Episode 240. Annabelle Bernard (BHM 2024)
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Last week we celebrated the 97th birthday of our Ur-Diva, Leontyne Price. And today, continuing my Black History Month 2024 theme of “Forgotten Divas,” I present to you a Verdi soprano of similar repertoire and voice to Miss Price, Annabelle Bernard (1935-2005), whose career, unlike Price’s, was centered primarily in Europe, specifically at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, where she was a member of the company for nearly forty years. Born in New Orleans, she received her early musical training from Earl Hogan (uncle of the famous composer and conductor Moses Hogan) and Sister Mary Elise Sisson, whom Bernard herself credited with being her formative and primary musical inspiration. With the patronage of Edith Rosenwald Stern, an heiress to the Sears-Roebuck fortune, Bernard found early success in Europe, winning second prize in the Munich ARD Competition in 1960, settling in Berlin in 1962. Annabelle Bernard was married to the German tenor Karl-Ernst Mercker (1933-2021), who in addition to appearing alongside her in many performances and productions, was also a fierce advocate for his wife during her tenure in Berlin, when she would encounter racism. The two of them retired to New Orleans in 1998, where Bernard became a voice teacher at Xavier University, her alma mater. This episode includes rare live clips of the soprano in works by Verdi, Mercadante, and Dallapiccola, as well as from her sole commercial recording, excerpts from Porgy and Bess in German alongside the iconic African American baritone Lawrence Winters, released in 1964, the year before Winters’s untimely death. Mercker’s strong lyric tenor is also featured in a few brief excerpts, but the main focus is on the radiant voice and artistry of Annabelle Bernard. Believe me when I tell you that I remain on the lookout for further recordings of this magnificent artist!
Two webpages discussing the life and career of Annabelle Bernard:
Amistad Research Center: The Career of Annabelle Bernard
Creolegen.org: Annabelle Bernard: A Life in Opera
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
Giuseppe Verdi, Salvadore Cammarano [after Antonio García Gutiérrez]: D’amor sull’ali rosee (Il trovatore). Annabelle Bernard, Nello Santi, Orchester der Bayerischen Staatsoper [live München 1972]
George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, Walter Brondin [German translation]: Bess, du bist nun meine Frau… Porgy, ich bin deine Frau [Bess, You Is My Woman Now] (Porgy and Bess). Annabelle Bernard, Lawrence Winters, Richard Müller-Lampertz, NDR Rundfunkorchester Hannover [1964]
Saverio Mercadante, Gaetano Rossi [after Victor Hugo]: Ah, qual nome pronunciate… Dolce conforto al misero (Il Giuramento). Annabelle Bernard, Agnes Baltsa, Gerd Albrecht, Orchester der Deutsche Oper Berlin [live Berlin 28.IX.1974]
Richard Wagner: Den Bronnen, den uns Wolfram nannte (Tannhäuser). Karl-Ernst Mercker, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma della RAI [live Perugia 01.X.1972]
Leoš Janáček, Viktor Dyk [after Svatopluka Čecha]: Was denn? (Die Ausflüge des Herrn Broucek). Karl-Ernst Mercker, Wolfgang Witte, Jaroslav Krombholc, Orchester der Wiener Volksoper [live Wien 18.I.1971]
Luigi Dallapiccola, Karl Heinrich Kreith [German translation]: Wie einsam und wieder einsam (Ulisse [Odysseus]). Annabelle Bernard, Lorin Maazel, Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin [live Berlin 29.IX.1968]
Giuseppe Verdi, Salvadore Cammarano [after Antonio García Gutiérrez]: Tacea la notte placida… Di tale amor (Il trovatore). Annabelle Bernard, Nello Santi, Orchester der Bayerischen Staatsoper [live München 1972]
Giuseppe Verdi, Antonio Ghislanzoni [after Auguste Mariette]: O patria mia (Aida). Annabelle Bernard, Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg [live Hamburg 28.II.1975]
Saverio Mercadante, Gaetano Rossi [after Victor Hugo]: Ma negli estremi istanti (Il Giuramento). Annabelle Bernard, Gerd Albrecht, Orchester der Deutsche Oper Berlin [live Berlin 28.IX.1974]
Giuseppe Verdi, Antonio Ghislanzoni [after Auguste Mariette]: Vedi, di morte l’angelo… O terra addio (Aida). Annabelle Bernard, Bruno Prevedi, Bianca Berini, Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg [live Hamburg 28.II.1975]
