Monthly Archives: September 2025

Episode 398. Leontyne Price (Jane’s Divas I)

September 30, 2025African American Singers, Art Song, Black History Month, Black History Month 2025, Broadway, Crossover, Full-Figured Baroque, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Tenors, Honor Your Mentors, In Memoriam, Lieder, Listeners' Favorites, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Operetta, Orchestral Songs, Richard Strauss, Singers of Color, Spirituals, Twentieth Century MusicAdolphe Adam, Aida, Andre Previn, Ángel de Saavedra, Antonio Ghislanzoni, Antony and Cleopatra, Atalanta, Auguste Mariette, Belisario Valeriani, Carlo Maria Giulini, David Garvey, DuBose Heyward, Edward Downes, Francesco Maria Piave, Franco Corelli, Franco Zeffirelli, Friedrich von Flotow, George Frideric Handel, George Gershwin, Giuseppe Verdi, Herbert von Karajan, Hermit Songs, Ira Gershwin, James Levine, Jerome Hines, Jimmy Carter, John Sullivan Dwight, La forza del destino, Margaret E. Bonds, Martha, Michelangelo Veltri, Oscar Hammerstein II, Placide Cappeau, Porgy and Bess, Richard Rodgers, Richard Strauss, Rosalind Elias, Samuel Barber, Sean O'Faolain, The King and I, Thomas Moore, Thomas Schippers, Vier letzte Lieder, William Shakespearecountermelody

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I tried at the end of last week to do a memorial episode honoring my mother who died just a week ago. At the time I couldn’t quite manage it, but I am back again using a different approach: I tell vignettes of mine and my mother’s lives as they intertwined with the voice and presence of a singer we both enormously admired and enjoyed: Miss Leontyne Price. In between the personal stories, which extend from my earliest childhood to the day before my mother died, I weave in recordings of Leontyne in opera (Aida, La forza del destino, Antony and Cleopatra, Porgy and Bess), song (Hermit Songs, Vier letzte Lieder), spirituals, and more. There will be one more memorial tribute featuring another of Jane’s Divas within the week. Thank you again for your empathetic and loving wishes.

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 author 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 397. Anna Reynolds Sings Bach and Mahler

September 26, 2025Art Song, Forgotten Divas, Full-Figured Baroque, Great Contraltos, Gustav Mahler, In Memoriam, Johann Sebastian Bach, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Orchestral SongsAchim von Arnim, Anna Reynolds, Clemens Brentano, Das klagende Lied, Das Lied von der Erde. Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Gabor Kaposy, Geoffrey Parsons, Gustav Mahler, Helen Donath, Hermann Scherchen, Johann Sebastian Bach, Josef Krips, Karl Richter, Lieder und Gesänge aus der Jugendzeit, Lorin Maazel, Peter Schreier, Richard Leander, Richard Volkmann, Rudolf Kempe, Teresa Żylis-Gara, Wyn Morriscountermelody

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As many of you know, my beloved mother died this past week. I’ve been trying for two days now to put together a memorial episode that would do justice to the many divergent aspects of the woman that she was. Alas, I have not yet been able to rise to the challenge, so instead, I offer a recently published bonus episode devoted to the exceptional English contralto Anna Reynolds (05 June 1930 – 24 February 2014), a true servant of her art. She was an extraordinarily eclectic interpreter, blessed with a caramel voice and a vivid interpretive sense. I have chosen music by Bach and Mahler to highlight the qualities that made her so special, and which served the ethos of both of these composers remarkably well. These are among the finest interpretations of the vocal music of either Bach or Mahler that you will ever encounter. Today’s guest artists include soprano Helen Donath and tenor Peter Schreier, pianist Geoffrey Parsons, and conductors Hermann Scherchen, Josef Krips, Lorin Maazel, Benjamin Britten, Wyn Morris, Rudolf Kempe, and Karl Richter. May this exceptional artist and her colleagues bring a sense of peace, grace, and repose to all of us who so desperately need it.

Episode 396. Meet Shannon Bolin

September 22, 2025Art Song, Broadway, Comic Relief, Crossover, Forgotten Divas, Great Contraltos, In Memoriam, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Twentieth Century MusicAl Carmines, Alec Wilder, Arnold Sundgaard, Bart Howard, Benn Ross Berenberg, Damn Yankees, Dorothy Fields, Edward Eager, Frank Loesser, George Brackman, George Gershwin, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Ira Gershwin, James Stephens, Jerome Kern, Jerome Moross, Johann Strauss, John LaTouche, Lorenz Hart, María Irene Fornés, Milton Kaye, Noël Coward, Norman Rosten, Ogden Nash, Oscar Hammerstein II, Ray Heindorf, Richard Adler, Richard Rodgers, Shannon Bolin, Susan Romann, Vernon Dukecountermelody

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Today’s episode celebrates a prime example of that rara avis, the Broadway contralto, the fascinating and little-remembered Shannon Bolin (01 January 1917 – 25 March 2016). Her career covered the gamut from opera to Broadway covering all points along that continuum. In the year 1955, she and her husband, pianist, composer, and conductor Milton Kaye made two albums covering a range of material. The first, entitled Rare Wine, consists of “a bouquet of rare vintage,” lesser-known songs by Rodgers and Hart (and Rodgers and Hammerstein), George and Ira Gershwin, Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields, Vernon Duke and Ogden Nash, Bart Howard, Noël Coward, and Alec Wilder; the second LP consists entirely of songs of Alec Wilder, including his song cycle Songs for Patricia, composed to poems by Norman Rosten dedicated to his young daughter. The episode also includes two highlights from Bolin’s stage career, from Damn Yankees and the 1969 off-Broadway smash Promenade, and closes with my favorite Alec Wilder song, the heartbreaking “Did You Ever Cross Over to Sneden’s?” that serves as a memorial tribute to my dear friend from years gone by, Matthew Lau, whose death was just announced this past week.

Episode 395. Hildegard Behrens, Liedersängerin

September 19, 2025Full-Figured Baroque, In Memoriam, Johann Sebastian Bach, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Orchestral Songs, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Schubert, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAdalbert von Chamisso, Alban Berg, Carl Hauptmann, Daniel Barenboim, David Syrus, Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Eduard Mörike, Felix Schumann, Francis Travis, Franz Schubert, Frauenliebe und -leben, Friedrich Schiller, Georg Scherer, Georgine von Baumberg, Gottfried Stölzel, Hector Berlioz, Heinrich Heine, Hermann von Gilm, Hildegard Behrens, Hugo Wolf, Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Les nuits d’été, Lovro von Matačić, Mathilde Wesendonck, Matthias Claudius, Paul Heyse, Richard Dehmel, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Sieben frühe Lieder, Theodor Storm, Théophile Gautier, Wesendonck-Lieder, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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Today we celebrate the recorded legacy of Hildegard Behrens, but from an unexpected angle. Like George London and Cesare Valletti, the last two artists heard on the podcast, she is best remembered today for her operatic portrayals. But like both London and Valletti, she was also a recitalist, although this was not, admittedly, a prominent part of her repertoire. Nevertheless, as a recitalist, as in everything she sang, she displayed a keen musical intelligence, a commitment to the inherent drama in the text, and an insistence upon truth in expression. Today, however, we hear the great Wagner and Strauss singer not only in songs by both of those composers, but also less-expected music, including Schumann’s Frauenliebe und -leben, as well as songs by Bach, Elgar, and Zumsteeg. This material was featured in her Carnegie Hall recital debut in April 1985 and subsequently recorded in Paris at the legendary (and now no longer extant) Salle Wagram. This recording is supplemented by excerpts from three different orchestral song cycles, Les nuits d’été or Hector Berlioz, the Wagner Wesendonck-Lieder, and Berg’s Sieben frühe Lieder. May this episode serve as a tantalizing Vorspiese to an upcoming episode celebrating the operatic career of the great Hildegard!

Episode 394. Valletti Revisited (French Edition)

September 15, 2025Art Song, Bel canto, French Opera, Great Tenors, In Memoriam, Listeners' Favorites, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Verismo, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAbbé Prevost, Alphonse Daudet, André Theuriet, Armand Silvestre, Bruno Rigacci, Cesare Valletti, Charles Baudelaire, Claude Debussy, Édouard Blau, Francesco Cilea, Gabriel Faure, Georges Hartmann, Gioachino Rossini, Hector Berlioz, Henri Cazalis, Henri Duparc, Henri Meilhac, Jean Lahor, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Joseph Szulc, Jules Massenet, L’Arlesiana, La Betulia liberata, La Donna del Lago, Leconte de Lisle, Leo Taubman, Les nuits d’été, Manon, Mario Rossi, Paul Bourget, Paul Milliet, Paul Verlaine, Philippe Gille, Pierre Monteux, Pietro Metastasio, René Leibowitz, Reynaldo Hahn, Robert de Bonnières, Romain Bussine, Rosalind Elias, Théophile Gautier, Tullio Serafin, Victor Hugo, Victoria de los Angeles, Walter Scott, Werther, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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More than two years and nearly two hundred episodes ago, I published an episode on the great Italian tenore di grazia Cesare Valletti. Today I revisit his recorded legacy, focusing on his prowess in the French repertoire, both in opera and, rather uncharacteristically for an Italian tenor of the era, mélodie. Not only do I present the complete 1965 LP entitled Cesare Valletti Sings French Art Songs, which was his final release on the RCA Victor label, but I supplement that with two fantabulous death scenes from two of Jules Massenet’s most popular operas, Manon (a live 1954 recording pairing Valletti with Victoria de los Angeles at her most memorable), and Werther (a 1962 studio recording of excerpts from the opera featuring Rosalind Elias, the dearly beloved mezzo-soprano of blessed memory.) Valletti once again reveals himself an artist of refined taste, as well as (in the operatic excerpts) a surprisingly powerful and forthright vocal present and (in the song repertoire) an interpreter with superb French diction and exquisite insight into the half-lit atmosphere of the genre.

Episode 393. George London in Song

September 13, 2025Art Song, Broadway, Canadian Singers, Crossover, Full-Figured Baroque, Great Baritones, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Orchestral Songs, SchubertAlexandre Arnoux, Andrea Falconieri, Arseny Golenishchev-Kutuzov, Beatrice Goldsmith, Eduard von Bauernfeld, Erik Werba, Franz Schubert, Friedrich Rückert, George Kleinsiger, George London, Gustav Mahler, Hans Langer, Heinrich Heine, Henri Duparc, Jacques Ibert, Johannes Brahms, John Newmark, Joseph Blatt, Kindertotenlieder, Leconte de Lisle, Leo Taubman, Martin Luther, Matthäus von Collin, Modest Mussorgsky, Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Klemperer, Paul Ulanowsky, Richard Rodgers, Robert de Bonnières, Roland Shaw, Songs and Dances of Death, South Pacific, Vier ernste Gesänge, William Shakespeare, Песни и пляски смертиcountermelody

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Even before the continuing acts of gun violence in the US this week, I had chosen a theme that necessitated a rather sombre setlist: the artistry of Canadian-born singer George London in recital. Though London was one of the premier operatic bass-baritones in the 1950s, he also reserved a significant corner of his artistic endeavors for the recital stage. This episode focuses on London’s live and studio recordings of this repertoire, which, in part simply by virtue of the dark color of his voluminous voice, tended toward the serious: Schubert’s Heine settings, Brahms’s Vier ernste Gesänge, Ibert’s Don Quichotte songs, Duparc’s sepia-toned melodies, Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder, and his calling-card, Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death. Examples of London singing all of this repertoire are included, accompanied by Paul Ulanowsky, Leo Taubman, Erik Werba, and John Newmark, among others. The episode is dedicated to the memory of all innocent victims in the epidemic of gun violence in the United States.

Episode 392. Ernst Kozub Revisited [Verdi Edition]

September 8, 2025Canadian Singers, Forgotten Divas, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, Great Tenors, In Memoriam, Listeners' Favorites, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in TranslationAida, Alexandre Dumas fils, Andrea Maffei, Ángel de Saavedra, Antonio García Gutiérrez, Antonio Ghislanzoni, Antonio Somma, Arrigo Boito, Auguste Mariette, Camille du Locle, Christoph von Dohnányi, Der Troubadour, Don Carlo, Don Carlos, Edith Lang, Ein Maskenball, Elias, Elijah, Ernst Kozub, Eugène Scribe, Felix Mendelssohn, Francesco Maria Piave, Franz Bauer Theussl, Franz Crass, Franz Werfel, Friedrich Schiller, George London, Gisela Vivarelli, Giuseppe Verdi, Hildegard Rütgers, Horst Stein, Il Trovatore, Joseph Méry, Julius Schubring, La forza del destino, La Traviata, Leopold Ludwig, Luisa Miller, Macbeth, Marek Janowski, Norman Mittelmann, Otello, Rigoletto, Rita Streich, Robert Wagner, Salvadore Cammarano, Un ballo in maschera, Victor Hugo, Vladimir Ruzdak, Vladimir Ruždjak, William Shakespearecountermelody

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Since posting a tribute to German heldentenor Ernst Kozub last year, I have continued combing through both his live and studio output and I have concluded that his work in Verdi is at least as good as his work in Wagner. And that’s saying something! I have a wonderful setlist here which features the great Heldentenor singing everything from the lyric tenor parts of Alfredo in La Traviata and the Duke (or should I say the Herzog?!) in Rigoletto to the dramatic roles of Manrico in Der Troubadour, Radames in Aida and the title role of Otello. Between these two extremes, arias from Luisa Miller, Macbeth, and Ein Maskenball ring out with vigor and even some occasional subtlety! Excerpts from live performances of Don Carlos and La forza del destino (the only Verdi heard here in Italian) from the stage of the Hamburg Opera (where Kozub was fest between 1962 and his premature death in 1971) are a special treat, especially with in duet with phenomenal (though nearly forgotten) colleagues Norman Mittelmann, Vladimir Ruždjak, and Edith Lang (who will be featured next week in an upcoming episode). Legendary German stars Rita Streich and Franz Crass are also heard opposite Kozub in the recording studio. The episode opens with George London singing an excerpt from Mendelssohn’s Elias under the baton of the late Christoph von Dohnányi, who died over the weekend two days before his 96th birthday.

Episode 391. Ben Bagley’s Three-Dollar Bills [Porter and Hart Edition]

September 6, 2025Broadway, Comic Relief, Forgotten Divas, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Queer Pride, Singers in Old Age, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century Music, Voiceless WondersA Connecticut Yankee, Alice Playten, Anthony Perkins, Arthur Siegen, Ben Bagley, Blossom Dearie, Bobby Short, Bud McCreery, Carmen Alvarez, Charlotte Rae, Cole Porter, Cy Young, Danny Meehan, Dennis Deal, Dorothy Loudon, Elaine Stritch, Elmarie Wendel, Estelle Parsons, Faun Stacy, Fifty Million Frenchmen, Gloria DeHaven, Harold Lang, Judd Woldin, Katharine Hepburn, Kaye Ballard, Laura Kenyon, Leave It to Me, Lee Musiker, Lorenz Hart, Lynn Redgrave, Mary Cleere Haran, Matt “Chips” Patuto, Norman Paris, Panama Hattie, Richard Rodgers, Sandy Stewart, Skip Redwine, The Boys of Syracuse, The Garrick Gaieties, The Hot Heiress, William Hickeycountermelody

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Two months ago I posted an episode on Gay Eccentrics, which included a profile of Ben Bagley, the theatrical and record producer who most certainly fit that designation. I believe that Bagley’s most lasting contribution was the 60 or so albums he produced of Great Broadway Composers Revisited, which presented unknown gems from the deep inside the trunks of these figures. For today’s episode, I am putting a particularly queer spin on that series by featuring a cross-section of the songs offered on Bagley’s ten albums devoted to songs of Cole Porter and Rodgers and Hart. There are so many remarkable treasures to be found on these recordings, which, in spite of (and perhaps even partially because of) the slapdash nature of the recording sessions and the shoestring budgets, remain some of the most important collections of forgotten songs by composers and lyricists of Broadway’s Golden Age. The other extraordinary thing about these collections was the variety of the singers that lent their voices to this music. Today’s selection, a mere cross-section, offers the vocal talents of Dorothy Loudon, Kay Ballard, Bobby Short, Lynn Redgrave, Tony Perkins, Mary Cleere Haran, Estelle Parsons, Blossom Dearie, Harold Lang, and Alice Playten, among many others. Choice excerpts from Bagley’s notorious liner notes are amply interspersed between the songs. I hope you enjoy the glitter, barbs, and even occasional Weltschmerz of this episode.

Episode 390. Donath Sings Strauss

September 1, 2025Art Song, Great Contraltos, Happy Birthday, Honor Your Mentors, Lieder, Listeners' Favorites, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Orchestral Songs, Richard Strauss, Singers in Old Age, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century OperaAdolf Friedrich von Schack, Albert Bonnema, Annette Jahns, Arabella, Deborah Voigt, Der Rosenkavalier, Die Ägyptische Helena, Fabio Luisi, Felix Dahn, Friedrich von Sallet, Gottfried August Bürger, Heinrich Heine, Helen Donath, Hermann Hesse, Hermann von Gilm, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Ivan Törzs, John Henry Mackay, Joseph von Eichendorff, Julia Varady, Klaus Donath, Oskar Panizza, Otto Friedrich Gruppe, Richard Strauss, Vier letzte Lieder, Vitalija Blinstrubyte, Wolfgang Sawallischcountermelody

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Beloved Countermelody favorite Helen Donath celebrated her 85th birthday on 10 July. In honor of that milestone, I once again celebrate her (which I’ve done so often, but I don’t think anyone is complaining!) This episode features the venerated soprano singing the music of Richard Strauss. In 1976 and 1981 she recorded two albums of Lieder for EMI, both accompanied by her husband, pianist and conductor Klaus Donath, each of which included a selection of songs by Strauss. In addition, I offer recordings of Donath singing various operatic excerpts, both live and studio, of her acclaimed Sophie in Rosenkavalier and Zdenka/o in Arabella. In addition, two late career Donath rarities. First is a concert performance of Die ägyptische Helena live from the Salzburg Festival in the summer of 2003 in which Donath sings the challenging role of Aithra with a freshness and radiance that is breathtaking. The episode concludes with an extraordinary live 2000 recording of Donath performing the Vier letzte Lieder, a tribute to the natural progression of her voice into the jugendlich dramatisch repertoire as she aged. Vocal guest stars include Júlia Várady (who today celebrates her 84th birthday!), Doris Soffel, and Deborah Voigt. Let us extend our hearty good wishes and affection to La Donath, who is finally living in well-earned Ruhestand, after a career that extended well into her 70s.