Episode 192. Virginia Zeani: The Soul of the Voice
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Virginia Zeani (21 October 1925 – 20 March 2023)
A number of significant classical and opera singers have died in this calendar year, and this episode pays tribute to three of them. First, James Bowman, the most significant British countertenor since Alfred Deller, who died on March 27th in his 82nd year. Second, Melitta Muszely, the Austrian jugendlich dramatisch soprano of Hungarian origin who died in her native Vienna at the age of 95 on January 18. And finally, a loss which reverberated around the operatic world with particularly poignancy and finality, the great Romanian soprano Virginia Zeani, who died on March 20 at the age of 97. While the focus of the episode is on Zeani, I also discuss the significance and contributions of Bowman and Muszely in detail, as well as offering examples of some of their best recordings. In the case of Zeani, I offer a thorough career and biographical overview, including excerpts from her rare studio recordings as well as live material from both the early and late years of her performing career. Also included are recordings by her teachers Lydia Lipowska and Aureliano Pertile, and her husband, the Italian-Russian bass Nicola Rossi Lemeni. And leave it to me to find a way of bringing three such disparate artists as Bowman, Muszely, and Zeani together at the conclusion of the episode!
Melitta Muszely (13 September 1927 – 18 January 2023)
James Bowman (06 November 1941 – 27 March 2023)
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
James Bowman and Janet Baker in La Calisto, Glyndebourne 1970.
Francesco Cavalli, Giovanni Faustini: Lucidissima face (La Calisto). James Bowman, Raymond Leppard, London Philharmonic Orchestra [1972]
Robert Stolz, Fritz Grünbaum, Wilhelm Sterk: Du sollst der Kaiser meiner Seele sein (Der Favorit). Melitta Muszely, Robert Stolz, Berliner Symphoniker [ca. 1964]
Gaetano Donizetti, Salvadore Cammarano [after Walter Scott]: Spargi d’amaro pianto (Lucia di Lammermoor). Virginia Zeani, Vincenzo Bellezza, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Chorus of the Teatro Giuseppe Verdi Trieste [live London May 1957]
Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Giacosa, Luigi Illica [after Victorien Sardou]: Il tuo sangue o l’amor volea (Tosca). Virginia Zeani, Corneliu Fanateanu, Cornel Trailescu, Orchestra of the Romanian Opera in Bucharest [1977]
James Bowman as Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Walther von der Vogelweide: Palästinalied. James Bowman, James Tyler [Early Music Consort of London led by David Munrow] [1971]
Johann Sebastian Bach: Können Tränen meiner Wangen (Matthäus-Passion). James Bowman, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Concentus Musicus Wien [1970]
Henry Purcell [after William Shakespeare], arranged and realized Benjamin Britten: One Charming Night (The Fairy Queen). James Bowman, Benjamin Britten, English Chamber Orchestra [1970]
Benjamin Britten, Myfanwy Piper [after Thomas Mann]: The Games of Apollo (Death in Venice). James Bowman, Steuart Bedford, English Chamber Orchestra [live Aldeburgh 22.VI.73]
Benjamin Britten, text from the Chester Miracle Play: Lay down thy faggot, my own son dear (Abraham and Isaac [Canticle II], Op. 51). James Bowman, Robert Tear, Philip Ledger [1976]
Richard Wagner: Im Lichter Waffen Scheine (Lohengrin). Melitta Muszely, Edward Downes, London Philharmonic Orchestra [1965]
Giuseppe Verdi, Francesco Maria Piave [after Alexandre Dumas]: Prendi, quest’è l’immagine (La traviata). Virginia Zeani, Ion Buzea, Nicolae Herlea, Elena Simionescu, Nicolae Rafael, Jean Bobescu, Orchestra of the Romanian Opera in Bucharest [1968]
Lydia Lipowska (10 May 1882 – 22 March 1958)
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov [after Alexander Ostrovsky]: Melting Scene (Snegurochka). Lydia Lipowska, Orchestra of the Gramophone Company, Ltd. [1912]
Aureliano Pertile (08 November 1885 – 11 January 1952)
Giuseppe Verdi, Antonio Ghislanzoni: Celeste Aida (Aida). Aureliano Pertile, Carlo Sabajno, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano [1928]
Nicola Rossi Lemeni (06 November 1920 – 12 March 1991) as Boris Godunov
Modest Mussorgsky [after Alexander Pushkin]: I have attained the highest power [Boris’s Monologue] (Boris Godunov). Nicola Rossi Lemeni, Leopold Stokowski, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra [1952]
George Friederic Handel, Nicola Francesco Haym: Se pietà di me non senti (Giulio Cesare). Virginia Zeani, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano [live 1956]
Zeani with Francis Poulenc, whose Dialogues of the Carmelites she premiered at La Scala in January 1957
Ildebrando Pizzetti [after T.S. Eliot]: Verrà marzo ventoso, ed il bifolco (Assassinio della cattedrale). Virginia Zeani, Ildebrando Pizzetti, Orchestra e Coro di Torino della RAI [radio broadcast 05.XII.1958]
Gaetano Donizetti, Felice Romani [after Eugène Scribe]: Quanto amore! (L’elisir d’amore). Virginia Zeani, Nicola Rossi Lemeni, Alfredo Simonetto, Orchestra Sinfonica di Torino della RAI [radio broadcast 1958]
Arrigo Boito [after Johann Wolfgang Goethe]: L’altra notte in fondo al mare (Mefistofele). Virginia Zeani, Orchestra conducted by Alfredo Silipigni [live New Jersey 1981]
Joseph Méry, Camille du Locle, Achille de Lauzières [Italian transation] [after Friedrich Schiller]: Tu che le vanità (Don Carlo). Virginia Zeani, Mihai Brediceanu, Orchestra of the Romanian Opera in Bucharest [1969]
Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Giacosa, Luigi Illica [after John Luther Long, David Belasco]: Un bel dì vedremo (Madama Butterfly). Virginia Zeani, Mihai Brediceanu, Orchestra of the Romanian Opera in Bucharest [1969]
Anonymous: The Willow Song. James Bowman, Robert Spencer [1972]
Giuseppe Verdi, Arrigo Boito [after William Shakespeare]: Willow Song (Othello) [sung in German]. Melitta Muszely, Franz Bauer Theussl, Orchester der Volksoper Wien [mid-1960s]
Zeani as Desdemona in Rossini’s Otello, Roma 1960
Gioacchino Rossini, Francesco Berio di Salsa [after William Shakespeare]: Willow Song (Otello). Virginia Zeani, Gloria Foglizzo, Alberto Zedda, Orchestra Sinfonica di Torino [1972]
