Tag Archives: Theodor Storm

Episode 474. Brigitte Fassbaender sings Brahms

June 23, 2026Art Song, Great Contraltos, Happy Birthday, Lieder, Listeners' Favorites, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Queer PrideAdolf Frey, August von Platen, Brigitte Fassbaender, Christian Reinhold, Clemens Brentano, Die schöne Magelone, Edith Mathis, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Erik Werba, Friedrich Rückert, Gottfried Keller, Heinrich Heine, Hugo Conrat, Irwin Gage, Johann Gottfried Harder, Johannes Brahms, Karl August Candidus, Karl Engel, Karl von Lemcke, Klaus Groth, Ludwig Tieck, Martin Luther, Peter Schreier, Theodor Storm, Thomas Riebl, Vier ernste Gesänge, Wilhelm Häring, Wolfram Rieger, Zigeunerliedercountermelody

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Pride 2026 at Countermelody continues with an episode devoted to the towering German mezzo-soprano Brigitte Fassbaender, not only one of the great opera stars of the late twentieth century (her Octavian, for instance, was, is, and remains, hors concours), but also one of the greatest Lieder singers of all time. Today I choose to focus on her performance of the songs of Johannes Brahms, whose music is ideally suited to her dark-timbred, urgently projected voice and artistry. She’s heard in these selections with four of the primary pianists with whom she collaborated and recorded in the songs of Brahms: Erik Werba, Irwin Gage, Karl Engel, and the great Georgian pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja, with whom she made her final recordings and performances in the early 1990s, just before her sudden departure from the opera and concert stage. I read a portion of her memoirs (translated into English) in which she candidly discusses the reasons for that choice. Fassbaender has always lived her life openly and matter-of-factly, never foregrounding her sexuality while also never denying or hiding it. For her, music and the theater have always been the focal points in her public life, and her unique artistry has placed her at the forefront of the great musical artists of our time. There are few vocal artists I esteem as highly.

Countermelody is the 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 395. Hildegard Behrens, Liedersängerin

September 19, 2025Full-Figured Baroque, In Memoriam, Johann Sebastian Bach, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Orchestral Songs, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Schubert, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartAdalbert von Chamisso, Alban Berg, Carl Hauptmann, Daniel Barenboim, David Syrus, Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Eduard Mörike, Felix Schumann, Francis Travis, Franz Schubert, Frauenliebe und -leben, Friedrich Schiller, Georg Scherer, Georgine von Baumberg, Gottfried Stölzel, Hector Berlioz, Heinrich Heine, Hermann von Gilm, Hildegard Behrens, Hugo Wolf, Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Les nuits d’été, Lovro von Matačić, Mathilde Wesendonck, Matthias Claudius, Paul Heyse, Richard Dehmel, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Sieben frühe Lieder, Theodor Storm, Théophile Gautier, Wesendonck-Lieder, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartcountermelody

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Today we celebrate the recorded legacy of Hildegard Behrens, but from an unexpected angle. Like George London and Cesare Valletti, the last two artists heard on the podcast, she is best remembered today for her operatic portrayals. But like both London and Valletti, she was also a recitalist, although this was not, admittedly, a prominent part of her repertoire. Nevertheless, as a recitalist, as in everything she sang, she displayed a keen musical intelligence, a commitment to the inherent drama in the text, and an insistence upon truth in expression. Today, however, we hear the great Wagner and Strauss singer not only in songs by both of those composers, but also less-expected music, including Schumann’s Frauenliebe und -leben, as well as songs by Bach, Elgar, and Zumsteeg. This material was featured in her Carnegie Hall recital debut in April 1985 and subsequently recorded in Paris at the legendary (and now no longer extant) Salle Wagram. This recording is supplemented by excerpts from three different orchestral song cycles, Les nuits d’été or Hector Berlioz, the Wagner Wesendonck-Lieder, and Berg’s Sieben frühe Lieder. May this episode serve as a tantalizing Vorspiese to an upcoming episode celebrating the operatic career of the great Hildegard!

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 120. Bethany Beardslee

December 17, 2021Art Song, Happy Birthday, Holiday Music, Lieder, Needle Drop, Twentieth Century MusicAaron Copland, Alban Berg, Anton Webern, Arnold Schoenberg, August Strindberg, Basil Reeve, Bethany Beardslee, Charles Baudelaire, Cheryl Seltzer, Claude Debussy, Das buch der hängenden gärten, David Epstein, e.e. cummings, Ernest Guiraud, Fred Lerdahl, Friedrich Rückert, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Godfrey Winham, Hermann Weigert, James Joyce, James Purdy, Joel Sachs, Johannes Brahms, John Hollander, Joseph von Eichendorff, Lois Shapiro, Lotte Lehmann, Mel Powell, Milton Babbitt, Murray Panitz, Otto Erich Hartleben, Paul Verlaine, Peter Altenberg, Philomel (Babbitt), Pierrot lunaire, Richard Goode, Robert Craft, Robert Helps, Robert Schumann, Theodor Storm, William Shakespearecountermelody

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Today’s episode celebrates a pioneer in the performance of twentieth century vocal music in anticipation of her 96th birthday on Christmas Day. Bethany Beardslee was a titan who set standards in the performance of the music of Arnold Schoenberg and Milton Babbitt in particular, but who also acted as muse to a host of mid-twentieth century avant garde composers whose work she premiered and often recorded. But she was also a member of the pioneering early music ensemble New York Pro Musica in the late 1950s and was an innovator in programming daring and diverse recital repertoire which combined Lieder and melodies with the contemporary music for which she was best known. This episode samples her recordings over the course of more than thirty years, and includes composers such as John Dowland, Robert Schumann, Claude Debussy, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, and Johannes Brahms alongside such twentieth century giants as Anton Webern, Ernst Krenek, Igor Stravinsky, Ben Weber, Mel Powell, Robert Helps, Fred Lerdahl, and Godfrey Winham, her second husband. Throughout the course of a career devoted to, to paraphrase the title of her autobiography, “singing the unsingable,” Bethany Beardslee combined rock solid-technique and silvery tone with peerless musicianship and interpretive acuity to set standards that have yet to be surpassed. Please join me in celebrating this great artist.

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.