Tag Archives: Wesendonck-Lieder

Episode 414. Sass Returns!

November 23, 2025Arie antiche, Art Song, Behind the Iron Curtain, Bel canto, Crossover, French Opera, Full-Figured Baroque, Giuseppe Verdi, Lieder, Listeners' Favorites, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Opera in Translation, Operetta, Orchestral Songs, Pop Icons, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Schubert, Sylvia Sass, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century Opera, Verismo, Wolfgang Amadeus MozartA Kékszakállú herceg vára, Aage Haugland, Adalbert von Chamisso, Adriana Lecouvreur, Alessandro Stradella, Alexandre Dumas fils, András Schiff, András Sebestyén, Andrea Maffei, Arturo Colautti, Barry Gibb, Béla Balázs, Béla Bartók, Belfagor, Bluebeard’s Castle, Charles Gounod, Claudio Guastalla, Dusán Sztevanovity, Endre Ady, Ercole Luigi Morselli, Ernest Legouvé, Ervin Lukács, Eugène Scribe, Faust, Francesco Cilea, Francesco Maria Piave, Franz Liszt, Frauenliebe und -leben, Giuseppe Verdi, György G Dénes, György Korondi, Henri Meilhac, I Lombardi alla Prima Crociata, Il Corsaro, Iván Bradányi, Jacques Offenbach, János Bródy, Johann Rumpelmeyer, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, John Henry Mackay, Josef Kenner, Jules Barbier, Kolos Kováts, La Belle Helene, La Traviata, Lamberto Gardelli, Loránt Szücs, Lord Byron, Ludovic Halévy, Macbeth, Mathilde Wesendonck, Michel Carré, Michel Plasson, Miklós Harazdy, Nello Santi, Ottorino Respighi, Patrick Fournillier, Péter Wolf, Pietro Metastasio, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Robert Schumann, Robin Gibb, Sylvia Sass, Temistocle Solera, Tibor Bornai, Tommaso Grossi, Wesendonck-Lieder, William Shakespeare, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Zoltán Kodály, Zsuzsa Konczcountermelody

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:47:53 — 148.2MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More

Podcast (https-countermelody-blubrry-net-feed-podcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:47:53 — 148.2MB) | Embed

Subscribe: RSS

Every hundred or so episodes, I feel compelled to pay a return visit to beloved Hungarian diva Sylvia Sass, for there’s always something new and delicious to discover! I’ve cleaned up another former bonus episode and expanded it with a half-dozen extra tracks, from Verdi to Mozart, from her definitive Bluebeard’s Castle to arie antiche topped with a bracing blast of verismo. Then I link up with the previously published bonus episode which samples live excerpts from the two legendary 1976 Verdi performances (Giselda and Violetta) that put Sass on the fast track to operatic superstardom, then pivot to selections from stage works by Offenbach, Respighi, and Gounod that generously flout all of Sylvia’s musical and vocal virtues. Especially treasurable are a number of performances of art song by Liszt, Schumann, Schubert, Strauss, Wagner, and Kodály that explore more deeply her career-long commitment to art song. Plus that, three pop selections recorded between 1983 and 2004, simply irresistible to me and (I hope) to you as well! Sass lovers, you’re in for a feast!

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 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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:48:51 — 129.2MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More

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!

Episode 382. Eine Janowitzische Geburtstagfeier

August 4, 2025Art Song, Full-Figured Baroque, Happy Birthday, Interview, Johann Sebastian Bach, Lieder, Listeners' Favorites, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Operetta, Orchestral Songs, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Schubert, Singers in Old Age, Twentieth Century Music, Twentieth Century OperaBruno Hardt-Warden, Charles Spencer, Das Marienleben, Die Rosen der Madonna, Die Schöpfung, Emil Kuh, Franz Liszt, Georg Christian Lehms, Gottfried van Swieten, Gundula Janowitz, Herbert von Karajan, Hermann Hesse, Hermann Prey, Irwin Gage, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Henry Mackay, Joseph Haydn, Karl Friedrich Henckell, Karl Gottfried von Leitner, Mathieu Lange, Mathilde Wesendonck, Otto Tumlirz, Paul Hindemith, Peter Waters, Rainer Maria Rilke, Richard Dehmel, Richard Stamp, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Robert Stolz, Rudolf Barshai, Vier letzte Lieder, Waldemar Kmentt, Wesendonck-Liedercountermelody

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:32:59 — 93.7MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More

If you “get” Gundula Janowitz, then you really get her, and this birthday tribute will be a delectable treat. If, however, you don’t get her, or don’t think that you get her, you might want to give this episode a try, anyway, for it focuses on her work as a Lieder singer. It is my contention that she was one of the very finest song recitatlists of the late 20th century. Like Grace Bumbry, Margaret Price, Helen Donath, and a number of others, she balanced her work in opera with superlative work on the recital stage. To support my informed opinion, I have found a number of rare live recordings from Amsterdam, Tokyo, and Athens, in which the beloved soprano performs (with her pianists Irwin Gage, Charles Spencer, and Peter Waters and conductor Rudolf Barshai), songs of Strauss, Schubert, Liszt, Wagner, and Hindemith. The episode is supplemented by music by Haydn, Bach, and Robert Stolz, the last an early-career Janowitz performance of his obscure opera Die Rosen der Madonna. In these works, she is heard in duet with Waldemar Kmentt and last week’s featured singer, Hermann Prey. Herzliche (aber nachträgliche) Geburtstagsgrüße an unsere geliebte Frau Kammersängerin!

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.