Category Archives: Spirituals

Episode 274. Odetta (Listeners’ Favorites)

July 22, 2024African American Singers, Black History Month, Black History Month 2024, Great Contraltos, Listeners' Favorites, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Protest Songs, Singers in Old Age, Singers of Color, Spirituals, Twentieth Century MusicAbdul-Malik, Ahmed Abdul-Malik, Armando Manzanero, Arthur Freed, Berisford “Shep” Shephard, Bill Lee, blues, Bob Dylan, Buck Clayton, Buster Bailey, Dick Wellstood, Folk Songs, Forrest Tollis, gospel music, Harlem Boys Choir, Herb Hall, Huddie Ledbetter, John Lennon, Labi Siffre, Larry Mohr, Leadbelly, Leonard Gaskin, Liam Clancy, Mark Carpentieri, Nacio Herb Brown, Odetta, Panama Francis, Paul McCartney, Protest Songs, Randy Newman, Robert Cosbey Jr., Tedell Saunders, Vic Dickenson, Woody Guthriecountermelody

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The United States seems (if this could be possible) even more divided and challenged than it did a week ago. In spite and even because of that, I am continuing my salute to the truly great Americans in our shared past to provide us with inspiration and courage in the challenging days to come. Today I repost an episode that I initially presented on June 18, 2021, the first observance of Juneteenth as a national holiday. It honors the great folk singer and civil rights icon Odetta (1930-2008). The breadth of her influence and the scope of her accomplishment should be trumpeted from the rooftops. From her first appearance on primetime national television opposite Harry Belafonte, to her prominence as the artist at the forefront of the folk music revival, to the importance of her music as a centerpiece to the Civil Rights Movement, to her additional contributions to blues and gospel music (and even, less expectedly, jazz and soul), Odetta Felious Holmes remains one of the most important musicians of the twentieth century. Not only was Odetta an important cultural icon, she possessed one of the most striking contralto voices in the history of recorded sound, and thus is an appropriate entry in my Great Contraltos series. This episode celebrates the entirety of her cultural contribution from her first recording in 1954, to one of her final live performances, in a wide-ranging portrait celebrating the significance of an artist who, for once, merits the designation “cultural icon.”

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 273. Paul Robeson (Listeners’ Favorites)

July 19, 2024African American Singers, Art Song, Behind the Iron Curtain, Black History Month, Black History Month 2024, Broadway, Crossover, In Memoriam, Lieder, Listeners' Favorites, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Orchestral Songs, Pop Icons, Protest Songs, Queer Pride, Singers of Color, Spirituals, Twentieth Century MusicAlan Booth, Alexander Gretchaninov, Boris Godunov, Duke Ellington, Earl Robinson, Elisabeth Welch, Folk Songs, George Gershwin, Hanns Eisler, Henry Thacker Burleigh, Hirsch Glick, Jerome Kern, John LaTouche, Lawrence Brown, Marc Blitzstein, Mischa Spoliansky, Modest Mussorgsky, Nathaniel Shilkret, Oscar Hammerstein II, Othello, Paul Robeson, Porgy and Bess, Protest Songs, Selim Palmgren, Show Boat, Spirituals, William Shakespearecountermelody

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I am here visiting my family in Milwaukee this week, a time which has proven to be a landmark in the downward spiral of our country into fascism. And all right here in our own backyard! It all struck way too close to home for me when the minister at my mother’s church delivered the benediction at the opening ceremonies of the RNC on Monday and suddenly became a darling of the nutcases. I don’t have a huge platform: all I have is my podcast, devoted first and foremost to great singers. There is little that I can do to counteract the evil, hatred, and heinousness that spewed forth from the city of my birth this week. But I have occasionally let my progressive flag fly here, never moreso than when, in the second season of the podcast, I posted an episode in honor of Paul Robeson on the 45th anniversary of his death. To this day Robeson remains one of the most celebrated, and controversial, of all artists. A man of fierce intelligence and convictions, he exhibited prodigious natural gifts as a sportsman, singer, actor, linguist, and, perhaps most importantly, as an activist. This episode focuses of course on his accomplishments as a singer, but especially within the context of his political activism and activities on behalf of oppressed people the world over. He was vilified and hunted down by some factions as much (if not more) as he was revered and venerated by others. In this episode I highlight some of his most famous performances, focusing on his live and studio performances of African American spirituals and protest songs, folk songs from around the world (including Russia and China), and works that celebrated the brand of left-wing populism that was in vogue in the 1930s and 1940s, in particular his recording of the hybrid work, Ballad for Americans, by composer Earl Robinson and lyricist John LaTouche. Robeson is a man who lost everything for the principals he believed in and who had more integrity and conviction and right-mindedness in his thumbnail than the entire conference of right-wing wackos who descended on Milwaukee this week combined. Let his example be a wakeup call for those of us who do not want to witness the death of our country as a democracy, however flawed it is and has been over the course of its history. There is no better figure to light the way for us in this struggle than Paul Robeson.

Episode 269. Alberta Hunter

June 27, 2024African American Singers, Black History Month, Black History Month 2024, Broadway, Comic Relief, Forgotten Divas, In Memoriam, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Queer Pride, Singers in Old Age, Singers of Color, Spirituals, Twentieth Century Music, Voiceless WondersAaron Bell, Al Casey, Al Hall, Al Matthews, Alberta Hunter, Allie Moore, Benjamin Frankel, Bessie Smith, Billy Butler, Budd Johnson, Buster Bailey, Butch Miles, Carl Falck, Charles Shavers, Clarence Williams, Cliff Jackson, Connie Kay, Darnell Howard, Doc Cheatham, Eddie Heywood Jr., Eubie Blake, Fats Waller, Frank Wess, Gerald Cook, Henri Varna, Irving Berlin, J.C. Higginbotham, J.C. Johnson, Jack Jackson, Jackie Williams, James Bunting, James P. Johnson, Jasper Taylor, Jimmy Archey, Jimmy Lewis, John Hammond, Leroy Jones, Lew Pollack, Lil Armstrong, Lovie Austin, Mike Jackson, Norris Turney, Paul Francis Webster, Pops Foster, Radio Parade of 1935, Richard Jones, Rudolf Sieczyński, Sam Clanton, Sidney de Paris, Vic Dickenson, Vincent Scotto, Vishnu Wood, W.C. Handy, Wally Richardson, Wellman Braud, Zutty Singletoncountermelody

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Please join me today for this overview of the roller coaster career of Alberta Hunter (01 April 1895 – 17 October 1984), a jazz legend whose surprising and extraordinary life was shaped by a voice that simply personified the Blues. Early in her life, around the time she was 15, she fled her native Memphis for Chicago, where, with tenacity, grit, and ambition, she became the darling of the night club circuit, performing sometimes under tommy-gun-adjacent circumstances. She soon made her way to Broadway and, following the lead of her compatriots, Joséphine Baker, Adelaide Hall, Florence Mills, and Elisabeth Welch, to Paris and London, where she was the toast of the town and appeared as Queenie opposite Paul Robeson in the original London production of Show Boat. Later during and after World War II she became a fixture of the USO circuit. Following the death of her mother, she abandoned her performing career and took up nursing in her sixties. After her enforced retirement twenty years later, through a set of freaky coincidences, she made a miraculous return to live performing at the age of 82 and became an overnight sensation, the toast of three continents. She always returned to her ongoing residency at a club in the Village called The Cookery, the venue where the final chapter of her career began. She continued to perform and record until shortly before her death just before her 90th birthday. Though she lived her life discreetly and never came out overtly, she nevertheless was involved with women throughout her life and formed her strongest emotional and romantic bonds with them. Sassy, raunchy, and gritty on the surface, Hunter possessed a voice and ingratiating style of such honesty, humor, and character, that masked a modesty hidden beneath that brash exterior, and a musical sensibility that dazzles with its ease, subtlety, and complexity. Featured musical excerpts, both studio and live, extend over more than 60 years and include collaborations with such jazz giants as Eubie Blake, Fats Waller, Lovie Austin, Charlie Shavers, and producer John Hammond and includes a clip from her appearance in the British film Radio Parade of 1935.

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 264. Rescue Mission (Forgotten Divas Edition)

May 31, 2024African American Singers, Alternate Universe Bel Canto, Bel canto, Black History Month 2024, Forgotten Divas, French Opera, Full-Figured Baroque, Giacomo Puccini, Great Tenors, In Memoriam, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Orchestral Songs, Pop Icons, Singers of Color, SpiritualsAnnabelle Bernard, Antonio Salvi, Antonio Vivaldi, Ariodante, Arnold Schoenberg, Benny Goodman, Carmen, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Cole Porter, Delcina Stevenson, Didier Gold, Ernest Ragogini, Ethel Ennis, Eugène Scribe, George Frideric Handel, Georges Bizet, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Adami, Gwendolyn Killebrew, H. Vincent Mitzelfelt, Harold Adamson, Heinrich Hollreiser, Henri Meilhac, Jan Savitt, Jens Peter Jacobsen, Jerome Kern, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johnny Watson, Jonel Perlea, Julius Rudel, Le Prophete, Ludovic Halévy, Mark Russell, Michael Gielen, Orfeo ed Euridice, Otto Harbach, Prosper Mérimée, Ray Noble, Robert Franz Arnold, Ryan Diehl, Slam Stewart, Spirituals, Stef Scaggiari, Veronica Tyler, Walt Namuthcountermelody

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During Black History Month this year I featured a group of five exceptional singers I dubbed, for lack of a better term, “Forgotten Divas.” Each of these women, sopranos Delcina Stevenson, Annabelle Bernard, and Veronica Tyler, mezzo-soprano Gwendolyn Killebrew, and jazz singer Ethel Ennis, represents the peak of achievement in each of their respective fachs. These proved to be among the most popular and far-reaching of my recent episodes. At that time, I promised my listeners that I would continue to seek out rare recordings of each of these women and that, if and when such material surfaced, I would be sure to share it with my listeners. True to my promise, I present a brand-new episode featuring (for the most part) newly discovered material with each of these singers: a live Washington Opera Ariodante from 1971 and a live Carnegie Hall Orfeo ed Euridice from 1967, both with Veronica Tyler; live original language performances of Puccini’s Il tabarro and Meyerbeer’s Le Prophète from the stage of the Deutsche Oper Berlin which starred Annabelle Bernard; Gwendolyn Killebrew singing the Habanera from Carmen, one of her most celebrated roles, as well as the Waldtaube in Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder; rare studio recordings of Delcina Stevenson singing Bach and Vivaldi from the early 1970s; and live material featuring Ethel Ennis over the course of nearly fifty years of her career, 1958 through 2005. As more of this material resurfaces, I will present further episodes of this new “Rescue Mission” series featuring both these singers and others I have already featured on the podcast, performing material that adds to our understanding and appreciation of their artistry.

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.

Episode 263. Contralto Central

May 24, 2024African American Singers, Art Song, Behind the Iron Curtain, Bel canto, Black History Month, Black History Month 2024, Broadway, Forgotten Divas, French Opera, Full-Figured Baroque, Gustav Mahler, In Memoriam, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Orchestral Songs, Pop Icons, Queer Pride, Richard Wagner, Singers of Color, SpiritualsAafje Heynis, Adriana Lecouvreur, Alec Redshaw, Alec Wilder, Alexander Pushkin, Alphons Diepenbrock, Andrès Wheatley, Armando La Rosa Parodi, Arnold Sundgaard, Boris Khaikin, Carmen, Caroline Kaart, Cassandra Wilson, Cesare Sterbini, Charles Baudelaire, Charles Gounod, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Clara Butt, Cloë Elmo, Cor Lemaire, Das Rheingold, Édouard Blau, Edward Elgar, Émile Augier, Émile Deschamps, Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Eugène Scribe, Eugenia Mantelli, Ewa Podleś, Felix de Nobel, Florence Kopleff, Florica Cristofereanu, Folk Songs, Francesco Cilea, Franz Schubert, Frederick Stone, Friedrich Rückert, Gaetano Donizetti, Georges Bizet, Georges Hartmann, Germaine Cernay, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Gioachino Rossini, Gustav Mahler, Gustave Cloëz, Hall Johnson, Helen Watts, Henri Meilhac, Herbert Hughes, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Jasmin White, Jimmy Webb, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, John Fletcher, Jules Massenet, Kathleen Ferrier, Kerstin Thorborg, Kindertotenlieder, Kosti Vehanen, La favorita, Langston Hughes, Le Prophete, Ludovic Halévy, Margaret Bonds, Marguerite D’Alvarez, Marian Anderson, Matthias Claudius, Mikhail Glinka, Milton Kaye, Nina Simone, Norma Procter, Orphée et Euridice, Paul Milliet, Peter Warlock, Philippe Riga, Pierre Beaumarchais, Prosper Mérimée, Richard Gannett, Richard Wagner, Robert Burns, Robert Shaw, Rosario Bourdon, Ruslan and Lyudmila, Sandy Dennis, Sapho (Gounod), Sea Pictures, Shannon Bolin, Sigrid Onégin, Spirituals, Thurston Dart, Václav Neumann, Valentina Levko, Valerian Shirkov, Vera Little, Věra Soukupová, Voltaire, Werthercountermelody

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Finally, the first in my long-promised series on the contralto voice! The contralto is a rara avis in the today’s opera and classical music scene, and yet back in the day, there seem to have been more of them before the public. And of course contraltos have always been a powerful presence on the popular music scene, whether in blues, disco, jazz, or as purveyors of the Great American Songbook. There is no way that I can cover all of the great (and near-great) contraltos in recorded history, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to try! Today’s selections span a wide chronological range , even for this podcast: nearly 120 years, and include voices both fleet and monolithic (and sometimes both). We begin with a tribute to the late Polish coloratura contralto Ewa Podleś and along with way we hear the most famous contraltos like Kathleen Ferrier and Marian Anderson, and jazz and pop contraltos like Nina Simone and Cassandra Wilson. We also sample singers from the earlier twentieth century such as Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Cloe Elmo, Clara Butt, Eugenia Mantelli, Kerstin Thorborg, and Sigrid Onégin (about whom I spill some major tea!) Throughout the episode are sprinkled some of the most beautiful voices of any kind that I have ever heard: the Scottish Caroline Kaart, the Romanian Florica Cristofereanu, the Czech Věra Soukupová, the Dutch Aafje Heynis, the French Germaine Cernay, the British Norma Procter, and the Russian Valentina Levko. And if like me you have despaired of ever hearing another true contralto again in our lifetime, we hear in young Jasmin White cause for rejoicing. And if your favorites are not heard today, fear not, for this is the tip of the iceberg: many more great singers will follow when the series continues in two weeks.

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.

Episode 260. Robert McFerrin Revisited

May 2, 2024African American Singers, Black History Month 2024, Claudia Muzio, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Singers in Old Age, Singers of Color, SpiritualsAida, Alfred Hay Malotte, Antonio Ghislanzoni, Avery Robinson, Bobby McFerrin, Giuseppe Verdi, Hall Johnson, Harry T. Burleigh, Marl Young, Norman Johnson, Robert McFerrin, Spirituals, Sylvia Olden Lee, Vincenzo Bellezza, William Grant Still, William Lawrencecountermelody

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In the very first season of Countermelody I presented an episode which featured both Lawrence Winters and Robert McFerrin, two of the most significant baritones of the twentieth century, and both trail-blazing African American singers. Last week I revisited the life, career, and recordings of Lawrence Winters, and this week, as a companion to that episode, I present today his contemporary Robert McFerrin (19 March 1921 – 24 November 2006), the first African American male to sing at the Metropolitan Opera. He made his first appearance with the company as Amonasro in Aida on Thursday January 27, 1955, twenty days after Marian Anderson’s legendary debut there. McFerrin sang only ten performances of three roles under the banner of the Met, eight of them in the house, and two on tour. His final performance there, also as Amonasro, took place almost exactly two years after his debut there. Five months later in June 1957, McFerrin went into the studios of Riverside Records, and, accompanied by the pianist Norman Johnson, and over the course of two days, recorded this legendary album of spirituals, his only solo album, which is heard in its entirety in this episode. I am not alone in considering this a classic of the genre. My presentation of all fourteen tracks of this album is supplemented by three recordings that McFerrin made in 1946 for the short-lived Sunbeam Records label, the brainchild of composer and arranger Marl Henderson Young, who provides the accompaniments. At the other end of the spectrum is a guest appearance that McFerrin, Sr. made on a 1990 recording by his son, superstar singer, composer, and arranger Bobby McFerrin. I also feature a recently unearthed live recording of McFerrin singing Amonasro live in Napoli in 1956, as well as a moving recording of McFerrin performing live in Washington DC in 1995, after having suffered a debilitating stroke that left him virtually unable to speak. Nevertheless, the song, however compromised, was still in his heart.

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.