Tag Archives: Reinhard Peters

Episode 295. Requiescat

October 6, 2024Art Song, Behind the Iron Curtain, Bel canto, Broadway, Forgotten Divas, Full-Figured Baroque, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, In Memoriam, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Pop Icons, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Singers in Old Age, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century Opera, Verismo, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAntonio García Gutiérrez, Antonio Votto, April Cantelo, Benjamin Britten, Bob Wilson, Bruce Blunt, Carlo Pepoli, Celestina Casapietra, Christine Weidinger, Corneliu Murgu, Daphne, David Belasco, David Hemmings, David Willcocks, Deborah Roberts, Edo de Waart, Edward Heyman, Elena Mauti-Nunziata, Eric Crozier, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Fernández Shaw, Frank Eyton, Gaetano Donizetti, George Frideric Handel, Georges Bizet, Georges Rodenbach, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Gregorio Allegro, Grigoire Iosub, Herbert Kegel, I Puritani, Il Trovatore, Ivor Gurney, Janis Paige, Jodie Devos, John Dryden, John Fletcher, John Luther Long, Johnny Green, Josef Gregor, Julius Korngold, Karan Armstrong, La jolie fille de Perth, La vida breve, Laurence Equilbey, Le nozze di Figaro, Lohengrin, Lorenzo da Ponte, Lucine Amara, Madama Butterfly, Manuel de Falla, Margaret Cable, Maria di Rohan, Max Rudolf, Miguel Gómez-Martínez, Nicolas Krüger, Paul Schott, Peter Phillips, Peter Warlock, Philip Heseltine, Pierre Beaumarchais, Reinhard Peters, Richard Bonynge, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Robert Sour, Rosemary Barnes, Roy Campbell, Ruth Hesse, Salvadore Cammarano, Sanda Şandru, Sesto Bruscantini, St John of the Cross, The Little Sweep, The Tallis Scholars, Vincenzo Bellini, Walter Scott, William Mathias, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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Today on Countermelody is the first of two memorial episodes paying tribute to singers that we’ve lost just in the past few months. Applying the completely arbitrary rubric of gender, today I am focusing on sopranos (with two mezzo-soprano interlopers); my next episode will carry the memorial torch for all the male singers who’ve recently died. Today’s subjects ranged in age from only 35 to nearly 102 at the time of their deaths, and from Broadway star to early music singer: Jodie Devos, April Cantelo, Lucine Amara, Celestina Casapietra, Christine Weidinger, Elena Mauti Nunziata, Deborah Roberts, and Sanda Şandru; lower-voiced interlopers include Janis Paige, Margaret Cable, and Ruth Hesse. If you know some of these names, you know that you will be some mellifluous serenading; if you don’t, prepare yourself for a wide range of music from Renaissance polyphony to American pop standards, with operatic selections ranging from Donizetti to Falla.

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 187. Elly Ameling Sings Bach

March 10, 2023Art Song, Full-Figured Baroque, Happy Birthday, Holiday Music, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle DropAlbert de Klerk, Cees van der Krann, Coenraad Bloemendaal, Dalton Baldwin, Edward H. Tarr, Elly Ameling, Elyakim Taussig, Eugen Jochum, Franzjosef Maier, Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden, Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel, Han de Vries, Hans-Martin Linde, Hanspeter Weber, Helmut Winschermann, Helmuth Hucke, Hermann Prey, Ingo Goritzki, Janet Baker, Johann Sebastian Bach, Karl Münchinger, Kurt Thomas, Matthäus-Passion, Maurice André, Moshe Hammer, Neville Marriner, Paul Steinitz, Raymond Leppard, Reinhard Peters, Richte van der Meer, Roger Birnstingl, St. Matthew Passion, Weichet nur (Wedding Cantata), William Bennettcountermelody

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An artist whose singing has been with me throughout my entire life journey is Dutch soprano Elly Ameling, who on February 8 celebrated her 90th birthday. Ameling was most celebrated as a singer of art song, and justly so, but another repertoire she performed with particular grace and aplomb was the music of the baroque, specifically the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. This, the first of a pair of Ameling episodes planned for this season, presents her exclusively in that repertoire, in live performances and recordings over the course of her career’s prime, from the mid-sixties through the mid-eighties. I have chosen to focus on three works which she performed frequently and for which we have more than one recorded example extant: Cantata 51, “Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen”; Cantata 202, “Weichet nur,” the so-called Wedding Cantata; and the St. Matthew Passion. I feature extended excerpts from each of these works as well as a smattering of Ameling performances of other Bach works, as well a song once wrongly attributed to Bach, “Bist du bei mir.” Throughout this episode, Ameling’s key artistic virtues are on full display: a crystalline voice of ineffable purity; an impeccable vocal technique that encompassed long-limbed cantilena as well as rapid-fire coloratura; and a verbal acuity that, even in such technically challenging music, always put the words first and foremost. She is the ideal Bach singer, and, dare I say it, maybe the finest Bach soprano that ever lived.

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 176. Helen Donath

December 24, 2022French Opera, Full-Figured Baroque, Giacomo Puccini, Great Baritones, Holiday Music, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Operetta, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Twentieth Century MusicAnna Moffo, Arabella (Strauss), August Stramm, Bernhard Klee, Carl Maria von Weber, Carl Millöcker, Carmen, Das Christelflein, Das Land des Lächelns, Der Freischütz, Die Dubarry Emmerich Smola, Die Gärtnerin aus Liebe, Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Die Zauberflöte, Edda Moser, Engelbert Humperdinck, Fidelio, Franz Lehár, Friedrich von Flotow, Gabriel Chmura, Gabriele Schnaut, George Frideric Handel, Georges Bizet, Gerd Albrecht, Giacomo Puccini, Günther Leib, Hans Pfitzner, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, Heinz Geese, Heinz Wallberg, Helen Donath, Herbert Blomstedt, Herbert von Karajan, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Ivan Törzs, Jacques Offenbach, Johann Sebastian Bach, Julia Varady, Klaus Donath, Kurt Eichhorn, La Boheme, La finta giardiniera, Leonard Bernstein, Leonore (Beethoven), Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Ludwig von Beethoven, Messiah (Handel), Otmar Suitner, Otto Nicolai, Paul Hindemith, Peter Schreier, Rafael Kubelik, Reinhard Peters, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Sancta Susanna (Hindemith), Siegfried Jerusalem, Tannhäuser, Theo Adam, Weihnachtsoratorium, Werner Hollweg, Willi Boskovsky, William Shakespeare, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Wolfgang Gönnenwein, Wolfgang Sawallischcountermelody

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Today’s episode is a celebration of the Texas-born, German-assimilated soprano Helen Donath. Very few singers can boast of a career lasting more than 50 years which yielded such consistently superb vocalism and artistry. Donath began as a soubrette with lyric-coloratura capabilities which blossomed into a jugendlich dramatisch voice capable of successfully assuming roles in Wagner, Strauss, and Weber. Today’s episode has two “gimmicks,” the first of which is that all of the selections are sung in German, even if they were originally set in French or Italian. The second gimmick is that strewn in amongst the other selections, there is a smattering of holiday-related material including works by Bach, Handel, Mozart, Humperdinck, and Pfitzner. Other composers heard include Otto Nicolai, Friedrich von Flotow, Paul Hindemith, as well as numerous examples of Donath’s peerless Mozart singing and a generous helping of operettas by Lehár, Millöcker, and Johann Strauss II. Vocal guest stars are legion, and include Julia Varady, Siegfried Jerusalem, Anna Moffo, Peter Schreier, Edda Moser, Theo Adam, Werner Hollweg, and Günther Leib in performances conducted by Leonard Bernstein, Herbert von Karajan, Kurt Eichhorn, Rafael Kubelik, Herbert Blomstedt, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Bernhard Klee, Otmar Suitner, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, Gerd Albrecht, and Willi Boskovsky, as well as Klaus Donath, Helen’s husband since 1965.

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.