Episode 321. Anna Moffo und die leichte Muse
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Today’s episode, “Anna Moffo und die leichte Muse,” continues the delicious theme of opera singers “letting down their hair” begun with “Hadley in Wien,” and it also forms a complement and a supplement to the “Anna Moffo Reappraised” episode that I published exactly two years ago. Anna Moffo’s recording career divides into three separate markets: Italy in the late 1950s and early 1960s; which overlapped with the US in the 1960s; and finally Germany in the 1970s and beyond. Each of these eras in the Moffo career was represented on disc in different ways: jazz arrangements of standards from the Great American Songbook in her rarest (and earliest) Italian recordings, followed by breathy Italian pop songs (some even composed by Moffo herself); early twentieth century Broadway operettas and MGM movie musicals in the US when her voice was at its peak; and Viennese operetta for the German-speaking market, as her vocal instrument became more fragile, while it still represented her finest work of that period. Each of these eras and genres is thoroughly explored in this episode. She is partnered in all of this repertoire by some impressive co-stars: Sergio Franchi, René Kollo, Rudolf Schock, and Robert Merrill as duet partners, with musical direction by Ennio Morricone, Henri René, Lehman Engel, and Skitch Henderson. Recordings range from 1960 through 1983, with the vast majority coming from the 1960s. In spite of the vocal and technical frailty displayed in the later recordings, Moffo’s ability to communicate in this repertoire never flagged. And of course throughout her entire career, no singer so consistently presented a more striking image of vocal and physical glamour than did Anna Moffo.
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
Franz Lehár, Victor Léon, Leo Stein [English lyric by Adrian Ross]. Vilja (The Merry Widow). Anna Moffo, Skitch Henderson, RCA Victor Orchestra [1965]
Unknown Composer: Andarmene. Anna Moffo [1966]
George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin: ’s Wonderful. Anna Moffo, Piero Umiliani e il suo complesso [Piero Umiliani, Gino Marinacci, Berto Pisano, Giuseppe Conte, Livio Cervellieri] [1960]
Franz Lehár, Paul Knepler, Bela Jenbach: Liebe, du Himmel auf Erden (Paganini). Anna Moffo, Orchestra and chorus conducted by Hans Carste [1969]
Nacio Herb Brown, Earl K. Brent: Love Is Where You Find It (The Kissing Bandit). Anna Moffo, Skitch Henderson, RCA Victor Orchestra [1965]
George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin: Embraceable You. Anna Moffo, Piero Umiliani e il suo complesso [Piero Umiliani, Gino Marinacci, Berto Pisano, Giuseppe Conte, Livio Cervellieri] [1960]
Irving Berlin: Cheek to Cheek. Anna Moffo, Trio Franco Pisano [Franco Pisano, Berto Pisano, Sergio Conti, Gino Marinacci] [1960]
Irving Berlin: Blue Skies. Anna Moffo, Trio Franco Pisano [Franco Pisano, Berto Pisano, Sergio Conti, Gino Marinacci] [1960]
Gino Paoli: Senza fine [The Phoenix Love Theme]. Anna Moffo [1965]
Gino Paoli, Sergio Bardotti: Un fiore è nato. Anna Moffo, Ennio Morricone e la sua Orchestra [1965]
Anna Moffo, Mario Lanfranchi: Amore sulla Costa Azzurra. Anna Moffo, Billy Smith e la sua Orchestra [1964]
Gianni Ferrio, Antonio Amurri: Un bacio. Anna Moffo, Orchestra conducted by Gianni Ferrio [1968]
Johann Strauss II, Carl Haffner and Richard Genée after Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy: Mein Herr Marquis (Die Fledermaus). Anna Moffo, Orchestra arranged and conducted by Hagen Galaitis, Erich Werner [1969]
Paul Lincke, Heinrich Bolten-Baeckers: Schlösser, die im Monde liegen (Frau Luna). Anna Moffo, Orchestra and Chorus arranged and conducted by Hagen Galaitis, Erich Werner [1970]
Franz Lehár, Victor Leon, Leo Stein: Vilja-Lied (Die lustige Witwe). Anna Moffo, Orchestra and chorus conducted by Hans Carste [1969]
Johann Strauss II: Frühlingsstimmen-Walzer. Anna Moffo, Orchestra conducted by Hans Carste [1969]
Emmerich Kálmán, Julius Brammer, Alfred Grünwald: Höre ich Zigeunergeigen (Gräfin Mariza). Anna Moffo, Orchestra and chorus conducted by Hans Carste [1969]
Emmerich Kálmán, Leo Stein, Bela Jenbach: Wetterleuchten tut es öfters… Mädchen gibt es wunderfeine (Die Csárdásfürstin). Anna Moffo, René Kollo, Bert Grund, Symphonieorchester Graunke, Zigeuner-Orchester [1972]
Karl Millöcker, Friedrich Zell [Camillo Walzel], Richard Genée: Mit der Liebe Fessel binden (Der Bettelstudent). Anna Moffo, Rudolf Schock, Werner Schmidt-Boelcke, Berliner Symphoniker [1971]
Karl Millöcker, Theo Mackeben: Es lockt die Nacht (Die Dubarry). Anna Moffo, Rudolf Schock, Werner Schmidt-Boelcke, Berliner Symphoniker [1971]
Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II: People Will Say We’re in Love (Oklahoma!). Anna Moffo, Rudolf Schock, Werner Eisbrenner, Berliner Symphoniker, Peter-Cornehlsen-Chor [1971]
Johann Strauss II, Friedrich Zell [Camillo Walzel], Richard Genée [English language version by Lesley Storm, Dudley Glass]: Wishing on a Waltz (A Night in Venice). Anna Moffo, Stanley Grover, Lehman Engel, RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra [1962]
Sigmund Romberg, Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Harbach; Romance (The Desert Song). Anna Moffo, The Beecham Promenade Orchestra and Chorus [1962]
Robert Wright, George Forrest [after Edvard Grieg]: Strange Music (Song of Norway). Anna Moffo, Skitch Henderson, RCA Victor Orchestra [1965]
Victor Schertzinger, Gus Kahn: One Night of Love (from the film of the same title). Anna Moffo, Skitch Henderson, RCA Victor Orchestra [1965]
Sigmund Romberg, Rida Johnson Young: Will You Remember? [Sweetheart] (Maytime). Anna Moffo, Robert Merrill, Thomas Fulton, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra [live 22.X.83]
Noël Coward: I’ll See You Again (Bitter Sweet). Anna Moffo, Sergio Franchi, Orchestra arranged and conducted by Henri René [1963]
Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II: You Are Love (Show Boat). Anna Moffo, Sergio Franchi, Orchestra arranged and conducted by Henri René [1963]