Walther Ludwig

I. Biography

Finally I can retire in peace. I have found my successor. Karl Erb about Walther Ludwig in 1939

It is a strange fact that German tenor Walther Ludwig is as little known in Germany as in all the other countries where opera, recorded music and collecting recordings is an inherent part of cultural life. Not many of the standard works on the history of singing have honoured Ludwig with an entry. Enjoying Walther Ludwig's recorded legacy was for a long time the privilege of those who could play 78rpms. Not many of his recordings have been reissued on LP, not to mention CD.

Walther Ludwig was born on March 17, 1902 in Bad Oeynhausen, a small community close to Hannover. Music-making in the home played an important role in German upper class families, and Ludwig, whose father was a successful businessman, was soon introduced to the world of music by playing the piano and the cello. In addition, Ludwig sang regularly in the school choir. Another important event in the musical education of young Walther Ludwig were the recitals of the great German baritone Heinrich Schlusnus, who regularly participated in the spa concerts held at Bad Oeynhausen. Later, Ludwig is reported to have said that the sound of his cello and the smooth and warm timbre of Schlusnus' voice merged to create his ideal of beauty. After his graduation, the parents destined Ludwig to become a bank trainee – similar to Franz Völker and Peter Anders, who were of the same generation as Ludwig: down-to-earth decisions in insecure postwar times. Like Peter Anders, Ludwig had a strong aversion against his new job:

"I made that disgusting job for more than three years. During the stormy years of inflation, I worked as a bank clerk. When the inflation was over, they did not need me anymore, and I happily left."

But music studies were still out of question. According to his father's will, Ludwig now began to study law at the universities of Freiburg and Munich. But soon it became clear that law studies were not the right choice. Ludwig convinced his father that it would be best to switch to medical studies. Ludwig studied medicine for one semester in Münster, then in Königsberg (modern Kaliningrad).

Beside the studies Ludwig made his mark as a good amateur singer. He regularly went to see performances at the Stadttheater Königsberg and, being a member of a fencing fraternity, he had plenty of opportunity to sing (and to practise as surgeon!) for his fraternity brothers. Soon he participated in university concerts, singing songs by Franz Schubert and Richard Strauss.

Ludwig could, according to his own words, "not imagine anything else but becoming a doctor". His life, however, went in a completely different direction:

"A friend of mine, a conductor, advised me to give recitals on my own account. I did as he said and I had more success than I would ever have imagined in my wildest dreams."

Ludwig gave his first recitals in 1929 at the age of 27, and the success was so enormous that he soon attracted prominent listeners: the manager of the Königsberg theatre, Johannes Schüler, and the composer and conductor Max von Schillings, who attended one of Ludwig's recitals at the refectory of his university.

Schüler and von Schillings invited Ludwig to audition at the Königsberg theatre, where Ludwig sang songs by Richard Strauss and a couple of operatic arias. They hired him right away. Thenceforward, Ludwig had to live a double life: university and practical training from 7 am to 10 am, followed by rehearsals at the theatre. The practical training at the university continued in the afternoon, followed by performances at the theatre.
In 1931, Ludwig got an interesting offer from the opera house in Schwerin, where they were looking for a lyrical tenor. As a consequence, Ludwig gave up his double life, decided to become a professional singer, asked for time off at the university and went to Berlin to prepare for his debut in Schwerin.
Thus far, Ludwig had not got a single singing lesson.

In Berlin, Ludwig went to see Jacques Stückgold (1877–1953), who was an experienced teacher at the conservatory. Zinka Milanov and Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender were two of his most prominent students. But in spite of the fact that Ludwig was a complete autodidact, Stückgold did not feel the need to change Ludwig's technique greatly. He just prepared him for the two roles that were required for an engagement in Schwerin: Rodolfo in Puccini's La bohème, and Don Ottavio in Mozart's Don Giovanni.

In Schwerin, Ludwig gave his debut as Don Ottavio and established himself immediately. In addition to Don Giovanni and La bohème, Luwig soon appeared as Walther in Tannhäuser, in Alessandro Stradella, as Seaman in Tristan und Isolde, as Turiddu in Cavalleria rusticana, as Kavalier in Hindemith's Cadillac, and he created the title role of Paul Graeners opera Friedemann Bach in November 1931.

In 1932, Ludwig left Schwerin for Berlin, where the Städtische Oper had offered him a lucrative contract. Soon he became an indispensable member of the house, singing parts like the tenor solo in Schreker's Schmied von Gent, Steuermann in Der fliegende Holländer (with Németh and Andrésen and under Fritz Stiedry's direction), Kunz Vogelsang in Meistersinger (with Pistor, Rode, Andrésen and Reinmar), Fenton in Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor, the title role in Vollerthun's Freikorporal, Oldofredi in Mona Lisa and Froh in Rheingold (with Rode and Burgwinkel). He also made his first recordings for Electrola.

In 1933, Ludwig sang his first Ottavio in Berlin. The stage design of that production was by the world-famous painter Max Slevogt, who had created stage designs since his first collaboration with Max Reinhardt in 1906.

During the 1934/35 season, he appeared as Walther in Tannhäuser (to Laholm's Tannhäuser and Rethberg's Elisabeth), Pietro in Boccaccio, the Shepherd in Tristan und Isolde (with Pistor and Andrésen), Almaviva in Barbiere di Siviglia, Alfredo in Traviata and the Duke in Rigoletto (with Reinmar and Bohnen, under the direction of Karl Böhm). He furthermore sang the part of Nureddin in a production of Cornelius' Barbier von Bagdad on the radio.

In 1935, he also sang his first Tamino at the Glyndebourne Festival with Aulikki Rautawaara as Pamina, Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender as Papageno and Ivar Andrésen as Sarastro. He also participated in five performances of Die Entführung aus dem Serail, again with Andrésen, and Heddle Nash as Pedrillo. The conductor of all those performances was Fritz Busch.
The critics were enthusiastic. Ernest Newman wrote:

"Strange that this singer is almost unknown to us. His interpretations of Mozart have something that almost none of his colleagues in this fach have: controlled virility. His voice does not have that glassy objectivity that in our days is wrongly associated with Mozart. Ludwig's voice has a dark timbre, brilliantly educated and controlled and used with so much subtlety that the marionettes Tamino and Belmonte suddenly become real persons of flesh and blood."

In Berlin, he sang another complete opera on the radio: Lothar Mark's Das kalte Herz, together with Else Tegethoff and under the composer's direction.

In 1936, at the age of only 34 years, Ludwig was invested as Kammersänger. In Stuttgart, he sang Jeník in a complete radio production of Smetana's Prodaná nevěsta. Back in Berlin, more radio opera: Johann Strauß' Zigeunerbaron (with Teschemacher, Harlan and Hann), a complete Rigoletto with Hans Reinmar in the title role and Erna Berger as Gilda, Tamino with von Manowarda and Callam, and one year later, two more Zauberflöte productions with different casts: on December 10th in Stuttgart with von Manowarda, Hann, Eipperle and Keilberth, and on December 19th in Berlin with Alsen, Lemnitz and Berger.

Ludwigs Tamino was also recorded live twice in 1949 (Salzburg and Stuttgart).

In 1937, Luwig participated in a performance of Beethoven's Ninth at Queen's Hall, conducted by Furtwängler, in occasion of the coronation ceremonies in London.

"Both the chorus and the soloists are excellent and responsive to the ever-shifting moods of Beethoven and Furtwängler." (John Ardoin)

Back in Berlin, he sang Weber's Oberon for the radio, together with Teschemacher, Rosvaenge and Schmitt-Walter, under the direction of Hans Rosbaud. In November 1937, he was part of a complete production of Boieldieu's Dame blanche, again for the radio – followed by yet another radio opera, Il barbiere di Siviglia with Perras, Bitterauf and Schmitt-Walter.

The year after he gave Zauberflöte guest performances in Vienna, and in Hamburg, where the audience already knew Ludwig from earlier guest appearances as Lyonel (1937), Duca (1936) and Fenton (1934). In Berlin, he gave his debut as Wilhelm Meister (Mignon), followed by Danilo (Die lustige Witwe) in a performance conducted by the composer.

In 1939, he sang for the first time the demanding part of the Evangelist in Bach's St Matthew's Passion, and his first Berlin Tamino. He also added the role of Barinkay (Der Zigeunerbaron) to his repertoire. Between 1932 and 1939, Ludwig had given the impressive number of 80 recitals and recorded no less than 65 78rpms for Electrola.

What can be heard on these recordings? The first impression is that of an extraordinarily healthy voice, soft and very agile, but capable of heroic attacks, a voice with a real core and perfect voix mixte, bright but with a dark undertone. The color of his voice has been aptly compared to an opal (by Herbert Brauer). Italianità and nobleness were striking qualitities of his voice. There's no recording in which Ludwig is shouting or screaming, pushing or forcing – Ludwig's voice was rather a force of nature: what we hear is a singer who possessed an outstanding instinct for right, natural, healthy singing. A lyrical tenor with a beautiful dark glint, soft and manly, noble and authoritative – in other words: the perfect Mozart voice.

It is no wonder that Ludwig was Glyndebourne's choice in 1935, and no wonder that he sang as many complete operas for the radio as no other German tenor of his time.

Ludwig was one of the singers whose prime was overshadowed by the reign of the national socialists. What was Ludwig's attitude?
Statements in favour of the national socialists or Hitler can't be found. But in his discography, there's a recording made in 1933, thus in the first year of the Nazi rule, of Unger's Deutsche Werkhymne (Anthem of German work, text by Heinrich Lersch), a propaganda song, and accompanied by an SS military band: SS Musiksturm 15 III Ost, conducted by Robert Heger.

That Deutsche Werkhymne (I've deleted the insupportable assessments of that song made in the original text of this biography) is a particularly interesting case of Nazi propaganda: the original poem by Heinrich Lersch was (with a different tune by a different composer) a well-known song of the socialist youth movement, the text being emphatically and proudly internationalist. For the new Nazi setting by Unger, also the lyrics were "revised"; a relatively small part of them only, so as to leave the text immediately recognizable, and yet completely reversing its meaning, particularly in the last verse. What reads, in the original

Leuchte, scheine, goldne Sonne
über diese ganze Welt,
bis sich einst in allen Zonen
Mensch um Mensch an Händen hält;
bis sich schwarze, braune, weiße
Menschen brüderlich umfahn.

(Gleam, shine, golden sun
over this entire world,
until once in every region
all men join hands,
until black, brown, white men
embrace each other as brothers.)

becomes in the Nazi version:

Leuchte, scheine, goldne Sonne,
Unserm Vormarsch in die Welt,
Uns, die nun im Aufgang stehen,
Keine Macht noch Fessel hält.
Alte? Junge? Neue Menschen!
Werkbeglückt einander nahn.

(Gleam, shine, golden sun
on our foray into the world,
on us, who are now on the rise
and won't be held back by any power or fetter.
Old people? Young people? New people,
uniting in delight about their work.)

This is certainly no "harmless" propaganda; it's perfidious.

In 1941 Ludwig participated in a movie with one of Germany's number one propaganda stars, the Swedish-born actress Zarah Leander ("the Nazi Garbo"). The movie, entitled Der Weg ins Freie (The way into the open, which has a double sense in German and can also be read as The way to freedom) and directed by Rolf Hansen, was one of the pseudo-apolitical melodramas typical of the Nazi film business. Ludwig played the stereotyped role of an Italian tenor, in a way a symbol of the idealised fascist Axis between Germany and Italy. In that movie, Ludwig sang La donna è mobile and Bella figlia dell'amore from Rigoletto. One year later, Hansen and Leander produced the Third Reich's most successful propaganda movie, entitled Die große Liebe (The great love) – this time fortunately without Ludwig.
During the last winter of war, 1944/45, Ludwig was employed at the east, west and south front, singing for German and Italian troops.

In the war years, Ludwig was more active in the recording studio than on stage. Between 1939 and 1945, he added only four new roles to his repertoire: Nemorino in 1940, Alessandro Stradella and Idamante in 1941 and finally, Jiří from Dvořák's Jakobin in July 1943. In 1942, he was part of the first performance of Heinz Schubert's Hymnisches Konzert, together with Erna Berger, the Berlin Philharmonic and Wilhelm Furtwängler.
In the studio, he recorded Brahms' Zigeunerlieder (1939), Wolf and Reger songs and operetta arias (1940/41), Mozart's Requiem (1941), Bach's St Matthew Passion (1942 with Briem, Hammer, Nissen and the BPO under Bruno Kittel's direction).
For the German radio (Reichsrundfunkgesellschaft – RGG), he made a complete version of Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor (1943 under the baton of Artur Rother), highlights from L'elisir d'amore (1942. and another version in 1944), the part of Walther in a complete recording of Tannhäuser (1942 with Max Lorenz as Tannhäuser and Maria Reining as Elisabeth), scenes from Flotow's Martha (1940 and 1941), Mozart arias (1943–45), the duet from Butterfly (1943 with Cebotari), scenes from La traviata (1943 with Cebotari), Robert Ernst's Kalendarium (1942), Richard Strauss' cantata Taillefer (1944 with Hotter and Cebotari), a large number of songs by Beethoven, Brahms, Cornelius, Dvořák, Grieg, Mozart, Reger, Schubert, Schumann, Richard Strauss and Wolf (1942–45) and several arias from various operas.

Ludwig's choice of repertoire proves that he was an intelligent artist who knew exactly what his vocal limits were. Ludwig about his voice:

"It seems as if I innately have the right nose, the right fauces, the right throat for being a singer. I for one never had to squeeze or push, so that the voice could just run its course, could develop and stream as it wanted to. Of course, everything was small and slender, but I have never tried to artificially enlarge the sound."

Hitler is reported to have asked Ludwig several times to sing Wagner, especially the part of Stolzing in Meistersinger. Ludwig, aware of the fact that he was no heldentenor, denied. He is reported to have said: the Führer wants to hear my Stolzing? He can't grow that old!

Ludwig was also offered spinto roles from the Italian repertory, Verdi and Puccini roles like Cavaradossi. But Ludwig refused. He was an artist to whom the German language was an inherent part of his art. Without a profound understanding of the language, no clear diction and no phrasing.

"My gods are Schubert, Mozart, Beethoven and Bach."

Two weeks before the war in Germany was over, Ludwig sang for the last time under the Nazi reign: in Berlin, which was then hardly more than an expanse of ruins, he sang the tenor part in Mozart's Requiem. When the house-to-house fighting began, Ludwig left Berlin and took his family to a small house in Thuringia, close to Eisenach in the east of Germany. .

But the peace and safety in Thuringia did not last long: Stalin's Red Army was just around the corner. The war between Hitler and the allied forces was over, but the cold war between the Soviet Union and the Western powers began right away. Ludwig and his family escaped to Hamburg, where the State Opera was just about to build up a new ensemble and where a singer of Ludwig's qualities was desperately wanted. Unfortunately. the housing situation in Hamburg was poor because of the devastating air raids, and an apartment for Ludwig and his family could not be found. For a while, they lived provisorily in a friend's apartment. In Hamburg, he recorded a complete Entführung for the North German Radio (NDR), together with Berger under the direction of Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt.

In 1946, he moved to Munich, where he became a member of the Bavarian State Opera, but just a short time after that, he was offered a contract by the State Opera of Vienna, where he stayed until 1951.

During his time in Vienna – which was, for a Mozart singer like him, more important than La Scala and the Met – he gave 123 performances, including 29 Taminos, 20 Belmontes and 19 Fra Diavolos. This is even more remarkable since Ludwig was the third Mozart tenor at the Vienna State Opera, which already employed two other Mozart tenors of international fame: Julius Patzak and Anton Dermota.

Ludwig's performances at the Vienna State Opera: 

	Opera                      Role        Number of Performances

	Entführung aus dem Serail  Belmonte            20
	Don Giovanni               Don Ottavio         08
 	Zauberflöte                Tamino              29
	Barbiere di Siviglia       Almaviva            09
	Lustige Weiber von Windsor Fenton              09
	Prodaná nevěsta            Jeník               01
	Rigoletto                  Duca di Mantova     02
	Contes d'Hoffmann          Hoffmann            08
	Evgenij Onegin             Lenskij             01
	Madama Butterfly           Pinkerton           03
	Evangelimann               Matthias            07
	Fra Diavolo                Fra Diavolo         19
	Rosenkavalier              Sänger              02
	Tristan und Isolde         Seemann             02

In 1948 Ludwig appeared for the first time at the Salzburg Festival, the accolade for every Mozart singer. In 1948, he sang the role of Belmonte and participated in Rossini's Stabat mater. In 1949, he returned as Tamino (with Seefried, Lipp, Grob-Prandl, Schmitt-Walter and Wilhelm Furtwängler) and sang the tenor part in Beethoven's Ninth with Christoff, Seefried, Höngen and Herbert von Karajan.
Ludwig's 1949 Tamino under Furtwängler was broadcast and is still available; it has been reissued on compact discs. Furtwängler's tempi were very slow and broad, heavy and Beethovenesque. In the rehearsals, Ludwig is reported to have asked Furtwängler to conduct his aria at a quicker pace, but Furtwängler just replied: "Why should I? You have no problems doing it at my pacee!"
The reviews of Ludwig's Tamino were not unanimous. Hermann Ulrich wrote:

"Walther Ludwig's famous Tamino is a vocally glorious performance that reminds us of the Tauber era. His Portrait Aria is a jewel."

John Ardoin, the Furtwängler specialist, wrote on the other hand:

"The 1951 Zauberflöte has a decided edge over the earlier performances (...) also because of Anton Dermota's suave Tamino's replacing the intelligent but dry one of Walther Ludwig (...)."

Ludwig's years as a member of the Vienna State Opera were very fruitful and eventful. With the Vienna troupe, he gave guest performances in Venice and Rome, Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam. Still in 1949, he sang at the Maggio Musicale in Florence, and La Scala heard him in Beethoven's Missa solemnis, together with Ferrier, Schwarzkopf, Christoff and Karajan.
In Vienna, he sang the tenor part in Verdi's Requiem, with Welitsch, Höngen and Weber, and Belmonte in a complete recording of Entführung for Decca. That recording was Decca's first release of a complete opera on LPs. It featured singers like Wilma Lipp and Emmy Loose under the direction of Josef Krips. Ludwig's next recording was Mozart's Requiem, again for Decca, and again under the baton of Josef Krips.

In 1950, Ludwig was part of an unusual project: a filmed version of Bach's St Matthew Passion. The film starred Ludwig as the Evangelist, Seefried, Ferrier, Schöffler as Jesus and Edelmann as Judas. Herbert von Karajan was the conductor.

The following year, Ludwig gave guest performances at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, singing the role of Števa in Janáček's Její pastorkyňa and Belmonte in Mozart's Entführung. The reviews were splendid. In Germany. he recorded Schumann's Dichterliebe and Schubert's Winterreise with Michael Raucheisen for Deutsche Grammophon. Those are reference recordings, which have not lost anything of their importance.

In 1955, Ludwig suddenly declared his retirement from stage. His voice was still in outstanding condition and as fresh, agile and youthful as in 1932. But Ludwig had other reasons:

"A lyrical tenor must not get old. Otherwise he will just look like a clown."

Later he said:

"For me as an artist, it was a time when my schedule was not full anymore. I felt underemployed. My time as a singer was over. Suddenly something happened that never happened before: I had more time for myself. For some that might be the moment for twiddling the thumbs, but I started to think about my life, about things I might have missed. I don't like to have half-finished things lying around on my path of life."

In April 1969, at the age of 67, Ludwig brought the one half-finished thing in his life to an end: his studies of medicine. In 1971, he made his doctorate. His thesis was about "Music and medicine, music and medics". And even if that topic linked to his past as a musician – after having obtained the doctor's degree, Ludwig was

"a doctor, nothing but a doctor. I am not a singer anymore. I am glad I am a doctor, I am glad I can be a doctor. (...) I work as a doctor, and I find a lot of satisfaction in my new profession."

But that did not mean that he did not carefully observe the young generation of singers:

"It is grievous that so many young people don't know anymore the meaning of the words 'duty' and 'diligence'. They feel like stars at once, they have airs and graces and only think about super-salaries... by the way: the whole business of opera is undergoing an alarming development. We are not able to stop it. The technical achievements have made it impossible."

Walther Ludwig died on May 15th, 1981 in Lahr.

II. Repertory

Der Vogelhändler (Stanislaus) – Königsberg, Stadttheater, winter 1929
Don Giovanni (Don Ottavio) – Schwerin, Stadttheater, 4 October 1931
La bohème (Rodolfo) – Schwerin, Stadttheater
Tannhäuser (Walther von der Vogelweide) – Schwerin, Stadttheater
La dame blanche (George Brown) – Schwerin, Stadttheater
König Midas by Kempff (Apollo) – Schwerin, Stadttheater
Alessandro Stradella (title role) – Schwerin, Stadttheater
Friedemann Bach (title role) – Schwerin, Stadttheater, 13 November 1931
Tristan und Isolde (Junger Seemann) – Schwerin, Stadttheater
Cavalleria rusticana (Turiddu) – Schwerin, Stadttheater
Zigeunerliebe (Jonel Bolescu) – Schwerin, Stadttheater
Cardillac (Kavalier) – Schwerin, Stadttheater
Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Belmonte) – Berlin, Städtische Oper
Der Schmied von Gent by Schreker (tenor solo) – Berlin, Städtische Oper, 29 October 1932
Der fliegende Holländer (Steuermann) – Berlin, Städtische Oper, 13 February 1933
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Kunz Vogelgesang) – Berlin, Städtische Oper, 12 May 1933
Der Freikorporal by Volerthun (title role) – Berlin, Städtische Oper, 10 June 1933
Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor (Fenton) – Berlin, Städtische Oper, 18 August 1933
Mona Lisa by von Schillings (Arrigo Oldofredi) – Berlin, Städtische Oper, 5 October 1933
Flauto solo by d'Albert (Ferdinand) – Berlin, Städtische Oper, 24 January 1934
Boccaccio (Pietro) – Berlin, Städtische Oper, 31 December 1934
Tristan und Isolde (Hirt) – Berlin, Städtische Oper, 18 January 1935
La traviata (Alfredo) – Berlin, Städtische Oper, 7 March 1935
Die Zauberflöte (Tamino) – Glyndebourne, Festival, 1935
Il barbiere di Siviglia (Almaviva) – Berlin, Städtische Oper, 27 November 1935
Das Rheingold (Froh) – Berlin, Städtische Oper, 6 December 1935
Rigoletto (Duca) – Berlin, Städtische Oper, 10 February 1937
La finta giardiniera (Belfiore) – Berlin, Städtische Oper, 14 February 1937
Der Evangelimann (Matthias) – Berlin, Städtische Oper, 12 March 1937
Die Fledermaus (Alfred) – Berlin, Städtische Oper, 31 December 1937
Martha (Lyonel) – Hamburg, Opernhaus, 1937
Zar und Zimmermann (Châteauneuf) – Berlin, Städtische Oper, 10 May 1938
Mignon (Wilhelm Meister) – Berlin, Städtische Oper, 11 June 1938
Die lustige Witwe (Danilo) – Berlin, Städtische Oper, 31 December 1938
Der Zigeunerbaron (Barinkay) – Berlin, Städtische Oper, 25 June 1939
Der Liebestrank (Nemorino) – Berlin, Städtische Oper, 27 February 1040
Idomeneo (Idamante) – Berlin, Städtische Oper, 28 November 1941
Jakobin by Dvořák (Jiří) – Berlin, Städtische Oper, 1 July 1943
Prodaná nevěsta (Jeník) – Berlin, Städtische Oper
Evgenij Onegin (Lenskij) – München, Prinzregententheater
Les contes d'Hoffmann (Hoffmann) – Wien, Theater an der Wien
Madama Butterfly (Pinkerton) – Wien, Theater an der Wien
Fra Diavolo (title role) – Wien, Theater an der Wien
Der Rosenkavalier (Italienischer Sänger) – Wien, Theater an der Wien
Její pastorkyňa (Števa) – Buenos Aires, Colón, 1951
Die lustige Witwe (Rosillon) Adriana Lecouvreur (Maurizio)
Il mondo della luna (Leandro)
Otello (Cassio)
Palestrina (title role, in concert only)

References:
Ardoin, John: The Furtwängler record, Portland 1994
Augustin, Siegfried: Walther Ludwig, in: Stimmen, die um die Welt gingen 9/94
Höslinger, Clemens: Walther Ludwig, liner notes on Preiser LP "Lebendige Vergangenheit" LV 232

I wish to thank Guido Bathe for the recording (Ich will bei meinem Jesu wachen – unpublished 78 rpm).

I would like to thank Thomas Silverbörg for the recording (Horch die Lerche).