"Ein Lied geht um die Welt originally was to have been titled Der Sänger des Volkes (The People"s Singer), but the censors balked because Schmidt was a Jew. But popular he and his films were and this one, his fourth (out of a total of seven), was the most so. The press wrote that "the voice of Joseph Schmidt is recorded in its full clarity and natural warmth" and that the audience was "delirious" at the premiere, on May 9, 1933. Then and there, at the crowd"s insistence, he performed songs from the film. Even Goebbels applauded enthusiastically--he reportedly said he was going to have him declared an honorary Aryan. The film is noteworthy for, among other things, Schmidt"s sensitive portrayal of a man consumed by love. In the Buzzi Peccia song "Mal d"amore" his shadings and, especially, his rubatos are so subtly graduated that one has to listen again and again to fathom them. (I"ve watched this segment of the film about 40 times.) "In general, Schmidt"s virtues are tonal beauty, accuracy of intonation, plasticity of rhythm, seamlessness of legato, ease of emission and brilliance of trills and other coloratura. His high Cs and Ds come easily, without his having to resort to "covering" the tone. Critics at the time sometimes claimed his voice was small, the middle and bottom weak. More like a Bjoerling than a Gigli, Schmidt, I think, is inclined to be monochrome; however, this is not true of his "Mal d"amore."--Stefan Zucker