Category Archives: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Episode 315. Gilda Cruz-Romo

December 15, 2024African American Singers, Art Song, Bel canto, Forgotten Divas, French Opera, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, Great Tenors, Happy Birthday, Holiday Music, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, NYCO Divas, Richard Wagner, Singers of Color, Verismo, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAbbé Prevost, Ah Perfido!, Alexandre Dumas fils, Amilcare Ponchielli, Andrea Chénier, Andrea Maffei, Ángel de Saavedra, Angelo Campori, Anna Bolena, Antonio García Gutiérrez, Arrigo Boito, Attila, Carlo Bergonzi, Carlo Felice Cillario, Carmen, Colenton Freeman, Domenico Oliva, Emerson Buckley, Ernani, Felice Romani, Francesco Maria Piave, Friedrich Schiller, Gaetano Donizetti, Georges Bizet, Giacomo Puccini, Gilda Cruz-Romo, Giuseppe Adami, Giuseppe Giacosa, Giuseppe Verdi, Henri Meilhac, Henri Murger, Herrera de la Fuente, Il Trovatore, John Alexander, Jorge del Moral, Joseph Rescigno, Julius Rudel, La Boheme, La forza del destino, Le nozze di Figaro, Lorenzo da Ponte, Ludovic Halévy, Ludwig van Beethoven, Luigi Illica, Luisa Miller, Macbeth, Manon Lescaut, Marco Praga, Martin Smith, Matteo Manuguerra, Nicola Rescigno, Nikki Giovanni, Norma, Peter Maag, Pierre Beaumarchais, Portia White, Prosper Mérimée, Renato Simoni, Riccardo Muti, Richard Karp, Richard Wagner, Salvadore Cammarano, Tannhäuser, Temistocle Solera, Tobia Gorrio, Turandot, Umberto Giordano, Victor Hugo, Vincenzo Bellini, Walter Herbert, William Shakespeare, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Zacharias Werner, Zubin Mehtacountermelody

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While I was growing up, Gilda Cruz-Romo was a fixture on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera. At the time, I did not fully appreciate her, as I thought of her as a second-string singer on the roster. I saw her once on the Met tour as Desdemona opposite Jon Vickers, but for reasons none too flattering to me, I undervalued her. In recent years, however, I have completely revised my opinion, and now think that Gilda Cruz-Romo was both the most significant Mexican soprano ever to appear on the world’s stages, but also simply one of the finest lirico-spinto sopranos of the twentieth centuries. Fortunately there are many people that agree with me, including some devoted fans who have posted an extraordinary number of live recordings of the artist on YouTube and elsewhere. And this is especially helpful because, incredibly, Cruz-Romo never made any commercial recordings. This episode fully explores the career and repertoire of our subject for today, and includes performances of the soprano in her core Verdi and Puccini repertoire (including such surprises as Odabella, Lady Macbeth, and Turandot!), as well as less expected forays into Mozart and bel canto. Throughout her virtues shine forth: a plangently beautiful voice with a particularly radiant top wedded to an incredibly secure technique, which afforded her enormous flexibility and coloratura facility. Added to this, and paramount to her artistry, is a dedication to her craft and to music which sweeps all before it and raises her work into the realm of the sublime. I think of this episode (the last completely new episode I’ll be putting out this season) as a pre-birthday tribute, as the diva turns 85 years old on February 12, 2025. Other singers heard on the episode are tenors Carlo Bergonzi, Colenton Freeman, and John Alexander, and baritone Matteo Manuguerra; among the conductors are Zubin Mehta, Nicola Rescigno, Riccardo Muti, Peter Maag, and Julius Rudel.

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 or yearly support at whatever level you can afford.

Episode 314. Yi-Kwei Sze Revisited

December 10, 2024Art Song, French Opera, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, In Memoriam, Interview, Lieder, Listeners' Favorites, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Orchestral Songs, Rescue Mission, Schubert, Singers in Old Age, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century Music, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAfanasy Afanasyevich Fet, Alexander Dargomizhsky, Alexander Pushkin, Alexander Tcherepnin, Antonín Dvořák, Arseny Golenishchev-Kutuzov, Bernard Haitink, Boris Godunov, Brooks Smith, Charles Gounod, Charles Munch, Chester Kallman, Christoph von Dohnányi, David Zinman, Dichterliebe, Dmitri Shostakovich, Emanuel Schikaneder, Faust, Francis Poulenc, Franz Schubert, George van Renesse, Gerard van Blerk, Giuseppe Verdi, Hector Berlioz, Heinrich Heine, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johannes Brahms, Jules Barbier, Karl Kritz, Louis Lane, Michel Carré, Mikhail Lermontov, Modest Mussorgsky, Nancy Lee Sze, Nikolai Maksimovich Vilenkin, Nikolai Minsky, Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, Robert Freeman, Robert Schumannn, Serge Rachmaninov, The Magic Flute, Vier ernste Gesänge, W.H. Auden, Warwick Braithwaite, William Shakespeare, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Xuean Liu, Xueqin Cao, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Yi-Kwei Szecountermelody

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One of the great personal revelations for me in the early years of producing Countermelody was discovering the great Chinese American bass Yi-Kwei Sze (斯義桂). As the first Chinese singer to pursue a career in Western classical music, his historical significance is undisputed. What I hope to demonstrate in this episode is that his importance extends to artistic, vocal, and musical matters as well. When Sze first came to the United States, he studied under the great Ukrainian bass Alexander Kipnis, and over the course of his long career, he bore that mantle proudly. Today’s episode once again explores the hidden corners of Sze’s recorded legacy, which yields enormous treasures, and includes recordings of operatic (and quasi-operatic) excerpts by Verdi, Gounod, Mozart, Berlioz, and Mussorgsky as well as an excerpt of a legendary live performance of Shostakovich’s “Babi Yar” Symphony, one of the first in the West. Also heard are live and studio recordings of Russian songs by Mussorgsky, Dargomizhsky, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, and Balakirev; and song recordings by Poulenc, Schumann, Schubert, Tcherepnin, Xuean Liu, Dvořák, and Brahms.

Episode 312. John Reardon Revisited (World AIDS Day 2024)

December 2, 2024Art Song, Broadway, Crossover, Full-Figured Baroque, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, In Memoriam, Interview, Listeners' Favorites, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Orchestral Songs, Queer Pride, Richard Strauss, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century Opera, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAdolph Green, Alan Jay Lerner, Alban Berg, Angiolo Poliziano, Anja Silja, Ariadne auf Naxos, Arrigo Boito, Arthur Siegel, Betty Comden, Beverly Sills, Beverly Wolff, Bliss Hebert, Carole Bogard, Cesare Siepi, Christoph von Dohnányi, Colette Collage, Denis Deal, Der Struwwelpeter, Erich Leinsdorf, Evelyn Lear, Fred Ebb, Frederic Waldman, George Frideric Handel, Giacomo Puccini, Gian Carlo Menotti, Giorgio Tozzi, Giuseppe Giacosa, Giuseppe Verdi, Harvey Schmidt, Heinrich Hoffmann, Henri Murger, Henry Butler, Herbert Grossman, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, James McCracken, James Pease, Janis Ian, Jo Sullivan, John Kander, John Reardon, Jorge Mester, Joseph Haydn, Judith Blegen, Judith Raskin, Jule Styne, Jussi Bjorling, Karl Paul Reichert, Kurt Weill, La Boheme, Lehman Engel, Leonard Bernstein, Lorenzo da Ponte, Luigi Illica, Lukas Foss, Maria Callas, Marvin David Levy, Otello, Paul Reif, Peter Herman Adler, Richard Hundley, Richard Strauss, Robert Merrill, Robert Sutherland, Sarah Caldwell, T.S. Eliot, The Rink, Thomas Beecham, Tom Jones, Vittorio Rieti, W.H. Auden, William Shakespeare, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Zubin Mehtacountermelody

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Yesterday was World AIDS Day and many of the people I admire and follow on various social media platforms made beautiful and heartfelt posts in commemoration of this day and all the many souls that have been lost over the decades to this hideous disease. I want to weigh in today with my own tribute: to the exceptional American baritone John Reardon, who died of this disease in 1988 at the age of 58. This is an expanded version of a bonus episode I published more than four years ago which constituted a deep exploration of his recorded legacy, in both live or studio recordings, of musical, opera (especially contemporary works), and art song. You’ll hear guest contributions from the two Judys, (Raskin and Blegen; sorry, no Garland today), as well as Jo Sullivan, Beverly Wolff, Anja Silja, Evelyn Lear, and James McCracken, conducted by Leonard Bernstein, Thomas Beecham, Sarah Caldwell, Erich Leinsdorf, Frederic Waldman, Lehman Engel, Jorge Mester, as well as that great stage director Bliss Hebert doing a guest turn tickling the ivories in two song cycles. If you listen extra closely, you may even hear a line or two from Beverly Sills, Robert Merrill, Cesare Siepi, and Jussi Björling! The episode also includes a birthday tribute to Maria Callas and, as a memorial to all who have succumbed to AIDS, “When Angels Cry,” a song by Janis Ian.

Episode 311. Ina Souez

November 30, 2024Art Song, Bel canto, Forgotten Divas, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, In Memoriam, Interview, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Operetta, Singers in Old Age, Singers of Color, Verismo, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAda Negri, Albert Erede, Alberto Erede, Carl Schuricht, Carlo Gozzi, Carlo Zangarini, Cosi fan tutte, Don Giovanni, Eddie Brandt, Edvard Grieg, Ernani, Francesco Maria Piave, Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt, Fritz Busch, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Adami, Giuseppe Giacosa, Giuseppe Verdi, Horatio Q. Birdbath, Ina Souez, John Brownlee, John Jacob Niles, Koloman von Pátaky, La Boheme, Lore Fischer, Lorenzo da Ponte, Loyd Simpson, Luigi Arditi, Luigi Denza, Luigi Illica, Luise Helletsgruber, Messa da Requiem, Oscar Straus, Ottorino Respighi, Renato Simoni, Salvatore Baccaloni, Spike Jones, Stanislaus Stange, The Chocolate Soldier, Turandot, Victor Hugo, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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Because we American expats in Germany often celebrate Thanksgiving on the weekend after our compatriots in the US, I offer you today a second Thanksgiving episode, this one featuring the extraordinary Ina Souez (1903 – 1992), one of the few Native American singers to achieve worldwide fame on the operatic stage. (For those of you who are unaware, November is Native American Heritage Month). Though her career was truncated by world events, Souez’s place in the history of recorded sound is assured by virtue of her participation in the series of Mozart operas as produced by HMV in the mid-1930s as souvenirs of the first seasons of the Glyndebourne Festival. Indeed, one could argue that her Fiordiligi remains the standard by which all other interpreters are judged. This episode also includes recordings from both ends of Souez’s career, as it were, including an extraordinarily rare yet impressive and touching 1957 recording of Souez singing arias and songs long after her active career had ended. The episode also features Souez in near-definitive recordings from both Ernani and La Bohème, the latter particularly appropriate as we just recently observed the 100th anniversary of the death of Giacomo Puccini. Finally, this episode also serves as a memorial to Souez, who died 32 years ago this coming week.

Episode 305. Rage and Despair

November 9, 2024Art Song, Behind the Iron Curtain, Broadway, Forgotten Divas, Great Baritones, Great Contraltos, In Memoriam, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Protest Songs, Queer Pride, Schubert, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century Opera, Verismo, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAlexez Zybtsev, Alfredo Catalani, Alonso de Mudarra, Arne Dorumsgaard, Banalités, Claudio Monteverdi, Dalton Baldwin, Die Zauberflöte, Edvard Grieg, Emanuel Schikaneder, Felicia Montealegre, Francis Poulenc, Franz Schubert, George Schick, Gerard Souzay, Gian Carlo Menotti, Gian Francesco Malipiero, Giovanni Francesco Busenello, Guillaume Apollinaire, Hartmut Höll, Irwin Gage, István Kertész, Jennie Tourel, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Judith Raskin, Judy Garland, Julia Ward Howe, Justinus Kerner, Kurt Weill, L’incoronazione di Poppea, La Wally, Leonard Bernstein, Lost in the Stars, Louis Aragon, Luigi Illica, Maria Callas, Martti Talvela, Maxwell Anderson, Mitsuko Shirai, Mort Lindsey, Narcisse Bonnet, Nikolaus Lenau, Nino Sanzogno, Oralia Dominguez, Pavel Lisitsian, Pilar Lorengar, Robert Schumann, Rufus Wainwright, The Consul, Thomas Schippers, Tullio Serafin, Virginia Zeani, Wilhelm Müller, Wilhelmine von Hillern, Winterreise, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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Before I traveled to my home state of Wisconsin this week, I had prepared an episode to post this weekend, but in my naïveté, I had not anticipated the catastrophe that happened to my country, and to the world, when the unthinkable occurred this past Tuesday. Since then I have barely had a moment’s rest, feeling gripped by a torrent of negative emotions, rage and despair primary among them. It became apparent to me that I had to give voice to those feelings in order to work through them, and in the process maybe even help my friends and listeners who are struggling with their own versions of this toxic emotional cocktail. So here is the episode I dearly wish I had not felt compelled to produce, one devoted to despair and to rage, as we attempt to convert them into resolve and determination to “stand our ground” and demand that our beloved country not go under, powerless though we may feel at this moment to prevent that from happening. I have chosen work by Poulenc, Mozart, Weill, Monteverdi, Menotti, Schumann, Schubert, and Bernstein, performed by such podcast favorites as Jennie Tourel, Judy Garland, Gérard Souzay, Maria Callas, Oralia Domínguez, Virginia Zeani, Judith Raskin, Pilar Lorengar, and others, to act as our music therapists as we struggle to regain our equilibrium, “Lost in the Stars” though we may feel at this moment.

Episode 300. Helen Donath Revisited

October 21, 2024Art Song, Lieder, Listeners' Favorites, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Schubert, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartChristian Adolf Overbeck, Christian Felix Weisse, Dieter Klöcker, Franz Schubert, Gabriele von Baumberg, Helen Donath, Hermann Prey, Joachim Heinrich Campe, Johann Gabriel Seidl, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Karl August Varnhagen von Ense, Klaus Donath, Leonard Hokanson, Marianne von Willemer, Matthäus von Collin, Peter Schreier, Wilhelm Müller, Wilhelmina von Chézy, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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Episode 300 of Countermelody is upon us, and I have chosen today to bring you the German-American soprano Helen Donath in all her glory, performing Lieder of both Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Franz Schubert, the vast majority accompanied by her husband, German conductor, pianist, and scholar Klaus Donath. With their mutual attention to subtle musical and textual detail, they make ideal interpreters for these songs, often structured as strophic or modified strophic settings. Both live and studio recordings are featured, including a live 1978 performance of Schubert’s Mignon-Lieder, set to texts by Goethe sung by the mysterious waif Mignon in his novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre. Another recurring theme in many of these Lieder is the longing for spring, which, even as we are only at the cusp of autumn, is something that we are already anticipating. Guest performers include tenor Peter Schreier, baritone Hermann Prey, clarinettist Dieter Klöcker, and pianist Leonard Hokanson.

Episode 295. Requiescat

October 6, 2024Art Song, Behind the Iron Curtain, Bel canto, Broadway, Forgotten Divas, Full-Figured Baroque, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, In Memoriam, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Pop Icons, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Singers in Old Age, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century Opera, Verismo, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAntonio García Gutiérrez, Antonio Votto, April Cantelo, Benjamin Britten, Bob Wilson, Bruce Blunt, Carlo Pepoli, Celestina Casapietra, Christine Weidinger, Corneliu Murgu, Daphne, David Belasco, David Hemmings, David Willcocks, Deborah Roberts, Edo de Waart, Edward Heyman, Elena Mauti-Nunziata, Eric Crozier, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Fernández Shaw, Frank Eyton, Gaetano Donizetti, George Frideric Handel, Georges Bizet, Georges Rodenbach, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Gregorio Allegro, Grigoire Iosub, Herbert Kegel, I Puritani, Il Trovatore, Ivor Gurney, Janis Paige, Jodie Devos, John Dryden, John Fletcher, John Luther Long, Johnny Green, Josef Gregor, Julius Korngold, Karan Armstrong, La jolie fille de Perth, La vida breve, Laurence Equilbey, Le nozze di Figaro, Lohengrin, Lorenzo da Ponte, Lucine Amara, Madama Butterfly, Manuel de Falla, Margaret Cable, Maria di Rohan, Max Rudolf, Miguel Gómez-Martínez, Nicolas Krüger, Paul Schott, Peter Phillips, Peter Warlock, Philip Heseltine, Pierre Beaumarchais, Reinhard Peters, Richard Bonynge, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Robert Sour, Rosemary Barnes, Roy Campbell, Ruth Hesse, Salvadore Cammarano, Sanda Şandru, Sesto Bruscantini, St John of the Cross, The Little Sweep, The Tallis Scholars, Vincenzo Bellini, Walter Scott, William Mathias, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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Today on Countermelody is the first of two memorial episodes paying tribute to singers that we’ve lost just in the past few months. Applying the completely arbitrary rubric of gender, today I am focusing on sopranos (with two mezzo-soprano interlopers); my next episode will carry the memorial torch for all the male singers who’ve recently died. Today’s subjects ranged in age from only 35 to nearly 102 at the time of their deaths, and from Broadway star to early music singer: Jodie Devos, April Cantelo, Lucine Amara, Celestina Casapietra, Christine Weidinger, Elena Mauti Nunziata, Deborah Roberts, and Sanda Şandru; lower-voiced interlopers include Janis Paige, Margaret Cable, and Ruth Hesse. If you know some of these names, you know that you will be some mellifluous serenading; if you don’t, prepare yourself for a wide range of music from Renaissance polyphony to American pop standards, with operatic selections ranging from Donizetti to Falla.

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 290. Ileana Cotrubaș Revisited

September 17, 2024Full-Figured Baroque, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Happy Birthday, Ileana Cotrubas, Listeners' Favorites, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Twentieth Century Opera, Verismo, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartA Midsummer Night’s Dream, Achille de Lauzières, Ádám Fischer, Alexander Pushkin, Alexandre Dumas fils, Alfred Maria Willner, Alfredo Kraus, Antoni Ros-Marbà, Antonio García Gutiérrez, Arrigo Boito, Benjamin Britten, Bernard Haitink, Brent Ellis, Bruno Bartoletti, Camille du Locle, Christoph Friedrich Bretzner, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Eugene Onegin, Francesco Maria Piave, Friedrich Schiller, Gabor Ötvös, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Adami, Giuseppe Giacosa, Giuseppe Verdi, Gottlieb Stephanie, Gregory Kunde, Heinz Reichert, Helmut Winschermann, Henri Murger, Hora Andreescu, Ileana Cotrubas, James Bowman, Johann Sebastian Bach, Joseph Méry, La Boheme, La rondine, Luigi Illica, Luis Lima, Mabel Perelstein, Mark Ermler, Pagliacci, Peter Pears, Piero Cappuccilli, Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Silvio Varviso, Simon Boccanegra, Trudy Hines, William Shakespeare, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Wolfgang Schöne, Yevgeny Onegincountermelody

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More than four years ago, I published my very first bonus episode on Patreon, which I offer here in a fancy new setting and with a wonderful new coda. When I first published an episode on the great Ileana Cotrubaș in honor of her 81st birthday, I promised a bonus episode which would offer further examples of this treasurable artist’s plangent and pathos-filled singing. This episode explores delves deeper into Cotrubaș’s artistic legacy, examining roles that she took on later in her career, including Elisabetta in Don Carlo, Nedda in Pagliacci, Amelia in Simon Boccanegra, and Desdemona in Otello. In addition, I play excerpts of roles that lay somewhat outside of her normal repertoire, including Tatyana in Yevgeny Onegin, Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, and Tytania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This is followed by two extended live excerpts of her two greatest roles, Mimì in La Bohème and Violetta in La Traviata. The entire episode is capped with an exquisite example of Cotrubaș singing Bach, in anticipation of a new all-Bach episode at the end of the week.

Episode 288. Teresa Żylis-Gara Revisited

September 10, 2024Behind the Iron Curtain, Forgotten Divas, French Opera, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Tenors, In Memoriam, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Twentieth Century Opera, Verismo, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAbbé Prevost, Alexandre Dumas fils, Alfredo Kraus, Andrea Chénier, Antonio Somma, Ariadne auf Naxos, Auguste Barbier, Benvenuto Cellini, Berislav Klobučar, David Belasco, Die Zauberflöte, Emanuel Schikaneder, Eugène Scribe, Francesco Maria Piave, Franco Bonisolli, Giacomo Puccini, Gianfranco Masini, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Giuseppe Giacosa, Giuseppe Verdi, Hector Berlioz, Henri Meilhac, Henri Murger, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Jacek Kaspszyk, James Levine, Jean Fournet, John Alexander, John Henry Long, José Carreras, Jules Massenet, La Boheme, La Traviata, Leif Segerstam, Léon de Wailly, Luciano Pavarotti, Luigi Illica, Manon, Peter Lindroos, Philippe Gille, Piero Visconti, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Richard Woitach, Seiji Ozawa, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Tannhäuser, Teresa Żylis-Gara, Umberto Giordano, Un ballo in maschera, Wiesław Ochman, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Wolfgang Brendelcountermelody

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Today I revisit the life, career, and sumptuous voice of the great Polish soprano Teresa Żylis-Gara, who died three years ago on 28 August 2021 at the age of 91. The soprano was for the most part shockingly under-recorded, so I have scoured the internet for examples of her live in performance, and unearthed examples of her singing Wagner, Massenet, Puccini, Verdi, Strauss, Giordano, Mozart, and Berlioz with some divine tenorial counterparts including Franco Bonisolli, José Carreras, Luciano Pavarotti, John Alexander, Alfredo Kraus, Wiesław Ochman, Peter Lindroos, and Piero Visconti. I know I am not the only one who revels in the rich velvety timbre of Mme. Żylis-Gara, and each of the tenors heard alongside her presents her versatile voice in a different facet of its beauty.

Episode 282. Janet Baker @ 91

August 21, 2024Art Song, Happy Birthday, Mezzo Madness, Schubert, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartArmand Silvestre, Caroline Louise von Klencke, Franz Schubert, Franz von Schober, Friedrich von Schlegel, Gabriel Faure, Hector Berlioz, Henri Duparc, Janet Baker, Johann Mayrhofer, Johannes Brahms, La Clemenza di Tito, Leconte de Lisle, Martin Isepp, Otto Friedrich Gruppe, Romand Bussine, Sully Prudhomme, Théophile Gautier, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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How can it even be that our beloved Janet Baker is turning 91 today? I have been so moved by all the tributes pouring in and I feel compelled to add my humble wishes to all the others.

Last year while perusing the bins at Academy Records in New York, I came across an obscure live LP of Janet Baker that made me gasp in surprise and delight: her New York song recital debut at Town Hall on December 2, 1966, which featured works of Mozart, Schubert, Fauré, Duparc, and Berlioz, all composers central to her repertoire. This appearance was the capstone of her first New York season, which had already included a performance with the Melos Ensemble of vocal chamber music at Hunter College; concert performances of Smeton in Donizetti’s Anna Bolena (which starred in the title role the flaming Greek comet Elena Souliotis), and the title role in Handel’s Serse. At the end of her first New York season came this, her first full Liederabend in New York City. Janet Baker is heard in her youthful prime and reveals herself, not at all surprisingly to those who had already begun collecting her early commercial recordings, to be a singer touched by the divine fire. The recording also serves as a sound document of the exceptional artistic partnership between Baker and the pianist Martin Isepp (who was also the son of her voice teacher Helena Isepp, who was also the teacher of Heather Harper, whom we heard last week on her own Countermelody episode). Today’s episode was originally released a year ago for my Patreon supporters, and, because this recital has never received as wide a release as some of Baker’s other live concerts, it is a particular hono(u)r and joy to present it to you today as we celebrate her 91 years on this earth.

Episode 281. La Scottissima

August 19, 2024Bel canto, French Opera, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Tenors, In Memoriam, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Renata Scotto, Singers in Old Age, Twentieth Century Opera, Verismo, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAlfredo Kraus, Amilcare Ponchielli, Andrea Maffei, Angelo Campori, Antonio García Gutiérrez, Antonio Somma, Antonio Tonini, Arnold Schoenberg, Arrigo Boito, Charles Duveyrier, Claudio Abbado, David Belasco, Didier Gold, Don Giovanni, Emidio Mucci, Erwartung, Ettore Caimi, Eugène Scribe, Eve Queler, Felice Romani, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, Francis Poulenc, Fulvio Vernizzi, Gaetano Donizetti, George Schick, Giacomo Puccini, Gioavacchino Forzano, Giuseppe Adami, Giuseppe Giacosa, Henri Meilhac, Henri Murger, I vespri siciliani, Il tabarro, Il Trovatore, James Levine, Jean Cocteau, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, John Alexander, John Luther Long, John Wustman, Jon Vickers, Josep Pons, Jules Massenet, Julius Rudel, L’elisir d’amore, La Boheme, La Gioconda, La voix humaine, Licinio Refice, Lodoletta, Lorenzo da Ponte, Lucia di Lammermoor, Luciano Pavarotti, Luigi Illica, Macbeth, Madama Butterfly, Manon, Marie Pappenheim, Mercedes Llopart, Nello Santi, Norma, Otello, Ouida, Philippe Gille, Pietro Mascagni, Renata Scotto, Riccardo Muti, Salvadore Cammarano, Sixten Ehrling, Spiris Argiris, Suor Angelica, Tatiana Troyanos, Un ballo in maschera, Vasile Moldoveanu, Victor Hugo, Vincenzo Bellini, Walter Scott, William Shakespeare, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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I began work on this episode on the one-year anniversary of the death of Renata Scotto, perhaps the most beloved of my many dearly-loved divas. But I have been thinking about and planning it ever since August 16, 2023. Now I am collected my thoughts on what made Scotto, in my opinion, one of the greatest artists of the past century. I break down her main repertoire into three groups (bel canto, Verdi, and verismo [including, however incorrectly, Puccini]); I describe her artistic and vocal training and her development into a powerful singing actress; I play her in duet with some of her most significant colleagues (including a few surprises); I assess her greatest roles and some of her surprising late-career assumptions; and I consider some of her most daring career risks (and the resultant flops and triumphs, sometimes in the same role!) I draw on a deep pool of mostly live recordings that reveal Scotto’s musical and dramatic intelligence as I describe my own encounters with her live in performance, both in person and on the television screen. Throughout I have tried my best to capture the individuality and the fearlessness of the singer who most deeply influenced and affected me as my musical tastes were forming: La Scottissima, my diva.

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 279. Ernst Kozub Reappraised

August 11, 2024French Opera, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Tenors, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Operetta, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century Opera, Verismo, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAida, Alan Bush, Albert Lortzing, Alfred Matschat, Antonio Ghislanzoni, Ariadne auf Naxos, Arlene Saunders, Arrigo Boito, Brigitte Fassbaender, Claire Watson, Der goldene Pierrot, Die Zauberflöte, Don Carlo, E.T.A. Hoffmann, Elisabeth Grümmer, Emanuel Schikaneder, Erich Börschel, Erich Leinsdorf, Ernst Kozub, Ferenc Fricsay, Fidelio, Francesco Maria Piave, Franz Bauer Theussl, Friedrich Schiller, Fritz Jöde, Georg Solti, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Giacosa, Giuseppe Verdi, Gundula Janowitz, Günther Wich, Hans Freese, Hans Hermann Henning, Heinz Wallberg, Henri Murger, Hermann Löns, Hilde Zadek, Hoffmanns Erzählungen, Horst Stein, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Jacques Offenbach, Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, Johann Christoph Grünbaum, Joseph Sonnleithner, Jules Barbier, La Boheme, Leonore, Leopold Ludwig, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Lohengrin, Ludwig van Beethoven, Luigi Illica, Marie-Louise Girod, Matthias Kuntzsch, Melitta Muszely, Michel Carré, Nancy Bush, Oskar Felix, Otello, Otto Kleiner, Otto van Matzerath, Peter Schreier, Philipp Rumschinski, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Rigoletto, Robert Wagner, Tannhäuser, Theo Adam, Walter Goetze, Walter Schartner, William Shakespeare, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Wolfgang Sawallischcountermelody

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Have you heard of the remarkable German Heldentenor Ernst Kozub? If you haven’t, you’re in for a special treat. And if you have, you know doubt have preconceived notions about him, which I hope that you will be prepared to set aside as I present an episode that explores the many facets of an often unjustly-maligned artist. Throughout his short life (he died in December 1971 shortly before his 48th birthday), Ernst Kozub performed a wide range of roles and styles of music, but he was certainly most celebrated for his Wagner and Strauss roles, as well as for his Florestan in Fidelio. The musical selections I have chosen today surround him with some of the most impressive of the jugendlich dramatisch soprano voices of the era, including Hilde Zadek, Melitta Muszely, Elisabeth Grümmer, and Gundula Janowitz, with special emphasis placed on two American sopranos whose careers were primarily based in Europe: Arlene Saunders and Claire Watson. Kozub also performs Schlager, operetta, Jewish cantorial music, nostalgic quasi-folk music, and operas by Offenbach, and Puccini, as well as his particular favorite, Verdi, all sung in German translation.

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 278. George Shirley Revisited

August 8, 2024African American Singers, Art Song, Bel canto, Black History Month, Black History Month 2024, French Opera, Full-Figured Baroque, Great Tenors, Happy Birthday, Lieder, Listeners' Favorites, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Richard Strauss, Singers of Color, Spirituals, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century Opera, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAlessandro Scarlatti, Antal Dorati, Armand Silvestre, Claude Debussy, Colin Davis, Elisabeth Soderstrom, Eugene Ormandy, Gabriel Faure, George Frideric Handel, George Shirley, Henry Purcell, Howard Swanson, Igor Stravinsky, James Dashow, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Ashberry, Joseph Haydn, Jules Massenet, Kenneth Gordon, Lili Chookasian, Margaret Tynes, Pelleas et Melisande, Pierre Boulez, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Shirley Verrett, Stanley Drucker, Thomas Schippers, Vally Weigl, Wayne Sanders, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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This August I shall be supplementing each new episode published with a first-time general posting of bonus episodes which were originally available only for my Patreon subscribers. Today, in the first of my “new reissues,” I present “George Shirley Revisited,” a supplement to the tribute I posted three years ago, and which I now offer as a belated 90th birthday salute. In this episode, I offer further examples of the great tenor’s eclectic repertoire and interpretive depth. Guest vocalists include Shirley Verrett and Elisabeth Söderström and conductors include Pierre Boulez, Thomas Schippers, Eugene Ormandy, Colin Davis, Antal Doráti, Jesús López Cobos, and Igor Stravinsky himself. Composers sampled include Jules Massenet, Howard Swanson, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Richard Strauss, Johann Sebastian Bach, Richard Wagner, Norman Dello Joio, Felix Mendelssohn, Vally Weigl, Joseph Haydn, and James Dashow, whose Second Voyage, a setting of John Ashberry scored for tenor voice and recorded electronic sounds, was commissioned for George Shirley by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1976. I also include a number of rare recordings that George Shirley and Wayne Sanders made in 1973 for Music Minus One’s Laureate Series and that, to my knowledge, are among his rarest recordings.

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 277. Benjamin Luxon In Memoriam

August 4, 2024Art Song, Broadway, Comic Relief, Crossover, Full-Figured Baroque, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, Great Tenors, Ileana Cotrubas, In Memoriam, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Operetta, Orchestral Songs, Pop Icons, Protest Songs, Schubert, Singers in Old Age, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century Opera, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartA Shropshire Lad, A.E. Housman, Alan Rowlands, Alban Berg, Alexander Gibson, Alexander Pushkin, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Andre Previn, Arrigo Boito, Arseny Golenishchev-Kutuzov, Arthur Sullivan, August Strindberg, Benjamin Beilman, Benjamin Britten, Benjamin Luxon, Bill Crofut, Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz, Chris Coletti, Chris de Burgh, Christina Rossetti, David Cullen, David J. Grossman, David Willison, Demian Austin, Die schöne Müllerin, Eberhard Büchner, Edith Sitwell, Enoch Arden, Eugene Onegin, Façade, Falstaff, Folk Songs, Frances Egerton, Frank Morelli, Franz Schubert, Frederick Moyer, Friederich Rückert, Galina Vishnevskaya, George Butterworth, George Frideric Handel, Giuseppe Verdi, Gustav Mahler, Henry James, Herman Hupfeld, Hugo Wolf, Ian Rosenbaum, Igor Stravinsky, Ileana Cotrubas, Inn-Hyuck Cho, Janet Baker, Jill Gomez, John Ireland, John Parry, John Poole, John Pritchard, Kindertotenlieder, Kitty Black, Klaus Tennstedt, L’histoire du soldat, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Le nozze di Figaro, Leonard Bernstein, Lorenzo da Ponte, Michael Flanders, Miss Julie, Modest Mussorgsky, Moses Mendes, Mstislav Rostropovich, Myfanwy Piper, Oscar Hammerstein II, Owain Arwel Hughes, Owen Wingrave, Peter Gilbert-Dyson, Pierre Beaumarchais, Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Richard Hickox, Richard Rodgers, Richard Strauss, Robert Tear, Solomon, Songfest, Songs and Dances of Death, The Soldier’s Tale, The Sorceror, Vilem Tausky, W.S. Gilbert, Wilhelm Müller, William Alwyn, William Blake, William Shakespeare, William Walton, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Wozzeck, Yevgeny Onegincountermelody

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Last week on July 25th, the music world was saddened by the death of the Cornish baritone Benjamin Luxon at the age of 87. I began collecting recordings of this exceptional artist a few years ago with the intention of producing an episode in his honor at some point. Here is that episode, albeit a posthumous effort now. In an episode I produced in the first few months of Countermelody in 2019, I featured the French baritone Gérard Souzay and called him “a modern troubadour.” There are very few singers of recent years to whom one could accurately apply that appellation, but Ben Luxon is emphatically one of them. Music and words simply flowed out of him, and he sang with equal aplomb in an extraordinary number of different styles: opera, oratorio, art song, Broadway, crossover, and, perhaps most immediately and delectably, folk. In opera alone his range was exceptional, covering key roles in Mozart, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Wagner, Berg, and Britten, who wrote the title role of his television opera Owen Wingrave expressly for Luxon. In song as well he covered a vast array of repertoires, including Russian, German, and British (including Victorian ballads), including, again, many contemporary composers. Luxon’s career hit a snag in the late 1980s, when he first began experiencing hearing loss which eventually resulted in him putting a stop to his singing career. But he hardly retired: moving to the Berkshires, he became actively involved in the artistic life of the region, and founded a theatre troupe, the Sandisfield Players, while continuing to give poetry readings and spoken word performances. The program today attempts to recreate his profound versatility, and range from folk song to pop song; from orchestral song cycles to world premiere creations; art songs by Hugo Wolf, Mussorgsky, George Butterworth, Schubert, and John Ireland; to late career narration and poetry projects. Collaborators include artists such as Benjamin Britten, Bill Crofut, Galina Vishnevskaya, Leonard Bernstein, Robert Tear, Janet Baker, Seiji Ozawa, Ileana Cotrubaș, Jill Gomez, Klaus Tennstedt, Mstislav Rostropovich, and his most frequent recital collaborator, pianist David Willison.

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 270. Eleanor Steber Revisited

July 5, 2024Art Song, Bel canto, Broadway, Crossover, French Opera, Full-Figured Baroque, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Tenors, Happy Birthday, In Memoriam, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, NYCO Divas, Opera in Translation, Operetta, Orchestral Songs, Queer Pride, Rescue Mission, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Singers in Old Age, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century Opera, Verismo, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAl Goodman, Al Vann, Alexandre Dumas fils, Alfred Bachelet, Allen Rogers, Augustus Toplady, Barron Smith, Bernard Zaslav, Brian Sullivan, Buddy DeSylva, Carlo Gozzi, Carlo Zangarini, Cesare Sterbini, Charles Tomlinson Griffes, Claude Debussy, David Belasco, David Broekman, Die Frau ohne Schatten, Dimitri Mitropoulos, DuBose Heyward, Édouard Guinand, Edwin Biltcliffe, Eleanor Steber, Eugène Adénis-Colombeau, Francesco Maria Piave, Francis Scott Key, Frank Loesser, Frederick Flaxington Harker, Fritz Stiedry, George Gershwin, Giacomo Puccini, Gian Carlo Menotti, Giangiacom Guelfi, Gioachino Rossini, Giovanni Battista Guarini, Giuseppe Adami, Giuseppe Verdi, Guelfo Civinini, Hector Berlioz, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Hugo Wolf, Igor Kipnis, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Ira Gershwin, James Melton, Jean-Philippe Rameau, John Stafford Smith, Juan López de Úbeda, Jussi Bjorling, L’enfant prodigue, La Fanciulla del West, La Traviata, Les nuits d’été, Lilla Kalman, Lohengrin, Maytime (Romberg). Harold Barlow, Nelson Eddy, Oklahoma!, Oscar Hammerstein II, Paul Heyse, Pembroke Davenport, Pierre Beaumarchais, Porgy and Bess, Renato Simoni, Richard Rodgers, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Rida Johnson Young, Robert K. Evans, Robert Katscher, Rosalind Elias, Rupert Brooke, Samuel Barber, Sigmund Romberg, Sonya Monsoff, Spanisches Liederbuch, Sterling Hunkins, Théophile Gautier, Thomas Hastings, Turandot, Vanessa (Barber), Where’s Charley?, Wilfrid Pelletier, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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I sat in my apartment in Berlin on the Fourth of July wondering how, after the events of this past Monday, I can possibly pay tribute to our nation as it “celebrated” its birthday. Then it hit me: since I would never in a million years produce an episode of patriotic musical material, why not pay tribute to a great American singer instead? I had already been planning an upcoming bonus episode on ELEANOR STEBER, the singer I consider to be one of the greatest (if not the greatest) soprano that our country has ever produced! Nearly two years ago, with the help of my dear friend Michelle Oesterle, who was Eleanor’s step-daughter, I produced an episode dedicated to her; today’s episode will not delve so much into the (still-controversial) person that Eleanor was, but rather offer a cross-section, over the course of more than 40 years, of the wide variety of styles and repertoire in which Steber excelled. Who else could traverse a range of repertoire from Rodgers and Hammerstein to Mozart, Rameau to Wagner, Berlioz to Romberg with such ease and joyful authority? Not only do I explore her longevity, I explore her unparalleled prowess as a vocal technician; as well as her well-documented bad treatment by the Metropolitan Opera and its then-general manager, Rudolf Bing. I also look at the recordings that Steber and her then-husband, Michelle’s father, produced on their own ST/AND label in the early sixties, and then hear Steber sing some quintessentially American music from classic musicals. Along the way, I consider some serious topics, including betrayal, alcoholism, and the power of embedded memory. Finally, I consider the possibility that Eleanor Steber’s celebrated portrayal of Minnie in La fanciulla del West might just offer a possible solution for the divisiveness and political turmoil in which our country currently finds itself. Featured guest singers on the episode include Nelson Eddy, Brian Sullivan, Rosalind Elias, and Jussi Björling; musical collaborators include Dimitri Mitropoulos, Igor Kipnis, Allen Rogers, Fritz Stiedry, and her frequent concert and radio collaborators Howard Barlow and Edwin Biltcliffe.

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 266. Sisters in Sapho (Listeners’ Favorites)

June 14, 2024African American Singers, Art Song, Bel canto, Crossover, Drag Performance, Full-Figured Baroque, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Tenors, Gustav Mahler, Ileana Cotrubas, Lieder, Listeners' Favorites, Margaret Price, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, NYCO Divas, Operetta, Pop Icons, Protest Songs, Queer Pride, Richard Strauss, Schubert, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century Opera, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAchille de Lauzières, Achim von Arnim, Aida, Alban Berg, Aldous Huxley, Alessandro Scarlatti, Alfred Hennequin, Alfred-Charlemagne Delacour, Antonio Ghislanzoni, Aribert Reimann, Ariodante, Arleen Augér, Auguste Mariette, Bernice Johnson Reagon, BIGLovely, Brigitte Fassbaender, Camille du Locle, Carl Mathieu Lange, Cecilia Gasdia, Clemens Brentano, Cord Garben, Cosi fan tutte, Cris Williamson, Deidre McCalla, Der Rosenkavalier, Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Don Carlo, Donato Renzetti, Dusty Springfield, Erik Werba, Felice Romani, Felix Mendelssohn, Ferron, Francesco Cavalli, Frank Wedekind, Franz Schubert, Friedrich Cerha, Friedrich Schiller, George Frideric Handel, Georges Pretre, Giovanni Faustini, Giuseppe Verdi, Gundula Janowitz, Gustav Mahler, Heinrich Heine, Heinrich von Waldberg, Holly Near, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Ileana Cotrubas, James Levine, Janet Baker, Janis Ian, Johann Gabriel Seidl, John Wustman, Joseph Méry, Konstantin Balmont, Krzysztof Penderecki, Kurt Eichhorn, Kurt Weill, La Calisto, La Clemenza di Tito, Lorenzo da Ponte, Lulu, Marek Janowski, Margaret Price, Margie Adam, Maurice Ravel, Meg Christian, Meshell Ndegenocello, Nicolai Gedda, Pietro Metastasio, Raymond Leppard, Reri Grist, Riccardo Muti, Richard Heuberger, Richard Strauss, Robert Lloyd, Ronnie Gilbert, Serge Rachmaninov, Tatiana Troyanos, Toshi Reagon, Victor Léon, Vincenzo Bellini, Walter Mehring, Willy Mattes, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Wolfgang Sawallischcountermelody

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It’s been a whirlwind of a week chez Gundlach and I find myself at the end of it without a new episode ready to post. In addition to that, we are already halfway through Pride Month and I realized this morning that I had no new queer material up my sleeve. So I’ll tell you what I’m gonna do: I am going to get to work on a brand new episode which will post sometime early next week. But in the meantime, I’m going to do my own Listener’s Favorite episode, one which I posted during the very first season of Countermelody, a wondrous compilation entitled “Sisters in Sappho.” It features not only two of my favorite mezzos of all time (Tatiana Troyanos and Brigitte Fassbaender – both of whom happen to have been lesbians); but also a sampling of the key figures in the Women’s Music Movement of the 1970s, including Meg Christian, Cris Williamson, Margie Adam, Holly Near, and Deidre McCalla. In celebrating these pop icons, I also pay tribute to those who, in turn, paved the way for them, including icons Janis Ian, Dusty Springfield, and Ronnie Gilbert, as well as tipping my hat to two of the queer Black singers (Toshi Reagon, Meshell Ndegeocello), that followed in the wake of these women. We all owe an enormous debt of gratitude to these extraordinary artists, who paved the way for us, their musical and artistic descendants, at the same time setting standards that will stand the test of time. Vocal guest stars include Janet Baker, Ileana Cotrubas, Cecilia Gasdia, Nicolai Gedda, Margaret Price, Gundula Janowitz, Arleen Augér, and Reri Grist.

Episode 265. Meet Hana Janků

June 6, 2024Behind the Iron Curtain, Bel canto, Forgotten Divas, French Opera, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, Great Tenors, In Memoriam, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Twentieth Century Opera, Verismo, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAlexander Pushkin, Amilcare Ponchielli, Antonín Dvořák, Antonio García Gutiérrez, Arrigo Boito, Barry McDaniel, Bedřich Smetana, Carlo Gozzi Turandot, Carol Smith, Cornell MacNeil, Dalibor, Ervín Špindler, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, Franco Corelli, František Jílek, Gabriela Preissová, Gaetano Bardini, Giacomo Puccini, Giorgio Merighi, Giuseppe Adami, Giuseppe Giacosa, Giuseppe Patanè, Giuseppe Verdi, Hana Janků, Hana Svobodová, Hana Svobodová-Janků, Heinrich von Kleist, Il Trovatore, Jan Štych, Jaroslav Krombholc, Jaroslav Vrchlický, Jenůfa, Jirí Pinkas, Josef Wenzig, Karl Vüllings, La Gioconda, Le nozze di Figaro, Leos Janacek, Libuše, Lorenzo da Ponte, Luigi Illica, Modest Tchaikovsky, Naděžda Kniplová, Oldrich Pipek, Othmar Schoeck, Penthesilea, Pierre Beaumarchais, Pique-Dame, Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, Roland Hermann, Salvadore Cammarano, Teresa Żylis-Gara, Torquato Tasso, Tosca, Victor Hugo, Victorien Sardou, William Holley, William Wu, Wolf Appel, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Zdeněk Mácal, Zubin Mehtacountermelody

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Have you ever encountered a singer that no one has apparently heard of, yet once you have discovered them, you feel compelled to introduce them to practically everyone you know? I’ve had this experience more than a few times over the past five years of producing weekly Countermelody episodes, and today I bring you another such singer: friends, meet Hana Janků, the Czech soprano who lived from 25 October 1940 to 28 April 1995. Her voice is one of steely brilliance that she can taper down to the slightest whisper of a pianissimo. As important as her extraordinary voice was her profoundly-felt and deeply-etched characterizations of all the roles she assumed. As a young music lover, Hana’s aims were modest, but thanks to a voice teacher who recognized her gift, she moved from the chorus to a member of the ensemble at the Brno Opera before she was 20. Five years later in Bratislava, she first performed the role with which she would be most closely associated: Puccini’s Turandot. Two short years later, after an arduous audition process, she sang the role at La Scala and became a star overnight. Her large repertoire also encompassed roles such Tosca, Gioconda, and Lady Macbeth, French and Russian operas as well as Mozart and Wagner roles, with a large smattering of roles by Czech composers as well, in particular Smetana and Dvořák. Because of political unrest, she made the difficult decision to leave her native Czechoslovakia, performing instead throughout the world, including stints in the ensembles at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf and the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Ill health forced her to leave the opera stage prematurely, and she died of cancer in Vienna before she turned 55. Janků left very few commercial recordings, but I have been plumbing the internet for rare live recordings spanning her entire career, encompassing not only her legendary Italian roles, but also roles by Mozart, Gounod, and Othmar Schoeck, as well as a smattering of Czech repertoire. It is an honor to present to you the woman whom Birgit Nilsson dubbed the finest Turandot of her era and who was, as we shall hear, so much more as well! Vocal guest stars include Franco Corelli, Giorgio Merighi, Cornell MacNeil, Roland Hermann, William Holley, and Naděžda Kniplová.

Episode 262. Sylvia Sass Revisited

May 17, 2024Art Song, Behind the Iron Curtain, Bel canto, Broadway, Crossover, Forgotten Divas, French Opera, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Tenors, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Operetta, Orchestral Songs, Richard Strauss, Sylvia Sass, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century Opera, Verismo, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAdalbert von Chamisso, Alain Lombard, Aldo Ceccato, Alexandre Dumas fils, Alfred Grünwald, Alfred Maria Willner, András Kórodi, András Schiff, András Sebestyén, Andrea Maffei, Andrea Martin, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Béla Bartók, Béni Egressy, Charles Gounod, Cosi fan tutte, Cristina Brancato, Emmerich Kálmán, Endre Ady, Ervin Lukács, Ferenc Erkel, Ferenc Szőnyi, Fernando Previtali, Francesco Maria Piave, Frauenliebe und -leben, Gaetano Donizetti, Giacomo Puccini, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Giorgio Moroder, Giovanni Foiani, Giuseppe Adami, Giuseppe Verdi, Gräfin Mariza, Heinz Reichert, Hunyadi László, I Lombardi alla Prima Crociata, Irene Cara, Iván Bradányi, János Kovács, Jesus Christ Superstar, José Carreras, Joseph von Eichendorff, Jules Barbier, Julius Brammer, Keith Forsey, La rondine, La Traviata, Lamberto Gardelli, Lili Áldor, Lorenzo da Ponte, Lucia di Lammermoor, Ludwig van Beethoven, Macbeth, Maria Grazia Piolatto, Michel Carré, Michel Plasson, Neil Shicoff, Nicola Ghiuselev, Patrizia Dordi, Péter Wolf, Richard Strauss, Richard Woitach, Robert Schumann, Roméo et Juliette, Rosanna Didonè, Ryszard Karczykowski, Salvadore Cammarano, Sylvia Sass, Temistocle Solera, Tim Rice, Tommaso Grossi, Tosca, Vier letzte Lieder, Walter Scott, William Shakespeare, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Zsolt Durkócountermelody

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Several summers ago I published my first episode celebrating the artistry of Sylvia Sass which primarily featured her 1984 album of pop songs sung in Hungarian. At the time I called it, without any irony, the finest crossover album of the 1980s and one of the best of all time. Sass is an artist who continues to engage discourse. Many of the opinions, theories, and input encountered therein are predicated on dissecting the reasons for her short international career. My objective with today’s episode, however, is simply to celebrate Sass’s singing in all its glory, extending from the standard Italian operatic repertoire with which she is most associated through the thorniest contemporary idioms to the subtlest art song to the most refined Mozart singing, with, once again, a nod to the pop material which initially drew me to her. I always say that I believe in giving flowers to our favorite artists when they are still around to receive them, and today’s bouquet is a stunning display full of color and variety humbly presented to one of my favorite divas.

Episode 261. Thom Baker Introduces Rosanna Carteri (Listeners’ Favorites)

May 8, 2024Bel canto, Forgotten Divas, French Opera, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, Great Tenors, In Memoriam, Listeners' Favorites, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Operetta, Orchestral Songs, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century Opera, Verismo, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartArtur Rodzinski, Carlo Bergonzi, Cesare Valletti, Charles Gounod, Ettore Bastianini, Falstaff, Ferruccio Tagliavini, Francis Poulenc, Gabriele Santini, Gaetano Donizetti, Georges Pretre, Giacomo Puccini, Gilbert Bécaud, Gioacchino Rossini, Giuseppe di Stefano, Giuseppe Gismondo, Giuseppe Taddei, Giuseppe Verdi, L’elisir d’amore, La Boheme, La rondine, La Traviata, Le nozze di Figaro, Leonard Warren, Madama Butterfly, Mario Rossi, Nicolai Gedda, Otello, Pierre Monteux, Pietro Mascagni, Rosanna Carteri, Serge Prokofiev, Thom Baker, Tullio Serafin, Vincenzo Bellezza, Vittorio Gui, William Shakespearecountermelody

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Today’s episode is one of my Listeners’ Favorites episodes, this one introduced by my wonderful friend Thom Baker. He had just written me about his enthusiasm for the Rosanna Carteri episode I posted in the fall of 2020 on the occasion of her death, just a few short weeks before her 90th birthday. Thom and I were both equally taken with this long-lived artist, who abandoned her performing career in 1966 when she was only 35 years old, brought her full-throated voice and impeccable artistry to operatic stages around the world for fifteen exceptional years. Carteri’s was a lyric yet full-bodied voice with facility that allowed her to undertake soubrette parts as well as some spinto roles. I feature extended examples of her versatility over the course of that entire career, including excerpts from La traviata, La bohème, La rondine, Guglielmo Tell, Falstaff, L’elisir d’amore, Madama Butterfly, Roméo et Juliette, Otello, Pietro Mascagni’s L’amico Fritz and Iris, Prokofiev’s War and Peace (the final version of which she created in Florence in 1954), the premiere recording of Poulenc’s Gloria and Gilbert Bécaud’s Opéra d’Aran (which she premiered in Paris in 1962). These operas represent just a fraction of her repertoire, in which are featured, among others, Giuseppe di Stefano, Nicolai Gedda, Leonard Warren, Carlo Bergonzi, Ettore Bastianini, Ferruccio Tagliavini, Giuseppe Taddei, Cesare Valletti, and Giuseppe Gismondo and conductors Tullio Serafin, Pierre Monteux, Vittorio Gui, Georges Prêtre, Gabriele Santini, and Artur Rodzinski. In other words, the crème de la crème of the operatic firmament in the 1950s and 1960s, in which company Carteri most emphatically belonged.

Episode 258. (Frank) Lopardopalooza

April 18, 2024Bel canto, Forgotten Divas, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Tenors, Interview, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Singers in Old Age, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAlberto Zedda, Alexandre Dumas, Andrew Davis, Antonio García Gutiérrez, Antonio Somma, Arrigo Boito, Ascher Fisch, Bruno Campanella, Carl Orff, Carmina Burana, Cesare Sterbini, Cosi fan tutte, Cristina Gallardo-Domâs, Don Giovanni, Donald Runnicles, Eugène Scribe, Felice Romani, Francesco Maria Piave, Frank Lopardo, Gaetano Donizetti, Georg Solti, Giacomo Puccini, Gioacchino Rossini, Giuseppe Giacosa, Giuseppe Verdi, Henri Murger, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Il Turco in Italia, Ion Marin, Jean-François Bayard, John Fiore, Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges, Kathleen Kim, La Boheme, La fille du regiment, La Traviata, Lorenzo da Ponte, Lucia di Lammermoor, Luigi Illica, Marco Armiliato, Messa da Requiem (Verdi), Michel Trempont, Pierre Beaumarchais, Riccardo Muti, Robert Spano, Robert White, Salvadore Cammarano, Seiji Ozawa, Semiramide, Simon Boccanegra, Sondra Radvanovsky, Un ballo in maschera, Verónica Villarroel, Walter Scott, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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Today I present to you the American lyric tenor Frank Lopardo, who from 1984 through 2014 appeared in all the major opera houses of the world, celebrated particularly for his Mozart and Rossini roles. Too often today these superb singers even from the recent past are forgotten by today’s audiences, and my listeners know that it is always a mission of mine to celebrate great artists who, for whatever reason, are not in the forefront of the public’s awareness. In Frank’s case, I suggest it has absolutely nothing to do with his stellar voice and astounding technique. Some singers are content to do their job and live their lives and serve the music and the art form to the best of their considerable abilities without engaging in antics or self-destructive behavior. A quick glance at Frank’s accomplishments and the musicians with whom he collaborated makes it immediately clear that his career unfolded naturally and organically at the highest levels. Today’s episode explores the infinite variety of Lopardo’s artistry and his impeccable musicianship and technique, which aided him in his pursuit of always discovering new aspects of the central roles in his career. Conductors with whom he collaborated (and as heard on the episode) include Georg Solti, Claudio Abbado, Ion Marin, Riccardo Muti, Robert Spano, and the late Seiji Ozawa. While Lopardo was never tempted to move outside the natural confines of his lyric voice, he did in the final years of his career, move into some of Verdi’s larger lyric tenor parts, in operas like Un ballo in maschera and Simon Boccanegra, both of which are sampled here. We also hear Frank in duet with some of his favorite colleagues, including memorable Chilean sopranos Verónica Villarroel and Cristina Gallardo-Domâs. It was all I could do not to entitle this episode Lopardopalooza, ‘cause that’s exactly what it is!

Episode 257. The Marvelous Marvis Martin

April 9, 2024African American Singers, Art Song, Black History Month, Black History Month 2024, French Opera, Full-Figured Baroque, Great Tenors, Happy Birthday, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Orchestral Songs, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century Music, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAaron Copland, Carlo Sigismondo Capece, Charles Mackerras, Die tote Stadt, DuBose Heyward, Edward H.S. Boatner, Elijah, Emily Dickinson, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Eve Queler, Felix Dahn, Felix Mendelssohn, Gary Ledet, George Frideric Handel, George Gershwin, Gianbattista Varesco, Gustave Charpentier, Henry Lewis, Idomeneo, Ira Gershwin, Jahja Ling, James Agee, James Levine, James Paul, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Jeffrey Kahane, Jerry Hadley, Joseph-Marie Canteloube, Julius Korngold, Kees Bakkels, Leontyne Price, Libor Pešek, Ludovico Ariosti, Marvis Martin, Messiah, Ned Rorem, Opera Orchestra of New York, Orlando (Handel), Porgy and Bess, Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, Richard Strauss, Samuel Barber, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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I have been juggling a number of brand new episode ideas for the coming weeks, but when I discovered that Sunday April 7 was the birthday of Marvis Martin, one of my favorite sopranos, I put all those ideas on the back burner and eagerly put together this birthday tribute to a singer who not only is celebrated as possessing one of the most beautiful voices of her generation, but who has also had a long, successful, and unconventional career. For whatever arbitrary reason, Marvis Martin made only a handful of major label recording releases, but, for us lucky persons who live in the age of YouTube, there are a growing number of gorgeous live recordings available that feature this artist in her prime. In some ways she reminds me of Veronica Tyler, whose career I charted in a popular episode of the podcast a few months ago. In the case of the highly respected and frankly marvelous Marvis Martin, we are able to personally present her with the flowers that she so richly deserves. I have curated a wonderful setlist today of mostly live material that includes representative selections from each of the platforms on which her career was focused: opera, concert, and recital, everything from Mozart and Handel to Copland, Rorem, and Barber; from selections from Porgy and spirituals, to Tchaikovsky, Strauss, and Korngold. My dear friend Jerry Hadley appears as a duet partner in a rare live Idomeneo performance and conductors Georg Solti, Henry Lewis, Vladimir Ashkenazy, James Levine, Charles Mackerras, Eve Queler, and Libor Pešek, among others, support this magnificent singer from the podium.

Episode 249. Gavin Carr Introduces Heinrich Rehkemper (Listeners’ Favorites)

March 11, 2024Art Song, Bel canto, Full-Figured Baroque, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, Gustav Mahler, Interview, Lieder, Listeners' Favorites, Opera in Translation, Richard Wagner, Schubert, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartEduard Mörike, Felix Mendelssohn, Franz Schubert, Friedrich Rückert, Fritz Zweig, Gavin Carr, George Frideric Handel, Gerhard Hüsch, Gioacchino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, Gustav Mahler, Heinrich Heine, Heinrich Rehkemper, Heinrich Schlusnus, Jascha Horenstein, Julius Prüwer, Karl Schmitt-Walter, Manfred Gurlitt, Messiah (Handel), Michael Raucheisen, Robert Schumann, Waldemar Liachowsky, Wilhelm Müller, Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender, William Boughton, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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This month’s series of Listeners’ Favorites continues with the baritone Heinrich Rehkemper (1894-1949), presented to you today by my dear friend, the esteemed conductor Gavin Carr, who is the very person that first introduced him to me many years ago now. Rehkemper is one of a number of exceptional German baritones of that era who represent a very different kind of singing than we are accustomed to today: full-throated voices with an even scale from top to bottom managed with no technical gimmickry or phoniness. Rehkemper brought these traits to whatever music he was singing, whether opera, oratorio, or Lied. He left a small but important cache of discs, including many Lieder recordings, particularly of Franz Schubert. He also made the first complete recording in 1928 of Gustav Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder under the baton of none other than the great Mahler conductor Jascha Horenstein. I place Rehkemper in the context of the other significant German baritones of his era, Heinrich Schlusnus, Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender, Karl Schmitt-Walter, and Gerhard Hüsch, playing examples of each singing the aria of Di Luna from Verdi’s Der Troubadour, each sung in German translation. But it is first and foremost the unique legacy of Rehkemper’s art song recordings that concerns me here, and I discuss what makes his work so important, and what today’s singers can learn through close study of his recordings. My dear friends, just because the name of today’s baritone might not be familiar to you, Gavin and I both implore you not to hesitate in partaking of the vocal and musical riches to be discovered in this episode!

Episode 244. Veronica Tyler (BHM 2024)

February 23, 2024African American Singers, Art Song, Black History Month, Black History Month 2024, Comic Relief, Forgotten Divas, French Opera, Full-Figured Baroque, Giacomo Puccini, Great Baritones, In Memoriam, Lieder, Needle Drop, NYCO Divas, Opera in Translation, Singers of Color, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartArthur Gold, Carmen, Charles Bressler, Die Zauberflöte, Du Bose Heyward, Emanuel Schikaneder, Erich Leinsdorf, Ernest Ragogini, Florence Price, Georg Friedrich Daumer, George Gershwin, Georges Bizet, Giacomo Puccini Luigi Illica, Gian Carlo Menotti, Giuseppe Giacosa, Gregory Millar, Gustave Charpentier, Henri Meilhac, Henri Murger, Hermann Prey, Ira Gershwin, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johannes Brahms, John Boyden, John Reardon, Julius Rudel, La Boheme, Leoanrd Bernstein, Leopold Stokowski, Louise (Charpentier), Ludovic Halévy, Porgy and Bess, Prosper Mérimée, Regina Sarfaty, Robert Fizdale, Robert Schumann, Spirituals, Szene aus Goethes Faust (Schumann), Veronica Tyler, Warren Wilson, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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This Countermelody episode is the last in my miniseries featuring artists from Baltimore. It is also the last in my new episodes for Black History Month 2024 featuring “Forgotten Divas.” Today I offer to you the absolutely divine soprano of Veronica Tyler (1939-2020), who fits all three categories. In the 1960s, Veronica Tyler was a name on everyone’s lips: she appeared on three different episodes of Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts, she was the second prize winner of the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1966, the first time this venerable contest had featured singers, she was a featured artist at the New York City Opera, where, in their first season at Lincoln Center, she sang a Pamina in The Magic Flute of such humanity and transcendent vocal beauty that audiences were transported into another world. She sang under conductors Leopold Stokowski, Erich Leinsdorf, Zubin Mehta, Eugene Ormandy, Carlo Maria Giulini, Robert Shaw, and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski. Later on she made a belated Met debut in 1985 as Serena in their premiere production of Porgy and Bess, but gradually her high profile appearances became fewer and fewer and eventually she disappeared from view. Her death on 21 March 2020 was only announced three months later, and with little fanfare. But during her heyday, Veronica Tyler was among the most elegant, compelling, and ingratiating lyric sopranos in the business. I have scoured the archives to bring to light some of the artist’s most beautiful performances, some of them virtually unheard for decades, including a 1980 album of spirituals that ranks among the best of this repertoire ever committed to disc. What inexpressible joy it brings me to present to you the unforgettable Veronica Tyler!

Episode 242. Damon Evans Introduces George Shirley (Listeners’ Favorites IX)

February 19, 2024African American Singers, Art Song, Black History Month, Black History Month 2024, Full-Figured Baroque, Giacomo Puccini, Great Tenors, Happy Birthday, Interview, Listeners' Favorites, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Operetta, Queer Pride, Renata Scotto, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Singers in Old Age, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century Opera, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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This week I present a Countermelody mini-series paying tribute to three great African American artists who were born in Baltimore. First up is the eclectic, versatile, and prodigiously talented Damon Evans, who introduces the latest Listeners’ Favorites episode, a tribute to an idol we both treasure, the phenomenal and pathbreaking George Shirley, who on April 18 will celebrate his 90th birthday. Damon chose to do his introduction as an interview, so as a prelude to the main episode, my listeners get to hear one amazing tenor sing the praises of another one!

George Shirley is one of the most versatile tenors of the second half of the twentieth century, and a pathbreaker as the first African American tenor to sing at the Metropolitan Opera. I first encountered him through his matchless portrayal of Pelléas in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande opposite Elisabeth Söderström. But his Mozart is equally celebrated: the podcast also features live and studio recordings of George Shirley as Tamino (opposite Judith Raskin), Don Ottavio, Ferrando (opposite Leontyne Price), as well as his extraordinary Idomeneo. Extant live performances of George Shirley including assumptions of roles as diverse as Don José (opposite Shirley Verrett), David in Die Meistersinger, Pinkerton (opposite the late Renata Scotto in an incandescent early performance of one of her greatest roles), Mephistopheles in Busoni’s Doktor Faust, and even Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos. All of these are included in the episode, as are rare recordings of art songs and spirituals from throughout his career. Raise a glass to the great George Shirley and join me in thanking him for having shared so generously with us his extraordinary artistic gifts!

Episode 238. Delcina Stevenson (BHM2024)

February 2, 2024African American Singers, Art Song, Bel canto, Black History Month, Black History Month 2024, Broadway, Crossover, Forgotten Divas, French Opera, Full-Figured Baroque, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Singers in Old Age, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century Opera, Verismo, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAida, Alessandra Marc, Alexander Pushkin, Antonio Ghislanzoni, Armen Guzelimian, Auguste Mariette Bey, Camille du Locle, Claudio Guastalla, David Atkins, Delcina Stevenson, Dina van Driesten, Edward Boatner, Eugene W. Hancock, Gioacchino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, Gustave Charpentier, Hans Wiers-Jenssen, Heinrich Heine, Jean Périsson, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Joseph Shore, La Fiamma (Respighi), Louise (Charpentier), Maurice Jarre, Oscar Wilde, Ottorino Respighi, Péchés de vieillesse, Robert Bass, Sergei Rachmaninov, Sharon Davis, Spirituals, Stephen Sondheim, Sweeney Todd, T.K. Wang, Tania Agins, Ted Puffer, Vincent Mitzelfelt, William Pillin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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I am so grateful to all the listeners who did introductions to their favorite episodes last month. It provided me with a little bit of needed breathing space and now I am back raring to go with my first new episode for 2024, just in time for Black History Month 2024! There is a secondary theme for this month which is “Forgotten Divas,” a favorite topic of mine at any time of year. The term “forgotten” needs to be taken with a grain of salt, because these women are anything but forgotten among those who experienced their singing, teaching, or friendship live and in person. Nevertheless, for want of a better term (Divas Who Deserve to Be As Well-Remembered as Any of Their More Famous Counterparts seems a little wordy), I’ll stick with the designation I chose.

Today’s artist is the only “Forgotten Diva” who is still with us, soprano Delcina Stevenson, born 29 September 1933, so this enables me to also “give flowers” (to coin a present-day term I actually like) to her directly. She was born in Kansas and graduated from Kansas University. After moving to California in 1960, she coached and studied with Lotte Lehmann, Gwendolyn Koldofsky, Martial Singher, and William Vennard, and was a protégée early in her career of Kurt Herbert Adler at the San Francisco Opera. She has lived and performed around the world, primarily in California, New York, and Germany. She possessed one of the most exquisite lyric soprano voices I have ever heard, one which never aged, but simply grew more lush and voluminous. The musical excerpts I have compiled feature her in live and studio recordings from over the course of more than 30 years, ranging Mozart to Sondheim to Rossini, in which that voice is on shimmering display. I am thrilled to introduce (or reintroduce) her to you.

Episode 236. Howard Hart Introduces Christa Ludwig (Listeners’ Favorites VII)

January 23, 2024African American Singers, Art Song, Bel canto, Broadway, Full-Figured Baroque, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Gustav Mahler, Interview, Listeners' Favorites, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Orchestral Songs, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Schubert, Singers in Old Age, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century Music, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAlban Berg, Charles Spencer, Christa Ludwig, Cosi fan tutte, Das Lied von der Erde, Der Rosenkavalier, Die Frau ohne Schatten, Fidelio, Franz Schubert, Gioacchino Rossini, Gloria Davy, Gundula Janowitz, Gustav Mahler, Gwyneth Jones, Herbert von Karajan, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Jonathan Alder, Karl Böhm, Karl Richter, La Cenerentola, Leonard Bernstein, Leopold Ludwig, Lohengrin, Lovro von Matačić, Ludwig van Beethoven, Reri Grist, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Victoria de los Angeles, Walter Berry, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Wozzeckcountermelody

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My friend and fellow opera podcaster Howard Hart introduces the first of this week’s Listeners’ Favorites episodes, my 2021 tribute to the superb zwischenfach singer Christa Ludwig, who died nearly three years ago. Ludwig was a singer whose repertoire centered around the great German composers but who also sang Verdi and French repertoire with stunning results; a mezzo-soprano who was unparalleled in Wagner, Mahler, and Brahms, but who also sang the great soprano heroines of Richard Strauss; a Lieder singer of great perception and textual acuity whose supple technique nonetheless was centered on legato singing: the greatness of this artist simply cannot be overestimated. I focus on the key composers (Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler, and Richard Wagner) and conductors (Karl Böhm, Herbert von Karajan, and Leonard Bernstein) with whom she was most closely associated, while also examining some roles that might surprise you: Cenerentola, Amneris and Marie in Wozzeck. Vocal guest stars include Gloria Davy, Victoria de los Ángeles, Reri Grist, Gundula Janowitz, Gwyneth Jones, and Ludwig’s one-time husband Walter Berry. Thank you, Howard, for lending your enthusiasm and passion to my podcast in your introduction of one of your (and my) favorite singers.

Episode 235. Anna Tonna Introduces Teresa Berganza (Listeners’ Favorites VI)

January 17, 2024Art Song, Bel canto, French Opera, In Memoriam, Lieder, Listeners' Favorites, Mezzo Madness, Mirella Freni, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Operetta, Twentieth Century Music, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAlexander Gibson, Alfonso X El Sabio, Ataúlfo Argenta, Benito Lauret, Carlo Maria Giulini, Carmen (Bizet), Cosi fan tutte, El Puñao de Rosas, Elisabeth Soderstrom, Ettore Gracis, Federico Moreno Torroba, Felix Lavilla, Franco Bonisolli, Frauenliebe und -leben, Frederic Mompou, Gabriel Bacquier, Georg Solti, Georges Bizet, Gioacchino Rossini, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Hans Rosbaud, István Kertész, Joaquín Turina, José Serrano, La Cenerentola, La Chulapona, La Clemenza di Tito, Las Hijas del Zebedeo, Le nozze di Figaro, Lola Rodríguez Aragón, Lorenzo da Ponte, Los Claveles, Luis Antonio García Navarro, Manuel de Falla, Maria Callas, Medea (Cherubini), Mirella Freni, Nicola Rescigno, Pilar Lorengar, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Ricardo Requejo, Robert Schumann, Ruperto Chapí, Siete canciones populares españolas, Stabat Mater (Pergolesi), Teresa Berganza, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Zarzuelacountermelody

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Today’s Listeners’ Favorites episode of Countermelody is introduced by my good friend (and Countermelody fan) the marvelous mezzo-soprano Anna Tonna. In her introduction Anna tells about her first exposure to the podcast and introduces us to one of her favorite episodes: the one I published in May 2022 a week after the beloved singer died at the age of 89. The episode pays tribute to her artistry through the exploration of her operatic roles, from Neris in Medea opposite Maria Callas, through her matchless Mozart and Rossini portrayals, through her fascinating and highly individualized portrait of the title heroine of Bizet’s Carmen. Special emphasis is given to her performance of Spanish music, from the zarzuelas of Ruperto Chapí and Federico Moreno Torroba, to art songs of Manuel de Falla and Fredric Mompou. Vocal guest stars include Mirella Freni, Pilar Lorengar, Lola Rodríguez Aragón, Franco Bonisolli, and the incendiary Callas herself, an early mentor and supporter of Berganza. I began the preparation for this episode with an incomplete appreciation of Berganza’s voice and artistry, but, knowing that she was one of Anna’s most treasured singers and role models, my goal was to see her through Anna’s eyes, and in the end, I was completely won over. This episode perfectly illustrates the podcast as a journey of mutual discovery for both me and my listeners.

Episode 233 – Dusty Pörn Introduces Eleanor Steber (Listeners’ Favorites IV)

January 10, 2024Art Song, Bel canto, Broadway, Crossover, French Opera, Full-Figured Baroque, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Tenors, Interview, Listeners' Favorites, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, NYCO Divas, Opera in Translation, Operetta, Orchestral Songs, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century Opera, Verismo, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAlban Berg, Alexandre Dumas, Arabella, Astrid Varnay, Cosi fan tutte, David Belasco, Der Rosenkavalier, Die Frau ohne Schatten, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Dusty Pörn, Edwin Biltcliffe, Eleanor Steber, Enzo Viaro, Eric Coates, Ernani, Fausto Cleva, Frederick Weatherly, Fritz Busch, Fritz Stiedry, Georg Büchner, George London, Giuseppe Antonicelli, Giuseppe di Stefano, Howard Barlow, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, I Puritani, Il Trovatore, James A. Bland, James Agee, Jean Madeira, Joseph Keilberth, Jussi Bjorling, Karl Böhm, La Fanciulla del West, La Traviata, Lohengrin, Madama Butterfly, Mario del Monaco, Max Rudolf, Naughty Marietta, Nicholas Harsanyi, Percy Faith, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Risë Stevens, Royden Barrie, Rudolf Kempe, Samuel Barber, Victor Herbert, Victor Hugo, Vincenzo Bellini, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Wozzeckcountermelody

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Today’s subject is Eleanor Steber, certainly one of the greatest and most versatile of American sopranos. She is introduced by one of the most recent (and most colorful) of all of my listeners, the San Francisco-based drag artiste (and vocalist extraordinaire) Dusty Pörn. In this very special episode, which I first posted in the summer of 2022 in honor of Steber’s 108th birthday, musical selections from across the duration of Steber’s long career, are supplemented by the generous and loving commentary of my friend, singer and conductor Michelle Oesterle, who was Eleanor’s stepdaughter. As such Michelle spent time (especially in the summer months) with her father and Eleanor at Melodie Hill, Eleanor’s estate on Long Island. She provides us with an unparalleled intimate portrait of Eleanor as woman and as singer and describes the profound influence that Eleanor had in her life, as well as the characteristics that combined to make her the profoundly appealing and moving interpreter that she was. She also addresses the white elephant in the room, that is, Eleanor’s alcoholism, and makes a plea for tolerance and understanding vis-à-vis this serious disease. Many thanks to both Dusty and Michelle for their loving and perceptive tributes to this greatest of singers and artists.

Episode 232. Janet Williams and Paul Padillo Introduce Maria Ewing (Listeners’ Favorites III)

January 7, 2024African American Singers, Bel canto, Black History Month, Crossover, Giacomo Puccini, Gustav Mahler, In Memoriam, Listeners' Favorites, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Operetta, Orchestral Songs, Richard Strauss, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century Opera, Verismo, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAndrew Davis, Antonio de Almeida, Bernard Haitink, Bob Merrill, Carl Orff, Carmen, Carol Neblett, Christiane Eda-Pierre, Claude Debussy, Claudio Abbado, Claudio Monteverdi, Dale Duesing, Dennis Bailey, Dido and Aeneas, Dmitri Shostakovich, Don Giovanni, Elizabeth Collier, Eric Tappy, Francis Poulenc, François Le Roux, Funny Girl, George Bizet, Giacomo Puccini, Gioacchino Rossini, Gustav Mahler, Harold Arlen, Henri Meilhac, Henry Purcell, Horst Stein, Iain Sutherland, Idomeneo, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Jacques Offenbach, James Levine, Janet Williams, Jean Cocteau, Jean Rigby, Jerome Kern, John Pritchard, John Wilson, Jule Styne, Jules Massenet, Kurt Masur, L’incoronazione di Poppea, La Périchole, La voix humaine, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Le nozze di Figaro, Leonard Slatkin, Lorenzo da Ponte, Ludovic Halévy, Marc Soustrot, Maria Ewing, Maurice Maeterlinck, Maurice Ravel, Myung-Whun Chung, Nahum Tate, Oscar Hammerstein II, Oscar Wilde, Patrick Devin, Paul Padillo, Pelleas et Melisande, Raymond Leppard, Richard Hickox, Richard Rodgers, Richard Rodney Bennett, Richard Strauss, Romano Gandolfi, Ruggero Raimondi, Salome, Shane Hill, Shéhérazade, Siegmund Nimsgern, Simon James, Simon Rattle, South Pacific, Sylvain Cambreling, Ted Koehler, Tosca, Tristan Klingsor, Werther, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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January 9 is already the second anniversary of the death of the iconoclastic (and iconic) Maria Ewing, who died of cancer in her home outside of her native Detroit on January 9, 2022. She was an artist both admired and derided during her lifetime, whose importance since her death has only become more apparent. It so happens that two of my most faithful listeners, Janet Williams and Paul Padillo, chose the episode that I published in her honor as their favorite episode. Paul is a passionate opera advocate who maintains a blog as well as a Facebook page in which he writes with extraordinary eloquence about the musical genre we all adore. Janet is celebrated throughout the world as one of the finest singers of her generation who has gone on to become one of the most important voice teachers in the world today, teaching, with compassion and common sense, a technique grounded in the essentials of bel canto. Their spoken introductions to the episode highlight different aspects of what made Ewing so special. For Paul, he became a lifelong fan after hearing her performance of Blanche de la Force in Poulenc’s operatic masterpiece, The Dialogues of the Carmelites. For Janet, it was a shared provenance (both were natives of Detroit) as well as a common mentor, the late David Di Chiera, who founded and ran Michigan Opera Theatre, the company featured both Maria and Janet in some of their first operatic appearances. Maria’s passing hit me particularly hard because at the time of her death, I was in the midst of creating a special episode in her honor and had been immersing myself in her fascinating performances, finding myself more and more in awe of her one-of-a-kind artistry. This tribute episode is simply not to be missed.

Episode 231. Elliot Levine Introduces Margaret Marshall (Listeners’ Favorites II)

January 3, 2024Art Song, Bel canto, French Opera, Full-Figured Baroque, Great Tenors, Happy Birthday, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Orchestral Songs, Richard Strauss, Twentieth Century Music, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAlban Berg, Alfreda Hodgson, Ann Murray, Antal Dorati, Antonio Salieri, Antonio Vivaldi, Brigitte Fassbaender, Charles Groves, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Cosi fan tutte, Edward Elgar, Felicity Palmer, Francisco Araiza, Geoffrey Parsons, George Frideric Handel, Gerald Finzi, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Günter Kehr, Handel Messiah, Hans Dokoupil, Hans Hotter, Hans Thamm, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Eliot Gardiner, John Fraser, Joseph Haydn, Margaret Marshall, Neville Marriner, Orfeo ed Euridice, Philip Ledger, Rafael Kubelik, Ralf Weikert, Riccardo Muti, Richard Strauss, Rudolf Ewerhart, Sesto Bruscantini, Vittorio Negri, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Zubin Mehtacountermelody

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The second of my Listeners’ Favorites episodes for January is introduced by my dear friend Elliot Levine, a founding member of the Western Wind Vocal Ensemble, with whom he sang bass for 47 years. He is also an exceptional composer (who among his many other works has composed material expressly for me which I have sung with great pleasure and joy), He is also a valued choral singer and clinician. He has been a devoted listener to, and supporter of, Countermelody since its inception and among his many favorite episodes, he has chosen one of my very favorites to highlight, my birthday tribute, first published three years ago, to superbissima Margaret Marshall, who celebrates her birthday on January 4th.

Since she burst upon the scene in the late 1970s, Margaret Marshall has been a favorite of lovers of great singing. Her timbre, artistry, and technical facility evoke comparisons with many treasured singers of the past. Though she retired from public performance in 2005, in the year 2020 she launched, in tandem with her daughter Nicola and a group of dedicated supporters, a website called Songbird, which focuses on the early years of her career, and which features many rare soundclips, both live and studio, from that period, many of which have been assembled into a new downloadable release entitled “Margaret Marshall Songbird.” Today’s episode features a wide range of her live and studio recordings, including a few samples from the Songbird release. Included are works by Galuppi, Pergolesi, Vivaldi, Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Salieri, Gluck, Elgar, Finzi, Richard Strauss, and Alban Berg in recordings and performances between 1975 and 1990, with collaborators including conductors Neville Marriner, Riccardo Muti, John Eliot Gardiner, Vittorio Negri, Charles Groves, Antal Doráti, Philip Ledger, and Rafael Kubelik and fellow singers Ann Murray, Francisco Araiza, Alfreda Hodgson, Felicity Palmer, and Sesto Bruscantini. Compiling this episode has provided my ears and spirit with many blissful hours; I wish my listeners the same experience! Many thanks to both Margaret and Nicola for providing advice and guidance in the selection of today’s material, and many happy returns to the “Scottish supersoprano”! Since this episode was published, Margaret has published a second series of rare recordings available via download on her website, as well as Apple and Spotify. Margaret Marshall Songbird 2 includes exquisite performances of Bach, Mozart, Schubert, Wolf, and Sacchini, and, like the performances on this recording, simply must be heard to be believed.

Episode 229. Happy Birthday, John Wustman

December 25, 2023Art Song, Behind the Iron Curtain, Bel canto, Canadian Singers, Full-Figured Baroque, Great Tenors, Gustav Mahler, Happy Birthday, Holiday Music, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Needle Drop, Renata Scotto, Richard Strauss, Schubert, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAleksey Tolstoy, Alessandro Scarlatti, Arseniy Golenishchev-Kutuzov, Birgit Nilsson, Carl Loewe, Carlo Bergonzi, Carlo Pepoli, Donald Bell, Eduard Mörike, Edvard Grieg, Fiançailles pour rire, Francesco Petrarca, Francis Poulenc, Franz Liszt, Franz Schubert, Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt, Georg Friedrich Daumer, Gioacchino Rossini, Giovanni Bononcini, Gwyneth Jones, Heinrich Hart, Hugo Wolf, Irina Arkhopova, Italienisches Liederbuch, Johann Mayrhofer, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johannes Brahms, John Henry McKay, John Wustman, Joseph von Eichendorff, Le nozze di Figaro, Lorenzo da Ponte, Louise de Vilmorin, Luciano Pavarotti, Mildred Miller, Modest Mussorgsky, Nicolai Gedda, Nordahl Rolfsen, Norman Mackenzie, Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, Regine Crespin, Renata Scotto, Richard Strauss, Richard Tucker, Robert Shaw, Songs and Dances of Death, Susan Dunn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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Today, Christmas Day 2023, is also the 93rd birthday of my teacher, the great John Wustman. I can think of no better way to conclude Season Four of Countermelody than with a tribute to the man who had the greatest influence on my development as a musician. He’s probably best-known for his work with Luciano Pavarotti and as the accompanist in more than thirty Music Minus One LPs from the early 1960s, as well as for his pioneering teaching of scores of accompanists. He has been called “the dean of American accompanists” and many other things, but to me he is and remains primarily my dear friend and mentor. From the late 1950s through the 1980s and beyond, he appeared with nearly all of the greatest singers on the planet, from Richard Tucker, William Warfield, Eleanor Steber, and Jennie Tourel; to Birgit Nilsson, Carlo Bergonzi, Régine Crespin, Nicolai Gedda, and Renata Scotto. He and Russian mezzo-soprano Irina Arkhipova won the 1973 Gran Prix du Disque for their legendary (and matchless) recording of Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death, only one of his many commercial recordings. I have been searching the internet for sound documents of his many live recordings and I’m pleased to say that I have found some rare ones to complement my reminiscences of studying with him in the late 1980s. He wrote to me just this past week that he is currently preparing another live performance of Schubert’s Winterreise in early 2024. I am so thrilled to pay tribute to the man who, through his powerful example and influence, forever changed the way I play, sing, talk about, think about, and hear music.

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 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.

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 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!

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 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.

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 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.

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 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!

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 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.

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.