Acknowledgements -- Ch. 1 Childhood -- Ch. 2 Finding a Teacher -- Ch. 3 Dresden -- Ch. 4 Berlin -- Ch. 5 Hamburg, 1909-1913 -- Ch. 6 Hamburg, 1913-1917 -- Ch. 7 Hamburg, 1917-1919 -- Ch. 8 Vienna, 1919-1921 -- Ch. 9 With Strauss in America, 1921 -- Ch. 10 Spain and Vienna, 1922-1924 -- Ch. 11 Italy, England and Vienna, 1924 -- Ch. 12 Vienna, 1924-1925 -- Ch. 13 Vienna, 1926-1928 -- Ch. 14 Vienna, 1929-1933 -- Ch. 15 Vienna, 1933-1936 -- Ch. 16 Vienna, 1936-1938 -- Ch. 17 1938: Emigrations -- Ch. 18 1938-1945: Exile and War -- Ch. 19 New York and Europe, 1945-1947 -- Ch. 20 New York and Europe, 1947-1950 -- Ch. 21 New York and Europe and South Africa, 1950-1951 -- Ch. 22 The Last Months, 1951-1952. Epilogue -- A Tribute by Lotte Lehmann -- List of Recordings by Floris Juynboll & James Seddon -- Recordings Indexed by Discography Numbers -- Index.
"The great soprano Elisabeth Schumann has her first outstanding triumph at the age of 23, in 1911, when she dazzled the audiences as Sophia, in Der Rosenkavalier. She was to become one of Richard Strauss's favourite interpreters of his work because of the silvery purity of her voice, the strength of her technique (so infallible that the listener could forget it and hear only what seemed to be a birdlike naturalness), and her instinctive taste and judgement. She was a glorious artist - and, now we learn, a truly enchanting woman." -- Jacket.