Tag Archives: Gianluigi Gelmetti

Episode 220. La Fiamma (The Haunted Opera House II)

October 25, 2023African American Singers, Claudia Muzio, Great Baritones, Great Tenors, Mezzo Madness, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century Opera, VerismoAlessandra Marc, Anna Moffo, Buck Clark, Carlo Tagliabue, Claudio Guastalla, Deborah Voigt, Delcina Stevenson, Edo de Waart, Felicity Palmer, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, Gabriel Sadè, Gabriella Carturan, Gene Taylor, Giacinto Prandelli, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Giovanna Casolla, Gloria Scalchi, Hans Wiers-Jenssen, Henry Young, Ilona Tokody, Jalacy “Screamin’ Jay” Hawkins, James McCracken, José Collado, Juan Pons, Kevin Deas, Kolos Kováts, La Fiamma, Lamberto Gardelli, Lilian Pellegrino, Luisa Villa, Mara Coleva, Maurizio Arena, Mignon Dunn, Montserrat Caballé, Nelly Miricioiu, Nina Simone, Ottorino Respighi, Robert Bass, Stefka Evstatieva, Tusa Santo, Ursula van ‘t Wout, Vera Baniewiczcountermelody

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A year ago, I posted an episode entitled “The Haunted Opera House” that featured a wide range of spooky, witchy, Halloween-appropriate 20th century operas from Prokofiev to Penderecki. This year I focus in on one of the works from that episode, Ottorino Respighi’s 1934 masterpiece La Fiamma, based on a 1908 play on witch hunts and witchcraft in 16th century Norway by the novelist and playwright Hans Wiers-Jenssen entitled Anna Pedersdotter, the Witch. This work also formed the basis for the Carl Dreyer film Day of Wrath. Respighi and his librettist Claudio Guastalla transferred the action to seventh-century Ravenna in the early days of Christianity. Musically the work combines Respighi’s interest with Gregorian chant, modal scales and harmonies, and the work of Claudio Monteverdi with his penchant for stunning orchestrations. The dramatically potent result was his most famous operatic work, but after an initial succès d’estime, it has only retained the slightest hold on the operatic fringes. Nevertheless, the heroine Silvana in particular is a role that great sopranos have made their own over the years, including Claudia Muzio, Gina Cigna, Giuseppina Cobelli, and Rosa Raisa (none of whom sadly recorded any excerpts) through Montserrat Caballé, Nelly Miricioiu, Ilona Tokody, Stefka Evstatieva, and Mara Coleva. I tell the story of the opera while offering substantial excerpts, which, in addition to the sopranos mentioned above, also include such operatic heavyweights as James McCracken, Carlo Tagliabue, Deborah Voigt, Giacinto Prandelli, Delcina Stevenson, Felicity Palmer, Juan Pons, Anna Moffo, and Mignon Dunn, among others. Just the thing to scare you out of your skin this Halloween!

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 105. Teresa Żylis-Gara In Memoriam

September 5, 2021Art Song, Behind the Iron Curtain, Bel canto, Full-Figured Baroque, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, In Memoriam, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Richard Strauss, Twentieth Century MusicAntonín Dvořák, Charles Gounod, Claudio Monteverdi, Don Giovanni, Erik Werba, Faust, Frédéric Chopin, Fritz Lehan, George Frideric Handel, Giacomo Puccini, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Giuseppe Verdi, Guglielmo Tell, Günther Wich, Halina Czerny-Stefańska, I vespri siciliani, Jacek Kaspszyk, Jacques Delacôte, Jerzy Marchwiński, Johann Sebastian Bach, Karol Szymanowski, Kazimierz Kord, L’incoronazione di Poppea, La Boheme, Lorin Maazel, Otello, Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, Richard Strauss, Rusalka, Teresa Żylis-Gara, Turandot, Ulrich Weder, Un ballo in maschera, Waldemar Malicki, Wilhelm Ernst, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Wolfgang Gönnenwein, Yevgeny Onegin, Zubin Mehtacountermelody

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One of my very favorite singers, the Polish soprano Teresa Żylis-Gara, died on Saturday 28 August at the age of 91. I had been planning a birthday episode dedicated to her next January, but instead I present a heartfelt tribute in memoriam. Over a long career and as her voice developed, Żylis-Gara moved deftly and skillfully from performances of Baroque music through French, Russian, Verdi, and Puccini and even verismo heroines, always with her trademark vocal glamour, technical acuity and musical refinement. I offer live and studio examples of this under-recorded artist, a favorite at the Metropolitan Opera between 1968 and 1984, including early Monteverdi, Bach, and Handel, moving through her career-making assumption of Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and touching also on her recital work, and concluding with her definitive performances of Desdemona in Otello and Richard Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder.

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.” Occasional guests from the “business” (singers, conductors, composers, coaches, and teachers) lend their distinctive insights. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. And please head to my Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Twenty-five exclusive bonus episodes are currently available to Patreon supporters.

Episode 68. Margaret Marshall, Songbird

January 3, 2021Art Song, Full-Figured Baroque, Happy Birthday, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Richard StraussAlban Berg, Alfreda Hodgson, Ann Murray, Antal Dorati, Antonio Salieri, Antonio Vivaldi, Baldassare Galuppi, 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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Welcome to 2021 chez Countermelody! Today’s episode is a birthday tribute to the splendid Scottish soprano Margaret Marshall, who was born on 4 January. Since she burst upon the scene in the late 1970s, she 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, this past year, in tandem with her daughter Nicola and a group of dedicated supporters, she launched 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, 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”!

Link to the Margaret Marshall Songbird website: www.margaretmarshallsongbird.com

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.” Occasional guests from the “business” (singers, conductors, composers, coaches, and teachers) lend their distinctive insights. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content. And please head to our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available only to Patreon supporters are currently available, including a new extra episode further exploring today’s topic.