In My Own Voice, by Christa Ludwig, translated by Regina Domeraski. 1999, Limelight Editions, 306 pp., 62 photos, discography, index, list of repertory, selected chronology. Hardcover BK #21  $30.00 Barrymore Laurence Scherer, reviewing in Opera News "Though she retired in 1994, Christa Ludwig is still revered for the beauty of her singing and the sheer intelligence of her work, a lot of which remains available on record. She is also beloved for her personal graciousness and sense of humor. Thanks to a fluent English translation that captures the author's unpretentious candor, her memoir is stimulating as well as extremely readable. "We follow her early experiences as the daughter of two singers doggedly earning their living in provincial theaters during the lean period before and during World War II. Her parents had neither an easy life nor an easy marriage: after the war, her aging father, depressed over the loss of his home and possessions in a bombing raid, went after a younger wife (his third), abandoning young Christa and her mother. Ludwig explains how her mother's teaching eventually endowed her with a formidable technique and a great deal of horse sense. "For the rest of the volume, Ludwig eschews chronological narrative in favor of brief, often pithy discussions of various facets of her life and career. Most notable are the sections on 'My Love-Hate Relationship with Wieland Wagner'; fascinating discussions of her interpretations of Carmen, the Marschallin, Klytämnestra, the Dyer's Wife and other roles; the discussions of her Lieder work with a variety of pianists; and her deliciously tart chapters on management and public relations. "Ludwig's insight yields a particularly moving reminiscence of her vocal crisis during the 1970s, when a bleeding vocal cord, coupled with the onset of menopause, posed a serious threat to her career. Ludwig truly lets us into her life, with all its disappointments, triumphs and considerable laughter. Nor is she afraid to reveal her foibles—her superstitions and those of her father, the brief episode when she let a quack teacher-cum-astrologer take charge of her life. "The book includes a discography a table of Ludwig's repertoire and a selected chronology of her performances. There are also interesting contributions by her long-time accompanist, Charles Spencer; her husband, the French actor-director Paul-Émile Deiber; and her son Wolfgang Berry (born of her first marriage to bass-baritone Walter Berry)." Leonard Bernstein declared in 1990: "I always thought Christa Ludwig the greatest Brahms singer among her peers, but that was only until I heard her sing Strauss. Then she was the greatest Marschallin until I heard her do Mahler. Again I had to reassign her to another throne. But then I heard her sing Wagner and the same thing happened, and when recently I heard her incredible interpretation of the Old Lady in my operetta, Candide, then I had to give up. She is simply the best, and the best of all possible human beings.

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