Tag Archives: Chansons de Bilitis

Episode 355. John Wustman (Honor Your Mentors I)

May 2, 2025Art Song, Behind the Iron Curtain, Bel canto, Canadian Singers, French Opera, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Contraltos, Great Tenors, Honor Your Mentors, In Memoriam, Lieder, Listeners' Favorites, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Twentieth Century MusicAdam Haas, Arseny Golenishchev-Kutuzov, Brigitte Fassbaender, Carl Loewe, Carlo Pepoli, Chanda VanderHart, Chansons de Bilitis, Chants d’Auvergne, Claude Debussy, Claus Ogerman, Donald Bell, Eduard Mörike, Elvia Puccinelli, Felice Romani, Francesco Maria Piave, Francesco Petrarca, Francis Poulenc, Franz Liszt, Franz Schubert, Gabriel Faure, Gabriele M. Muncker, Gaetano Donizetti, Georg Friedrich Daumer, Gioachino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, Guillaume Apollinaire, Hugo Wolf, Irina Arkhipova, Joan Caplan, Johann Gottfried von Herder, Johann von Mayrhofer, Johannes Brahms, John Wustman, Joseph Canteloube, Joseph von Eichendorff, Kathleen Kelly, Luciano Pavarotti, Lucrezia Borgia, Mildred Miller, Modest Mussorgsky, Paul Verlaine, Pierre Louÿs, Rabindranath Tagore, Regine Crespin, Rigoletto, Robert Schumann, Robert Shaw, Serate musicali, Soirées musicales, Songs and Dances of Death, Susan Dunn, Thomas Potter, Tre Sonetti di Petrarca, Victor Hugocountermelody

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I have been reminded over and over again in recent weeks of the preciousness of life as numerous dear friends and family members face loss of loved ones and their own life-altering health crises. This got me to thinking about how much my mentors have shaped my life. So with this latest episode I inaugurate a new Countermelody series entitled “Honor Your Mentors.”

I have already posted numerous times on the podcast about my beloved teacher John Wustman. This coming July my friend and colleague Chanda VanderHart’s monumental book Accompaniment in America: Contextualizing Collaborative Piano, co-authored with Kathleen Kelly and Elvia Puccinelli, will be published by Routledge. Chanda has put together an astonishing digital archive featuring a wealth of material related to the book: https://accompanimentinamerica.website/index.html Included in this material is an interview I did with Chanda about Mr. Wustman. Chanda has given me permission to include that interview on my podcast. This is supplemented by a sampling of (mostly) studio recordings of John featuring, among others, Régine Crespin, Carlo Bergonzi, Brigitte Fassbaender, Luciano Pavarotti, and Irina Arkhipova: truly an astonishing feast for the ears!

Additionally, I was enormously saddened last week to read of the death of Joan Caplan, my first serious voice teacher in New York, and a phenomenal singer in her own right. Joan also remained a close friend through the years. In recent years she had been living at the Actors Fund Home in Englewood, New Jersey. I was able to visit her there last summer and had intended to go see her again later this month. Alas, that can no longer happen, but I will also be featuring Joan in an upcoming episode in the “Honor Your Mentors” series. In her memory today, I present her in a scintillating recording of Orsini’s Brindisi from Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia.

Finally, though I’m sure no one needs to be reminded of this, please, my dears, tell all those you love how much they mean to you; don’t wait until their funerals to give them their flowers!

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 329. Lois Marshall @ 100

January 30, 2025Art Song, Behind the Iron Curtain, Canadian Singers, Forgotten Divas, Full-Figured Baroque, Great Contraltos, Gustav Mahler, Happy Birthday, In Memoriam, Lieder, Listeners' Favorites, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Richard Strauss, Schubert, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century Opera, Verismo, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAchim von Arnim, Acis and Galatea, Adalbert von Chamisso, Ah Perfido!, Anne Frank, Anthony Bernard, Anton Kuerti, Benjamin Britten, Brian Priestman, Chansons de Bilitis, Claude Debussy, Clemens Brentano, Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Eduard Grikurov, Eduardo Pedrazolli, Ernest MacMillan, Folk Songs, Franz Schubert, Frauenliebe und -leben, George Frideric Handel, George van Renesse, Giacomo Puccini, Glenn Gould, Gustav Mahler, Healey Willan, Henry Purcell, Hermann Hesse, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, John Dryden, John Weldon, Joseph Haydn, Judy Loman, La Clemenza di Tito, Lois Marshall, Ludwig van Beethoven, Manuel de Falla, Maureen Forrester, Orford String Quartet, Oskar Morawetz, Ottorino Respighi, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Pierre Louÿs, Pietro Metastasio, Richard Strauss, Robert Bloom, Robert Burns, Robert Schumann, The Creation (Haydn), The Fairy Queen, Thomas Moore, Turandot, Weldon Kilburn, Welford Russell, Wilhelm Müller, Winterreise, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Yehudi Wynercountermelody

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Yesterday was the 100th birthday of the sublime Canadian singer, Lois Marshall (29 January 1925 – 19 February 1997). I was sorry to see that there were very apparently few acknowledgements of this momentous occasion. Three years ago, in a Countermelody series on Great Canadian Singers, Lois Marshall was my first subject. If you haven’t heard of her (which is entirely possible, given the vagaries of posthumous fame and reputation), you are in for an enormous treat. Possessed of a rare musical scrupulousness, an interpretive honestly, directness, and integrity, as well as a finely-honed dramatic sensibility, Lois Marshall, in a better world, would have graced the world’s operatic stages. Alas, she was stricken with polio as a child, and though she managed to gain the ability to walk, staged opera was a genre which she only rarely attempted. Yet she worked with the world’s greatest conductors, among them Toscanini, Stokowski, and Beecham, and was a recitalist celebrated the world over. This episode offers an extended yet partial glimpse of the range and variety of her artistry, and includes recordings of arias by both Purcell and Puccini (the title role of Turandot!), Bach and Beethoven, as well as a dazzling array of recital repertoire from Debussy to folk song arrangements. Fellow Canadians Maureen Forrester and Glenn Gould are also featured. I wanted very much to present a brand-new Lois Marshall episode in hono(u)r of her centennial, and I promise you that is in the works, but in the meantime, I listened early this morning to the first Lois Marshall tribute I posted and I have decided to republish it today as I continue to prepare the brand-new episode. Some of today’s material, in particular an excerpt from Oskar Morawetz’s From the Diary of Anne Frank, which Lois Marshall premiered in 1970, serves as a grim reminder of the United States’ further descent into madness and inhumanity, especially since the inauguration of King Ubu. Through the darkness, however, the glorious voice and humanity of Lois Marshall provide us with an ideal example of our better selves.

Episode 123. Lois Marshall (Great Canadian Singers)

January 7, 2022Art Song, Behind the Iron Curtain, Full-Figured Baroque, Giacomo Puccini, Gustav Mahler, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Schubert, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century Music, VerismoAchim von Arnim, Acis and Galatea, Adalbert von Chamisso, Ah Perfido!, Anne Frank, Anthony Bernard, Anton Kuerti, Benjamin Britten, Brian Priestman, Chansons de Bilitis, Claude Debussy, Clemens Brentano, Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Eduard Grikurov, Eduardo Pedrazolli, Ernest MacMillan, Folk Songs, Franz Schubert, Frauenliebe und -leben, George Frideric Handel, George van Renesse, Giacomo Puccini, Glenn Gould, Grace Bumbry, Gustav Mahler, Healey Willan, Heinrich Heine, Henry Purcell, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, John Dryden, John Weldon, Joseph Haydn, Judy Loman, La Clemenza di Tito, Lois Marshall, Ludwig van Beethoven, Manuel de Falla, Maureen Forrester, Orford String Quartet, Oskar Morawetz, Ottorino Respighi, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Pierre Louÿs, Pietro Metastasio, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Robert Bloom, Robert Burns, Robert Schumann, Tannhäuser, The Creation (Haydn), The Fairy Queen, Thomas Moore, Turandot, Weldon Kilburn, Welford Russell, Wilhelm Müller, Winterreise, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Yehudi Wynercountermelody

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Today is my first episode of the New Year, and the first in my three-part series this month on Great Canadian Singers. It is my contention that my first subject, Lois Marshall (1925-1997), is one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century. If you haven’t heard of her (which is entirely possible, given the vagaries of posthumous fame and reputation), you are in for an enormous treat. Possessed of a rare musical scrupulousness, an interpretive honestly, directness, and integrity, as well as a finely-honed dramatic sensibility, Lois Marshall, in a better world, would have graced the world’s operatic stages. Alas, she was stricken with polio as a child, and though she managed to gain the ability to walk, staged opera was a genre which she only rarely attempted. Yet she worked with the world’s greatest conductors, among them Toscanini, Stokowski, and Beecham, and was a recitalist celebrated the world over. This episode offers an extended yet partial glimpse of the range and variety of her artistry, and includes recordings of arias by both Purcell and Puccini (the title role of Turandot!), Bach and Beethoven, as well as a dazzling array of recital repertoire from Debussy to folk song arrangements. Fellow Canadians Maureen Forrester and Glenn Gould are also featured. In my opinion, this artist is ripe for rediscovery, and I hope that you will join me on this extraordinary journey into the life and career of Lois Marshall.

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.