Category Archives: Great Tenors

Episode 223. Chouxbert vs. Shubertsky (Schubert in French and Russian)

November 14, 2023Art Song, Behind the Iron Curtain, Great Baritones, Great Tenors, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Orchestral Songs, Schubert, Singers in Old Age, Voiceless WondersAbram Makarov, Antoine Bélanger, Boris Gmyrya, Camille Maurane, Charles Panzéra, Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart, Claude Pascal, David Lerner, Die schöne Müllerin, Eugene Goossens, Feodor Chaliapin, Flore Wend, Franz Schubert, Georges Thill, Germaine Martinelli, Gustave Samazeuilh, Henri-Bertrand Etcheverry, Ivan Kozlovsky, Jean Doyen, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Lev Ostrin, Lev Sibiriakov, Lily Bienvenu, Ludwig Rellstab, Madeleine d’Aleman, Mark Reizen, Matvei Sakharov, Maurice Chassang, Natalia Rozhdestvenskaya, Naum Walter, Nina Dorliak, Ninon Vallin, Pavel Lisitsian, Piero Coppola, Piotr Nikitin, Raoul Barthalay, Samuil Samosud, Sergei Lemeshev, Sergey Gorchakov, Sviatoslav Richter, Vanni-Marcoux, Wilhelm Müller, Winterreisecountermelody

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A few weeks ago I finally found a copy of a rare recording by one of my favorite singers, the baryton martin Camille Maurane (1911 – 2010) in which he sings Schubert songs in French. Inspired and fascinated by this record, I began exploring recordings of other native French-language singers (including Ninon Vallin, Charles Panzéra, Georges Thill, Vanni-Marcoux, and Germaine Martinelli) singing the melodies of my favorite composers. Further on, I stumbled across a similarly wide variety of Russian-speaking singers (including Ivan Kozlovsky, Mark Reizen, Pavel Lisitsian, Sergei Lemeshev, Nina Dorliak, and Feodor Chaliapin) also putting their individual stamp on the songs of Schubert in their native tongue. Along the way, we also discuss certain quintessential vocal types in both the French (the baryton martin, the falcon) and Russian (the lyric tenor, the “slavic” soprano and bass) national styles. This episode, far from being a mere “gimmick” allows us also to examine the joys of old-fashioned art song performance, and how all these characteristics combine to provide a new perspective on the music of one of the greatest German-language composers.

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 support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available exclusively to Patreon supporters are currently available and further bonus content including interviews and livestreams is planned for the upcoming season.

Episode 222. Shirley Verrett, Falcon Sfogatissima

November 9, 2023African American Singers, Art Song, Bel canto, French Opera, Full-Figured Baroque, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, Great Tenors, In Memoriam, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Protest Songs, Richard Wagner, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century Music, VerismoAchille de Lauzières, Aida, Alceste, Anton Guadagno, Antonio Ghislanzoni, Antonio Somma, Arrigo Boito, Bernard Haitink, Camille du Locle, Camille Saint-Saens, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Claudio Abbado, Don Carlo, Edward Downes, Eugène Scribe, Euripedes, Euripides, Eve Queler, Ferdinand Lemaire, Fidelio, Francesco Maria Piave, François-Benoît Hoffmann, François-Louis Gand le Bland du Roullet, Friedrich Schiller, George Frideric Handel, Georges Pretre, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Giacosa, Giuseppe Verdi, Grace Bumbry, Iphigénie en Tauride, James McCracken, Jan Behr, Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, Johannes Brahms, Joseph Méry, Joseph Sonnleithner, Kenneth Montgomery, Leonard De Paur, Luciano Pavarotti, Ludovico Ariosti, Ludwig van Beethoven, Luigi Cherubini, Luigi Illica, Macbeth, Marius Nygaard, Medée, Messa da Requiem, Michael Schønwandt, Norma, Otello, Pete Seeger, Ranieri de’ Calzabigi, Richard Wagner, Robert Massard, Samson et Dalila, Sarah Caldwell, Seiji Ozawa, Sherrill Milnes, Shirley Verrett, Stefan Soltesz, Tristan und Isolde, Un ballo in maschera, Veriano Luchetti, Victorien Sardou, Vier ernste Gesänge, Vincenzo Bellini, Warren Wilson, William Shakespeare, Zubin Mehtacountermelody

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It is hard to believe that it’s already been 13 years since the death of Shirley Verrett on November 5, 2010. It has also already been four years since I did a pair of episodes on this extraordinary and beloved artist, and this anniversary gives me the perfect excuse to revisit the work of this mezzo-soprano turned soprano who more than any other singer in my experiences (even soon-to-be birthday girl Maria Callas) was capable of singing nearly anything. This type of singer is sometimes referred to as a soprano sfogato (or a falcon, after the 19th century French mezzo-cum-soprano Cornélie Falcon. Since Verrett, like Falcon, sang both mezzo and soprano, I instead coin the term falcon sfogatissima to describe her vocal magic. This episode is chock full of examples of Verrett’s impassioned yet technically-grounded vocalism, from art songs by Brahms and Pasatieri to operatic roles by Handel, Gluck, Cherubini, Bellini, Puccini, and Verdi (including both soprano and mezzo roles in Aida and the Messa da Requiem and soprano roles in Ballo in Maschera, Macbeth, Don Carlo, and Otello). I close the episodes with Verrett’s astonishing but limited forays into the German operatic repertoire. Her collaborators on this episode include conductors Seiji Ozawa, Claudio Abbado, Bernard Haitink, Zubin Mehta, Eve Queler, Georges Prêtre, Sarah Caldwell, and the late Kenneth Montgomery; and fellow operatic greats Sherrill Milnes, Luciano Pavarotti, James McCracken, Robert Massard (last week’s featured artist), and her frenemy the late Grace Bumbry.

Episode 221. Robert Massard

November 1, 2023African American Singers, Bel canto, Canadian Singers, French Opera, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, Great Tenors, Happy Birthday, In Memoriam, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Operetta, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century Opera, VerismoAlbert Willemetz, Albert Wolff, Anatole France, André Messager, André Turp, Andréa Guiot, Andrée Esposito, Antonio Somma, Armand Bernard, Camille du Locle, Carlo Maria Giulini, Carmen, Cavalleria Rusticana, Charles Gounod, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Darius Milhaud, Denise Duval, Désiré-Émile Inghelbrecht, Édouard Blau, Édouard Lalo, Ernest Reyer, Eugène Diaz, Eugène Scribe, Franc-Nohain, Frédéric Mistral, Gabriel Faure, Gaetano Donizetti, Gaston Hirsch, Georg Solti, George Shirley, Georges Pretre, Georges Sébastian, Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti, Giovanni Verga, Giuseppe Verdi, Guido Menasci, Gustave Flaubert, Hector Berlioz, Henri Grémont, Henri Meilhac, Henry Brougham Farnie, Hérodiade, Iphigénie en Tauride, Jane Rhodes, Jean Giraudeau, Jean Laforge, Jésus Etchéverry, Joseph Peyron, Jules Massenet, Jules Prével, L’heure espagnole, Léopold Marchand, Les Troyens, Louis Beydts, Louis Gallet, Louis Varney, Lucie de Lammermoor, Ludovic Halévy, Mady Mesple, Manuel Rosenthal, Marilyn Horne, Maurice Ravel, Michel Carré, Michel Hamel, Mireille, Nicolas-François Guillard, Nino Falzetti, Patricia Neway, Paul Claudel, Paul Ferrier, Paul Milliet, Philippe Gille, Pierre Dervaux, Pietro Mascagni, Prosper Mérimée, Regine Crespin, René Fauchois, Renée Doria, Reynald Giovaninetti, Rita Gorr, Robert Benedetti, Robert Massard, Robert Planquette, Shirley Verrett, Suzanne Sarroca, Thaïs, Un ballo in maschera, Walter Scottcountermelody

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This is an episode I have been planning for years now! This past August 15, the great French baritone Robert Massard turned 98 years old. As many of my listeners know, I have a thing for baritones in general, and I have devoted episodes to artists of the baritone persuasion from world-renowned to virtually unknown to somewhere in-between. Just think of it: Gérard Souzay, Jorma Hynninen, Eugene Holmes, Andrzej Hiolski, Gabriel Bacquier, Will Parker, Gilbert Price: these and many more have already been featured with more (Hugo Hasslo, Eric Sædén) on the horizon for next season. But I would be hard-pressed to think of a baritone who possessed a more beautiful natural voice, a more refined technique, or a more elegant artistry than did Robert Massard, who in his thirty-odd years of career chalked up approximately 2,500 performances, including 1,003 at the Paris Opéra alone (the same number, he himself points out, as Don Giovanni’s conquests)! Massard also sang an incredibly varied (though primarily operatic) repertoire, and this episode presents highlights from both the standard to the more obscure repertoire, from Gluck, Gounod, Verdi, and Massenet; to Reyer, Milhaud, Lalo, and Diaz (who?). These recordings are supplemented by a number of excerpts from French operetta (Planquette, Varney, Messager, and Beydts) which provide unalloyed melodic delight, the Massard voice heard at its absolute peak. And the colleagues who appear opposite Massard are like a Who’s Who of great opera singers (French and otherwise) of the era: Régine Crespin, Mady Mesplé, Denise Duval, Shirley Verrett (subject of next week’s episode!), Andréa Guiot, Jean Giraudeau, André Turp, Marilyn Horne, Renée Doria, Jane Rhodes, Andrée Esposito, Rita Gorr, and the falcon Suzanne Sarroca, who died last month at the age of 96. And if you listen very closely, you will also catch fleeting glimpses of favorites Patricia Neway and George Shirley. I know I say this too often, but if you only listen to one episode of Countermelody, make it this one!

Episode 220. La Fiamma (The Haunted Opera House II)

October 25, 2023African American Singers, Claudia Muzio, Great Baritones, Great Tenors, Mezzo Madness, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century Opera, VerismoAlessandra Marc, Anna Moffo, Buck Clark, Carlo Tagliabue, Claudio Guastalla, Deborah Voigt, Delcina Stevenson, Edo de Waart, Felicity Palmer, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, Gabriel Sadè, Gabriella Carturan, Gene Taylor, Giacinto Prandelli, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Giovanna Casolla, Gloria Scalchi, Hans Wiers-Jenssen, Henry Young, Ilona Tokody, Jalacy “Screamin’ Jay” Hawkins, James McCracken, José Collado, Juan Pons, Kevin Deas, Kolos Kováts, La Fiamma, Lamberto Gardelli, Lilian Pellegrino, Luisa Villa, Mara Coleva, Maurizio Arena, Mignon Dunn, Montserrat Caballé, Nelly Miricioiu, Nina Simone, Ottorino Respighi, Robert Bass, Stefka Evstatieva, Tusa Santo, Ursula van ‘t Wout, Vera Baniewiczcountermelody

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A year ago, I posted an episode entitled “The Haunted Opera House” that featured a wide range of spooky, witchy, Halloween-appropriate 20th century operas from Prokofiev to Penderecki. This year I focus in on one of the works from that episode, Ottorino Respighi’s 1934 masterpiece La Fiamma, based on a 1908 play on witch hunts and witchcraft in 16th century Norway by the novelist and playwright Hans Wiers-Jenssen entitled Anna Pedersdotter, the Witch. This work also formed the basis for the Carl Dreyer film Day of Wrath. Respighi and his librettist Claudio Guastalla transferred the action to seventh-century Ravenna in the early days of Christianity. Musically the work combines Respighi’s interest with Gregorian chant, modal scales and harmonies, and the work of Claudio Monteverdi with his penchant for stunning orchestrations. The dramatically potent result was his most famous operatic work, but after an initial succès d’estime, it has only retained the slightest hold on the operatic fringes. Nevertheless, the heroine Silvana in particular is a role that great sopranos have made their own over the years, including Claudia Muzio, Gina Cigna, Giuseppina Cobelli, and Rosa Raisa (none of whom sadly recorded any excerpts) through Montserrat Caballé, Nelly Miricioiu, Ilona Tokody, Stefka Evstatieva, and Mara Coleva. I tell the story of the opera while offering substantial excerpts, which, in addition to the sopranos mentioned above, also include such operatic heavyweights as James McCracken, Carlo Tagliabue, Deborah Voigt, Giacinto Prandelli, Delcina Stevenson, Felicity Palmer, Juan Pons, Anna Moffo, and Mignon Dunn, among others. Just the thing to scare you out of your skin this Halloween!

Episode 216. The Lieder of Joseph Marx

September 28, 2023African American Singers, Art Song, Comic Relief, Great Baritones, Great Tenors, In Memoriam, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Orchestral Songs, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century MusicAlbert Giraud, Angelika Kirchschlager, Anthony Spiri, Anton Dermota, Anton Wildgans, Arleen Augér, Carl Hauptmann, Carroll Hollister, David Garvey, Dorothy Irving, Erik Werba, Ernő Balogh, Florence Easton, Gerald Moore, Gustav Falke, Hartmut Höll, Heinrich Goebel, Irmgard Seefried, John Charles Thomas, Joseph Marx, Joseph von Eichendorff, Kendra Colton, Knut Hamsun, Laura Ward, Leontyne Price, Ljuba Welitsch, Lotte Lehmann, Miltiades Caridis, Mitsuko Shirai, Novalis, Otto Eric Hartleben, Paul Heyse, Paul Ulanowsky, Rainer Maria Rilke, Richard Dehmel, Stella Doufexis, Steven Sloane, Tabea Zimmermann, Waldemar Kmentt, Wilma Lippcountermelody

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This week (inspired by an 10-inch LP in my collection of his songs performed by Anton Dermota and Wilma Lipp, both stalwarts of the Wiener Staatsoper in the 1950s) I present an introduction to the Lieder of Austrian composer Joseph Marx (1882 – 1964). His songs are most frequently compared to Richard Strauss and Hugo Wolf and are distinctly post-Romantic in style and harmony, but they also exhibit traits unique to their composer. As with so many figures from this period in European history, his legacy is shadowed in controversy, which I discuss at length. In the end, I believe it is his contribution as an inspired composer, particularly of song, for which he should be most remembered. Alongside Lipp and Dermota, some of the other singers heard in the episode include Ljuba Welitsch, Irmgard Seefried, Angelika Kirchschlager, Leontyne Price, Lotte Lehmann, Waldemar Kmentt, John Charles Thomas, Florence Easton, and Arleen Augér. Pianists include Marx himself, as well as Erik Werba and Paul Ulanowsky, both of whom studied with him. If you only know one or two of Marx’s songs (or if you don’t know his work at all), you are in for a glorious surprise!

Episode 215. Trauer und Trost

September 19, 2023African American Singers, Art Song, Bel canto, Full-Figured Baroque, Great Tenors, Happy Birthday, In Memoriam, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Opera in Translation, Schubert, Singers of ColorArleen Augér, Die schöne Müllerin, Dinu Lipatti, Felice Romani, Franz Schubert, George Frideric Handel, Georges Pretre, Jessye Norman, Johann Sebastian Bach, Joseph von Eichendorff, Kathleen Ferrier, La sonnambula, Lambert Orkis, Malcolm Sargent, Maria Callas, Matthias Claudius, Myra Hess, Robert Schumann, Spirituals, Vincenzo Bellini, Wilhelm Müllercountermelody

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This week’s episode offers music of both mourning and consolation performed by treasured artists, many of whom celebrate significant anniversaries this fall, and all of whom died before their time. Thus we hear singers Maria Callas, Jessye Norman, Fritz Wunderlich, Kathleen Ferrier, Judith Raskin, Arleen Augér, and Lucia Popp, and pianist Dinu Lipatti performing music of Bach, Schubert, Fauré, Bellini, and others. This episode may conform to my new streamlined format, but it packs an emotional wallop nonetheless. A bonus episode to be published later in the week will feature Tatiana Troyanos, Judy Garland, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Dusty Springfield, Renata Scotto and others in music designed, as in this episode, to console and comfort.

Episode 213. Julia Varady

September 7, 2023Art Song, Bel canto, French Opera, Full-Figured Baroque, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Tenors, Happy Birthday, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century Opera, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAlexandre Dumas fils, Alfredo Catalani, Algis Zhuraitis, Antonio García Gutiérrez, Aribert Reimann, Arta Florescu, Attila (Verdi), Béla Bartók, Carlo Colombara, Carol Litvin, Christian Friederich Henrici, Claus H. Henneberg, David Belasco, Der fliegende Holländer, Don Giovanni, Elena Bashkirova, Francesco Maria Piave, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, Gerd Albrecht, Giacomo Puccini, Giovanni da Gammera, Giuseppe Giacosa, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Giuseppe Verdi, Heinrich Heine, Heinz Wallberg, Herbert von Karajan, Il Trovatore, Jacques Offenbach, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Henry Long, Julia Varady, Klára Gombossy, La Traviata, La Wally, Leopold Hager, Lucio Silla, Luigi Illica, Madama Butterfly, Marcello Bufalini, Modest Tchaikovsky, Neville Marriner, Picander, Pique-Dame, Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, Raimund Grumbach, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Salvadore Cammarano, Siegfried Jerusalem, Temistocle Solera, William Shakespeare, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Wolfgang Sawallischcountermelody

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A week ago the extraordinary Hungarian-German soprano Julia Varady turned 82. As she is one of my favorite sopranos, I have presented her a few times on the podcast, but never on an episode devoted exclusively to her. There is no time like the present to rectify that situation. Varady had an exceptional and unusual career, centered mostly in Europe, where she was celebrated first as a Mozart soprano, later for her fearless portrayals of the full range of Verdi heroines. Elsewhere in the world, primarily because of her recordings, she was considered mostly a Strauss singer, who also dipped her toe into some of the Wagner jugendlich dramatisch heroines. As today’s traversal proves, she was all that, but also much more: a singer with a gutsy dramatic instinct and a technique that allowed her to take on roles that might have been a few sizes too large for her vocally, but which she portrayed with vigor and fearlessness such as have been matched by only a few of the very greatest sopranos. It is also my objective in this episode to consider her accomplishment independently from that of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, her husband from 1977 until his death in 2012, regarded by many as one of the most significant baritones of the last century. But my (perhaps idiosyncratic) view is that, particularly because of their very different artistic personalities, her achievements, especially on the operatic stage, outrank his. See if you agree with me. We also hear contributions from tenors Siegfried Jerusalem and Franco Tagliavini, soprano Arta Florescu (Varady’s teacher), and baritone Raimund Grumbach, along with pianists Elena Bashkirova and Aribert Reimann (whose compositional masterpiece Lear is also sampled), and conductors Wolfgang Sawallisch, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Algis Zhuraitis, Jesús López-Cobos, Neville Marriner, Herbert von Karajan, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, and István Kertész.

Episode 212. Ian Partridge

August 31, 2023Art Song, French Opera, Full-Figured Baroque, Great Tenors, Happy Birthday, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Schubert, Singers in Old Age, Twentieth Century MusicArnold Bax, Arnold Schoenberg, Benjamin Britten, Brian Etheridge, Bruno Turner, Charles Spinks, Christopher Bishop, Christopher Wilson, Claudio Monteverdi, Colin Davis, Colin Tilney, David Willcocks, Detlev von Liliencron, Edward Shanks, Eric Crozier, Ernest Ansermet, Franz Schubert, Fredegond Shove, Frederick Delius, George Frideric Handel, Georges Bizet, Grayston Burgess, Hector Berlioz, Heinrich Schütz, Henry Purcell, Hermannus Contractus, Hugh Bean, Ian Partridge, Ivor Gurney, Jakob Lindberg, James Griffett, Janet Craxton, Jennifer Partridge, Jill Gomez, Johann Mayrhofer, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Jürgen Jürgens, Kevin Smith, Les Troyens, Louis Halsey, Michael Dussek, Moritz Horn, Nigel Rogers, Norman Walker, Ottavio Rinuccini, Paul Beier, Peter Warlock, Philip Heseltine, Philip Sidnely, Pierre Boulez, Pro Cantione Antiqua, Prunella Scales, Queen Victoria, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Richard Burnett, Roger Norrington, Russell Burges, Saint Nicolas, The Fairy Queen, Thomas Beecham, Thomas Betterton, Thomas Campion, Thomas Ford, Walter Scott, William Byrd, William Hunt, William Shakespearecountermelody

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Ian Partridge, the quintessential English lyric tenor, celebrated his 85th birthday in June. I may be a few weeks late in celebrating that event, but my enthusiasm and admiration for this singer has remained at a consistent level ever since I first discovered his voice on a recording of songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Partridge, in fact, has left a vast recorded legacy, including work as both a solo concert artist and recitalist and as a member of such distinguished choral groups as Pro Cantione Antiqua, the Wilbye Consort, and the Louis Halsey Singers. His solo repertoire ranged from 11th century plainsong to the thornier musical 20th century idioms of Schoenberg and Britten. This episode samples the vast array of that recorded legacy, including examples from the Baroque period by Bach, Schütz, Handel, and Monteverdi; through art songs by Schubert, Brahms, Fauré, Bax, Gurney, and Warlock. We also hear him live from Covent Garden in his sole operatic role, the Carthaginian poet Iopas in Berlioz’s Les Troyens, and in lute songs and consort music by Campion and Byrd. In all these performances the voice is produced with such ease, the tone so pure and ethereally beautiful, yet never faked or “finessed,” while the interpretations themselves, no matter the musical style, are full of depth, integrity, and subtlety. Here is an enormously satisfying artist who embodies integrity and dedication to his craft. Guest stars include Jill Gomez, Nigel Rogers, Pierre Boulez, Benjamin Britten, Colin Davis, Ernest Ansermet, Norman Walker, Prunella Scales, and the tenor’s sister, pianist Jennifer Partridge, with whom he gave over 400 song recitals.

Episode 210. The Mystery of Anita Cerquetti

August 14, 2023Bel canto, French Opera, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, Great Tenors, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, VerismoAlfredo Catalani, Amilcare Ponchielli, Anita Cerquetti, Arrigo Boito, Arturo Basile, Carl Maria von Weber, Carlo Maria Giulini, Emidio Tieri, Ernani, Ettore Bastianini, Felice Romani, Franco Corelli, Fulvio Vernizzi, Gabriele Santini, Gaspare Spontini, Giacomo Puccini, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Giannella Borelli, Giuseppe Giacosa, Giuseppe Verdi, I vespri siciliani, Luigi Cherubini, Luigi Illica, Miriam Pirazzini, Nabucco, Norma, Ottavio Ziino, Un ballo in maschera, Victor Hugo, Victorien Sardou, Vincenzo Bellini, Vittorio Guicountermelody

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Anita Cerquetti (13 April 1931 – 11 October 2014), the subject of today’s episode, possessed a one in a million voice, enormous, but with prodigious flexibility, and of an immediately recognizable timbre and style of text projection. She skyrocketed to world fame when she replaced Maria Callas in the title role of Bellini’s Norma in Rome in January 1958. Before that, the young soprano, still in her twenties, had been steadily building a career, primarily in Italy but also internationally, working in Italy’s biggest houses and music festivals with the greatest maestri and fellow singers of the period (including Ettore Bastianini and Franco Corelli, both of whom are heard on the episode). Immediately after those Rome performances, however, Cerquetti canceled a series of subsequent performances of Bellini’s Il Pirata, and her live performances dwindled thereafter to a mere trickle. In the fall of 1960, not yet thirty years of age, she gave what proved to be the final performance of her career, a recording for Dutch radio of Abigaille in Verdi’s Nabucco. Cerquetti is considered to be one of the great operatic mysteries of the second half of the twentieth century. She made only two commercial recordings, so the majority of her recorded legacy stems from live and radio performances. In this episode, I share some of my favorites among those recordings, and discuss the personal issues that surrounded Cerquetti’s premature disappearance from the world’s opera stages as well as why her still unmatched accomplishments still captivate listeners to this day.

Episode 208. Happy Birthday, Gundula Janowitz!

August 1, 2023Art Song, Full-Figured Baroque, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Tenors, Happy Birthday, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Orchestral Songs, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Schubert, Twentieth Century Opera, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartArabella, Carl Maria von Weber, Charles Spencer, Cosi fan tutte, Del Rubio Triplets, Der Freischütz, Der Ring des Polykrates, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Fidelio, Franco Corelli, Franz Schubert, Friedrich Schiller, Fritz Rieger, Giuseppe Verdi, Gundula Janowitz, Heinrich Hollreiser, Horst Stein, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Johann Sebastian Bach, Karl Böhm, Karl Lappe, Lee Hazlewood, Lorenzo da Ponte, Lucia Popp, Ludwig van Beethoven, Mathieu Lange, Paul Reubens, Pee Wee Herman, Pee Wee’s Playhouse, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Tannhäuser, Vier letzte Lieder, Wilhelm Loibner, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Zubin Mehtacountermelody

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From a very young age I was interested in today’s birthday celebrant, the great Gundula Janowitz, at least partially because of a similarity between her first name and my last name! But even more than that, I was drawn to the ethereal purity of her voice, possessed of an immediately identifiable timbre unlike that of any other singer. From the 1960s through the 1980s, Janowitz was the reigning queen of the jugendlich dramatisch soprano repertoire, excelling in the roles of Mozart, Strauss and Wagner (the so-called wagneriennes blanches heroines), as well as being a Bach singer of the highest order and an exceptional Lieder singer. What is there not to love? Janowitz was also a frequent visitor to the recording studio, and to this day her recordings form a cornerstone of the Deutsche Grammophon catalog. On today’s episode, however, I stick firmly to her live and radio recordings, some of them quite rare, of the repertoire for which she was so justly celebrated. We sample live recordings of her Arabella, Fiordiligi, Agathe, and Elisabeth in Tannhäuser, as well as a more surprising Elisabetta, the conflicted queen in Verdi’s Don Carlo. Also highlighted is her exceptional and career-defining performance of the role of Leonore in Beethoven’s Fidelio, in a rare live 1977 from the Orange Festival. Guest vocalists include Lucia Popp and Franco Corelli. This is a mouthful, so I’ll say it for all of us: Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag an eine der gefeiertsten und verehrtesten Sopranistinnen des 20. Jahrhunderts!

Episode 206. Jerry Hadley

July 18, 2023Art Song, Bel canto, Broadway, Crossover, French Opera, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Tenors, In Memoriam, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Operetta, Orchestral Songs, Pop Icons, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century Opera, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAlexander Borodin, Anthony Halstead, Arthur Rimbaud, Benjamin Britten, Candide, Carlo Rizzi, Charles Gounod, Charles Mackerras, Cosi fan tutte, Dawn Upshaw, Die tote Stadt, Die Zauberflöte, Edna Ferber, Elmer Rice, Emanuel Schikaneder, Eric Dalheim, Erich Korngold, Franz Lehár, Frederick Weatherly, Fritz Löhner-Beda, Gaetano Donizetti, George Forrest, Georges Bizet, Giuseppe Verdi, Gualtiero Negrini, Henry Lewis, James Levine, Jay Gorney, Jerome Kern, Jerry Hadley, John Mauceri, John McGlinn, Kismet, Kurt Weill, Langston Hughes, Leonard Bernstein, Les Illuminations, Lorenzo da Ponte, Oscar Hammerstein II, Paul Gemignani, Paul Knepler, Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, Richard Bonynge, Richard Wilbur, Robert Shaw, Robert Wright, Ruth Ann Swenson, Scott Bergeson, Seiji Ozawa, Sherman Edwards, Show Boat, Street Scene, William Boughton, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Yevgeny Onegin, Yip Harburgcountermelody

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Jerry Hadley (16 June 1952 – 18 July 2007) is regarded by many as the most gifted American lyric tenor of the late 20th century. Last month he would have celebrated his 71st birthday. And today is the sixteenth anniversary of his untimely death. I knew Jerry well in the early 2000s when he was dating one of my best friends. Our friendship developed separately from that: in those years in which he was working at rebuilding his voice and career we worked together on a cross-section of his old and new repertoire. At the time of his death, he was no longer romantically involved with my friend, so he and I had drifted apart. Nevertheless, it hit me very, very hard, and I mourn his loss to this day. On that front, I have quite a few things to say about singers and mental illness, and the ruthlessness, implacability, and heartlessness of a profession which so often chews up the most vulnerable of us and spits them back out. When Jerry was at his best, his art sustained him, but the challenges ultimately became too much for him to face. But this episode is primarily a celebration: my primary objective is to present my friend at his exceptional best, in performances, both live and studio, which celebrate his voice, artistry, and spirit, performances which provided his public with some of the finest tenor singing they would ever hear, in that, or any other, era.

WARNING: THIS EPISODE CONTAINS A DISCUSSION OF SUICIDE AND SUICIDAL IDEATION.

Episode 201. Britten – Pears (Pride 2023)

June 16, 2023Art Song, Comic Relief, Drag Performance, Great Tenors, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Orchestral Songs, Queer Pride, Schubert, Singers in Old Age, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century OperaA Midsummer Night’s Dream, A Shropshire Lad, A.E. Housman, Aaron Copland, Adrian Mitchell, Alexander Pushkin, Anton Friedrich Reil, Benjamin Britten, Billy Budd, Charles Dibdin, Claudio Arrau, Colin McPhee, Curlew River, Death in Venice, Dichterliebe, E.M. Forster, Eric Crozier, Francis Quarles, Frank Bridge, Franz Schubert, Gabriel Faure, Georg Friedrich Daumer, George Crabbe, Glenda Jackson, Gustav Holst, Heather Harper, Heinrich Heine, Herman Melville, Humbert Wolfe, Johannes Brahms, Kanze Jūrō, La bonne chanson, Leslie Woodgate, Liebeslieder-Walzer, Meredith Davies, Michelangelo Buonarotti, Montagu Slater, Myfanwy Piper, On this Island, Paul Verlaine, Peter Grimes, Peter Pears, Peter Warlock, Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Reginald Goodall, Richard Peaslee, Robert Schumann, Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, Stevie Smith, Sumidagawa, Thomas Hardy, Thomas Mann, W.H. Auden, War Requiem, Wilfred Owen, William Butler Yeats, William Plomer, William Shakespeare, Winter Words, Yevgeny Onegin, Zorian String Quartetcountermelody

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Today’s episode explores the lives and loves of two of the most significant figures in twentieth century music: Benjamin Britten, the dean of British composers and the tenor Peter Pears, his partner, lover, inspiration and muse for nearly forty years. When as a lost young gay boy I first encountered their music-making I intuited that these two men were lovers, that they represented a way forward for me out of a lonely and forlorn childhood. Whether in the many songs and cycles that Britten fashioned for him or the operatic roles, beginning with the title role of Peter Grimes, that were tailor-made for him, Pears remains the ideal interpreter of his partner’s music, possessed as he was of a distinctive (some would say peculiar) voice, supple, reedy yet surprisingly powerful, along with pinpoint musical precision, plangent expressivity and dramatic aptitude. The episode features excerpts from many of Britten’s most explicitly gay compositions, surprising for a man living in Britain while sex between men was still illegal, including the operas Peter Grimes, Curlew River, Billy Budd, and Death in Venice and his settings of poetry by Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Auden, and Francis Quarles. We also hear Pears and Britten in live and recorded performance of songs and arias by other composers, including composers Britten revered (Schumann, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, and Frank Bridge), and those of whose music he was much less fond (including Vaughan Williams and Brahms). The episode contains more biographical information than your typical Countermelody episode, and does not shy away from some of the thorniest questions that one must confront when discussing these two controversial figures. But in the end it is first and foremost a celebration of the music Britten and Pears made together and the love they shared for 40 years. The episode begins with a heartfelt (and heartbroken) tribute to the great Glenda Jackson, who died this week at the age of 87.

Episode 198. Cesare Valletti

May 26, 2023African American Singers, Art Song, Bel canto, French Opera, Full-Figured Baroque, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Tenors, In Memoriam, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Schubert, Twentieth Century Music, Voiceless Wonders, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAlessandro Scarlatti, Alexandre Dumas, Cesare Valletti, Cosi fan tutte, David Bowie, Dichterliebe, Eduard Mörike, Edvard Grieg, Eleanor Steber, Eugène Scribe, Felice Romani, Francesco Maria Piave, Franz Schubert, Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt, Fritz Stiedry, Gaetano Donizetti, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Gioacchino Rossini, Giuseppe Antonicelli, Giuseppe Verdi, Hector Berlioz, Heinrich Heine, Hugo Wolf, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Jules Massenet, L’amico Fritz, L’italiana in Algeri, La Traviata, Leo Taubman, Les nuits d’été, Lorenzo da Ponte, Mafalda Favero, Maria Callas, Matthäus von Collin, Nicola Rescigno, Pietro Mascagni, Robert Schumann, Rosanna Carteri, Ruth and Thomas Martin, Stefano Donaudy, Théophile Gautier, Tina Turner, Tito Schipa, Vittorio Gui, Werther, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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Today’s episode celebrates the Italian tenore di grazia Cesare Valletti (18 December 1923 – 13 May 2000), perhaps the last in a lineage of Italian lyric tenors. Valletti studied under his illustrious predecessor Tito Schipa and rapidly conquered first the Italian opera houses, and then the world stages, with his small-scale but superbly produced voice and his spontaneous yet exacting musicianship. From 1953 through 1960 he was a mainstay of the Metropolitan Opera and also performed at opera houses and festivals worldwide under some of the greatest conductors and at the side of the greatest singers of his day. We hear a sampling of his greatest operatic roles, including duets with Eleanor Steber, Rosanna Carteri, and Maria Callas, as well as the repertoire in which – nearly unique for an Italian singer – he excelled: art song. The combination of his Italianate timbre with his scrupulous and imaginative musicianship makes for an ineffable and deeply satisfying artistic experience. He made five LPs of recital repertoire, including two live recitals from the stage of Town Hall in New York City, excerpts of which are all offered here. The episode begins with a tribute to the beloved Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll: Tina Turner, who died on Tuesday at the age of 83.

Episode 197. Theatre Dreams

May 19, 2023African American Singers, Art Song, Behind the Iron Curtain, Broadway, Comic Relief, French Opera, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, Great Tenors, Happy Birthday, In Memoriam, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Operetta, Renata Scotto, Richard Wagner, Singers in Old Age, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century Opera, Verismo, Voiceless Wonders, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAbbé Prevost, Alain Boublil, Alice Ripley, Arnold Schoenberg, Arrigo Boito, Arthur Endrèze, Benjamin Britten, Birgit Nilsson, Biserka Cvejić, Bohuslav Martinů, Brigitte Fassbaender, Carl Maria von Weber, Cesare Valletti, Charles Gounod, Charles Kullman, Claude Devos, Claude-Michel Schönberg, Cy Coleman, Daniel Gundlach, Der Freischütz, Der Zigeunerbaron, Deva Dassy, Dorothy Fields, Edith Mathis, Eduard Künneke, Eleanor Steber, Elektra, Emily Skinner, Ettore Panizza, Eugen Jochum, Fiddler on the Roof, Frank Porretta, Franz Allers, Frieder Weissmann, Gabriel Faure, Georg Solti, Georges Neveux, Geraint Evans, Giovanni Martinelli, Giuseppe Verdi, Grace Bumbry, Hanna Binyamini, Harold Barlow, Henri Defosse, Henri Meilhac, Hildegard Behrens, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Ira Gershwin, Iris (Mascagni), Ivo Žídek, Izhak Graziani, Jacques Brel, Jacques Offenbach, James Levine, Janet Baker, Jaroslav Krombholc, Jean Laforge, Jerry Bock, Joe Darion, Johann Strauss II, José Van Dam, Jules Barbier, Jules Gressier, Jules Massenet, Kurt Weill, La Belle Helene, Lady in the Dark, Lawrence Tibbett, Lea Dulitzkaya, Lee Venora, Leopold Ludwig, Léopold Marchand, Les Misérables, Lloyd Arriola, Lohengrin, Louis Beydts, Ludovic Halévy, Luigi Illica, Man of La Mancha, Manon, Mária Tauberová, Marie Pappenheim, Martin Isepp, Mattiwilda Dobbs, Melitta Muszely, Michel Carré, Mitch Leigh, Nello Santi, Nicolai Gedda, Oklahoma!, Oscar Hammerstein II, Otello, Patrick Baton, Philippe Gille, Pierre Monteux, Pietro Mascagni, Renata Scotto, René Leibowitz, Richard Rodgers, Richard Strauss, Richard Tauber, Richard Wagner, Robert Massard, Robert Stolz, Roland Gilbert, Romand Bussine, Roméo et Juliette, Sheldon Harnick, Shmuel Rudenski, Shraga Friedman, Spiros Argiris, Sweet Charity, The King and I, Todd Ellison, Victoria de los Angeles, William Shakespeare, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Zafrira Yaronicountermelody

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I’ve been plotting an episode on the subject of Dreams for a while. Given the profusion of music that references that altered state of consciousness, my challenge was narrowing down the topic. I chose to focus today on theater music (opera, operetta, and musicals) that references actual rather than figurative dreams. Even within these parameters, there was a plethora of material and as usual my repertoire choices are strangely and uniquely my own. So on this episode you’ll hear everything from a 1965 recording of Tevye’s Dream from Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish, from the first Israeli production of the musical; Renata Scotto in late career essaying the haunted dreamscapes of Arnold Schoenberg’s monodrama Erwartung; Mattiwilda Dobbs in a rare 1952 recording of “Ruhe sanft, mein holdes Leben” from Mozart’s Zaide; excerpts from unusual French and German operettas featuring Robert Massard and Charles Kullman, respectively; birthday tributes to Birgit Nilsson and Richard Tauber; and the great Welsh bass Geraint Evans in a live performance of Bottom’s Dream from Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. And much, much more, including a teaser of next week’s subject the Italian lyric tenor Cesare Valletti; and Janet Baker live in recital in 1966, a preview of the first in a series of bonus episodes that will feature rare LPs from my personal collection. As always, thanks for your support; enjoy!

Episode 195. Forgotten Broadway III

May 5, 2023African American Singers, Comic Relief, Crossover, Great Baritones, Great Tenors, Happy Birthday, Needle Drop, Operetta, Pop Icons, Queer Pride, Twentieth Century MusicAdolph Green, Al Carmines, Albert Hague, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Beatrice Arthur, Ben Bagley, Benny Golson, Betty Comden, Bob Merrill, Bud McCreary, C.C. Courtney, Carol Burnett, Colin Romoff, David Baker, Diana Davila, Donald Pippin, Dorothea Freitag, Dorothy Fields, Frank Loesser, Fred Ebb, Frederick Dvonch, Galt MacDermot, Gary William Friedman, George David Weiss, Gilbert Price, Glenn Paxton, Gwen Verdon, Hal Hackady, Howard A. Roberts, Howard Hastings, Inga Swenson, Ira Siff, Jack Lawrence, James Stenborg, Jay Blackton, Jerry Bock, Jerry Herman, John Guare, John Kander, Judd Woldin, Judy Garland, Jule Styne, Karen Morrow, Keith Mansfield, Larry Grossman, Lisa Kirk, Liz Callaway, Liza Minnelli, Luther Henderson, María Irene Fornés, Marian Grudeff, Martin Charnin, Mary Tyler Moore, Melba Moore, Mike Preston, Mitch Leigh, Moose Charlap. Norman Gimbel, Mort Lindsey, Peggy Lee, Pembroke Davenport, Peter Link, Phyllis Robinson, Polly Bergen, Ralph Carter, Raymond Jessel, Richard Kiley, Richard Rodgers, Robert Brittan, Robert Goldman, Robert Weede, Salena Jones, Saul Schechtman, Sergio Franchi, Sheldon Harnick, Stan Freeman, Stanley Lebowsky, Stephen Sondheim, Susan Romann, Ty McConnell, Walter Willison, Will Holt, William Alfredcountermelody

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Last summer, I produced a miniseries of episodes on Countermelody entitled “Forgotten Broadway,” the third and final segment of which was originally published as a bonus episode for my Patreon supporters. This week, my last one for the moment in New York City, is a busy one, so I have decided to pay tribute to the city by publishing that third Forgotten Broadway episode for all of my listeners. As I was preparing the series last summer, I enlisted the input and expertise of my dear pal John Coughlan. Like the first two episodes in the sequence, this one is once again, a veritable potpourri of delights, vocal, interpretive, and musical. It begins with a tribute to birthday icon Carol Burnett, who, at the beginning of her career, appeared in two different Broadway musicals, the second of which, 1964’s Fade Out Fade In, is featured. Additional shows presented include, among many others, Salvation, Raisin, Mack and Mabel, Redhead, I Had a Ball, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Baker Street, performed by such favorites as Lisa Kirk, Melba Moore, Gwen Verdon, Robert Weede, Mary Tyler Moore, Rosemary Clooney, Liz Callaway, and Peggy Lee, alongside such lesser-known lights as Diana Davila, Walter Willison, Salena Jones, and Gilbert Price. In addition, there is the “added plus” [sic] of Bea Arthur delivering a comic monologue from the 1955 Shoestring Revue that will have you in absolute stitches. And just for the gays (and all those with equally good taste), Judy and Liza each stop by, Judy to deliver a Frank Loesser show-stopper, while Liza offers more of “A Quiet Thing,” from her first Broadway show Flora the Red Menace.

Episode 194. Great Mozart Tenors

April 28, 2023African American Singers, Canadian Singers, Great Tenors, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Opera in Translation, Singers in Old Age, Singers of Color, Voiceless Wonders, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAlex Banfield, Alfredo Kraus, Anton Dermota, Arthur Goldschmidt, Bernard Haitink, Cesare Valletti, Charles Holland, Charles Mackerras, Claude Génetay, Clemens Schmalstich, Cosi fan tutte, David Rendall, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Die Zauberflöte, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Don Giovanni, Emanuel Schikaneder, Ernst Haefliger, Ferdinand Leitner, Ferenc Fricsay, Francisco Araiza, Fritz Wunderlich, Georg Solti, George Shirley, Gerhard Wimberger, Gösta Winbergh, Guido Cantelli, György Fischer, Hans Müller-Kray, Herbert von Karajan, Hermann Jadlowker, Idomeneo, István Kertész, Jeffrey Tate, Jerry Hadley, John Aler, John Alexander, John McCormack, John van Kesteren, Jörg Ewald Dähler, Josef Dünnwald, Joseph Rosenstock, Julius Rudel, Kálmán Pataky, Karl Alwin, Karl Böhm, Karl Erb, La Clemenza di Tito, La finta giardiniera, Le nozze di Figaro, Leontyne Price, Leopold Simoneau, Lorenzo da Ponte, Luigi Alva, Marcel Wittrisch, Margaret Price, Maria Ivogün, Mitridate, Nicolai Gedda, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Otto Ackermann, Peter Schreier, Philip Langridge, Pietro Metastasio, Pilar Lorengar, Richard Tauber, Roberta Alexander, Ryland Davies, Semyon Bychkov, Stuart Burrows, Waldemar Kmentt, Wiesław Ochman, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Zaidecountermelody

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Today’s is a mammoth episode, one of my longest ever, so I suggest you listen to it in easily digestible segments. It’s mammoth because it’s a gigantic subject: great Mozart tenors of the 20th century, covering more than 100 years of recorded documents of the finest examples of tenorial interpretations of the big Mozart operas as well as some of his lesser-known works, including his concert arias. You will be dazzled (and that is a promise and a guarantee) by performances by Fritz Wunderlich (for many of us, the ne plus ultra of lyric tenors), George Shirley, Richard Tauber, Anton Dermota, Léopold Simoneau, Nicolai Gedda, Gösta Winbergh, John McCormack, David Rendall, Peter Schreier, and countless others, including lesser-known figures such as John van Kesteren, Kálmán Pataky, and Wiesław Ochman, and duets featuring Pilar Lorengar, Leontyne Price, Roberta Alexander, and Margaret Price. I also feature a peek into the future with a special salute to the young tenor Alex Banfield, whose work has impressed me enormously. The entire episode is dedicated to the memory of my friend Jerry Hadley, one of the supreme Mozart tenors of all time.