Episode 497. The Luminous Judith Blegen [In Memoriam]
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There are countless singers that I include among my favorites. In fact, it’s become a joke with some of my listeners about just how many “favorite singers” I actually have. (If you must attach a name to it, think of it as vocal polyamory.) Far too many of those well-loved singers, however, have not been as prominently featured on Countermelody as they might have been. Chief among these is the luminous Judith Blegen, who died last week at the age of 85. I heard her exactly once, singing Pamina in Chicago in the late 1980s. Both she and Francisco Araiza, her Tamino, were nearly ideal in their roles. And so was Blegen, a mainstay at the Metropolitan Opera until her early retirement in 1991, in so many of the operatic parts in which she excelled. Audio and video recordings amply document her in those roles, but today, I wanted to focus on several less obvious or familiar aspects of her career. First off, her exceptional singing of Mozart: scattered throughout the episode are recordings of her as Susanna, Pamina, Blondchen, and Zaide. Second, her early mentorship by Gian Carlo Menotti, and her remarkable recordings of two of his early operas. Third, her fascinating portrayal of Mélisande, unlike any other I’ve ever heard; and fourth, her commitment to art song: heard in the episode are songs of Grieg, Wolf, Milhaud, Strauss, and Ruggles. As well as her overall musical and stylistic versatility. The episode features collaborations with fellow singers Frederica von Stade, Thomas Stewart, Regina Resnik, and José Carreras; pianist Martin Katz; and conductors Christoph von Dohnányi, Colin Davis, Daniel Barenboim, Jorge Mester, Georg Solti, Eugene Ormandy, Carlo Felice Cillario, Leopold Hager, and Michael Tilson Thomas. She also reaches out to us from beyond the grave with an important message about the upcoming US elections.
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
All tracks feature soprano Judith Blegen.
Edvard Grieg, Henrik Ibsen: Solvejgs Song (Peer Gynt). Eugene Ormandy, Philadelphia Orchestra [1975]
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Gottlieb Stephanie [after Christoph Friedrich Bretzner]: Durch Zärtlichkeit und Schmeicheln (Die Entführung aus dem Serail). Georg Solti, Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin [television soundtrack 1967]
Gian Carlo Menotti: What a curse for a woman… Steal me, sweet thief (The Old Maid and the Thief). Jorge Mester, Orchestra of the Teatro Verdi di Trieste [1970]
Gian Carlo Menotti: The Black Swan (The Medium). Regina Resnik, Jorge Mester, Orchestra of the Opera Society of Washington [1968]
Alessandro Scarlatti, unknown librettist: Se nubi io già la vidi… Del tuo ciglio vezzoso ad un lampo (Endimione e Cintia). Frederica von Stade, Charles Wadsworth, Leonard Arner, Jane Cochran, instrumental ensemble [live New York 17.XI.1974]
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Lorenzo da Ponte [after Pierre de Beaumarchais]: Giunse alfin il momento… Deh, vieni, non tardar (Le nozze di Figaro). Daniel Barenboim, English Chamber Orchestra [1976]
Johann Strauss II, Richard Genée: Frühlingsstimmen-Walzer, Op. 410. Alois Melichar, Wiener Symphoniker [ca. 1969]
Claude Debussy, Maurice Maeterlinck: Qu’y-a-t’il, Mélisande? (Pelléas et Mélisande). Thomas Stewart, Orchestra conducted by Colin Davis [live New York 29.I.1972]
Gaetano Donizetti, Felice Romani [after Eugène Scribe]: Prendi, per me sei libero… Il mio rigor dimentica (L’elisir d’amore). José Carreras, Orchestra conducted by Carlo Felice Cillario [live San Francisco 10.X.1975]
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Emanuel Schikaneder: Ach, ich fühl’s (Die Zauberflöte). Christoph von Dohnányi, Cleveland Orchestra [live Cleveland 30.VIII.1985]
Hugo Wolf, Joseph von Eichendorff: Verschwiegene Liebe (Eichendorff-Lieder). Martin Katz [1976]
Johannes Brahms, traditional Serbian, translated Siegfried Kapper: Das Mädchen [Stand das Mädchen, stand am Bergesabhang], Op. 95/1. Martin Katz [1987]
Darius Milhaud, Pierre de Ronsard: À Cupidon (Quatre Poèmes de Ronsard, Op. 223/2). Martin Katz [live broadcast from Wien, recorded VI.1982]
Richard Strauss, Clemens Brentano: Amor (Brentano-Lieder, Op. 68/5). Judith Blegen, Martin Katz [1976]
Carl Ruggles: Toys. Michael Tilson Thomas [1978]
George Frideric Handel, Thomas Morell: Wise men, flattering, may deceive us (Judas Maccabaeus). Stephen Simon, Orchester der Wiener Volksoper [1971]
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Andreas Schachtner [loosely based on Voltaire]: Ruhe sanft, mein holdes Leben (Zaide). Leopold Hager, Mozarteum-Orchester Salzburg [1982]
