Episode 325. Marni Nixon Revisited

Episode 325. Marni Nixon Revisited

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Today I present to you the extraordinarily versatile, even chameleon-like singer and actor Marni Nixon (22 February 1930 – 24 July 2016), who is no doubt best-known today as the so-called “Ghostess with the Mostest.” Born into a musical family in California, she became involved from an early age with the movies, and by a marvelous set of circumstances became The Voice for a number of Hollywood actresses not known for their singing voices. Her skill in matching the vocal and speech characteristics of each of these performers is exceptional, but she was so much more than that. She pioneered the work of many 20th century giants, including Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg, Charles Ives, and Anton Webern. She hosted a local Seattle children’s television program called Boomerang that netted her four Emmy Awards. She performed on opera stages and concert platforms around the world. She recorded widely, everything from Mary Poppins to Pierrot Lunaire, and in the mid-1970s was the first singer to perform and record Schoenberg’s cabaret songs, his so-called Brettl-Lieder, works that are now standard repertoire. Reminiscences of Marni are provided by my good friend Thomas Bagwell, currently a coach and conductor at The Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen, who was a colleague and good friend of Marni Nixon’s for the last 25 years of her life. This episode features a cross-section of this stunning artist’s extensive recorded output, recorded over six decades, including repertoire from Webern to Rodgers and Hammerstein. In between we have examples of Nixon’s performances of songs by Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Debussy, Ives, Fauré and her former husband Ernest Gold; concert and song repertoire by Villa-Lobos, Boulez, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Copland, and Gershwin; plus a few outliers, from a live performance of Korngold’s Mariettas Lied to the jazzed-up exotica of Buddy Collette’s Polynesia to Mr. Magoo’s Mother Goose Suite, not to mention a spoonful of Mary Poppins. Overall, “It’s a Jolly ‘Oliday with Marni!”

RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE

Arnold Schoenberg, Frank Wedekind: Galathea (Brettl-Lieder)[with spoken introduction]. Marni Nixon, Thomas Bagwell [2005]

Thomas Bagwell
Marni and Leonard Stein

Anton Webern, Stefan George: Dies ist ein Lied für dich allein (Fünf Lieder aus “Der Siebente Ring, Op. 3/1). Marni Nixon, Leonard Stein [1957]

Robert B. Sherman, Richard B. Sherman: Feed the Birds (Mary Poppins). Marni Nixon, arranged and conducted by Salvatore “Tutti” Camarata [1964]

Walter Schumann

Traditional American, arr. Walter Schumann: He’s Gone Away. Marni Nixon, The Voices of Walter Schumann [1957]

Igor Stravinsky, Konstantin Balmont, unknown English translator: Forget-Me-Not (Two Balmont Songs, No. 2). Marni Nixon, Igor Stravinsky conducting chamber ensemble [Shibley Boyes, Arthur Gleghorn, Anthony Hoberman, Hugo Raimondi, Lloyd Ulyate, Israel Baker, Doris Albert, Cecil Figelski, Howard Colf] [1954]

Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II: Happy Talk (South Pacific). Marni Nixon, The Lew Raymond Orchestra [1958]

Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim: Quintet (West Side Story). Marni Nixon, Jim Bryant, Betty Ward, Orchestra and Ensemble conducted by Johnny Green [1961]

Nominees for Best Musical Score, 1969 Academy Awards. Marni Nixon, Henry Mancini [Los Angeles 14.IV.69]

Deborah Kerr and Marni

Harry Warren, Harold Adamson, Leo McCarey: Our Love Affair (An Affair to Remember). Marni Nixon, Lionel Newman, The 20th Century-Fox Orchestra [1957]

Maurice Ravel, Paul Morand, arr. Walter Schumann: Chanson épique (Don Quichotte à Dulcinée). Marni Nixon, The Voices of Walter Schumann [1957]

Gabriel Fauré, Paul Verlaine: Clair de lune, Op. 46/2. Marni Nixon, Armen Guzelimian [1983]

Claude Debussy, Paul Verlaine: Clair de lune (Fêtes galantes I, FL 86/3). Marni Nixon, Armen Guzelimian [1983]

Pierre Boulez, Stéphane Mallarmé: Improvisation sur Mallarmé I (US Premiere). Marni Nixon, Leonard Bernstein, New York Philharmonic [live Carnegie Hall 16.III.61]

Alexander Goehr: I Love and I Love (Four Songs from the Japanese, Op. 9/3). Marni Nixon, John McCabe [1967]

Gerard Schümann

Gerard Schümann, anonymous text translated by Arthur Waley: Plucking the Rushes (Chuench’i: A Song Cycle from the Chinese, No. 2). Marni Nixon, John McCabe [1967]

Buddy Collette, A.I. Groeg (after a Japanese manuscript): Gauguin (Polynesia). Marni Nixon, Buddy Collette Septet [Buddy Collette, Gerald Wilson, Al Viola, Red Callender, Gene Cipriano, Earl Palmer, Ed Lustgarten] [1962]

Heitor Villa-Lobos, Manuel Bandeira: Dança [Martelo] (Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5). Marni Nixon, Felix Slatkin, Concert Arts Cello Ensemble [Armand Kaproff, Edgar Lustgarten, Eleanor Aller, Emmet Sargent, George Neikrug, Kurt Reher, Raphael Kramer, Victor Gottlieb] [1959]

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Jean Richepin: Manojito de alfileres (Coplas, Op. 7/2). Marni Nixon, Ernest Gold, Orchestra of the Wiener Volksoper [1974]

Dennis Farnon: Very Contrary Mary (Mother Magoo Suite). Marni Nixon, Dennis Farnon and His Orchestra [1956]

Claude Debussy, Paul Bourget: Romance [L’âme évaporée et souffrante], L. 78. Marni Nixon, Anita Priest [mid-1960s]

Igor Stravinsky, Russian folk text: Tilimblom. Marni Nixon, Anita Priest [mid-1960s]

Engelbert Humperdinck, Adelheid Witte [after Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm; unknown English translator]: There Stands a Little Man (Hansel and Gretel). Marni Nixon, Orchestra conducted by Salvatore “Tutti” Camarata [1964]

John McCabe

Charles Ives, anonymous text, collected by John Avery Lomax: Charlie Rutlage. Marni Nixon, John McCabe [1967]

Lincoln Mayorga

George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, arr. Lincoln Mayorga: By Strauss (The Show Is On). Marni Nixon, Lincoln Mayorga [1986]

Aaron Copland, Emily Dickinson: Dear March, come in! (Eight Poems of Emily Dickinson, No. 5). Marni Nixon, Keith Clark, Pacific Symphony Orchestra [1985]

Ernest Gold, Emily Dickinson: Parting (Songs of Love and Parting, No. 5). Marni Nixon, Ernest Gold, Orchestra of the Wiener Volksoper [1974]

Arnold Schoenberg, Hugo Salus: Der genügsame Liebhaber (Brettl-Lieder). Marni Nixon, Leonard Stein [1975]

As Musetta

Arnold Schoenberg, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Deinem Blick mich zu bequemen. Marni Nixon, Leonard Stein [1975]

Claibe Richardson, Stephen Cole: The Wind and the Rain (The Night of the Hunter). Marni Nixon, Stephen Mitchell, introduced by Stephen Cole [live 03.XII.2014]

Robert B. Sherman, Richard M. Sherman: Stay Awake (Mary Poppins). Marni Nixon, arranged and conducted by Salvatore “Tutti” Camarata [1964]

Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Paul Schott [Erich Korngold, Julius Korngold]: Glück, das mir verblieb [Mariettas Lied] (Die tote Stadt). Marni Nixon, Hans Swarowsky, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra [live 06.I.66]

Claude Debussy, Paul Bourget: Beau Soir, L. 84. Marni Nixon, Anita Priest [mid-1960s]

Richard Strauss, John Henry Mackay: Morgen!, Op. 27/4. Marni Nixon, Anita Priest [mid-1960s]

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