Episode 232. Janet Williams and Paul Padillo Introduce Maria Ewing (Listeners’ Favorites III)
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January 9 is already the second anniversary of the death of the iconoclastic (and iconic) Maria Ewing, who died of cancer in her home outside of her native Detroit on January 9, 2022. She was an artist both admired and derided during her lifetime, whose importance since her death has only become more apparent. It so happens that two of my most faithful listeners, Janet Williams and Paul Padillo, chose the episode that I published in her honor as their favorite episode. Paul is a passionate opera advocate who maintains a blog as well as a Facebook page in which he writes with extraordinary eloquence about the musical genre we all adore. Janet is celebrated throughout the world as one of the finest singers of her generation who has gone on to become one of the most important voice teachers in the world today, teaching, with compassion and common sense, a technique grounded in the essentials of bel canto. Their spoken introductions to the episode highlight different aspects of what made Ewing so special. For Paul, he became a lifelong fan after hearing her performance of Blanche de la Force in Poulenc’s operatic masterpiece, The Dialogues of the Carmelites. For Janet, it was a shared provenance (both were natives of Detroit) as well as a common mentor, the late David Di Chiera, who founded and ran Michigan Opera Theatre, the company featured both Maria and Janet in some of their first operatic appearances. Maria’s passing hit me particularly hard because at the time of her death, I was in the midst of creating a special episode in her honor and had been immersing myself in her fascinating performances, finding myself more and more in awe of her one-of-a-kind artistry. This tribute episode is simply not to be missed.
P.S. For those wishing to hear and read some interviews with Maria Ewing, I refer you to the following:
Interview with Michael Hackett of UCLA for the LA Opera’s oral history project, 09 November 2015.
Maria Ewing’s appearance on Desert Island Discs with host Sue Lawley, 21 February 1999.
Maria Ewing interview with Erica Jeal for The Guardian, 11 March 2003.
Maria Ewing interview with Barbara Isenberg of the Los Angeles Times, 08 November 1992.
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
Henry Purcell, Nahum Tate: When I am laid in earth (Dido and Aeneas). Maria Ewing, Richard Hickox, Collegium 90 [1985]
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Lorenzo da Ponte: Voi che sapete (Le nozze di Figaro). Maria Ewing, Karl Böhm, Wiener Philharmoniker [1976 film]
Richard Strauss, Hedwig Lachmann (after Oscar Wilde): Dein Haar ist grässlich!… Deinen Mund begehre ich, Jokanaan (Salome). Maria Ewing, Siegmund Nimsgern, Leonard Slatkin, Chicago Lyric Opera Orchestra [live 25.XI.1988]
Jule Styne, Bob Merrill, arr. Gordon Rose: Don’t Rain on My Parade (Funny Girl). Maria Ewing, Iain Sutherland, BBC Concert Orchestra [live London 10.V.1997]
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Laudamus te (Mass in c minor, K.427). Maria Ewing, James Levine, Boston Symphony Orchestra [Tanglewood 15.VIII.78]
Gioacchino Rossini, Cesare Sterbini: Una voce poco fa (Il barbiere di Siviglia). Maria Ewing, Sylvain Cambreling, London Philharmonic Orchestra [Glyndebourne 1981]
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Giambattista Maresco: Deh, resta, o cara… Andrò ramingo e solo (Idomeneo). Maria Ewing, Christiane Eda-Pierre, Carol Neblett, Eric Tappy, John Pritchard, San Francisco Opera Orchestra [23.IX.1977]
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Lorenzo da Ponte: Là ci darem la mano (Don Giovanni). Maria Ewing, Ruggero Raimondi, Horst Stein, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande [Genève 10.80]
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Lorenzo da Ponte: Ah! fuggi il traditor! (Don Giovanni). Maria Ewing, Bernard Haitink, London Philharmonic Orchestra [1984]
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Lorenzo da Ponte: Deh, vieni, non tardar (Le nozze di Figaro). Maria Ewing, Andrew Davis, Orchestra of the Lyric Opera of Chicago [live 14.XI.1987]
Claudio Monteverdi, Giovanni Francesco Busenello: Deh non più rinfacciarmi (with Dale Duesing); Signor, hai giusto cagione (with Dennis Bailey) (L’incoronazione di Poppea). Maria Ewing, Raymond Leppard, London Philharmonic Orchestra [Glyndebourne 1984]
Jules Massenet, Edouard Blau, Paul Milliet, Georges Hartmann (after Johann Wolfgang von Goethe): Va! laisser couler mes larmes; Ah! mon courage m’abandonne… Seigneur Dieu! (Werther). Maria Ewing, Antonio de Almeida, San Francisco Opera Orchestra [live 18.X.1978]
Claude Debussy, Maurice Maeterlinck: Je vais me coucher sur le marbre (Pelléas et Mélisande). Maria Ewing, François Le Roux, Claudio Abbado, Wiener Philharmoniker [1992]
Claude Debussy, Gabriel Sarrazin (after Dante Gabriel Rossetti): Elle-même nous amènera (excerpt from La Damoiselle élue). Maria Ewing, Claudio Abbado, London Symphony Orchestra [1986]
Maurice Ravel, Tristan Klingsor [né Léon Leclère]: Je voudrais voir des pauvres et des reines (excerpt from Asie [Shéhérazade]. Maria Ewing, Simon Rattle, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra [1991]
Jacques Offenbach, Henri Meilhac, Ludovic Halévy (after Prosper Mérimée): Tu n’es pas beau (La Périchole). Maria Ewing, Neil Rosenshein, Marc Soustrot, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande [Genève 12.82]
Georges Bizet, Henri Meilhac, Ludovic Halévy (after Prosper Mérimée): En vain pour éviter les réponses amères (Carmen). Maria Ewing, Elizabeth Collier, Jean Rigby, Bernard Haitink, London Philharmonic [Glyndebourne 1985]
Dmitri Shostakovich, Alexander Preis (after Nikolai Leskov): В девках лучше было [It was better when I was single] (Леди Макбет Мценского уезда [Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk]. Maria Ewing, Myung-Whun Chung, Orchestre de l’Opéra Bastille [1992]
Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Giacosa, Luigi Illica: Vissi d’arte (Tosca). Maria Ewing, Romano Gandolfi, Real Orquesta Sinfonica de Sevilla [Sevilla 03.XI.1991]
Claudio Monteverdi, realized Carl Orff, Dorothée Günther (translated and adapted from Ottavio Rinuccini): Klage der Ariadne. Maria Ewing, Kurt Masur, New York Philharmonic [New York 03.IV.97]
Francis Poulenc, Jean Cocteau: Oh! moi, tu sais, il est possible que je reste (La voix humaine). Maria Ewing, Orchestra conducted by Patrick Devin [Nederlandse Reisoper, 01.2011]
Harold Arlen, Ted Koehler: When the Sun Comes Out. Maria Ewing, Richard Rodney Bennett [1990]
Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II: All the Things You Are (Very Warm for May). Maria Ewing, Simon James, Shane Hill [live London 2001]
Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II: Bali Hai (South Pacific). Maria Ewing, John Wilson, The John Wilson Orchestra, Maida Vale Singers [2012]
Gustav Mahler, folk text collected by Clemens Brentano, Achim von Arnim: Kein’ Musik ist ja nicht auf Erden (excerpt from “Das himmlische Leben,” final movement of Symphony No. 4). Maria Ewing, Bernard Haitink, Concertgebouw Orchestra [Amsterdam 25.XII.1982]
