Episode 335. Felicia Weathers, Schlagersängerin
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This week a light-hearted (and therefore much-needed!) tribute to the marvelous Felicia Weathers, who, in the midst of her burgeoning operatic career in the late 1960s, made two LPs of Schlagermusik, 1968’s Liebe Love L’amour (which also sports the best record cover in the history of the LP!) and, the following year, Wunderbar ist die Welt. Both of these were arranged and conducted by one Harold M. Kirschstein, referred to in the liner notes as an important conductor and arranger. Imagine my surprise when, upon doing a little research, I discovered that this person was better known in his native United States as Henri René, whom I knew from his work with Eartha Kitt in the early days of her recording career. Amid all her other successes, Felicia Weathers (like Maria Ewing a generation later) found her greatest fame performing the title role of Richard Strauss’s Salome. This role may have put strain on her voice and shortened her career, but in the late 1960s her voice, as captured on these recordings, was a beguilingly beautiful instrument. She also displays a fine interpretive approach, keen linguistic sense, and vital communicative powers to these songs, which feature some of my favorite melodies ever, including those written by Georges Auric, Jimmy Webb, Harold Arlen, Henry Mancini, Jean-Paul Egide Martini, Oscar Straus, and Friedrich Hollaender. I supplement these delicious selections with two Rodgers and Hammerstein medleys from Weathers’ 1969 album of songs from musicals, Hello, Young Lovers, which also features duets with the superb African American baritone William Ray, who was also based in Europe during those years. Enjoy this delicious, if brief, escape from reality!
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
from Hello, Young Lovers. Felicia Weathers, Richard Müller-Lampertz, Musical Studio Orchestra, with special guest William Ray [1969]
- Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II: Medley: Out of My Dreams (Oklahoma!); If I Loved You (Carousel); People Will Say We’re in Love (Oklahoma!)
Liebe Love L’Amour: Internationale Filmerfolge. Felicia Weathers and Harold M. Kirchstein [Henri René] and His Orchestra [1968]
- Harold Arlen, Yip Harburg: Over the Rainbow (The Wizard of Oz)
- Ernst Hübner, Werner Bochmann: Du warst für mich der schönste Liebestraum (Das Mädchen von gestern Nacht)
- Georges Auric, Jacques Larue: The Song from Moulin Rouge
- Alessandro Taccani, Mario Panzeri, Vincenzo di Paola: Come prima (For the First Time)
- Nicholas Brodszky, Johannes Brandt: Was kann so schön sein wie deine Liebe (Gitta entdeckt ihr Herz)
- Jule Styne, Bob Merrill: People (Funny Girl)
- Henry Mancini, Johnny Mercer: Moon River (Breakfast at Tiffany’s)
- Friedrich Hollaender: Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuß auf Liebe eingestellt (Der blaue Engel)
- Jean Dréjac, Hubert Giraud: Sous le ciel de Paris [from the film of the same name]
- Oscar Straus, Louis Ducreux: La ronde de l’amour (La ronde)
- Renato Rascel, Pietro Garinei, Sandro Giovannini, Carl Sigman: Arrivederci, Roma (Seven Hills of Rome)
from Na křídlech zpěvu [On Wings of Song]. Felicia Weathers, Orchestr Václava Hybše [Václav Hybš and His Orchestra] [1986]
- Jean-Paul Egide Martini, Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian: Plaisir d’amour.
from Hello, Young Lovers. Felicia Weathers, Richard Müller-Lampertz, Musical Studio Orchestra, with special guest William Ray [1969]
- Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II: Medley: Climb Ev’ry Mountain; Something Good; The Sound of Music (The Sound of Music). Felicia Weathers, William Ray, Richard Müller-Lampertz, Musical Studio Orchestra [1969]
from Wunderbar ist die Welt. Felicia Weathers and Harold M. Kirchstein [Henri René] and His Orchestra [1969]
- Terry Gilkyson, Richard Dehr, Frank Miller: Greenfields
- Ruggero Cini, Bruno Zambrini, Franco Migliacci: La Bambola
- Gilbert Bécaud, Louis Amade [German lyric by Gisela Zimber]: Überall blühen Rosen [L’important c’est la rose]
- Enrico Macias, Jacques Demarny [né Jacques Edme Lemaître]: Un refrain
- André Popp, Pierre Cour [German lyric by Klaus Munro]: Blau wie das Meer [L’amour est bleu]
- Jimmy Webb: Up, Up and Away
