Tag Archives: Sigmund Romberg

Episode 159. Forgotten Broadway II

August 26, 2022African American Singers, Broadway, Canadian Singers, Comic Relief, Crossover, Great Baritones, Happy Birthday, In Memoriam, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Operetta, Pop Icons, Queer Pride, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century Music, Voiceless WondersAlan Jay Lerner, Anton Coppola, Anyone Can Whistle, Cesare Siepi, Charles Strouse, Clay Warnick, Cy Coleman, David Atkinson, David Opatoshu, Dick Hyman, Dody Goodman, Donald Gramm, Dorothy Fields, Elaine Stritch, Ethel Ennis, Ezio Pinza, Fred Ebb, Frederick Loewe, Gary Geld, George Siravo, Hal Hackady, Harold Hastings, Harold Rome, Harry Guardino, Harry Pleva, Harvey Schmidt, Herbert Greene, Jack Cassidy, James Stenborg, Jane Powell, Jean Kerr, Jerry Herman, Jimmy Jones, Jimmy Van Heuse, Joan Ford, John Kander, Johnny Burke, Johnny Green, Joyce Brown, Lanny Meyers, Larry Grossman, Larry Kert, Lee Adams, Lee Remick, Lehman Engel, Leo Robin, Leonard Bernstein, Leroy Anderson, Linda Lavin, Louie Bellson, Mary Rodgers, Me and Juliet (Rodgers & Hammerstein), Melba Moore, Milton Kaye, Milton Schafer, Minnie’s Boys, Ogden Nash, Oscar Hammerstein II, Oscar Kosarin, Pat Suzuki, Pearl Bailey, Peter Udell, Rebecca Luker, Richard Rodgers, Richard Weiss, Rita Gardner, Robert Goulet, Rod Derefinko, Ron Raines, Ronny Graham, Sam Pottle, Sarah Fleming, Shannon Bolin, Sigmund Romberg, Skitch Henderson, Stephen Sondheim, Susan Johnson, Sylvan Levin, Sylvia Syms, Ted Thursday, Tom Jones, Vernon Duke, Walter Kerr, Walter Marks, William Raycountermelody

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The follow-up episode to my previous Forgotten Broadway episode is an epic one, chock full of fascinating composers, lyricists, performers and shows. We begin with a tribute to birthday boy Leonard Bernstein, a song from Peter Pan sung by gay Broadway icon Larry Kert. From there we encounter shows by Lerner and Loewe, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Kander and Ebb, Cy Coleman, Dorothy Fields, Strouse and Adams, Jerry Herman, Stephen Sondheim, Schmidt and Jones, Vernon Duke, Mary Rodgers, Sigmund Romberg, Harold Rome and Leroy Anderson, among others, performed by Jane Powell, Pat Suzuki, Melba Moore, Rita Gardner, Jack Cassidy, Rebecca Luker, Cesare Siepi, Susan Johnson, Dody Goodman, Pearl Bailey, Ezio Pinza, Elaine Stritch, Shannon Bolin, and others. Diverse topics discussed include the Broadway revue, queer subjects and performers, and the place of performers of color on Broadway. This is a long episode that I recommend listening to in segments! And please be aware that an equally mammoth third segment on Forgotten Broadway will be published this weekend for my Patreon supporters!

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 147. The Young Gabriel Bacquier

June 3, 2022Art Song, French Opera, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Great Baritones, Happy Birthday, In Memoriam, Mirella Freni, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Operetta, Twentieth Century MusicAlain Vanzo, Alberto Erede, André Gide, André Rivoire, Ariettes oubliées (Debussy), Armand Silvestre, Arrigo Boito, Benjamin Godard, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Ciboulette (Hahn), Claude Debussy, Darius Milhaud, Don Giovanni, Don Quichotte à Dulcinée, Eugène Cools, Félix Nuvolone, Fernando Previtali, Francis Poulenc, Franz Lehár, Gabriel Bacquier, Gabriel Faure, Georges Bizet, Giuseppe Verdi, Henri Duparc, Jacques Houtmann, Janine Ervil, Jean Laforge, Jean Lahor, Jésus Etchéverry, Johann Strauss II, Johann Strauss Sr., Le nozze di Figaro, Les pecheurs de perles, Lorenzo da Ponte, Manuel Rosenthal, Maurice Maeterlinck, Maurice Ravel, Mirella Freni, Orphée et Eurydice, Otello (Verdi), Paganini (Lehár), Paul Morand, Paul Verlaine, Pelleas et Melisande, Renate Holm, Reynaldo Hahn, Robert de Flers, Robert Desnos, Serge Baudo, Sigmund Romberg, Silvio Varviso, The Desert Song (Romberg), Tosca (Puccini), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Yvonne Gallcountermelody

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Two years ago last month, the great French (bass-)baritone Gabriel Bacquier died just four days short of his 96th birthday. At that time I offered a brief memorial tribute which opened my eyes to aspects of his artistry and voice with which I had been previously unfamiliar. Like his near-contemporary, the Italian baritone Tito Gobbi, Bacquier was one of the supreme actors of the operatic stage, whose voice coarsened somewhat over the course of his long career, even as his mastery as an actor and interpreter increased. By the time he retired, his repertoire consisted almost entirely of buffo parts. But in the earliest years of his career (and also like Gobbi), he possessed a baritone of velvety beauty that might surprise those who know only his later comic roles. This episode, which commemorates the second anniversary of Bacquier’s death as well as his (posthumous) 98th birthday, focuses on the three different musical genres in which, in those early years, from 1953 through 1968, he excelled in equal measure: opera, of course, but also mélodie and operetta. The operatic portrayals represented include the title roles in Don Giovanni and Orphée et Eurydice; Zurga in Les Pêcheurs de perles; the Count in Le nozze di Figaro; Iago in Otello; Golaud; and his incomparable Scarpia, which he sang opposite every great Tosca of the 1960s with the exception of Callas. Complementing these live and studio recordings are recordings of melodies by Duparc, Fauré, Debussy, Ravel, and Poulenc; and operetta arias by Sigmund Romberg, Franz Lehár, Johann Strauss II, and Reynaldo Hahn, all deliciously sung in French. Vocal guest stars include Mirella Freni; Alain Vanzo; Bernard Demigny; Janine Ervil; Yvonne Gall, with whom Bacquier studied at the Conservatoire de Paris; and the late Renate Holm, the renowned German soubrette who died in April at the age of 90. In all this repertoire, Bacquier, who insisted on the appellation “acting singer” rather than “singing actor,” displays his commitment to clear yet full projection of text, which serves as a mirror into the music and not the other way around.

Episode 51. Legitimate Broadway (Crossover Classics VII)

September 6, 2020African American Singers, Broadway, Crossover, Needle Drop, OperettaAlexander Borodin, Alfred Drake, Anderson), Anne Jeffreys, Barbara Cook, Bitter-Sweet (Coward), Blossom Time (Friml), Brenda Lewis, Brian Sullivan, Candide, Carol Brice, Claramae Turner, Cris Groenendaal, Dennis King, Edvard Grieg, Eleanor Steber, Elmer Rice, Erie Mills, Follies (Sondheim), Frank Loesser, Franz Allers, Franz Lehár, Fritzi Scheff, George Dvorsky, George Forrest, George Metaxa, Gian Carlo Menotti, Helen Goes to Troy, Helena Bliss, Helena Scott, Henry Calvin, Inia Te Wiata, Irra Petina, Jacques Offenbach, Jan Kiepura, Jarmila Novotna, Jeanne Lehman, Jerome Kern, Jo Sullivan, John Brownlee, John McGlinn, John Reardon, John Stanford, Kalem Kermoyan, Kismet, Kurt Weill, Langston Hughes, Lawrence Tibbett, Lee Venora, Leo Robin, Leonard Bernstein, Licia Albanese, Lotte Lenya, Lydia Fredericks, Marc Blitzstein, Marie Powers, Marta Eggerth, Maurice Abravanel, Mlle Modiste (Herbert), Noël Coward, Norman Cordon, Oscar Hammerstein II, Patricia Neway, Peggy Wood, Polyna Stoska, Rebecca Luker, Regina, Richard Banke, Richard Wilbur, Robert Rounseville, Robert Weede, Robert Wright, Rudolf Friml, Samuel Krachmalnick, September Song (Weill, Sigmund Romberg, Song of Norway, Stephen Sondheim, Street Scene, Sylvan Levin, Tandy MacKenzie, The Consul (Menotti), The Girl in Pink Tights, The Happiest Girl in the World, The Medium (Menotti), The Most Happy Fella, The New Moon (Romberg), The Vagabond King (Friml), Very Warm for May, Victor Herbert, Walter Cassel, Yip Harburgcountermelody

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Today’s topic is operetta and opera on Broadway. From the early days of the Great White Way, a large amount of the musical theatre repertoire was actually operetta. I begin with a discussion of the composers of such operettas (Victor Herbert, Rudolf Friml, and Sigmund Romberg, with a significant nod to Jerome Kern as well) and the singers who appeared in those works. Then I present an array of works adapted from the classical repertoire (primarily Wright and Forrest’s Song of Norway and Kismet), followed by examples of that curious hybrid, Broadway opera, including Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Medium and The Consul; Marc Blitzstein’s Regina; Frank Loesser’s The Most Happy Fella; Kurt Weill and Langston Hughes’s Street Scene; and Leonard Bernstein’s Candide. A wide range of singers is included, some celebrated (Lotte Lenya, Patricia Neway, Barbara Cook, Marta Eggerth, Lawrence Tibbett), some less so (Helena Scott, Lee Venora, Fritzi Scheff, Robert Rounseville), the careers of some of whom stretch back to the beginning of the century, but all singers which straddled the fence between musicals, operetta, and opera. But rest assured: this is no dry history lesson: it’s a fast-paced romp through a fun and fascinating topic!

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. 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. Bonus episodes available only to Patreon supporters are currently available!

Episode 48. Cesare Siepi (Crossover Classics IV)

August 16, 2020Art Song, Crossover, Giuseppe Verdi, In Memoriam, Lieder, Needle DropAlfredo Mazzucchi, Cesare Siepi, Cole Porter, Easy to Love, Eduardo di Capua, Ezio Pinza, Funiculi funicula, Giuseppe Verdi, I Get a Kick out of You, In the Still of the Night, Johannes Brahms, La sonnambula, Luigi Denza, Nabucco, Oscar Hammerstein II, Paolo Tosti, Renato Brogi, Richard Rodgers, Roland Shaw Orchestra, Sigmund Romberg, Some Enchanted Evening, South Pacific, Vincenzo Bellini, Visione venezianacountermelody

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Last month marked the tenth anniversary of the death of the great Italian basso Cesare Siepi, one of the most important basses of the twentieth century, after such figures as Nazzareno de Angelis, Tancredi Pasero, and, particularly, Ezio Pinza, the latter, like Siepi, particularly associated with the title role of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. His dashing good looks, solid technique, sonorous voice and appealing artistry, placed him in the forefront of the opera world, particularly in the 1950s through the 1970s. In this episode, rather than his celebrated Mozart and Verdi portrayals, however, we will focus primarily on his 1958 Decca/London album, Easy to Love: The Songs of Cole Porter. Siepi also made two appearances on Broadway, including 1962’s nearly-forgotten Bravo, Giovanni, from which we hear two excerpts. Other musical selections in this episode include two operatic arias, several favorites from the Neapolitan song repertoire, and live and television performances from Brahms to Sigmund Romberg. Revisiting this artist, and particularly his spot-on Cole Porter performances, is a nostalgic journey for me, and I hope to convey to you his enormous appeal.

Episode 1: Welcome to Countermelody

September 12, 2019MusicA te o cara, Adriana Lecouvreur, Agnese di Hohenstaufen, Alberto Franchetti, Alfred Bachelet, Alfredo Catalani, Alfredo Silipigni, Allan Dwan, Allan Segall, Als flotter Geist, Alvino Misciano, Amelia al ballo, Amelita Galli-Curci, Amilcare Ponchielli, Andrea Chénier, Anita Cerquetti, Antoine Boësset, Anton Coppola, Aprile Millo, Arne Dorumsgaard, Arrigo Boito, Arturo Buzzi-Peccia, Arturo Toscanini, Bachelor Hall, Bianca e Fernando, Bidu Sayao, Boesset, Bonjour Suzon, Cary Grant, Cecil B. DeMille, Cecilia, Charles Long, Charles Simon, Chère nuit, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Cincinnati Opera, Clara Petrella, Clarence Brown, Claudette Colbert, Claudia Muzio, Denia Mazzola Gavazzeni, Der Roland von Berlin, Der Zigeunerbaron, Dir che ci sono al mondo, Domenico Alaleona, Edipo Re, Edith Mason, Edoardo Garbin, Eide Norena, Eleonora Duse, Emma Carelli, Emmy Destinn, Enrico Caruso, Erich Korngold, Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Esser madre è un inferno, Eugenia Mantelli, Eva Le Gallienne, Eva von der Osten, Fedora, Florence Quartararo, Francesca da Rimini, Francesco Cilea, Franco Alfano, Franco Corelli, Franco Ghione, Franz Schubert, Friedrich Hollaender, Gabrielle Réjane, Gaspare Spontini, George Cukor, Geraldine Farrar, Gerard Powers, Gerard Souzay, Giacinto Prandelli, Giacomo Lauri-Volpi, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Giacomo Puccini, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Giancarlo Menotti, Gioacchino Rossini, Giovanni Martinelli, Giulio Crimi, Giuseppe Danise, Giuseppe de Luca, Giuseppe Verdi, Gloria Swanson, Guglielmo Tell, Guillaume Tell, Gus Kahn, H.B. Warner, Harrison Fisher, Heinrich Rehkemper, Hercule de Fontenailles, homosexuality, Hugo Hasslo, I Puritani, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Il tabarro, Il Trittico, Isa Miranda, Isadora Duncan, Italo Montemezzi, Jacqueline Bonneau, Jacques Offenbach, Jean Sibelius, Jeanette MacDonald, Joan Crawford, Johann Stauss II, Jorma Hynninen, King of Kings, La Fanciulla del West, Le Prophete, Léo Delibes, Licinio Refice, Lilo, Lodoletta, Loreley, Lorenzo Molajoli, Lotte Lehmann, Luca Canonici, Madama Butterfly, Madame Sans-Gêne, Mafalda Favero, Magda Olivero, Maria Pedrini, Mario Sammarco, Mary Garden, Mefistofele, Miriam Hopkins, Mrs. Leslie Carter, Nelson Eddy, O del mio amato ben, O prêtres de Baal, Oliviero de Fabritiis, Ombra di nube, Paride ed Elena, Pasquale Amato, Patricia Craig, Pauline Frederick, Pierre Berton, Pietro Mascagni, Ralf Gothoni, Randolph Scott, Renata Scotto, Renato Castellani, Rene Gaveau, Resurrection, Riccardo Zandonai, Risurrezione, Rosa Ponselle, Rosa Raisa, Rosina Storchio, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Selva opaca, Senza mamma, Sigmund Romberg, silent film, Smouldering Fires, Sorgi o padre, Spiagge amate, Stefano Antonucci, Stefano Donaudy, Sunset Boulevard, Suor Angelica, Teatro Grattacielo, The Fighting Westerner, The Girl of the Golden West, This Modern Age, Titta Ruffo, Umberto Giordano, Un bel dì, Una voce poco fa, Victor Maurel, Victorien Sardou, Vincenzo Bellini, Vittorio Gnecchi, Wolfgang Windgassen, Yvette Guilbert, Zaza, Zazà piccola zingaracountermelody

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Episode 1: Welcome to Countermelody, or Claudia and Zazà. Our first episode answers the question on everyone’s lips: “Where did the logo and the theme music come from?” We discuss the legendary Italian diva Claudia Muzio whose series of iconic recordings, particularly those recorded shortly before her premature death in 1936, are so extraordinary that they have kept her reputation intact to this day. We consider in particular her November 1920 recording of an aria from Ruggero Leoncavallo’s little-remembered verismo opera Zazà, in which her extraordinary artistry is on full display.

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