Tag Archives: Erasmo Ghiglia

Episode 479. Get to Know Alain Vanzo

July 11, 2026Bel canto, French Opera, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Tenors, Ileana Cotrubas, Listeners' Favorites, Opera in Translation, Operetta, Twentieth Century Opera, Verismo, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAbbé Prevost, Alain Vanzo, Alfred de Musset, André Mauprey, Andrea Chénier, Andrea del Sarto, Andrée Esposito, Angelo Anelli, Anita Terzian, Auguste Barbier, Benvenuto Cellini, Bruno Amaducci, Cavalleria Rusticana, Charles Gounod, Daniel Lesur, Das Land des Lächelns, Don Giovanni, Don Procopio, Édouard Blau, Édouard Duprez, Édouard Lalo, Erasmo Ghiglia, Faust, Francesco Maria Piave, Franz Lehár, Frédéric Mistral, Fritz Löhner-Beda, Georges Bizet, Georges Pretre, Georges Sébastien, Giacomo Puccini, Giancarlo Amati, Gioachino Rossini, Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti, Giovanni Verga, Giuseppe Giacosa, Giuseppe Verdi, Guido Menasci, Gustave Cloëz, Hector Berlioz, Henri Meilhac, Henri Murger, Ileana Cotrubas, Jean Marietti, Jésus Etchéverry, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Jules Barbier, Jules Gressier, Jules Massenet, L’italiana in Algeri, La Boheme, Le pays du sourire, Le Roi d’Ys, Léon Battu, Léon de Wailly, Lorenzo da Ponte, Ludovic Halévy, Ludwig Herzer, Luigi Illica, Mady Mesple, Manon, Manuel Rosenthal, Michel Carré, Michèle Le Bris, Mireille, Nino Bonavolontà, Paul Milliet, Philippe Gille, Pierre-Michel Leconte, Pietro Mascagni, Raymond Chevreux, Renée Doria, Reynald Giovaninetti, Rigoletto, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Serge Baudo, Suzanne Sarroca, Umberto Giordano, Victor Hugo, Victor Léon, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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I return to Countermelody‘s Salut à la France miniseries with a tribute to the Monaco-born French-naturalized tenor, Alain Vanzo (1923-2002). There was simply no more elegant a tenor (or any singer!) in the French operatic repertoire (and beyond) than Vanzo in his glory days in the 1960s and 1970s. I have chosen a setlist which presents him, in his core repertoire (Gounod, Massenet, Lalo), sounding truly exquise, but I also show him in music for which he was less-celebrated, but equally compelling, everything from Mozart, Rossini, and Puccini, to Mascagni and even Giordano, with even more delicious surprises along the way. Special thanks to my friend Olivier, for specifically requesting this episode. In preparing it, I became a Vanzo admirer to an all-out raving Vanzo fan girl. In listening to this, you may well find yourself in the same place that I did!

Countermelody is the podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and author yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody’s core is the celebration of great singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. By clicking on the following link (https://linktr.ee/CountermelodyPodcast) you can find the dedicated Countermelody website which contains additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. The link will also take you to Countermelody’s Patreon page, where you can pledge your monthly or yearly support at whatever level you can afford.

Episode 341. Robert Massard Revisited

March 14, 2025Bel canto, French Opera, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, Great Tenors, Happy Birthday, Listeners' Favorites, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Operetta, Rescue Mission, VerismoA. Royer, Agnès Adam, Alain Vanzo, Alexandre Dumas, Andrea Chénier, Antonio Somma, Armand Bernard, Arrigo Boito, Bruno Amaducci, Camille du Locle, Camille Rouquetty, Carlo Cambiaggio, Carlo Pepoli, Cavalleria Rusticana, Cesare Sterbini, Charles-Gaspard Delestre-Poirson, Don Carlos, Don Procopio, Édouard Duprez, Erasmo Ghiglia, Eugène Scribe, Falstaff, Faust, Francesco Maria Piave, Friedrich Schiller, G. Vaëz, Gabriel Bacquier, Gaetano Donizetti, Georges Bizet, Georges Pretre, Georges Sébastian, Giacomo Puccini, Gianfranco Rivoli, Gioachino Rossini, Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti, Giovanni Verga, Giuseppe Giacosa, Giuseppe Verdi, Guido Menasci, Henri Meilhac, Henri Murger, Henry Brougham Farnie, I Puritani, Il barbiere di Siviglia, J.L. Caussou, J.Y. Lamare, Jacques Scellier, Jacques-François Ancelot, Jésus Etchéverry, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Joseph Méry, Joseph Xavier Saintine, Jules Barbier, La Boheme, Le Comte Ory, Ludovic Halévy, Luigi Illica, Maria Callas, Michel Carré, Michel Forel, Otello, Paul Ferrier, Paul Milliet, Peter Glossop, Philippe Gille, Pierre Beaumarchais, Pietro Mascagni, Prosper Mérimée, Renée Doria, Reynald Giovaninetti, Rip (Planquette), Robert Massard, Robert Planquette, Roberto Benzi, Umberto Giordano, Victor Hugo, Vincenzo Bellini, Vittorio Gui, Walter Scott, William Shakespearecountermelody

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A year and a half ago, I posted an episode on Robert Massard, the finest French baritone of his era, and one of the finest French baritones of all time. Today, in honor of his upcoming hundredth birthday later this year, I present him in a different repertoire (and therefore a different light). As was very much the custom of the day in French opera houses, Massard sang many of his non-French roles in translation. This was also very much the standard in German-language opera houses in the 50s and 60s. Massard’s recorded legacy includes Italian operas sung in the original language as well as in French translation. No matter what language he was singing in, Massard was a master of bel canto as well as buffo patter. This episode includes arias and duets from Il barbiere di Siviglia, I Puritani, Lucie de Lammermoor, Le Comte Ory, La Traviata, Don Carlos, Un bal masque, La bohème, Cavalleria rusticana, and Andrea Chénier, as well as extended scenes from both Rigoletto (in and out of French!) and Falstaff. I also include a clip of Massard’s contemporary and compatriot Gabriel Bacquier singing an excerpt of one of his greatest Verdi parts, Iago in Otello. Massard’s vocal colleagues in these excerpts include Alain Vanzo, Peter Glossop, and Renée Doria.

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 136. Puccini en Français

March 18, 2022Canadian Singers, French Opera, Giacomo Puccini, Great Baritones, Happy Birthday, In Memoriam, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, VerismoAlain Vanzo, Albert Lance, Albert Wolff, André Cluytens, Arthur Endrèze, Berthe Monmart, César Vezzani, Enrico di Mazzei, Erasmo Ghiglia, Eugène Bigot, Ferdinand Leitner, Gabriel Bacquier, Georges Jouatte, Georges Lauweryns, Georges Liccioni, Georges Pretre, Georges Thill, Georges Truc, Géori-Boué, Germaine Lubin, Germaine Martinelli, Giacomo Puccini, Gustave Cloëz, Jane Rhodes, Jean-Claude Hartemann, José Luccioni, Joseph Rogatchewsky, La Boheme, Lily Pons, Madama Butterfly, Manon Lescaut, Manuel Rosenthal, Martha Angelici, Marthe Nespoulous, Michel Sénéchal, Michèle Le Bris, Ninon Vallin, Opéra de Paris, Opéra-Comique, Paul Finel, Raoul Jobin, Regine Crespin, Renée Doria, Robert Massard, Suzanne Sarroca, Tosca, Turandot, Yvonne Brothiercountermelody

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This week’s episode is a counterpart to my ongoing exploration of the practice of performing opera in translation which includes the “Verdi auf Deutsch” [www.countermelodypodcast.com/index.php/2021/10/17/episode-111-verdi-auf-deutsch] and “Polyglot Wagner” [www.countermelodypodcast.com/index.php/2020/11/29/episode-63-polyglot-wagner] episodes. With its soaring cantilena lines, Puccini’s music lends itself quite naturally to performance in French. The characteristics of the so-called “French school” of singing, with its frequent focus on bright-timbred, slightly nasal tonal production, lends Puccini’s music a peculiarly French quality when performed in that language. This episode features arias and duets from Madame Butterfly, La Vie de Bohème, and La Tosca, as they are known in French, supplemented by arias from Manon Lescaut and Turandot. These are sung by some of the most famous singers of the twentieth century (including Ninon Vallin, Georges Thill, Régine Crespin, Germaine Lubin, Gabriel Bacquier, Alain Vanzo, and Lily Pons) with contributions by equally impressive but less celebrated French, Corsican, and Belgian artists (including Yvonne Brothier, Berthe Monmart, César Vezzani, José Liccioni, Marthe Nespoulous, Paul Finel, Michèle Le Bris, Martha Angelici, Germaine Martinelli, Jane Rhodes, Georges Jouatte, and the long-lived Géori-Boué [1918-2017], Renée Doria [1921-2021], Suzanne Sarroca [b. 1927], and Robert Massard [b. 1925]). Also heard are foreign singers whose singing nevertheless defines the French method (the Australian Albert Lance, the Canadian Raoul Jobin, the US-American Arthur Endrèze, and the Ukrainian Joseph Rogatchewsky). This episode is a foretaste of a mini-series coming in May on great French lyric artists, including Mady Mesplé, Martial Singher, and Gabriel Bacquier.

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.