Tag Archives: Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco

Episode 403. Roberta Alexander In Memoriam

October 18, 2025African American Singers, Art Song, Black History Month, Black History Month 2025, Broadway, Crossover, Full-Figured Baroque, Giuseppe Verdi, Honor Your Mentors, In Memoriam, Lieder, Listeners' Favorites, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Orchestral Songs, Richard Strauss, Singers in Old Age, Singers of Color, Spirituals, Twentieth Century Music, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAdolf Heyduk, Adolph Green, Alban Berg, Alec Wilder, Altenberg-Lieder, Andrew Davis, Ángel de Saavedra, Antonín Dvořák, Arthur Rimbaud, Benjamin Britten, Betty Comden, Brian Masuda, Bruce Hubbard, Charles Ives, Claron McFadden, Clifford Shaw, Colenton Freeman, David Porcelijn, David Triestram, Dick Hoogeveen, Du Bose Heyward, Edith Hemenway, Edo de Waart, Elinor Wylie, Francesco Maria Piave, Gabriela Preissová, Gaetano Delogu, Gary Miller, George Frideric Handel, George Gershwin, Giulio Cesare, Giuseppe Verdi, Hall Johnson, Hendrik Andriessen, Howard Haskin, Ira Gershwin, James Agee, Janet Williams, Jenůfa, John Dawson, John Greenleaf Whittier, John Henry McKay, John Milton, La finta giardiniera, La forza del destino, Langston Hughes, Laquita Mitchell, Leonard Bernstein, Leos Janacek, Les Illuminations, Loonis McGlohon, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Michael Tilson Thomas, Moses-Ibn-Ezra, Nicola Francesco Haym, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, On the Town, Peter Altenberg, Porgy and Bess, Randall Thompson, Reinild Mees, Riccardo Chailly, Richard Strauss, Roberta Alexander, Samuel Barber, Semyon Bychkov, Spirituals, Tan Crone, The Divan of Moses-Ibn-Ezra, Thomas à Kempis, Undine Smith Moore, Vaughan Schlepp, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Zigeunermelodiencountermelody

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:36:35 — 102.3MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More

This is an episode I never dreamed I would have to produce. But alas, the great Roberta Alexander has unexpectedly departed this earth this past Tuesday evening, on the three-week anniversary of my beloved mother’s death. Listeners to Countermelody know how much I revered her artistry, and how much I valued our special friendship. In fact, just last week as David and I escaped for a few days to the Netherlands for my birthday, I had been in touch with Roberta, hoping that we could see each other, but she was still recovering from a serious illness from last summer that, in the end, proved too much for her heart, no matter how kind and generous it was. I’m reminded that on the same day I published my first all-Roberta episode, in honor of her birthday in 2023, her dear friend and colleague Kenneth Montgomery died, also unexpectedly. Today’s episode is the fifth (but certainly not the last) time that I will honor Roberta, not only the kindest yet most straight-shooting, but also the least pretentious world-class singer I have ever known. For today’s tribute I have chosen music that, begging your indulgence, is for the most part, valedictory. Yet I also sought to foreground both her extraordinary versatility as well as her profound powers of communication, in music ranging from Handel to Bernstein, Mozart to Berg, Wilder to Janácek, all of it gloriously performed. Many of the recordings, as is my wont, are extremely rare, yet at the same time cherishable. There will be a bonus episode this weekend featuring many of the selections that ended up on the cutting room floor today. Roberta may no longer be with us, but on my podcast, she will always be prominently celebrated as the great singer, teacher, mentor, and friend that she was. Requiescat in pace, dear one.

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 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 399. Eileen Farrell (Jane’s Divas II)

October 3, 2025Art Song, Bel canto, Broadway, Comic Relief, Crossover, Eileen Farrell, French Opera, Full-Figured Baroque, Giuseppe Verdi, Holiday Music, In Memoriam, Johann Sebastian Bach, Lieder, Listeners' Favorites, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Operetta, Pop Icons, SchubertAdrian Ross, Al Goodman, Alfred Bachelet, Arnold Gamson, Babes in Arms, Bernard Greenhouse, Bernard Hermann, Charles Jennens, Claude Debussy, Édouard Guinand, Edvard Grieg, Eileen Farrell, Eugène Adénis-Colombeau, Fiançailles pour rire, Francesco Berio di Salsa, Francis Poulenc, Frank Graham, Franz Lehár, Franz Schubert, Frederick Weatherly, Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, George Frideric Handel, George Malloy, George Trovillo, Giuseppe Verdi, Hans Christian Andersen, Harold Barlow, Irving Kahal, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Wallington, Johann Sebastian Bach, L’enfant prodigue, Leopold Stokowski, Lorenz Hart, Louise de Vilmorin, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Maurice Wilk, Messiah, Michael Praetorius, Oscar Hammerstein II, Otello (Rossini), Paul Ulanowsky, Percy Faith, Peter Matz, Richard Rodgers, Robert Bloom, Robert Sharples, Sammy Fain, The Merry Widow, Theodore Baker, Thomas Schippers, Ugo Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Walter Hatchek, William Shakespearecountermelody

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:19:05 — 78.2MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More

Today, the day that we lay my beloved mother, Jane Elizabeth Herbst Gundlach, to rest, I offer another tribute to her memory by way of another favorite singer of hers, Eileen Farrell. My mother grew up hearing her on the radio, and when I was young we would often see her featured on the variety shows that were the typical fare of mid-1960s television. But even more than that, she was the soprano soloist on a recording of Messiah that my father brought as a gift for her when he returned from a summer away at seminary. I have once again chosen a program that allows me to share stories of special events in my mother’s life, some charming, some painful, but all of them reflective of the great love that bound us together as mother and son.

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:48:48 — 119.2MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More

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.