Tag Archives: Giuseppe Patanè

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.

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 211. Janet Baker @ 90

August 25, 2023UncategorizedAchim von Arnim, Anthony Lewis, Beverly Sills, Caterino Mazzolà, Christian Friedrich Henrici, Christopher Hassall, Claudio Monteverdi, Clemens Brentano, Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Dido and Aeneas, Ernest Lush, Felice Romani, Geoffrey Chaucer, Gioacchino Rossini, Giovanni Francesco Busanello, Giuseppe Patanè, Giuseppe Verdi, Gustav Mahler, Heinrich Heine, Henry Purcell, Hippolyte et Aricie, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Janet Baker, Jean Baptiste Racine, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, John Pritchard, Klaus Growth, L’incoronazione di Poppea, La Cenerentola, La Clemenza di Tito, Martin Isepp, Maurice Delage, Melos Ensemble, Nahum Tate, Neville Marriner, Norman Del Mar, Norman Foster, Ottorino Respighi, Picander, Pietro Metastasio, Raymond Leppard, Renata Scotto, Richard Strauss, Robert Ferguson, Roberto Ascoli, Simon-Joseph Pellegrin, Thomas Dunhill, Troilus and Cressida, Vasil Stefanov, Vincenzo Bellini, William Shakespeare, William Walton, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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This past week the opera world was plunged into mourning over the sudden death of Renata Scotto. Originally I had intended this week’s episode to be devoted to her memory. But I can’t even speak her name without bursting into tears. In other words, I need more time as I try to come to terms with her demise. I have decided to feature the matchless singing actor in the first episode of Season Five. In the meantime, we have another momentous occasion (and artist) to acknowledge: the 90th birthday of the English Rose: the phenomenal Janet Baker. Given that I could probably devote an entire podcast to Dame Janet, and given the wealth of material in my personal collection featuring this artist, much of it rare and unusual, I have chosen to feature this beloved artist in her third full Countermelody episode. There are few vocal artists in the history of classical music who have exhibited greater versatility than Janet Baker; this episode features many rare performances across the entirety of her long career of repertoire in which she had virtually no equal, as well as music in which she also excels but which might prove surprising. Thus we hear the expected mélodie, Lied, British song and Bach aria alongside Purcell’s Dido and pants roles by both Mozart and Richard Strauss. But we also hear such surprises as Monteverdi’s Poppea (sinuously and surprisingly sexy), Bellini’s Romeo (opposite Beverly Sills), William Walton’s Cressida (in the 1976 version of his opera Troilus and Cressida refashioned expressly for Baker), and a sublime extended orchestral song by Respighi, as well as the ultimate jaw-dropper, Rossini’s Cenerentola! We wish long life and continued health and vitality to one of the greatest mezzo-sopranos of the twentieth century!

Episode 156. Barely Sang at the Met II

August 5, 2022Bel canto, Canadian Singers, French Opera, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Twentieth Century Music, VerismoAlban Berg, Alberto Remedios, Alexander Gibson, Alfredo Catalani, Anne Howells, Arrigo Boito, Artur Rodzinski, Carlo Felice Cillario, Charles Bruck, Christel Goltz, Cosi fan tutte, Die Zauberflöte, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Don Giovanni, Eberhard Wächter, Elektra (Strauss), Emanuel, Erna Schlüter, Frank Wedekind, Fromental Halévy, Gabriele d’Annunzio, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Giuseppe Patanè, Giuseppe Verdi, Herbert Häfner, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, I Masnadieri, Ildebrando Pizzetti, Ilona Steingruber, Jane Rhodes, Jean Bobescu, Joan Carden, Jorma Hynninen, Josef Greindl, Josephine Veasey, Jules Massenet, Kurt Herbert Adler, La forza del destino, Leopold Ludwig, Lorenzo da Ponte, Ludovic Spiess, Luisa Malagrida, Lulu (Berg), Manon (Massenet), Margherita Roberti, Maria Chiara, Marina Krilovici, Metropolitan Opera, Montserrat Caballé, Norma (Bellini), Okko Kamu, Oscar Wilde, Otello, Otto Wiener, Pekka Nuotio, Peter Maag, Ramón Vinay, Richard Verreau, Richard Wagner, Rudolf Moralt, Salome (Strauss), Schikaneder, Sergei Prokofiev, Shirley Verrett, Stafford Dean, Tannhäuser, The Fiery Angel (Prokofiev), Thomas Beecham, Tristan und Isolde, Vincenzo Bellini, Walburga Wegner, Wilfrid Pelletier, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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This week is the conclusion of my presentation on world-class singers who made a minimal number of appearances at the Metropolitan Opera. My arbitrary parameters for this episode were singers who appeared (approximately) between the years 1950 and 1975 and sang fewer than ten performances in total at that venerable institution. Among the artists featured are the British singers Josephine Veasey and Anne Howells (both of whom we lost earlier this year), as well as Stafford Dean and Alberto Remedios; the French-Canadian tenors Léopold Simoneau and Richard Verreau; the Romanians Ludovic Spiess and Marina Krilovici; the US-American dramatic coloratura Margherita Roberti; the Australian super-soprano Joan Carden; the Italian sopranos Maria Chiara and Luisa Malagrida; the French falcon Jane Rhodes; the Austrians Eberhard Wächter and Otto Wiener; the Finnish heldentenor Pekka Nuotio; and the Germans Josef Greindl, Walburga Wegner, Erna Schlüter and Christel Goltz. Met stalwarts Monserrat Caballé, Shirley Verrett, Ramón Vinay, and Jorma Hynninen are featured as vocal guest stars; conductors include such greats as Dimitri Mitroupoulos, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Thomas Beecham, Carlo Felice Cillario, and Arthur Rodziński..

Episode 131. Happy Birthday, Reri Grist! (Black History Month 2022)

February 18, 2022African American Singers, Art Song, Bel canto, BHM2023WK4, Black History Month, Broadway, Comic Relief, French Opera, Full-Figured Baroque, Giuseppe Verdi, Gustav Mahler, Happy Birthday, Lieder, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Richard Strauss, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century MusicAchim von Arnim, Alessandro Scarlatti, Andre Previn, Ariadne auf Naxos, Bernhard Paumgartner, Claude Debussy, Clemens Brentano, Cosi fan tutte, Denis Vaughan, Der Rosenkavalier, Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Die schweigsame Frau, Don Pasquale, Donald Grobe, Dory Langdon Previn, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, Gaetano Donizetti, Giacomo Antonio Perti, Gioacchino Rossini, Giuseppe Patanè, Giuseppe Verdi, Gustav Mahler, Hilde Güden, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Igor Stravinsky, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Il re pastore, Judith Raskin, Karl Böhm, Kurt Böhme, L’elisir d’amore, Lakmé, Le nozze di Figaro, Léo Delibes, Leonard Bernstein, Luciano Pavarotti, Luigi Alva, Mathieu Lange, Max Goberman, Nicolai Gedda, Paul Verlaine, Pierre Thibaud, Reri Grist, Richard Lewis, Richard Strauss, Rigoletto, Robert Craft, Sena Jurinac, Silvio Varviso, Stefan Zweig, Stephen Sondheim, Un ballo in maschera, West Side Story, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Zubin Mehtacountermelody

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The great African American coloratura Reri Grist was born on leap year 1932. We celebrate her upcoming 90th birthday with a tribute featuring many of her greatest roles and recordings. After appearing as Consuelo in the 1957 Broadway premiere of West Side Story, and encouraged by Leonard Bernstein, Grist began a career in opera that took her around the world to all of the greatest opera houses. Reri Grist was the perfect exemplar of the so-called “-ina” roles: soubrette parts in Mozart and Strauss operas (Blondchen, Susanna, Despina, Zerlina, Zerbinetta, and Sophie), as well as the comic operas of Donizetti and Rossini (including Adina, Norina, and Rosina). This episode features her in most of these roles and concludes with the glorious finale of the second act of Richard Strauss’s 1935 comedy Die schweigsame Frau, one of her most notable successes. Vocal guest stars today include Christa Ludwig, Luciano Pavarotti, Sena Jurinac, Nicolai Gedda, Gwyneth Jones, Luigi Alva, Judith Raskin, Donald Grobe, and Richard Lewis. Whether you are celebrating 90 years or 22-and-a-half leap years, we celebrate you, Frau Grist, and offer heartfelt thanks for the joys that you have offered us.

Episode 113. Edda Moser

October 31, 2021Art Song, French Opera, Full-Figured Baroque, Giuseppe Verdi, Happy Birthday, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Operetta, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Schubert, Twentieth Century MusicAlfredo Kraus, Anton Paulik, Arleen Augér, August Wenzinger, Boris Blacher, Christoph von Dohnányi, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Clara Schumann, Clemens Brentano, Der fliegende Holländer, Die Fledermaus, Die Zauberflöte, Don Carlo, Edda Moser, Erik Werba, Eugene Kohn, Fidelio, Franco Bonisolli, Franz Schubert, Friedrich Rückert, Georg Singer, George Frideric Handel, Giuseppe Patanè, Giuseppe Verdi, Hans Werner Henze, Heinrich Isaac, Heinz Wallberg, Ingeborg Bachmann, Iphigénie en Tauride, Ivan Törzs, Jacques Offenbach, James Levine, Jocelyne Taillon, Johann Abraham Peter Schulz, Johann Strauss II, Johannes Brahms, José Van Dam, Josef Hopferweiser, Julius Rudel, Kostas Paskalis, La Clemenza di Tito, La Traviata, Leonard Hokanson, Leopold Hager, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Ludwig van Beethoven, Mitridate Re di Ponto, Oscar Wilde, Paul Sacher, Riccardo Muti, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Rigoletto, Salome, Theo Adam, Werner Krenn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Wolfgang Sawallischcountermelody

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On 27 October the great German dramatic coloratura Edda Moser celebrated her 83rd birthday. Celebrated as the greatest Queen of the Night ever, Edda Moser’s operatic career was centered on the music of Mozart but also included so much more. I present, it is true, two rare live examples of her singing the music of Mozart, but I also include her performances of music by Henze, Lehár, Verdi, Handel, Gluck, Johann and Richard Strauss, Offenbach, and Boris Blacher, as well as precious examples of her singing of Lieder, including songs by Brahms, Schubert, and Clara Schumann. I conclude with her reading of a beloved poem in tribute to her ongoing commitment to German language and culture. Vocal guest stars this week include Kostas Paskalis, Alfredo Kraus, José van Dam, Arleen Augér, and Theo Adam. Geliebte Frau Moser, wir erfreuen uns an Ihrer Kunstfertigkeit als begnadete Sängerin und Ihrem Vorbild als kulturelle Fahnenträgerin.

Episode 111. Verdi auf Deutsch I

October 17, 2021African American Singers, Behind the Iron Curtain, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Singers of ColorAida, Annelies Kupper, Anneliese Rothenberger, Anton de Ridder, Betty Allen, Bruno Bartoletti, Bruno Seidler-Winkler, Carl Besi, Clemens Krauss, Don Carlo, Elisabeth Grümmer, Erich Orthmann, Ferdinand Leitner, Friedel Beckmann, Frieder Weissmann, Friedrich Schiller, Fritz Wunderlich, Georg Hann, Georgina von Milinkovic, Giuseppe Patanè, Giuseppe Verdi, Gloria Davy, Gottlob Frick, Grace Bumbry, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, Helge Rosvaenge, Hilde Güden, Hildegard Hillebrecht, Horst Stein, Il Trovatore, Inge Borkh, James King, János Kulka, Jess Thomas, Josef Gostic, Josef Greindl, Karl Elmendorff, La forza del destino, La Traviata, Lawrence Winters, Leonora Lafayette, Luisa Miller, Margarete Teschemacher, Maria Cebotari, Maria Stader, Meta Seinemeyer, Nicolai Gedda, Otello, Otto Gerdes, Pilar Lorengar, Raymond Wolansky, Richard Kraus, Richard Tauber, Robert Burg, Rudolf Schock, Sabine Kalter, Sándor Kónya, Teresa Stratas, Un ballo in maschera, Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Wolfgang Windgassencountermelody

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Today’s is a mammoth episode on a mammoth topic: historical performances of Verdi’s operas in German translation. I trace the historical and ongoing popularity of Verdi’s works in Germany, and include discussions of the works of Friedrich Schiller as Verdian subject matter; the co-opting of Verdi’s genius by the Third Reich; and the numerous African American Verdi singers, including Gloria Davy, Lawrence Winters, Lenora Lafayette, Betty Allen, and Grace Bumbry, who based their careers (or significant portions thereof) in German-speaking European countries. I include duets and trios from eight different Verdi operas; recordings featured were made between the years 1923 and 1973 and feature such native German-speaking singers as Richard Tauber, Margarete Teschemacher, Maria Cebotari, Josef Greindl, Meta Seinemeyer, Inge Borkh, Fritz Wunderlich, Annelies Kupper, Elisabeth Grümmer, Wolfgang Windgassen, Gottlob Frick, and Hilde Güden, among many others. Non-German singers such as Teresa Stratas, Sándor Kónya, Pilar Lorengar, Jess Thomas, Raymond Wolansky, and James King are also highlighted. This episode is an exploration of the greatest operatic composer of all time, but in unexpected garb.

Episode 42. Battle Hymn of the Scotto

July 5, 2020Bel canto, Crossover, Music, Renata ScottoA Little Night Music, Battle Hymn of the Republic, bel canto, Giuseppe Patanè, Ira Siff, John Alexander, Nicola Rescigno, Norma Zimmer, Renata Scotto, Renata Scotto as Norma, Riccardo Muti, Send in the Clowns, Shirley Verrett, Stephen Sondheim, Tatiana Troyanos, Vincenzo Bellinicountermelody

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On the weekend that my benighted nation celebrates its birthday, I turn for real leadership to Renata Scotto, specifically her portrayal of the Druid priestess Norma in Vincenzo Bellini’s eponymous cornerstone of the bel canto repertoire. Scotto began her career as a charming lyric-coloratura, lending her distinctive voice and artistic personality to roles from such country damsels as Amina in La Sonnambula and Adina in L’elisir d’amore to the more substantial title roles in Lucia di Lammermoor and La Traviata. With Butterfly, she moved into heavier repertoire and eventually, in 1974, first took on Norma. Singing this role for the opening of the Metropolitan Opera season in 1981 was a risk that took a toll on her reputation. But, I contend, even with its flaws, her Norma is one of the greatest post-Callas assumptions of the role. Scotto’s occasional vocal vulnerabilities in the role contrast with her continuing fearlessness in coloratura. And her insights into the varying aspects of Norma’s persona: her wisdom, her compassion, her conflict between love and duty, and finally, her ability to admit wrongdoing and accept the consequences, show all the characteristics of a true leader. In 1978, at the peak of her achievement, Renata Scotto sang the role of Norma in at least three different productions: in Philadelphia (with the gleaming John Alexander); in Houston (with the glorious Tatiana Troyanos); and in Firenze (conducted by the stern but compelling Riccardo Muti). I offer extended excerpts from each of these performances as well as a beguiling performance of “Casta diva” from her first assumption of the role in Torino in 1974. I also offer John Alexander and another podcast favorite, Shirley Verrett, in the Adalgisa-Pollione duet. Finally, I top off the episode with Scotto’s oh-so-wrong yet oh-so-right performance of “Send in the Clowns,” which serves as the perfect commentary for the current political situation in the USA.

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 classical and opera singers of the past and present with the help of guests from the classical music field: singers, conductors, composers, coaches, agents, and voice teachers. 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 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.