Episode 217. Patricia Neway Revisited
SOCIAL SHARE
SUBSCRIPTION PLATFORM
Today I revisit the artistry of the great Patricia Neway (1919-2012), a singer of extraordinary versatility, dramatic power, and musical sensibility. She is no doubt most famous for two of her Broadway creations: the role of the beleaguered Magda Sorel in Gian Carlo Menotti’s tragic opera The Consul, first produced on Broadway in 1950, and of the Mother Abbess in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s final musical, 1959’s The Sound of Music. This episode was inspired by my recent discovery of her rare 1953 album of Italian art songs. Her voice was an unusual one, dusky yet capable of extraordinary colors, chiaroscuro, leggerezza, and agility, all of which are foregrounded in the aforementioned album of songs by Bellini, Verdi, and Mascagni. I also include a few brief excerpts of Neway singing material ranging from a sacred cantata by Buxtehude to settings of texts by James Joyce to a refined yet playful rendition of “My Favorite Things.” Of which she is definitely one!
The episode opens with a tribute to James Jorden, who died on October 3.
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
Vincenzo Bellini, anonymous poet: Vaga luna, che inargenti. Renata Scotto, Walter Baracchi [1969]
Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II: My Favorite Things (The Sound of Music). Patricia Neway, Mary Martin, Orchestra conducted by Frederick Dvonch [1959]
John Gruen, James Joyce: Bahnhofstrasse. Patricia Neway, Robert Colston [1959]
Dieterich Buxtehude: Er sieget mit seinem Rechten (Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BuxWV 98). Patricia Neway, Arnold Black, Allegro Chamber Players [Arnold Black, Donald Homuth, Herman Chessid] [1953]
All of the Italian songs come from a 1953 Eterna release entitled Patricia Neway in a Recital of Songs by Verdi, Bellini, and Mascagni, in which the soprano is accompanied by pianist Thomas Mayer.
Giuseppe Verdi, Andrea Maffei: Brindisi
Giuseppe Verdi, Luigi Balestra: La seduzione
Vincenzo Bellini, Pietro Metastasio: Per pietà, bell’idol mio
Pietro Mascagni, Lorenzo Stecchetti (né Olindo Guerrini): Serenata
Vincenzo Bellini, Ippolito Pindemonte: Malinconia, ninfa gentile
Giuseppe Verdi, Jacopo Vittorelli: Non t’accostare all’urna
Vincenzo Bellini, anonymous poet: L’abbandono
Giuseppe Verdi, Luigi Balestra (after Johann Wolfgang von Goethe): Perduta ho la pace
Pietro Mascagni, Rocco Emanuele Pagliara: Rosa
Jerome Kern, Otto Harbach: Poor Pierrot (The Cat and the Fiddle). Patricia Neway, Stephen Douglass, Orchestra conducted by Lehman Engel [1953]
John Gruen, James Joyce: Alone. Patricia Neway [1959]
Pietro Mascagni, Ezio Cappelli: Ballata medievale
