Episode 53. Justice (In Memoriam RBG)

Episode 53. Justice (In Memoriam RBG)

I awoke Saturday morning in Berlin to the apocalyptic news that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died. Once again a crisis in the United States has prompted me to quickly put together a different episode than originally planned. The late Justice Ginsburg was a particular lover of opera, and so I have decided to showcase some of her favorite operas and performers. We will hear extended scenes from La Gioconda, Le nozze di Figaro, Der Rosenkavalier, Otello, Don Giovanni, La Fanciulla del West, Fidelio, Götterdämmerung, and others in performances featuring favorite singers of hers, including Jussi Björling. Renata Tebaldi, Leontyne Price, Franco Corelli, and Cesare Siepi. Other featured singers are Gottlob Frick, Fernando Corena, Margaret Price, Leonard Warren, Arlene Saunders, Carol Neblett, Gianpiero Mastromei, Beverly Sills, Gwyneth Jones, Lucia Popp, Brigitte Fassbaender, Christiane Eda-Pierre, Elisabeth Söderström, Eileen Farrell, among many others. The episode also incorporates a memorial tribute to Maria Callas on the 43rd anniversary of her death, and to Jessye Norman on what would have been her 75th birthday.

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RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE

Traditional Spiritual: There’s a Man Going Round. Jessye Norman

Amilcare Ponchielli: Ecco il velen di Laura (La Gioconda). Maria Callas, Pier Miranda Ferraro, Carlo Forti, Aldo Biffi, Antonino Votto, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano

Gaetano Donizetti: Il faut partir (La fille du régiment). Beverly Sills, Grayson Hirst, Fernando Corena; Roland Gagnon, Orchestra of the American Opera Society [live Carnegie Hall 13 February 1970]

Giacomo Puccini: O soave fanciulla (La bohème). Renata Tebaldi, Jussi Björling; Orchestra conducted by Max Rudolf [Producer’s Showcase; Festival of Music episode (First broadcast 30 January 1956)]

Giuseppe Verdi: Deserto sulla terra… Di geloso amor (Il trovatore). Franco Corelli, Leontyne Price, Ettore Bastianini; Herbert von Karajan, Wiener Philharmoniker [live Salzburg 31 July 1962]

Giuseppe Verdi: Morir! tremenda cosa… Urna fatal… Egli è salvo (La forza del destino). Leonard Warren, Donald Bernard; Walter Herbert, Orchestra of the New Orleans Opera [live New Orleans 12 March 1953]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Dove sono (Le nozze di Figaro). Christiane Eda-Pierre; Georg Solti, Orchestra of the Paris Opera [live October 1976]

Giuseppe Verdi: Salce, salce (Otello). Margaret Price [live 14 October 1979]

Giacomo Puccini: Minnie, dalla mia casa son partito… Laggiù nel Soledad (La fanciulla del West). Gianpiero Mastromei, Carol Neblett; Bruno Bartoletti, Orchestra of the Lyric Opera of Chicago [live 22 September 1978]

Giacomo Puccini: Io non son che una povera fanciulla (La fanciulla del West). Arlene Saunders, Kenneth Collins; Carlo Felice Cillario, Orchestra of the Australian Opera [live October 1979]

Giacomo Puccini: Poker Scene (La fanciulla del West). Gianpiero Mastromei, Carol Neblett; Bruno Bartoletti, Orchestra of the Lyric Opera of Chicago [live 22 September 1978]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Don Giovanni, a cenar teco… Questo è il fin di chi fa mal (Don Giovanni). Cesare Siepi, Gottlob Frick, Fernando Corena; Elisabeth Grümmer, Lisa Della Casa, Rita Streich, Léopold Simoneau, Walter Berry; Dimitri Mitropoulos, Wiener Philharmoniker [live Salzburg 24 July 1956]]

Final Scene (Der Rosenkavalier). Gwyneth Jones, Brigitte Fassbaender, Lucia Popp; Carlos Kleiber, Bayerisches Staatsorchester [live München 1979]

Ludwig van Beethoven: Abscheulicher! Wo eilst du hin (Fidelio). Elisabeth Söderström; Bernard Haitink, London Philharmonic Orchestra [live Glyndebourne 1979]

Richard Wagner: Fliegt heim, ihr Raben (Götterdämmerung). Eileen Farrell; Victor de Sabata, New York Philharmonic [live Carnegie Hall 25 March 1951]