Episode 339. Todd Duncan
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Today I present the male lead creator of Gershwin’s towering masterpiece, Porgy and Bess, the magnificent Todd Duncan (12 February 1903 – 28 February 1998), whose other creations included work by Kurt Weill, Cole Porter, and a pop standard that might surprise you. Duncan also made extraordinarily important contributions as a teacher, a recitalist, and as a civil rights figure. All of these aspects of his life are explored in this episode, which features recordings from all corners of his artistic and musical life, including two live broadcasts of excerpts from Porgy and a number of rare recordings of art song and a treasurable (if craggily-recorded) album of spirituals. Here was a man who pursued his career and his life with a strong sense of his own self-worth, but also kindness, integrity, and humility.
Randye Jones’s biographical sketch of Todd Duncan, which was of enormous help to me as I prepared this episode: https://afrovoices.com/todd-duncan-biography/
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, DuBose Heyward: I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’ (Porgy and Bess). Todd Duncan, William Duncan Allen [1946]
Kurt Weill, Maxwell Anderson [after Alan Paton]: Lost in the Stars (Lost in the Stars). Todd Duncan, Herbert Coleman, Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Maurice Levine [1949]
Alex North, Hy Zaret: Unchained Melody. Todd Duncan [Unchained soundtrack 1955]
Traditional Spiritual, arr. Lawrence Brown: Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel? Todd Duncan, Carroll Hollister [1957]
Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II: Ol’ Man River (Show Boat). Todd Duncan, Norman Duncan Allen [1946]
Ludwig Van Beethoven, Friedrich Schiller: O Freunde, nicht diese Töne!… Freude, schöner Götterfunken (Symphony No. 9, “Choral”, Op. 125). Todd Duncan, Artur Rodzinski, New York Philharmonic, Westminster Choir [live Carnegie 14.IV.46]
Traditional Spiritual, arr. Harry T. Burleigh: My Lord, What a Morning. Todd Duncan, Carroll Hollister [ca. 1955]
Modest Mussorgsky: Семинарист [The Seminarianist] [sung in English]. Todd Duncan, Norman Duncan Allen [ca. 1954]
George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, DuBose Heyward: Porgy and Bess excerpts [Summertime; I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin; Bess, You Is My Woman Now]. Todd Duncan, Anne Brown, Abbie Mitchell, Eva Jessye Choir, Orchestra conducted by Frank Black [The Magic Key, NBC Radio 01.XII.1935]
George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, DuBose Heyward: Buzzard Song (Porgy and Bess). Todd Duncan, Alexander Steinert, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Hall Johnson Choir [live Los Angeles Gershwin Memorial Concert 08.IX.37]
Cole Porter: River God (The Sun Never Sets). Todd Duncan, Charles Prentice, Drury Lane Theatre Orchestra [1938]
Johannes Brahms, August Heinrich von Fallersleben: Von ewiger Liebe, Op. 43/1. Todd Duncan, William Duncan Allan [ca. 1954]
Camille Saint-Saëns, Henri Cazalis [as Jean Lahor]: Danse macabre. Todd Duncan, William Duncan Allen [ca. 1954]
Franz Schubert, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Erlkönig, D. 328. Todd Duncan, William Duncan Allen [ca. 1954]
Haitian Folk Song: Omimba. Todd Duncan, William Duncan Allen [1946]
Kurt Weill, Maxwell Anderson: How Many Miles (Lost in the Stars). Todd Duncan, Orchestra conducted by Maurice Levine [1949]
Kurt Weill, Maxwell Anderson: The Little Gray House (Lost in the Stars). Todd Duncan, Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Maurice Levine [1949]
Kurt Weill, Maxwell Anderson: O Tixo, Tixo, Help Me (Lost in the Stars). Todd Duncan, Orchestra conducted by Maurice Levine [1949]
Traditional Spiritual, arr. Lawrence Brown: I’m Going to Tell God All My Troubles. Todd Duncan, Carroll Hollister [1957]
Traditional Spiritual, arr. Hall Johnson: Witness. Todd Duncan, Carroll Hollister [1957]
Traditional Spiritual, arr. Hall Johnson: Roll, Jerdan Roll. Todd Duncan, Carroll Hollister [ca. 1957]
George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, DuBose Heyward: Bess, oh Where’s My Bess (Porgy and Bess). Todd Duncan, Norman Duncan Allen [1946]
George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, DuBose Heyward: Oh, Lord, I’m on My Way (Porgy and Bess). Todd Duncan, Alexander Smallens, Decca Symphony Orchestra, Eva Jessye Choir [1940]
