ISBN10: 057111928X, ISBN13: 9780571119288, [publisher: Faber and Faber Ltd, London] Hardcover First Edition First UK edition, first impression. SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR, IN LARGE FLOURISHING SCRIPT, IN BLUE PEN, ON FFEP 'To Ann - Elisabeth Legge Schwarzkopf'. Some slight edge wear to top and bottom of jacket and spine, corners very slightly rubbed, not price clipped (£9.50), no other inscriptions, internally clean tight and square, overall a vg++ copy for its age. 292pp. Dame Olga Maria Elisabeth Friederike Schwarzkopf DBE (1915-2006), was a German born Austrian British soprano. She was among the foremost singers of lieder, and was renowned for her performances of Viennese operetta, as well as the operas of Mozart, Wagner and Richard Strauss. After retiring from the stage, she taught internationally. She is considered one of the greatest sopranos of the 20th century. Other publications have discussed and condemned her musical performances during the war for Nazi party conferences and for units of the Waffen SS. Her defenders argue in favour of her claim that she always strictly separated art from politics and that she was a non political person. This is her memoir of her life with her husband Walter Legge, influential British classical record producer and a founder of the Philharmonia Orchestra. Legge asked her to sing Hugo Wolf's lied Wer rief dich denn? and impressed, signed her to an exclusive contract with EMI. They began a close ...