Ruth Ziesak in Schubert's high-lying song of Delphine

THE SONGBIRD: German soprano Ruth Ziesak was born in 1963. Ziesak studied voice at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts with Elsa Cavelti and Christoph Prégardien. She made her operatic debut as Valencienne in Heidelberg in 1988. Key roles have included Pamina (Salzburg, La Scala, Munich, Dresden, and Vienna), Susanna and Sophie (Paris), and Countess Almaviva (Glyndebourne, Zurich) as well as other light lyric roles variously in Stuttgart, Berlin, Florence, London, and New York. She has been a frequent concert and lieder soloist and has made dozens of commercial recordings including several solo recitals, complete operas, and Ton Koopman's series of the vocal works of Johann Sebastian Bach.
THE MUSIC: Franz Schubert wrote "2 Szenen aus dem Schauspiel 'Lacrimas', D.857 in 1825, three years before his death at the age of 31. The two songs are "Florio" and "Delphine," the later of which is much better known. Though it starts with a modest vocal line over a light-textured rippling accompaniment, it gradually becomes almost operatic in nature with dramatic vocal leaps including one to a held High C (it's quite rare to find notes that high in Schubert's lieder).