Episode 272. Lenora Lafayette (Listeners’ Favorites)
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Every so often I discover a singer who had previously not come under my radar, but who simply blows me away with their voice, artistry, and communicative powers. Such an artist is the Baton Rouge-born African American soprano Lenora Lafayette (1926-1975), historically important as the first Black artist to perform at Covent Garden. Relocating to Basel shortly after finishing her training under Dusolina Giannini at Juilliard, Lafayette encountered early career success in Switzerland, winning the Geneva Competition and making a highly successful debut at the Basel Opera as Aida, a role which, along with Madama Butterfly, she performed hundreds of times. And yet, despite enormous career success in Europe, she was never able to establish herself in her native country. Her recorded legacy is slim but revelatory: an Aida in German under Clemens Krauss; a 1958 BBC recording of Frederick Delius’s opera Koanga; and a single commercial recording of Puccini duets with Welsh tenor Richard Lewis under the baton of John Barbirolli, who also led her Covent Garden debut. All of these precious documents are sampled on this episode. She was struck down with cancer in her early forties and died prematurely at the age of 49. And yet listening to her recordings, one is struck by the emotional power of her utterance, the firmness of her vocal technique, and the bloom of her exquisite voice. Lenora Lafayette deserves a place among the greatest singers of her generation. This episode was first published during Countermelody’s second season; listening to Lafayette again, I realize just how accurate my initial impressions of her were.
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
Giuseppe Verdi, Antonio Ghislanzoni [after Auguste Mariette]: O Vaterland [O patria mia] (Aida). Lenora Lafayette, Clemens Krauss, Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks [München 1953]
Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Giacosa, Luigi Illica [after David Belasco, John Luther Long]: Vogliatemi bene (Madama Buttterfly). Lenora Lafayette, Richard Lewis, John Barbirolli, Hallé Orchestra [1958]
Eduardo di Capua, Giovanni Capurro: O sole mio. Dusolina Giannini, Orchestra conducted by George Byng [1928]
Giuseppe Verdi, Antonio Ghislanzoni [after Auguste Mariette]: Aida excerpts. Clemens Krauss, Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks [München 1953]:
Die unselge Worte [L’insana parola]. Lenora Lafayette
O sag, warum auf’s neue bist so traurig [Ebben qual nuovo fremito] (Aida). Lenora Lafayette, Georgine von Milinkovič
Entfliehn aus diesem Lande… Dort im jungfräulich grünen Wald [Fuggir… Là, tra i foresti vergini] (Aida). Lenora Lafayette, Josef Gostič
Frederick Delius, Charles Francis Keary [after George Washington Cable]: Koanga excerpts. Stanford Robinson, BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus [London February 1958]
The hour has come (Koanga). Lenora Lafayette
Hail to thee, mighty Prince [La Calinda]. Lenora Lafayette
I hear a far-off cry (Koanga). Lawrence Winters, Lenora Lafayette
Ah, tell me where Koanga bides [Final Scene] (Koanga). Lenora Lafayette, Lawrence Winters, Robert Thomas
Giacomo Puccini, Luigi Illica, Marco Praga, Domenico Oliva [after Abbé Prévost]: Taci, taci, tu il cor mi frangi (Manon Lescaut). Lenora Lafayette, Richard Lewis, John Barbirolli, Hallé Orchestra [1958]
Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Giacosa, Luigi Illica [after Henri Murger]: O soave fanciulla (La Bohème). Lenora Lafayette, Richard Lewis, John Barbirolli, Hallé Orchestra [1958]
