Monthly Archives: July 2025

Episode 380. Hermann Prey Sings Bach

July 28, 2025Full-Figured Baroque, Great Baritones, In Memoriam, Johann Sebastian Bach, Listeners' Favorites, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Singers in Old AgeChristmas Oratorio, Elly Ameling, Eugen Jochum, Friedrich-Wilhelm Tebbe, Helmut Winschermann, Hermann Prey, Ich habe genug, Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes-Passion, Karl Münchinger, Karl Richter, Konrad Ragossnig, Kurt Kalmus, Kurt Thomas, Liviu Varcol, Matthäus-Passion, Maurice André, Saschko Gawriloff, St. John Passion, St. Matthew Passion, Weihnachtsoratorium, Willy Gerlach, Wolfgang Gönnenwein, Yehudi Menuhincountermelody

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The esteemed, indeed beloved, German baritone Hermann Prey died seventeen years ago already on July 22, 1998. I want to remember him today by celebrating a cornerstone of his repertoire: the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. I’ve been playing a lot of Bach recently on the podcast, as his music is one of the few lifelines that I can rely upon in the chaos of today’s world. But I’ve been focusing in large part on contraltos performing his music which leaves an entire repertoire insufficiently explored. I’m not sure why (although I could hazard a guess) why Prey’s significance has been downplayed as certain other historical German baritones (IYKYK!) are overvalued and over-represented. Prey had a voice of profound beauty and power, a technical security that is sometimes mind-boggling, a mellifluous legato combined with a refined connection to the supremacy of the word (even – and especially – in Bach), but above all, a humanity and humility that make his performances and recordings of this repertoire unmatched (and possibly unmatchable). Represented are individual arias from the cantatas and Passions as well as a complete late-career performance of Ich habe genug, my favorite among Bach’s supreme masterpieces.

Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody’s core is the celebration of great singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. By clicking on the following link (https://linktr.ee/CountermelodyPodcast) you can find the dedicated Countermelody website which contains additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. The link will also take you to Countermelody’s Patreon page, where you can pledge your monthly or yearly support at whatever level you can afford.

Episode 379. Stuart Burrows In Duet

July 25, 2025African American Singers, Bel canto, Black History Month, Black History Month 2025, Crossover, Forgotten Divas, French Opera, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, In Memoriam, Margaret Price, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Operetta, Renata Scotto, Singers of Color, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAbbé Prevost, Alan Bergman, Alexandre Dumas fils, Andrea Maffei, Arrigo Boito, Beverly Sills, Bruno Bartoletti, Bryan Balkwill, Carlo Felice Cillario, David Belasco, Diana Montague, Die Zauberflöte, Don Giovanni, Donald Gramm, Emanuel Schikaneder, ETA Hoffmann, Falstaff, Faust, Felice Romani, Francesco Maria Piave, Friedrich Schiller, Georg Solti, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Bardari, Giuseppe Giacosa, Gundula Janowitz, Gwendolyn Killebrew, Hector Berlioz, Henri Meilhac, Herbert von Karajan, Jacques Offenbach, Jerome Kern, Joan Sutherland, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, John Luther Long, José Van Dam, Jules Barbier, Jules Massenet, Julius Rudel, La sonnambula, La Traviata, Leontyne Price, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Lorenzo da Ponte, Luigi Illica, Macbeth, Madama Butterfly, Manon, Margaret Price, Maria Stuarda, Marilyn Bergman, Marvin Hamlisch, Michel Carré, Michel Plasson, Nelly Miricioiu, Oscar Hammerstein II, Peter Maag, Philippe Gille, Renata Scotto, Reri Grist, Richard Bonynge, Robin Stapleton, Sarah Caldwell, Seiji Ozawa, Serge Baudo, Show Boat, Stuart Burrows, Sylvain Cambreling, Vincenzo Bellini, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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So many great singing artists lost to the world of late! Almost a month ago now, the great Welsh tenor Stuart Burrows (07 February 1933 – 29 June 2025) left this mortal coil at the age of 92. Burrows was an artist of extraordinary technique, elegance, and sincerity and it has been an honor and a delight to put together this episode which celebrates his career. Because he was a favorite partner of so many exceptional divas, I decided to focus this episode on Burrows singing duets with some of the most important divas of his era. Included in the episode are Beverly Sills, Gundula Janowitz, Joan Sutherland, Renata Scotto, Leontyne Price, Nelly Miricioiu, Gwendolyn Killebrew, Margaret Price, and Reri Grist, singing Mozart, Massenet, Offenbach, Gounod, Berlioz, Donizetti, Bellini, Verdi, and even some Puccini. “The boys” are represented by José van Dam and Countermelody favorite Donald Gramm. In the late 1970s and 1980s, Burrows was a popular television star in the UK, starring in the eponymous BBC2 series, Stuart Burrows Sings. The episode also features two snippets from that show, one a duet with the beautiful lyric mezzo Diana Montague (whose husband tenor David Rendall died earlier this week). The episode begins with a tribute to the beloved Welsh pop contralto Iris Williams, who died on July 11 at the age of 79.

Episode 378. Rescue Mission III (Friends Edition)

July 21, 2025African American Singers, Art Song, Bel canto, Black History Month, Black History Month 2025, Broadway, Canadian Singers, Crossover, Forgotten Divas, French Opera, Full-Figured Baroque, Giacomo Puccini, Great Baritones, Great Contraltos, Great Tenors, Happy Birthday, Honor Your Mentors, In Memoriam, Johann Sebastian Bach, Lieder, Listeners' Favorites, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, NYCO Divas, Opera in Translation, Pop Icons, Queer Pride, Rescue Mission, Schubert, Singers of Color, Spirituals, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century Opera, VerismoAlessandro Cerè, Annabelle Bernard, Anne Wiggins Brown, April Cantelo, Barbara Wimunc, Béatrice Uria-Monzon, Carlo Gozzi, Carlo Zangarini, Carol Neblett, Cesar Franck, Charles Wadsworth, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Colin Davis, David Belasco, Denise Duval, Die schöne Müllerin, Du Bose Heyward, Ed Spanjaard, Édouard Blau, Eleanor Steber, Émile Belcourt, Émile Deschamps, Emmanuel Bondeville, Ernest Ragogini, Eugen Jochum, Eugène Scribe, Franco Corelli, Franz Schubert, Frederick Marshall, George Gershwin, George Shirley, Gérard de Nerval, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Giacomo Puccini, Gioachino Rossini, Giuseppe Adami, Gloria Davy, Guelfo Civinini, Hector Berlioz, Heinrich Hollreiser, Helen Watts, Humbert Ferrand, Ira Gershwin, James Demster, Jan Behr, Jerry Hadley, Johan Hye-Knudsen, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, John Fletcher, John Williams, Jorma Hynninen, La Fanciulla del West, Leonard Bernstein, Les francs-juges (Berlioz), Lois Marshall, Mario Rossi, Mass in b minor, Massimo de Bernart, Maureen Lehane, Maurice Jacquemot, Michel Plasson, Ottorino Respighi, Paul Collin, Peter Pears, Porgy and Bess, Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, Rébecca (Franck), Rédemption (Franck), Renato Simoni, Robert Merfeld, Sandra Warfield, Sarah Caldwell, Sarah Reese, Semirâma, Stephen Sondheim, Tancredi, Turandot, Valerie Masterson, Veronica Tyler, Voltaire, West Side Story, Wilhelm Müller, William Parker, Yevdokya Rostopchinacountermelody

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Even after I publish a Countermelody episode on a favorite singer, I continue to collect material on them, which I then occasionally fold into a potpourri episode of vocal and musical delights. I have dubbed such episodes part of my “Rescue Mission” series and I’m tempted to call today’s episode I’m tempted to call “Friend Edition” (even though there are several good friends I’ve made in recent years who are not represented today). Be that as it may, I do love putting out such episodes, especially as it gives new listeners some idea of the range and depth of the podcast, and the joys of dipping into Countermelody’s back catalogue. For today’s episode I spread the net particularly wide, and in some cases went way back into my archives so present you with some rarities which I have programmed in such a way to take us from the despair and confusion that many of us are feeling right now into a place of both resolution and resolve to keep holding on and fighting for what is right. Today’s setlist includes many Countermelody favorites: tenors George Shirley, Peter Pears, and Jerry Hadley; baritones William Parker and Jorma Hynninen, mezzo-soprano Maureen Lehane; and sopranos Eleanor Steber, Carol Neblett, Sarah Reese, Anne Wiggins Brown, Veronica Tyler, Annabelle Bernard, Denise Duval, Lois Marshall, Gloria Davy, and April Cantelo; with appearances by other great singers who have not yet been featured in full episodes, including Franco Corelli, Sandra Warfield, Helen Watts, Émile Belcourt, Valerie Masterson, and, in memoriam, Béatrice Uria-Monzon. We hear music from César Franck, Ottorino Respighi, Johann Sebastian Bach, Giacomo Puccini, Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, Franz Schubert, George Gershwin, Gioachino Rossini, Leonard Bernstein, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Emmanuel Bondeville, and Giacomo Meyerbeer. As always, queer artists and artists of color are prominently featured, as one of my objectives in producing this podcast is to foreground such historical artists as essential to our growth and self-awareness. If you’re just getting to know the podcast, this is as good a place to start as anywhere!

Episode 377. Joan Caplan Memorial Tribute

July 18, 2025Art Song, Bel canto, Comic Relief, Forgotten Divas, Full-Figured Baroque, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Contraltos, Honor Your Mentors, In Memoriam, Lieder, Listeners' Favorites, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Operetta, Queer Pride, Rescue Mission, Twentieth Century MusicAchim von Arnim, Antonio Salvi, Ariodante, Christian Reinhold, Cinco canciones negras, Clemens Brentano, Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Dido and Aeneas, Felice Romani, Gaetano Donizetti, Georg Friedrich Daumer, George Frideric Handel, Giambattista Martini, Giuseppe Verdi, Gustav Mahler, Harold Aks, Henri Meilhac, Henry Purcell, Hugo Conrat, Jacopo Ferretti, Jacques Offenbach, Jephtha, Joan Caplan, Johann Adolf Hasse, Johannes Brahms, L’Olimpiade, Lieder und Gesänge aus der Jugendzeit, Lucrezia Borgia, Ludovic Halévy, Ludovico Arioso, Martin Pearlman, Messa da Requiem, Nahum Tate, Newell Jenkins, Nicola Rescigno, Peggy Glanville-Hicks, Prosper Mérimée La Périchole, Rafael Alberti, Ruth Rabinow, Stephen Simon, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, Thomas Morell, Torquato Tasso, Victor Hugo, Wallace Stevens, Xavier Montsalvatge, Zigeunerliedercountermelody

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This past April, my former voice teacher and treasured friend Joan Caplan died at the age of 92. A few weeks ago, family and friends organized a memorial gathering for which I produced a short audio tribute, which is heard at the beginning of this episode. Before the event, we heard a number of recordings of Joan in her prime that absolutely knocked me on my ear. I was kindly given copies of these recordings from which I have fashioned an expanded episode in her honor. Most of these recordings have simply never been heard before, but I know that Joan was very proud of the work that she did during her active singing career, before she dedicated herself wholeheartedly to her teaching. Her rare live recordings of arias by Handel, Verdi, Donizetti, Purcell, and Hasse display her magnificent technique, while excerpts from her song recitals, including music by Brahms, Mahler, Montsalvatge, and Glanville-Hicks, display her versatility as well as her interpretive insight. I also share personal insights and reminiscences of Joan which will, I hope, reveal the special relationship that I shared with her, which many of her students, friends, and chosen family also experienced. When I last visited Joan, I promised her that I would do what I could to ensure that she would be properly remembered. With this episode, I do my part, to the best of my ability, to keep that promise.

Episode 376. Bacquier en Récital (Bastille Day 2025)

July 14, 2025Comic Relief, Great Baritones, Holiday Music, In Memoriam, Listeners' Favorites, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Operetta, Queer Pride, Twentieth Century MusicAlphonse de Lamartine, Armand Silvestre, Banalités, Bruno Pasquier, Chansons villageoises, Charles Baudelaire, Charles Gounod, Claudie Martinet, Clément Marot, Daniel Schmitt, Edmond Rostand, Emmanuel Chabrier, Erik Satie, Ernest Lush, Étienne Lorin, Francis Poulenc, Gabriel Bacquier, Gabriel Faure, Guillaume Apollinaire, Henri Duparc, Henri Sauguet, Jacques Février, Jacques Larue, Jean Laforge, Jean Lahor, Jean Leber, Jules Massenet, Jules Renard, Le Travail du peintre, Lily Laskine, Louis Beydts, Louis Gallet, Marc Berthomieu, Marielle Normann, Maurice Allard, Maurice Fombeure, Maurice Ravel, Maurice Yvain, Paul Éluard, Paul Jean Toulet, Paul Verlaine, Pierre-Yves Artaud, René Benedetti, Reynaldo Hahn, Robert Desnos, Roger Bourdin, Théophile Gautier, Victor Hugocountermelody

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Today in honor of Bastille Day, I present an episode featuring the late Gabriel Bacquier, who considered himself an “acting singer” rather than a “singing actor.” He made his first mark as a sublime Mozart singer, from there moving into Verdi baritone parts, and finally as a supremely skilled basso buffo. What is less well-known is that he was also a superb recitalist, and in today’s bonus episode, I present him in recordings primarily from the early 1960s, but ranging into the late 1970s, which display his surprising skill in mélodie (for it is rare that one singer excels to the extent that Bacquier does in both opera and song). We hear him in live performances and studio recordings of songs of Fauré, Poulenc, Ravel, Duparc, Satie, and Poulenc, as well as examples from such lesser-known lights as Henri Sauguet, Louis Beydts, Maurice Yvain, and Marc Berthomieu. Bacquier’s artistry began with the word as the basis for the shape and form of the music, and this approach proves to be equally valid and successful in song as in opera. Plus that, in the early years of his career, the voice was a thing of extraordinary beauty, whether in full-throated expostulation or the merest hint of a whisper.

Episode 375. Gilda Cruz-Romo In Memoriam

July 11, 2025Bel canto, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, Great Tenors, Happy Birthday, Honor Your Mentors, In Memoriam, Listeners' Favorites, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, NYCO Divas, Singers of Color, VerismoAbbé Prevost, Aida, Alexandre Dumas fils, Andrea Chénier, Andrea Maffei, Ángel de Saavedra, Antonio Ghislanzoni, Arrigo Boito, Auguste Mariette and Temistocle Solera, Carlo Bergonzi, Carlo Gozzi, Carol Neblett, Cesare Siepi, Colenton Freeman, Domenico Oliva, Emerson Buckley, Enrico Di Giuseppe, Felice Romani, Francesco Maria Piave, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, Franco Corelli, Gabriele Bellini, Giacomo Puccini, Gianfranco Cecchele, Gilda Cruz-Romo, Giuseppe Adami, Giuseppe Giacosa, Giuseppe Verdi, Henri Murger, John Alexander, Julius Rudel, La Boheme, La forza del destino, La Traviata, Luigi Illica, Macbeth, Manon Lescaut, Marco Praga, Mefistofele, Nell Rankin, Nino Sanzogno, Norma, Renato Simoni, Riccardo Muti, Salador Novoa, Silvano Carroli, Umberto Giordano, Vincenzo Bellini, Walter Herbert, William Ledbetter, Zubin Mehtacountermelody

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Back in December I published my first episode honoring the superb soprano Gilda Cruz-Romo, as part of my series honoring Mexican opera singers. In my research, I amassed a large number of live recordings from which I intended to cobble together a second episode in honor of her upcoming birthday. I was distracted by some family issues and, her February birthday came and went, and now, alas, Gilda is no longer with us. But to pay tribute to this exceptional artists, I have assembled a brand new setlist which seeks to do at least partial justice to the breadth and depth of her exceptional career. After last week’s episode featuring Carol Neblett, here is another exceptional soprano whose talent brought glory to the stage of the New York City Opera in the early days of her career and went on to become an important member of the Metropolitan Opera as well. We hear extended excerpts of a number of her Paraderollen, including Aida, Violetta, Manon Lescaut, Mimì, Leonora di Vargas, and Maddalena di Coigny, as well as two later-career roles that might surprise you. Guest artists heard on the episode include Silvano Carroli, Carlo Bergonzi, Cesare Siepi, Colenton Freeman, John Alexander, Gianfranco Cecchele, Enrico Di Giuseppe, Salvador Novoa, and Franco Corelli; conductors include Julius Rudel, Zubin Mehta, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, Nino Sanzogno, and Riccardo Muti. Carol Neblett even puts in a brief appearance!

Episode 374. Maureen Lehane Sings Bach

July 7, 2025Forgotten Divas, Full-Figured Baroque, Great Contraltos, Listeners' Favorites, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle DropBarry McDaniel, Eigel Kruttke, Gerhard Wilhelm, Gisbert Schneider, Günther Höller, Helmut Hucke, Helmut Kahlhöfer, Hermann Schroeder, Johann Sebastian Bach, Kurt Thomas, Maureen Lehane, Rudolf Pohl, Wilhelm Ehmancountermelody

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Today’s episode offers music of consolation, divinely sung. On a Sunday morning back in December, freshly arrived back in New York from a challenging trip to my home state of Wisconsin, I sat down to a cup of coffee and began playing a setlist that I had created in the aftermath of my “Great Contraltos Sing Bach” episode a few weeks before. This setlist was comprised of arias from Bach cantatas sung by the British contralto Maureen Lehane (18 September 1932 – 27 December 2010) which I had discovered on YouTube as part of a huge cache of Bach cantata recordings from German radio, many of which featured Lehane as the alto soloist. I was thrilled to find such a treasure trove, since during the preparation of that episode, Lehane had stood out for her impeccable diction and fluid vocal technique, which served her equally well in recitative, cantilena, and coloratura. As I listened to that setlist and contemplated the texts, I realized that these recordings needed to be shared. I have chosen fourteen of the very finest of those recordings and am presenting them today to all who are seeking to make some kind of sense of the world in its current chaos. May the voice of Maureen Lehane singing the music of Bach provide you with a momentary oasis of order and beauty. A biographical sketch of Lehane rounds out the episode.

Episode 373. Carol Neblett: Girl of the Golden West

July 4, 2025Art Song, Bel canto, Forgotten Divas, French Opera, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, Great Tenors, Honor Your Mentors, In Memoriam, Interview, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, NYCO Divas, Operetta, Rescue Mission, Richard Strauss, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century Opera, Verismo, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAbbé Prevost, Abe Polakoff, Alexandre Dumas fils, Alfred Maria Willner, Anatole France, Anton Guadagno, Antonio García Gutiérrez, Ariadne auf Naxos, Ariettes oubliées, Arrigo Boito, Barry Morell, Bruno Bartoletti, Carl Suppa, Carlo Gozzi, Carlo Zangarini, Carol Neblett, Charles Wendelkon-Wilson, Chris Nance, Claude Debussy, Cornell MacNeil, Darlene Lawrence, David Belasco, Dominic Cossa, Don Yule, Enrico Di Giuseppe, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Francesco Maria Piave, Georges Rodenbach, Giacomo Puccini, Giambattista Moresco, Gian Carlo Menotti, Gian Piero Mastromei, Giangiacomo Guelfi, Gilda Cruz-Romo, Giuseppe Adami, Giuseppe Giacosa, Guelfo Civinini, Gustave Charpentier, Heinz Reichert, Henri Meilhac, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Idomeneo, Il Trovatore, Imre Pallo, Ion Piso, James Levine, John Pritchard, Jules Massenet, Julian Patrick, Julius Korngold, Julius Rudel, Kenneth Schermerhorn, Knud Anderson, La Fanciulla del West, La rondine, La Traviata, Louis Gallet, Louis Quilico, Luciano Pavarotti, Luigi Illica, Manon, Michael Devlin, Michelangelo Veltri, Paul Schott, Paul Verlaine, Philippe Gille, Renato Simoni, Richard Strauss, Rigoletti, Rigoletto, Salvadore Cammarano, Silvio Varviso, Stefan Schermerhorn, Thaïs, The Telephone, Tosca, Turandot, Victor Hugo, Victorien Sardou, William Ledbetter, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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Today is the day that the United States formerly celebrated its independence. But the events of recent months have not made me feel much like celebrating. As I racked my brain to think of an “American” (read: US-American) of whom we could be truly proud, my mind flew to Carol Neblett, one of the great (if relatively unsung) voices of the 1970s and beyond. Carol died prematurely and unexpectedly in November 2017, and from the earliest days of the podcast, it has been my intention to bring increased attention to her incandescent voice and artistry. For a while, her son Stefan Schermerhorn and I have been planning to do such a tribute, but as with so many such plans, life got in the way. With the looming national holiday, however, I felt the urgent need to do a Carol Neblett episode. So I contacted Stefan earlier this week to ask him if he had any reminiscences to share with us as I was preparing this urgently-needed episode. He returned with an absolutely charming Fourth of July anecdote which begins the tribute. There follows a plethora of live recordings of near-definitive performances of an enormous range of roles that were core to Carol’s repertoire: Violetta, Ariadne, Thaïs, Marietta, Manon, Musetta, Louise, Tosca, Magda in La Rondine, Margherita in Mefistofele, Leonora in Il Trovatore, and Elettra in Idomeneo. Also well-represented is no doubt her most celebrated portrayal: Minnie in La Fanciulla del West. Being a tall and statuesque California-born blonde made Carol a physically ideal Minnie, but even moreso, it was THAT VOICE which allowed her to negotiate all of the part’s considerable vocal difficulties and made her legendary in the part. This is the first of a planned series of Neblett episodes that I hope will bring you as much delight in listening as it did me in preparing it. And in this undeniably grim period of our nation’s history, we desperately need Carol Neblett as a shining example of the brilliance of which the United States is still capable.