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I’m on holiday this week, but it would be most unGundlachian of me not to provide an episode to sustain my listeners in my absence. I recently purchased a mammoth 13-LP set on the Concert Hall Society label. The release promises a variety of excerpts that illustrate the history of opera from Monteverdi through Puccini. As such it makes use of a number of complete operatic recordings made for the now-nearly-forgotten label, as well as some impressive individual performances recorded in the early 1960s. One of the attractions of this release to me is that it presents rare recordings by three of the supreme African American divas of that era: Mattiwilda Dobbs, Reri Grist, and Felicia Weathers, the latter two at the very beginning of their international careers in the early 1960s, when they were both fest at the Zürich Opera (where, my astute listeners will remember, contralto Carol Smith) was also ensconced. None of these recordings has received wide distribution (in fact, to my knowledge the majority of them were never re-released in any form). So it is my particularly pleasure to present to you each of these three estimable artists in peak form on recordings that I (at least) had never before encountered: Dobbs as Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Olympia and Antonia in Tales of Hoffmann; Grist as Norina in Don Pasquale; and Weathers as Dido, Manon (by Massenet, not Puccini!), and Butterfly! A number of interesting male singers are nearby to provide assistance in duets: the Swiss tenor Fritz Peters, the American Glade Peterson (both of whom were also fest in Zürich at that time), the legendary French-Canadian Léopold Simoneau and Italian dramatic baritone Scipio Colombo. Far be it from me to throw together an episode that was not as fascinating as some of my more deeply-researched efforts! I’m also celebrating this week 100,000 downloads of the podcast. I’ve often referred to Countermelody as “the Little Podcast that Could,” so this milestone is particularly gratifying to me. Finally, this episode also serves as a belated birthday tribute to Felicia Weathers, who just last week turned 88 years old.
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.
