Sara Schabas on Emmy Heim

Interview
Written By Sparks & Wiry Cries

Martha Guth interviews soprano Sara Schabas on the influential Viennese/Canadian pedagogue and singer Emmy Heim (1885-1954). Heim greatly contributed to the rising popularity of Lieder in Canada in the 20th Century. Sara Schabas tracks her life as it intersected with the compositional greats of fin de siècle Vienna, and later, as she fled as a refugee to Canada. Martha and Sara reflect on her life, the importance of imagination in singing, and pedagogical lineages.

See below for an incredible information packet tracking Emmy’s life and achievements that Sara Schabas created to accompany the podcast.

November 4, 2024

The recording you hear at the beginning and end of the podcast is from an LP of informal recordings made by Emmy Heim and pianist Sir Ernest MacMillan at his home in Toronto in 1948.

Bonus content:

Sara shared with us some extra links to interviews and recordings, some of which she mentioned in her interview with Martha. Enjoy exploring them below.

Emmy Heim's 1954 extensive interview about her life and artistic philosophy for the CBC

Emmy Heim singing folk songs with Sir Ernest MacMillan in 1948

 "Expression in Sound:" A Schubert lecture recital given by Emmy with Nicholas Goldschmidt singing 

 An excerpt from Gudrun Parker's 1952 dramatized documentary, "Opera School" (National Film Board of Canada) featuring Emmy 

 Emmy Heim's student Laura Sarti discussing studying with her

2015 recording of Renée Fleming singing works by Egon Wellesz mentioned in pod

Sparks & Wiry Cries

Named in reference to a poem by Paul Goodman, Sparks & Wiry Cries began in 2009 as a podcast and online magazine with a vision to contextualize art song in the sharing of recordings, interviews, and articles by prominent artists and scholars. In 2012, the Casement Fund, Ltd. encouraged co-founders Martha Guth and Erika Switzer to expand their vision and curate an art song recital series based in New York City. In 2015, Sparks received its 501(c)(3) nonprofit status and grew to include the songSLAM competition and a commissioning program. Today, through our international songSLAMs. sparksLIVE events and Art Song Magazine, we are actively engaging in current conversations through insightful publishing, programming, and commissioning.

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Paul Sperry, Tenor