Tag Archives: Konstantin Balmont

Episode 325. Marni Nixon Revisited

January 17, 2025Art Song, Broadway, Comic Relief, Crossover, In Memoriam, Interview, Lieder, Listeners' Favorites, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Orchestral Songs, Pop Icons, Richard Strauss, Singers in Old Age, Twentieth Century MusicAaron Copland, Al Viola, Alexander Goehr, Anita Priest, Anton Webern, Armen Guzelimian, Arnold Schoenberg, Arthur Waley, Betty Ward, Brettl-Lieder, Buddy Collette, Charles Ives, Claibe Richardson, Claude Debussy, Dennis Farnon, Die tote Stadt, Don Quichotte à Dulcinée, Earl Palmer, Ed Lustgarten, Emily Dickinson, Engelbert Humperdinck, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Ernest Gold, Felix Slatkin, Gabriel Faure, Gene Cipriano, George Gershwin, Gerald Wilson, Gerard Schümann, Hans Swarowsky, Harold Adamson, Harry Warren, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Henry Mancini, Hugo Salus, Igor Stravinsky, Ira Gershwin, Jakob Haringer, Jean Richepin, Jim Bryant, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, John Avery Lomax, John Henry Mackay, John McCabe, Johnny Green, Keith Clark, Konstantin Balmont, Leo McCarey, Leonard Bernstein, Leonard Stein, Lincoln Mayorga, Manuel Bandeira, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Marjory McKay, Marni Nixon, Mary Poppins, Maurice Ravel, Oscar Hammerstein II, Paul Morand, Paul Verlaine, Pierre Boulez, Red Callender, Richard M. Sherman, Richard Rodgers, Richard Strauss, Robert B. Sherman, Robert Craft, Salvatore “Tutti” Camarata, South Pacific, Stefan George, Stéphane Mallarmé, Stephen Cole, Stephen Mitchell, Stephen Sondheim, Walter Schumann, West Side Storycountermelody

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Today I present to you the extraordinarily versatile, even chameleon-like singer and actor Marni Nixon (22 February 1930 – 24 July 2016), who is no doubt best-known today as the so-called “Ghostess with the Mostest.” Born into a musical family in California, she became involved from an early age with the movies, and by a marvelous set of circumstances became The Voice for a number of Hollywood actresses not known for their singing voices. Her skill in matching the vocal and speech characteristics of each of these performers is exceptional, but she was so much more than that. She pioneered the work of many 20th century giants, including Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg, Charles Ives, and Anton Webern. She hosted a local Seattle children’s television program called Boomerang that netted her four Emmy Awards. She performed on opera stages and concert platforms around the world. She recorded widely, everything from Mary Poppins to Pierrot Lunaire, and in the mid-1970s was the first singer to perform and record Schoenberg’s cabaret songs, his so-called Brettl-Lieder, works that are now standard repertoire. Reminiscences of Marni are provided by my good friend Thomas Bagwell, currently a coach and conductor at The Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen, who was a colleague and good friend of Marni Nixon’s for the last 25 years of her life. This episode features a cross-section of this stunning artist’s extensive recorded output, recorded over six decades, including repertoire from Webern to Rodgers and Hammerstein. In between we have examples of Nixon’s performances of songs by Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Debussy, Ives, Fauré and her former husband Ernest Gold; concert and song repertoire by Villa-Lobos, Boulez, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Copland, and Gershwin; plus a few outliers, from a live performance of Korngold’s Mariettas Lied to the jazzed-up exotica of Buddy Collette’s Polynesia to Mr. Magoo’s Mother Goose Suite, not to mention a spoonful of Mary Poppins. Overall, “It’s a Jolly ‘Oliday with Marni!”

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 309. Get to Know Věra Soukupová

November 22, 2024Art Song, Behind the Iron Curtain, Forgotten Divas, Great Contraltos, Happy Birthday, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Orchestral Songs, Twentieth Century MusicAlfréd Holeček, Alois Rybin, Anna Akhmatova, Antonín Dvořák, Antonio García Gutiérrez, Biblické písně, Bohumil Gregor, Bohumír Liška, Bohuslav Martinů, Camille Saint-Saens, Cesare Pavese, Ferdinand Lemaire, František Sláma, Friedrich Schiller, Gaspar Stamp, Giuseppe Verdi, Gustav Falke, Il Trovatore, Ilja Hurník, Ivan Moravec, Ivan Řezáč, Jan Hanuš, Jan Koutný, Jan Vladislav, Jaroslav Křička, Jaroslav Motlík, Jindřich Rohan, Jiří Baxa, Jiří Pauer, Jiří Pokorný, Josef Bohuslav Foerster, Josef Páleníček, Karel Málek, Karel Řehák, Konstantin Balmont, Martin Turnovský, Milan Munclinger, Miloš Vacek, Miloslav Kabeláč, Naďa Mauerová, Otakar Hostinský, Petr Eben, Salvadore Cammarano, Samson et Dalila, Soběslav Soukup, Tomáš Vačkář, Václav Neumann, Vaclav Zítek, Věra Soukupová, Vítězslav Nezval, Vladimír Klár, Vladimir Sommer, Vladimír Válek, William Shakespeare, Zdeněk Benda, Zdeněk Fibich, Zdeněk Košlercountermelody

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As a supplement to my ongoing series on great contraltos, and as a contrast to another outstanding Czech singer, soprano Hana Janků, recently featured on the podcast, I have been actively planning for some time now this episode on Czech contralto par excellence Věra Soukupová, still with us after recently celebrating her 92nd birthday in April. As I dug deeper and deeper into this fascinating artist’s recorded output, I was particularly taken by all the contemporary Czech work that she had sung and recorded and, in many cases, created. In this repertoire in particular, her voice leapt out at me, vivid and present, the musicianship profound, the vowel clarity astonishing, especially for a voice of such natural depth. This music and these performances deserve to be heard by a wider public. On this episode, I present stunning examples of the vocal and musical glory that is Věra Soukupová. I also offer a teaser for this week’s bonus episode, which features the artist in magisterial recordings of song cycles by Mahler and Dvořák, recorded in her prime in the mid-1960s.

Episode 266. Sisters in Sapho (Listeners’ Favorites)

June 14, 2024African American Singers, Art Song, Bel canto, Crossover, Drag Performance, Full-Figured Baroque, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Tenors, Gustav Mahler, Ileana Cotrubas, Lieder, Listeners' Favorites, Margaret Price, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, NYCO Divas, Operetta, Pop Icons, Protest Songs, Queer Pride, Richard Strauss, Schubert, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century Opera, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAchille de Lauzières, Achim von Arnim, Aida, Alban Berg, Aldous Huxley, Alessandro Scarlatti, Alfred Hennequin, Alfred-Charlemagne Delacour, Antonio Ghislanzoni, Aribert Reimann, Ariodante, Arleen Augér, Auguste Mariette, Bernice Johnson Reagon, BIGLovely, Brigitte Fassbaender, Camille du Locle, Carl Mathieu Lange, Cecilia Gasdia, Clemens Brentano, Cord Garben, Cosi fan tutte, Cris Williamson, Deidre McCalla, Der Rosenkavalier, Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Don Carlo, Donato Renzetti, Dusty Springfield, Erik Werba, Felice Romani, Felix Mendelssohn, Ferron, Francesco Cavalli, Frank Wedekind, Franz Schubert, Friedrich Cerha, Friedrich Schiller, George Frideric Handel, Georges Pretre, Giovanni Faustini, Giuseppe Verdi, Gundula Janowitz, Gustav Mahler, Heinrich Heine, Heinrich von Waldberg, Holly Near, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Ileana Cotrubas, James Levine, Janet Baker, Janis Ian, Johann Gabriel Seidl, John Wustman, Joseph Méry, Konstantin Balmont, Krzysztof Penderecki, Kurt Eichhorn, Kurt Weill, La Calisto, La Clemenza di Tito, Lorenzo da Ponte, Lulu, Marek Janowski, Margaret Price, Margie Adam, Maurice Ravel, Meg Christian, Meshell Ndegenocello, Nicolai Gedda, Pietro Metastasio, Raymond Leppard, Reri Grist, Riccardo Muti, Richard Heuberger, Richard Strauss, Robert Lloyd, Ronnie Gilbert, Serge Rachmaninov, Tatiana Troyanos, Toshi Reagon, Victor Léon, Vincenzo Bellini, Walter Mehring, Willy Mattes, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Wolfgang Sawallischcountermelody

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It’s been a whirlwind of a week chez Gundlach and I find myself at the end of it without a new episode ready to post. In addition to that, we are already halfway through Pride Month and I realized this morning that I had no new queer material up my sleeve. So I’ll tell you what I’m gonna do: I am going to get to work on a brand new episode which will post sometime early next week. But in the meantime, I’m going to do my own Listener’s Favorite episode, one which I posted during the very first season of Countermelody, a wondrous compilation entitled “Sisters in Sappho.” It features not only two of my favorite mezzos of all time (Tatiana Troyanos and Brigitte Fassbaender – both of whom happen to have been lesbians); but also a sampling of the key figures in the Women’s Music Movement of the 1970s, including Meg Christian, Cris Williamson, Margie Adam, Holly Near, and Deidre McCalla. In celebrating these pop icons, I also pay tribute to those who, in turn, paved the way for them, including icons Janis Ian, Dusty Springfield, and Ronnie Gilbert, as well as tipping my hat to two of the queer Black singers (Toshi Reagon, Meshell Ndegeocello), that followed in the wake of these women. We all owe an enormous debt of gratitude to these extraordinary artists, who paved the way for us, their musical and artistic descendants, at the same time setting standards that will stand the test of time. Vocal guest stars include Janet Baker, Ileana Cotrubas, Cecilia Gasdia, Nicolai Gedda, Margaret Price, Gundula Janowitz, Arleen Augér, and Reri Grist.