Quotes from Victoria de los Angeles

Well I look for an accompanist that does his work well, this to begin.

So don't think in reality I am a singer, I think I am a human being that has sung always all her life, and has learned a little to sing, and has found herself in the middle of a career.

To search for a pianist, it is very difficult; sometimes you find one.

I must say to you that my intensions for instance doing German, it is because Victoria de los Angeles is nothing to do with wanting to be like a German singer.

Yes, it must be something that goes very well with my voice, let's say something that I understand that this would be good communication with the others, and I don't pretend for instance, to look for music that would be something that doesn't go with my personality.

And after I compose my programs, but it is very easy because I look to the music in a very natural way without fuss, and so I look always music, in my home, like books and books and books, choose books and you read the pages, so I do this with music, and I make programs.

But it's always really difficult to find someone that has the qualities to be a great accompanist.

After that I won a prize, I was with a group of ancient music of Spain that they helped me a lot with a grant, you see, during three years. And so I made my debut in 1944 and I found myself helping my family, it was a very poor family.

I don't like traditions, I am very personal, very independent, I don't like intimate ladies, I mean in German lieder there's a lot of copy, a lot of imitation, a lot of tradition, and this I have put it aside.

But I have never wanted to be a singer, because the exterior part of a career, I don't like very much.

But I think it is more difficult to do a career as a lieder singer, and there have been less lieder singers.

I like what it is to sing, or to be with the others singing, to make music, but the fuss and all the things that are the exterior part of a career, has never interested me.

Not unless I do all these ancient and Italian or French or Baroque in the beginnning, I do German.

Of course the death of Geoffrey has caused a lot of trauma to me generally.

In reality I have said very little things; I didn't point out many things to Geoffrey, I trusted very much not only his understanding of what I was doing, or what I wanted to do, in that moment.

This quality, I mean Geoffrey was with me, was very easy doing - he loved me very much, I loved him very much, and we understood each other so well that it was a pleasure to make music.

Yes, it must be something that goes very well with my voice, let's say something that I understand that this would be good communication with the others, and I don't pretend for instance, to look for music that would be something that doesn't go with my personality.