Episode 305. Rage and Despair

Episode 305. Rage and Despair

SOCIAL SHARE

SUBSCRIPTION PLATFORM

Before I traveled to my home state of Wisconsin this week, I had prepared an episode to post this weekend, but in my naïveté, I had not anticipated the catastrophe that happened to my country, and to the world, when the unthinkable occurred this past Tuesday. Since then I have barely had a moment’s rest, feeling gripped by a torrent of negative emotions, rage and despair primary among them. It became apparent to me that I had to give voice to those feelings in order to work through them, and in the process maybe even help my friends and listeners who are struggling with their own versions of this toxic emotional cocktail. So here is the episode I dearly wish I had not felt compelled to produce, one devoted to despair and to rage, as we attempt to convert them into resolve and determination to “stand our ground” and demand that our beloved country not go under, powerless though we may feel at this moment to prevent that from happening. I have chosen work by Poulenc, Mozart, Weill, Monteverdi, Menotti, Schumann, Schubert, and Bernstein, performed by such podcast favorites as Jennie Tourel, Judy Garland, Gérard Souzay, Maria Callas, Oralia Domínguez, Virginia Zeani, Judith Raskin, Pilar Lorengar, and others, to act as our music therapists as we struggle to regain our equilibrium, “Lost in the Stars” though we may feel at this moment.

RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE

Francis Poulenc, Louis Aragon: C (Deux poèmes de Louis Aragon, FP 122/1). Jennie Tourel, Leonard Bernstein [1963]

Kurt Weill, Maxwell Anderson: Lost in the Stars (Lost in the Stars). Judy Garland, arranged and conducted by Mort Lindsey [from The Judy Garland Show, recorded live 28.II.64]

Alonso de Mudarra, arr. Arne Dørumsgaard, orch. Narcisse Bonnet: Triste estaba el Rey David. Gérard Souzay, Ataulfo Argenta, Orchestre National d’Espagne [live Strasbourg 13.06.54]

Rufus Wainwright: Going to a Town [live Milwaukee 27.VIII.2007]

Alfredo Catalani, Luigi Illica [after Wilhelmine von Hillern]: Ebben? Ne andrò lontana (La Wally). Maria Callas, Tullio Serafin, Philharmonia Orchestra [1954]

Claudio Monteverdi, Giovanni Francesco Busenello, arr. Gian Francesco Malipiero: Addio, Roma (L’incoronazione di Poppea). Oralia Domínguez; Nino Sanzogno, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano della RAI [live Milano 07.III.1954]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Emanuel Schikaneder: Ach, ich fühl’s (Die Zauberflöte). Pilar Lorengar, István Kertész, Wiener Philharmoniker [live Salzburg 1964]

Gian Carlo Menotti: Dunque è così [To this we’ve come] (The Consul). Virginia Zeani, Thomas Schippers, Spoleto Festival Orchestra [live Spoleto 05.VII.1972]

Robert Schumann, Justinus Kerner: Auf das Trinkglas eines verstorbenen Freundes (Kerner-Lieder, Op. 35/6). Martti Talvela, Irwin Gage [1971]

Edvard Grieg, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Zur Rosenzeit, Op. 48/5 [sung in Russian]. Pavel Lisitsian, Alexey Zybtsev [1954]

Robert Schumann, Nikolaus Lenau: Meine Rose, Op. 90/2. Mitsuko Shirai, Hartmut Höll [1985]

Franz Schubert, Wilhelm Müller: Frühlingstraum (Winterreise, D.911/10). Judith Raskin, George Schick [1966]

Francis Poulenc, Guillaume Apollinaire: Sanglots (Banalités, FP 107/5). Gérard Souzay, Dalton Baldwin [1950s]

Leonard Bernstein: Yit’gadal v’yit’kadash (excerpt from second movement, Din-Torah) (Symphony No. 3 ‘Kaddish’). Jennie Tourel, Felicia Montealegre, Leonard Bernstein, New York Philharmonic, Camerata Singers [1963]

William Steffe, Julia Ward Howe: Battle Hymn of the Republic. Judy Garland, Orchestra and chorus arranged and conducted by Mort Lindsey [from The Judy Garland Show taped 13.XII.63, first telecast 12.I.64]

2 thoughts on “Episode 305. Rage and Despair”

    1. Beloved Sharkster, Thanks for your comment. We can and MUST move forward with resistance, but not until we find a way through our disbelief, confusion, anger, despair (and sense of betrayal by our fellow countrypersons). Much love from your occasionally fearless podcaster.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.