Not Bloody Likely

[Note: This post has been updated (1) as of 6:41 AM Eastern on 6 Mar. See below.]

Music critic for the Chicago Tribune, John von Rhein, in a commentary on the Hatto affair concerning the honesty of classical music recordings generally, wrote:

Back then [1950s], howls of outrage greeted the revelation that high Cs sung by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf had been spliced into Kirsten Flagstad's recording of the "Liebestod," from Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde."

Not bloody likely. Principally because there are no sung high Cs in the so-called "Liebestod" (in the Furtwängler complete recording of Tristan with Flagstad, the Schwarzkopf-inserted high Cs were in fact inserted into the minute or so of wild ecstasy at the beginning of Act II when the two lovers first greet each other).

That sort of error is one that a classical music duffer might make, and be forgiven. For a seasoned classical music critic of a major daily to make such an error is both appalling and unforgivable. I mean, didn't he mentally hear the "Liebestod" as he was writing that sentence, and realize instantly there couldn't possibly be sung high Cs in that Act III closing episode?

He should have.

---

Update (6:41 AM Eastern on 6 Mar): In a squib in his "Links I found while not working" blog sidebar feature, Leon Dominguez of Sieglinde's Diaries links the above post, and comments:

critics, check your facts, or else acd will, and he'll give you more than a correction

I'd just like to point out to Leon that the gaffe that's the subject of the above post goes far beyond a mere failure to check facts, and in fact betrays a degree of ignorance on the part of the MSM classical music critic skewered that is, as I've above written, "both appalling and unforgivable" in such a professional writing for a major daily. Had this critic's gaffe been merely the result of a failure to check facts, it's more likely than not that I'd never have noted it publicly, and would, instead, have simply informed the critic of his error via eMail.