Episode 377. Joan Caplan Memorial Tribute

Episode 377. Joan Caplan Memorial Tribute

This past April, my former voice teacher and treasured friend Joan Caplan died at the age of 92. A few weeks ago, family and friends organized a memorial gathering for which I produced a short audio tribute, which is heard at the beginning of this episode. Before the event, we heard a number of recordings of Joan in her prime that absolutely knocked me on my ear. I was kindly given copies of these recordings from which I have fashioned an expanded episode in her honor. Most of these recordings have simply never been heard before, but I know that Joan was very proud of the work that she did during her active singing career, before she dedicated herself wholeheartedly to her teaching. Her rare live recordings of arias by Handel, Verdi, Donizetti, Purcell, and Hasse display her magnificent technique, while excerpts from her song recitals, including music by Brahms, Mahler, Montsalvatge, and Glanville-Hicks, display her versatility as well as her interpretive insight. I also share personal insights and reminiscences of Joan which will, I hope, reveal the special relationship that I shared with her, which many of her students, friends, and chosen family also experienced. When I last visited Joan, I promised her that I would do what I could to ensure that she would be properly remembered. With this episode, I do my part, to the best of my ability, to keep that promise.

RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE

Giuseppe Verdi: Liber scriptus proferetur (Messa da Requiem)

George Frideric Handel, Thomas Morell: Oh, let me fold thee in a mother’s arms… Sweet as sight to the blind (Jephtha). Orchestra conducted by Harold Aks [live New York 12.I.1962]

Gaetano Donizetti, Felice Romani [after Victor Hugo]: Il segreto per esser felici (Lucrezia Borgia)

Gustav Mahler, folk text from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, collected and adapted by Clemens Brentano, Achim von Arnim: Nicht wiedersehen! (Lieder und Gesänge aus der Jugendzeit)

Johann Adolf Hasse: Superbo da me stesso (L’Olimpiade). Joan Caplan, Newell Jenkins, Clarion Concerts Orchestra [live New York 16 March 1971]

Gustav Mahler, folk text from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, collected and adapted by Clemens Brentano, Achim von Arnim: Selbstgefühl (Lieder und Gesänge aus der Jugendzeit)

George Frideric Handel, Antonio Salvi (after Ludovico Ariosto): Coperta la frode (Ariodante). Stephen Simon, Handel Society of New York [live Carnegie Hall 29 March 1971]

Henry Purcell, Nahum Tate: Wayward sisters, you that fright (Dido and Aeneas). Christina Asher, Antonia Kitsopoulos. Nicola Rescigno, Orchestra and Chorus of the Houston Grand Opera [live 10.XI.72]

Giambattista Martini: Dall’arte amica colà difesa. Anna Gabrieli, Joan Caplan, Martin Pearlman, Ruth Rabinow [1979]

Peggy Glanville-Hicks, Wallace Stevens: Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.

• I. Among twenty snowy mountains
• II. I was of three minds
• III. The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds
• IV. A man and a woman

Johannes Brahms, Georg Friedrich Daumer: Wenn du nur zuweilen lächelst, Op. 57/2

Johannes Brahms, Christian Reinhold: Auf dem Schiffe, Op. 97/2

Johannes Brahms, Georg Friedrich Daumer: Nicht mehr zu dir zu gehen, Op. 32/2

Johannes Brahms, Traditional Hungarian text adapted by Hugo Conrat [né Hugo Cohn]: Zigeunerlieder. Op. 103.

• IV. Lieber Gott, du weißt, wie oft bereut ich hab
• VI. Röslein dreie in der Reihe

Xavier Montsalvatge, Rafael Alberti: Cuba dentro de un piano (Cinco canciones negras, No. 1)

Gaetano Donizetti, Jacopo Ferretti: Fatal Goffredo… Io l’udia ne’ suoi bei carmi… Trono e corona involami (Torquato Tasso)

Gustav Mahler, folk text collected and adapted by Clemens Brentano, Achim von Arnim: Lob des hohen Verstands (Des Knaben Wunderhorn)

Jacques Offenbach, Henri Meilhac, Ludovic Halévy [after Prosper Mérimée]: Ah, quel dîner je viens de faire (La Périchole)