chambers in her head, and you can especially hear this in her upper register.
Mozart, Das Entführung aus dem Serail K 384,
“Welche Wonne, Welche Lust”
Welche Wonne, welche Lust
Herrscht nunmehr in meiner Brust!
Ohne Aufschub will ich springen
Und ihr gleich die Nachricht bringen
Und mit Lachen und mit Scherzen
Ihrem schwachen feigen Herzen
Freud und Jubel prophezeihn.
Mozart, The Abduction from the Seraglio K 384
“What bliss, what delight”
What bliss, what delight
Holds sway within my heart!
I must hasten without delay
To bring her the news straight away
And with laughter and pleasantries
I will prophesy to her weak, timid heart
Happiness and rejoicing.
J.S. Bach: Meinen Jesum lass ich nicht, Cantata BWV 124
V. “Entziehe dich eilends”
Entziehe dich eilends, mein Herze, der Welt,
Du findest im Himmel dein wahres Vergnügen.
Wenn künftig dein Auge den Heiland erblickt,
So wird erst dein sehnendes Herze erquickt,
So wird es in Jesu zufriedengestellt.
J.S. Bach: I will not leave my Jesus, Cantata BMV 124,
V. “Withdraw yourself”
Withdraw yourself, my heart, in haste from the world,
you will find in heaven your true contentment.
when in the future your eyes behold your saviour,
then finally your loving heart will be refreshed,
then you will find satisfaction in Jesus.
Telemann, Cantata TVWV 1:955
Jauchzt, ihr Christen, seid vergnuegt!
1. Arie
Jauchzt, ihr Christen, seid vergnuegt!
Ungeheuer, Tiger, Drachen
hat das starke Lamm besiegt.
Suende, Tod und Belial, schliesst den aufgesperrten Rachen!
2. Rezitativ und arioso
Sieg ist euer Fall, Christus Sieg ist euer Fall.
Wer wollte nicht, bei diesem frohen Schein,
in Freuden ueberschwaenglich sein?
Was uns zu trauren Anlass giebet,
entweicht, entflieht, verstiebet.
Der Suenden Schuld, die ich begangen habe,
ist nicht mehr da, sie hat ihr Grab in meines Gottes Grabe.
Arioso. Halleluja!
Recit. Des Todes Schrecken
wird auch mein Leib ewig schmecken.
Denn Gott wird zu den Lebenstueren
des neuen Solyma, die da entschlafen sind,
durch Jesum mit ihm fuehren:
(Si replica Halleluja!)
Der Hoelle Pochen
hat seine Macht zugleich gebrochen.
Der Rauch der Qual, der aus dem Abgrund bricht,
erstick die Seinen nicht. So bald ich aus dem Leben weiche,
verhilft er mir zu seinem ew’gen Reiche,
worauf schon hier mein Seelenauge sah:
(Si replica Halleluja!)
3. Arie
O dreifach hoher Sieg!
O mehr als tausendfache Freude!
Telemann, Cantata TVWV 1:955
“Shout, Chistians, Be Happy!
1st aria
Shout, Christians, be happy!
Monsters, tigers, dragons
defeated the strong lamb.
Sin, Death and Belial, close the gaping mouth!
2. Recitative and arioso
Victory is your fall, Christ’s victory is your fall.
Who wouldn’t want to, with this happy glow,
to be exuberant in joy?
What gives us cause to mourn
escapes, escapes, disappears.
Guilt of the sins I have committed
is no longer there, it has its grave in my God’s grave.
Arioso. Hallelujah!
Recit. The terror of death
my body will also taste good forever.
For God becomes the doors of life
of the new Solyma, who have fallen asleep there,
lead with him through Jesus:
Hell is protesting
broke its power at the same time.
The smoke of torment bursting from the abyss,
does not smother his own. As soon as I leave life,
he helps me to his eternal kingdom,
what my soul’s eye already saw here:
(Si replica Hallelujah!)
3rd aria
O triple victory!
Oh, more than a thousand-fold joy!
Lotte Schädle
October 23, 1936 –
Lotte Schädle made guest appearances at the Vienna State Opera, on the major stages of the German speaking countries and, in 1965, at the Salzburg Festival . At the Edinburgh Festival of 1965 she sang the role of Blondchen (the Abduction from the Seraglio), in which she was particularly admired. She also sang operetta, and she also had success in concerts, particularly as a Bach interpreter.
Her voice was discovered at several singing competitions, after which she studied at the Munich University of Music with Maria Pringsheim. In 1955 she made her debut as an audience member at the Munich State Opera. In 1957 she was engaged at the Nuremberg Opera House, where she was a member until 1962, and where she took part in the premiere of Mark Lothar’s opera “Der Glücksfischer” in 1962. In 1962 she became a member of the Munich State Opera again, where she had an important career until 1980. In 1957-58 she sang one of the flower girls in “Parsifal” at the Bayreuth Festival. She had her successes primarily in soubrette roles. The blonde in “Abduction from the Seraglio” was generally considered to be her shining role. She made guest appearances at the Vienna State Opera, at major stages in the German-speaking world and in 1965 at the Salzburg Festival.