Inge Borkh is Dead.

[Conchis]

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/aug/31/inge-borkh-obituary

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Great singer.

[Bryn]

Great singer.

Indeed. Almost won me over to Strauss's Salome.

[Dave2002]

https://www.theguardian.com/music/20...borkh-obituary

Very odd obit - seemingly written by someone who died years before the subject of his text. Possible, but shouldn't the Guardian have added more text to explain?

I know little of this singer, perhaps a very slight exposure to Solti's Die Frau ohne Schatten recording.

Inge-Borkh RIP

[ahinton]

Indeed. Almost won me over to Strauss's Salome.

"Almost"? You mean that this terrific score alone hasn't managed to do that?!...

[Bryn]

"Almost"? You mean that this terrific score alone hasn't managed to do that?!...

Got it in one. There are very few works by RS which win me over. For instance, the Oboe Concerto and the Burleske, to go from the sublime to the ridiculous.

[ahinton]

Got it in one. There are very few works by RS which win me over. For instance, the Oboe Concerto and the Burleske, to go from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Your reference the the former reminds me of the remark that most would find to be the ultimate in sacrilegious expression which Sorabji once made to me in conversation, namely that one of the few pieces of Mozart that he could bear to listen to was the Oboe Concerto. By Richard Strauss. But I'm sad for you that Salome hasn't won you over.

[Richard Barrett]

Great singer.

She certainly was. Strange though that she didn't involve herself more in Wagner.

[Conchis]

She certainly was. Strange though that she didn't involve herself more in Wagner.

Nilsson Effect.

[rodney_h_d]

Very odd obit - seemingly written by someone who died years before the subject of his text. Possible, but shouldn't the Guardian have added more text to explain?

I know little of this singer, perhaps a very slight exposure to Solti's Die Frau ohne Schatten recording.

Inge-Borkh RIP

I suppose obituaries are prepared in advance but it's also strangely dated 31st August 2018.

My main memory of her is as the Dyer's Wife in that first ever ROH production of Die Frau ohne Schatten in 1967. ROH gave it plenty of publicity and I also attended a pre-production 'symposium' with contributions from producer and set designer as well as Solti.

[bluestateprommer]

I suppose obituaries are prepared in advance....

Obituaries of major people in all fields, particularly when they get to a certain age, are pretty much always prepared in advance, AFAICT. One historical example is from David McCullough's bio of Harry S. Truman:

"When the writer Alden Whitman of The [New York] Times, had been preparing it in advance years before and went to Independence to interview Truman himself, feeling extremely uneasy about the whole assignment, Truman greeted him with a smile, saying, 'I know why you're here and I want to help you all I can.'"

[Barbirollians]

Exactly and when you have an obituary written by an eminent critic who actually saw and heard her in the opera house it is a vivid appreciation rather than a dusty regurgitation of the recollections of others.