Category Archives: Ein Opernabend mit…

Episode 495. A Birthday Potpourri II (Sneak Preview Edition)

October 15, 2026African American Singers, Art Song, Behind the Iron Curtain, Black History Month 2026, Bubbles on the Nile, Countertenors, Ein Opernabend mit..., Forgotten DivasAdriana Maliponte, Agostino Steffani, Alfred Jerger, Alfredo Silipigni, Alkman, Amor vien dal destino, André Emilianoff, Andrea Maffei, Ángel de Saavedra, Arabella, Cesar Franck, Charles Gounod, Charles Ives, Clemens Krauss, Constantine Cassolas, Daniel Gundlach, Die Macht des Schicksals, Erik Sædén, Francesco Maria Piave, Franz Werfel, Frederick Hammond, Giuseppe Verdi, Halina Łukomska, Hans Udo Müller, Heinz Fricke, Hilda Harris, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Iris, Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, Jean Sibelius, Jerzy Sulikowski, Joan Tower, Joaquin Rodrigo, Joel Lester, Johan Ludvig Runeberg, John Angelo Messana, John Bröcheler, John Keats, Joséphine-Blanche Colomb, Karol Szymanowski, Kenneth Montgomery, Kostas Paskalis, La forza del destino, Langston Hughes, Laura Flax, Leonidas Zoras, Les Béatitudes, Luigi Illica, Macbeth, Margaret Bonds, Margarete Teschemacher, Michael Isador, Miriam Gideon, Newell Jenkins, Ortensio Mauro, Parsifal, Patricia Spencer, Paul Hofstede, Pentti Koskimies, Pieśni muezina szalonego, Pietro Mascagni, Reginald Boardman, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Ritva Auvinen, Roland Hayes, Rudolf Jansen, Sandra Browne, Scott Gilmore, Songs of the Lovesick Muezzin, Spas Wenkovv, Sten Envik, Teodoro Llorente, Victor Hugo, Viorica Ursuleac, Virgil, Voices from Elysium, Walther Ludwig, Willis Barnstonecountermelody

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Welcome to the second of my birthday potpourri episodes! I recorded this the day before we left on vacation, in other words, exactly a week ago. The focus this week is on Coming Attractions for the rest of the year and the new season (Season Eight already!) of Countermelody coming in January. We begin with a tribute to Dutch bass-baritone John Bröcheler, who died on September 30 at the age of 81. I have been collecting his recordings for a couple years now and will do a full memorial tribute in the months to come. I’m also planning a series on songs by important twentieth century composers, including Karol Szymanowski (sinuously represented here by Polish soprano Halina Łukomska), Jean Sibelius (powerfully voiced by Finnish soprano Ritva Auvinen) and Miriam Gideon (performed here by the exceptional Greek-American tenor Constantine Cassolas, one of the composer’s favorite collaborators). I’m also planning a special episode on creators of Richard Strauss operas, and as a foretaste we hear an excerpt from Arabella featuring the controversial soprano Viorica Ursuleac and baritone Alfred Jerger. My series of recordings in the Opernabend series on the Eterna label also continues, and the “placeholder” here is Bulgarian heldentenor Spas Wenkoff, heard in an excerpt from Parsifal. I’m also putting together an episode on great German sopranos singing Verdi in German, as represented here by the great Margarete Teschemacher. This will be in tandem with an episode on international Verdi baritones, as exemplified by one of the greatest ever, the Greek Kostas Paskalis. I’ll also be doing individual episodes on singers I’ve been collecting for some time now, including the pathbreaking African American tenor Roland Hayes, the versatile Swedish bass-baritone Erik Sædén, the fearless French-Italian spinto Adriana Maliponte, and two Black mezzos: the velvet-voiced Hilda Harris and the pioneering Trinidadian Sandra Browne. Finally, a pair of episodes paying tribute to the countertenor voice, one entitled “Our Countertenor Forebears,” represented by the heroic-voiced John Angelo Messana. The other, which has been planned and promised for years now as Episode 500, will feature yours truly, Daniel Gundlach, in an episode to be called “Dansplaining,” which will feature sound recordings unearthed from the ashes of my own archives. So, my friends, much to look forward to on Countermelody in the seasons, months, and years to come.

Countermelody is the 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 493. Hanne-Lore Kuhse and Kurt Masur: Deutsche Einheit Edition

October 3, 2026Bel canto, Ein Opernabend mit..., Forgotten Divas, Full-Figured Baroque, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Holiday Music, In Memoriam, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Richard Wagner, Twentieth Century Opera, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAlfred Brüggemann, Andrea Maffei, Àngel Guimerà, Camille du Locle, Carlo Gozzi, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Der fliegende Holländer, Der Friedensengel, Don Carlos, Don Giovanni, Eugen d’Albert, Euripides, Francesco Maria Piave, Friedrich Schiller, Georg Göhler, George Frideric Handel, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Adami, Giuseppe Verdi, Hanne-Lore Kuhse, Heinz Fricke, Heinz Rögner, Heinz Rückert, Hermann Levi, Horst-Tanu Margraf, Iphigenia auf Tauris, Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, Johann Daniel Sander, Joseph Méry, Joseph Sonnleithner, Karl Egon Glückselig, Kurt Masur, Lohengrin, Lorenzo da Ponte, Ludwig van Beethoven, Macbeth, Max Kalbeck, Nicolas-François Guillard, Paul Schmitz, Radamisto, Renato Simoni, Richard Wagner, Rudolf Lothar, Siegfried Wagner, Tannhäuser, Theo Adam, Tidelio, Tiefland, Tristan und Isolde, Turandot, William Shakespeare, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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Today, October 3, is probably the most significant of all German holidays, the Tage der Deutschen Einheit, the day on which we celebrate “Die Wende,” German reunification. Though the country in some ways is more divided than it has ever been (shades of my own home country!), we somehow must continue to hold on to hope and love as the forces that drive us on. It just so happens that the episode I was planning for today fits in quite nicely with today’s theme of German reunification, as it presents two significant East German musicians, the jugendlich dramatisch soprano Hanne-Lore Kuhse, and the conductor Kurt Masur. The latter figure, in fact, played a significant part in Germany’s coming back together. The two of them were collaborators from the beginning of their respective careers, as they both performed at the Mecklenburgisches Staatsoper in Schwerin in the 1950s. The trajectory of Masur’s later career is well known; after Schwerin, Kuhse herself was a leading soprano first in Leipzig and then at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, finding her greatest personal success during a surprising yet brief sojourn to the United States in 1966, where she performed in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles in particular, just missing out (thanks to the machinery of the East German bureaucracy) on a Metropolitan Opera debut as Isolde, probably her greatest role. Today’s episode presents, nearly in its entirety, a 1968 release for the East German Eterna label which brought Kuhse and Masur back together. Another in the label’s Ein Opernabend mit… series, this installment features Kuhse and Masur collaborating on arias from Don Giovanni, Fidelio, Macbeth, and several Wagner operas, including Tannhäuser, Lohengrin, and Tristan. I supplement these with additional recordings of Kuhse, both live and studio, in Turandot, Iphigenia auf Tauris, Don Carlos, Radamisto of Handel, Tiefland by Eugen d’Albert, and Der Friedensengel of Siegfried Wagner. Still remembered by aficionados of great singing, Kuhse is revealed once again (or for the first time) as one of the most important German sopranos of the mid-twentieth century.

Episode 457. Ein Opernabend mit… Anna Tomowa-Sintow

April 24, 2026Behind the Iron Curtain, Ein Opernabend mit..., Forgotten Divas, Giuseppe Verdi, In Memoriam, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Richard Strauss, Twentieth Century Opera, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAlexander Pushkin, Ángel de Saavedra, Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Arabella, Ariadne auf Naxos, Arrigo Boito, Cosi fan tutte, Daphne, Die Ägyptische Helena, Euripedes, Francesco Maria Piave, Giuseppe Verdi, Hermann Hesse, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Josepf Gregor, Kurt Masur, La forza del destino, Lorenzo da Ponte, Marek Janowski, Otello, Ovid, Peter Sommer, Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, Richard Strauss, Rouslan Raychev, Vier letzte Lieder, William Shakespeare, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Yevgeny Onegincountermelody

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Today’s episode serves two purposes: First, I introduce my listeners to a wonderful series first released on Eterna, the East German state record label, entitled “Ein Opernabend mit…” which featured singers, some but not all of them German, active in East Germany between the late 1960s and the early 1980s. Some of these singers are well-known to lovers of great singers, with others much less-so. The quality of the singing varies from release to release, but the very best of these represents singing on the most exalted level. Over the past several years, I have been collecting these (sometimes very rare) recordings and now have nearly all of them in my personal collection. I’ll be doing an ongoing Countermelody series featuring these recordings, and present the first such episode today, featuring what is by far the most famous and well-circulated of these recordings, “Ein Opernabend mit Anna Tomowa-Sintow,” which features the beloved Bulgarian jugendlich-dramatisch soprano in some of her core repertoire (from Yevgeny Onegin, Otello, Forza del destino, Ariadne auf Naxos, and Arabella) made in December 1974 with Kurt Masur leading the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. ATS had recently joined the ensemble at the Staatsoper Berlin (then located in East Germany) and is heard in her creamy, exultant prime. I have supplemented this album with additional material recorded between 1970 and 1993, featuring Tomowa-Sintow in refulgently beautiful (and sometimes quite dramatically alive) excerpts from Così fan tutte, Forza, Die ägyptische Helena, Daphne, and the Vier letzte Lieder. I had a former boyfriend who once dismissed this singer as “garden variety.” All I can say is, if this is garden variety singing, then this is a garden I don’t want to leave anytime soon!