Episode 311. Ina Souez
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Because we American expats in Germany often celebrate Thanksgiving on the weekend after our compatriots in the US, I offer you today a second Thanksgiving episode, this one featuring the extraordinary Ina Souez (1903 – 1992), one of the few Native American singers to achieve worldwide fame on the operatic stage. (For those of you who are unaware, November is Native American Heritage Month). Though her career was truncated by world events, Souez’s place in the history of recorded sound is assured by virtue of her participation in the series of Mozart operas as produced by HMV in the mid-1930s as souvenirs of the first seasons of the Glyndebourne Festival. Indeed, one could argue that her Fiordiligi remains the standard by which all other interpreters are judged. This episode also includes recordings from both ends of Souez’s career, as it were, including an extraordinarily rare yet impressive and touching 1957 recording of Souez singing arias and songs long after her active career had ended. The episode also features Souez in near-definitive recordings from both Ernani and La Bohème, the latter particularly appropriate as we just recently observed the 100th anniversary of the death of Giacomo Puccini. Finally, this episode also serves as a memorial to Souez, who died 32 years ago this coming week.
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
All tracks feature Ina Souez, soprano
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Lorenzo da Ponte: Come scoglio (Così fan tutte). Fritz Busch, Glyndebourne Festival Orchestra [1935]
Luigi Denza: Funiculi, funicula. HMV Light Opera Group [1936]
Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Giacosa, Luigi Illica [after Henri Murger]: Sì, mi chiamano Mimì (La bohème). Alberto Erede, London Philharmonic Orchestra [1936]
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Lorenzo da Ponte: Bisogna aver coraggio… Protegga il giusto cielo (Don Giovanni). Luise Helletsgruber, Koloman von Pátaky, John Brownlee, Salvatore Baccaloni, Fritz Busch, Glyndebourne Festival Orchestra [1936]
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Lorenzo da Ponte: Era già alquanto… Or sai chi l’onore (Don Giovanni). Koloman von Pátaky, Fritz Busch, Glyndebourne Festival Orchestra [1936]
Giuseppe Verdi: Recordare, Jesu pie (Messa da Requiem). Lore Fischer, Carl Schuricht, Concertgebouw Orchestra [live Amsterdam 02.XI.39]
Luigi Arditi [arr. Spike Jones, Eddie Brandt]: Ill Barkio [Il Bacio]. Dr. Horatio Q. Birdbath (canine obbligato), Spike Jones and His City Slickers [1949]
Edvard Grieg, Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt: Ein Traum, Op. 48/6. Loyd Simpson [1957]
Ottorino Respighi, Ada Negri: Nebbie, P.64. Loyd Simpson [1957]
Ottorino Respighi, Carlo Zangarini: Invito alla danza, P. 67. Loyd Simpson [1957]
John Jacob Niles: Go ‘Way from My Window. Loyd Simpson [1957]
Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Adami, Renato Simoni [after Carlo Gozzi]: Tu, che di gel sei cinta (Turandot). Loyd Simpson [1957]
Giuseppe Verdi, Francesco Maria Piave [after Victor Hugo]: Surta è la notte… Ernani, involami (Ernani). Alberto Erede, London Philharmonic Orchestra [1936]
Oscar Straus, Stanislaus Stange: My Hero (The Chocolate Soldier) [1933]
