Episode 239. Gwendolyn Killebrew (BHM 2024)
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This week’s “Forgotten Diva” is the mezzo-soprano / contralto Gwendolyn Killebrew (26 August 1941 – 24 December 2021), who made an indelible contribution to opera in particular during the active years of her career (1965 – 2009). Though the majority of her career was centered at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, she sang the world over with some of the most important opera companies (including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, the Salzburg Festival, Bayreuth, Washington Opera, Santa Fe Opera, La Monnaie, and the Bayerische Staatsoper), conductors (Pierre Boulez, Gary Bertini, Michael Gielen, Herbert von Karajan, Zubin Mehta, Georg Solti), and stage directors (Patrice Chéreau, Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, August Everding, Giancarlo del Monaco, Christof Loy, and John Dew). She had an enormous repertoire from Monteverdi and Handel to Henze and Fortner, excelling in particular in various Wagner roles. She was also a superb actor, who, through the use minimal gestures and stage business, made an enormous impact. This episode presents her in a wide range of material, including both live and commercial recordings ranging from Cavalieri to Zimmermann, alongside such fellow singers as Teresa Stratas, Carlo Bergonzi, Hermann Prey, Stuart Burrows, Sherrill Milnes, and Gail Gilmore led by conductors Leonard Bernstein, Gary Bertini, Bohumil Gregor, Berislav Klobučar, James Levine, Heinz Wallberg, and Eve Queler. Of special interest is a rare live recording of her prize-winning performance of “Asie” from Ravel’s Shéhérazade at the 1967 International Voice Competition in Montréal. The episode opens with brief memorial tributes to soprano Wilhelmenia Fernandez and pianist Thomas Muraco.
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
Francis Poulenc, Paul Éluard: Rayon des yeux; La grande rivière qui va (La fraîcheur et le feu, FP 147). Thomas Muraco, Maureen Forrester [live 10.II.89]
George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin: Someone to Watch Over Me (Oh, Kay!). Wilhelmenia Fernandez, George Darden [1983]
George Frideric Handel, Nicola Haym [after Agostino Piovene, Nicolas Pradon]: A dispetto d’un volto ingrato (Tamerlano). Gwendolyn Killebrew, John Moriarty, Chamber Orchestra of Copenhagen [1970]
Maurice Ravel, Tristan Klingsor: Asie (Shéhérazade). Gwendolyn Killebrew, Otto-Werner Mueller, Montréal Symphony Orchestra [live Montréal, Palais des Arts, VI.67]
Emilio de’ Cavalieri, Agostino Manni: Io son la cara vita (Rappresentatione di Anima et di Corpo). Gwendolyn Killebrew, unknown conductor, orchestra, venue, and year
Johann Sebastian Bach: Et exsultavit (Magnificat, BWV 243). Gwendolyn Killebrew, Leonard Bernstein, Boston Symphony Orchestra [live Tanglewood 08.VII.77]
Giacomo Puccini, Ferdinando Fontana: Quel che sognavi un dì (Edgar). Gwendolyn Killebrew, Carlo Bergonzi, Eve Queler, Opera Orchestra of New York [live Carnegie Hall IV.77]
Umberto Giordano, Luigi Illica: Son la vecchia Madelon (Andrea Chénier). Gwendolyn Killebrew, Sherrill Milnes, James Levine, National Symphony Orchestra [1977]
Jaromír Weinberger, Miloš Kareš [German translation by Max Brod]: Fremder, wer bist du? (Schwanda der Dudelsackpfeifer). Gwendolyn Killebrew, Hermann Prey, Heinz Wallberg, Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks [1981]
Antonín Dvořák, Jaroslav Kvapil [after Karel Jaromír Erben, Božena Němcová]: Aj,aj, už jsi se navrátila? (Rusalka). Gwendolyn Killebrew, Teresa Stratas, Bohumil Gregor, The Netherlands Broadcast Orchestra [live Scheveningen 04.XI.76]
Richard Wagner: So ist es denn aus mit den ewigen Göttern (Die Walküre). Gwendolyn Killebrew, Berislav Klobučar, Dallas Symphony Orchestra [live Dallas 03.XII.81]
Othmar Schoeck [after Heinrich von Kleist]: Verflucht sei dieser schändliche Triumph mir!… Nun denn, du setzest würdig, Königin (Penthesilea). Gwendolyn Killebrew, Gail Gilmore, Peter Erckens, Orchester und Chor der Deutschen Oper am Rhein [live Düsseldorf 11.III.1986]
Giuseppe Verdi, Antonio Somma [after Eugène Scribe]: Re dell’abisso, affrettati (Un ballo in maschera). Gwendolyn Killebrew, Peter Erckens, Orchester und Chor der Deutsche Oper am Rhein [live Düsseldorf 10.III.86]
Bernd Alois Zimmermann [after Friedrich Lenz]: Kindlein mein (Die Soldaten Vocal Symphony). Gwendolyn Killebrew, Edith Kertész-Gabry, Barbara Scherler, Anton de Ridder, Claudio Nicolai, Harald Stamm, Hiroshi Wagusaki, Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester Köln [live London 15.X.78]
Joseph Haydn, Nunziano Porta [after Carlo Francesco Badini and Ludovico Ariosto]: Non paventar… Ad un sguardo, a un cenno solo (Orlando Paladino). Gwendolyn Killebrew, Antal Doráti, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne [1976]
Hector Berlioz [after William Shakespeare]: J’aurais trop de chagrin de vous désespérer… Mais quel plaisir étrange (Béatrice et Bénédict). Gwendolyn Killebrew, Stuart Burrows, Seiji Ozawa, Boston Symphony Orchestra [live X.1977]
Gustav Mahler, Friedrich Nietzsche: O Mensch, gib acht (Symphony No. 3, Fourth Movement: Sehr langsam). Gwendolyn Killebrew, Gary Bertini, Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester [1985]
