Tag Archives: I vespri siciliani

Episode 226. Maria Callas: Singer of the Century

December 3, 2023Bel canto, Canadian Singers, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Tenors, Happy Birthday, In Memoriam, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, NYCO Divas, Opera in Translation, Queer Pride, Renata Scotto, Singers of ColorAmilcare Ponchielli, Andrea Chénier, Angela Vercelli, Anna Bolena, Antonino Votto, Carmen, Cesare Valletti, Dario Caselli, Fausto Cleva, Franco Corelli, Gabriella Carturan, Gaetano Donizetti, Georges Bizet, Giacomo Puccini, Giacomo Vaghi, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Gianni Raimondi, Giuseppe Verdi, Herbert von Karajan, I Puritani, I vespri siciliani, Jeffrey Tate, Jon Vickers, La Gioconda, La sonnambula, La Traviata, Lucia di Lammermoor, Ludwig van Beethoven, Macbeth (Verdi), Maria Callas, Medea (Cherubini), Mirto Picchi, Nicola Rescigno, Norma (Bellini), Plinio Clabassi, Robert Sutherland, Tosca, Umberto Giordano, Victor de Sabata, Vincenzo Bellini, Vittorio Guicountermelody

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What is there to say about today’s featured artist, Maria Callas, who was born 100 years ago today? So many of my esteemed colleagues are weighing in with their Callas tributes today (both encyclopedic and deeply perceptive and knowledgeable) and there are all varieties of reconstituted Callas material also suddenly appearing, from newly-colorized films of Callas in action to virtual concerts with Maria as hologram, to some new biopic (goddess forbid!), to audio remasterings both laudable and ridiculous. I have nothing comparably “new” or erudite to add to the mix, so can only offer an episode predicated on my encounters with the voice and artistry of Maria Callas. There is no singer in the history of opera more important to me (and, I daresay, to opera in general) than Callas, who revolutionized bel canto and set completely new standards for every type of role she sang. I have chosen from among my favorite (live) Callas material to supplement my musings, going as far back as her Norma and Macbeth in 1952 and as late as her 1974 comeback and her last recording, made the year before her untimely death. In these musical excerpts, La Divina is joined by tenor colleagues (and Countermelody favorites) Cesare Valletti, Jon Vickers, and Franco Corelli. As I listened to Callas this week, I remarked anew at her creative genius, which sprang primarily from faithfulness to the written score, and a burning need to make every phrase she intoned “say something.” May this episode be as cathartic a listening experience for you as it was for me in preparing it. Maria per sempre!

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 210. The Mystery of Anita Cerquetti

August 14, 2023Bel canto, French Opera, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, Great Tenors, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, VerismoAlfredo Catalani, Amilcare Ponchielli, Anita Cerquetti, Arrigo Boito, Arturo Basile, Carl Maria von Weber, Carlo Maria Giulini, Emidio Tieri, Ernani, Ettore Bastianini, Felice Romani, Franco Corelli, Fulvio Vernizzi, Gabriele Santini, Gaspare Spontini, Giacomo Puccini, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Giannella Borelli, Giuseppe Giacosa, Giuseppe Verdi, I vespri siciliani, Luigi Cherubini, Luigi Illica, Miriam Pirazzini, Nabucco, Norma, Ottavio Ziino, Un ballo in maschera, Victor Hugo, Victorien Sardou, Vincenzo Bellini, Vittorio Guicountermelody

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Anita Cerquetti (13 April 1931 – 11 October 2014), the subject of today’s episode, possessed a one in a million voice, enormous, but with prodigious flexibility, and of an immediately recognizable timbre and style of text projection. She skyrocketed to world fame when she replaced Maria Callas in the title role of Bellini’s Norma in Rome in January 1958. Before that, the young soprano, still in her twenties, had been steadily building a career, primarily in Italy but also internationally, working in Italy’s biggest houses and music festivals with the greatest maestri and fellow singers of the period (including Ettore Bastianini and Franco Corelli, both of whom are heard on the episode). Immediately after those Rome performances, however, Cerquetti canceled a series of subsequent performances of Bellini’s Il Pirata, and her live performances dwindled thereafter to a mere trickle. In the fall of 1960, not yet thirty years of age, she gave what proved to be the final performance of her career, a recording for Dutch radio of Abigaille in Verdi’s Nabucco. Cerquetti is considered to be one of the great operatic mysteries of the second half of the twentieth century. She made only two commercial recordings, so the majority of her recorded legacy stems from live and radio performances. In this episode, I share some of my favorites among those recordings, and discuss the personal issues that surrounded Cerquetti’s premature disappearance from the world’s opera stages as well as why her still unmatched accomplishments still captivate listeners to this day.

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 25. Freni on the Fringe (Mirella in Memoriam II)

March 8, 2020In Memoriam, Mirella Freni, Needle DropBeatrice di Tenda, Beim Schlafengehen, Bruno Bartoletti, Claudio Abbado, Dove sono, George Frideric Handel, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, I vespri siciliani, Jorma Hynninen, Le nozze di Figaro, Leone Magiera, Madama Butterfly, Maurizio Arena, Mercè dilette amiche, Michel Plasson, Mireilla, Mirella Freni, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Piero Bellugi, Richard Strauss, Scene de la Crau, Serse, Signore ascolta, Turandot, Va godendo, Vaclav Smetacek, Vier letzte Lieder, Vincenzo Bellini, Voici la vaste plaine, Yevgeny Onegincountermelody

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Episode 25 – Freni on the Fringe (Mirella in Memoriam II)

Today’s episode continues last week’s homage to the late, great Mirella Freni. This time around, I explore some her performances of operas and works which she performed only rarely, or to which she turned later in her career. Featured works include excerpts from Handel’s Serse, Bellini’s Beatrice di Tenda, Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (in which Freni sings the Countess rather than her usual Susanna), the title role in Gounod’s Mireille, Tatyana in Yevgeny Onegin, and Richard Strauss’s Vier letzte Lieder. The Finnish baritone Jorma Hynninen, one of my favorite singers, is heard as Onegin. Conductors include Claudio Abbado, Bruno Bartoletti, Michel Plasson, and Václav Smetáček. The episode concludes with a relatively obscure 1977 studio recording of Freni singing “Signore, ascolta” from Turandot which represents the absolute pinnacle of her vocal art.

Countermelody is a new podcast devoted to the glories 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 also visit the Countermelody website for updates, additional content, and to pledge your support. www.countermelodypodcast.com