Episode 347. Will the Real Eleanor Steber Please St/And Up?
SOCIAL SHARE
SUBSCRIPTION PLATFORM
Because there is no such thing as too much Eleanor Steber, today’s bonus episode once again features the prodigiously gifted singer, in my opinion the greatest soprano the United States has ever produced, singing a dizzying range of material, most of it recorded live between the years 1958 and 1979. These recordings were nearly all private releases on Steber’s own record labels.. First, ST/AND Records, which she formed with her second husband Gordon Andrews, and which between 1960 and 1962 produced approximately fifteen LPs, all but one of them featuring Steber. Second, recordings released under the aegis of the Eleanor Steber Music Foundation, which she formed in 1973 and which released a few choice live recordings of Steber’s late career recitals. The material ranges from selections from the Christian Science Hymnal, piously presented; sentimental ballads, tackily arranged; Bach and Mozart arias; art songs by Rorem, Barber, Britten, Debussy, Berg, and Beethoven; and opera arias from I Puritani, Der Freischütz, Giulio Cesare, and Tosca, the last performed at her campy Live at the Continental Baths concert in October 1973. Though as Steber grew older, her voice occasionally sounded blowsy, on the vast majority of these recordings she sounds stunningly good. And no matter what repertoire she was singing, her impeccable technique and pristine musicianship remained intact throughout. Much of source material from which these performances stem is exceedingly rare, and for the most part difficult and costly to obtain. So in my role as supreme Steber groupie, I am honored and thrilled to share these recordings, all of them from my own personal collection.
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
Introductory Remarks [Live at the Continental Baths, NYC 04.X.73]
Edward Dearle, James J. Rome: Give me, O Lord, an understanding heart [Christian Science Hymnal, No. 423]. Eleanor Steber, Edwin McDonell [1960]
Thomas A. Ainsworth, Mary Baker Eddy: Feed My Sheep. Eleanor Steber, Edwin McDonell [1961]
Alfred Hay Malotte: The Lord’s Prayer. Eleanor Steber, Edwin Biltcliffe [1961]
Johann Sebastian Bach: Recitative. Wir beten zu dem Tempel an (Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, BWV 51). Eleanor Steber, Igor Kipnis Baroque Ensemble [Igor Kipnis, Ronald Anderson, Sonya Monsoff, Lilla Kalman, Bernard Zaslav, Sterling Hunkins] [1962]
Oscar Rasbach, Joyce Kilmer, arr. Al Vann: Trees. Eleanor Steber, Al Vann, Barron Smith, Edwin Biltcliffe [1961]
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, anonymous poet: Nehmt meinen Dank, K. 383. Eleanor Steber, Robert Lawrence, Symphony of the Air [live New York 13.IV.1960]
Johann Sebastian Bach: Alleluia (Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, BWV 51). Eleanor Steber, Igor Kipnis Baroque Ensemble [Igor Kipnis, Ronald Anderson, Sonya Monsoff, Lilla Kalman, Bernard Zaslav, Sterling Hunkins] [1962]
Ned Rorem: Alleluia. Eleanor Steber, Edwin Biltcliffe [1962]
Samuel Barber, James Joyce: Nuvoletta, Op. 25. Eleanor Steber, Edwin Biltcliffe [1961]
John La Montaine, text from Song of Songs: My beloved is mine (Songs of the Rose of Sharon, No. 5). Eleanor Steber, Nicholas Harsanyi, Greater Trenton Symphony Orchestra [live Trenton 13.01.62]
Benjamin Britten, Thomas Hardy: At the Railway Station, Upway [or The Convict and Boy with the Violin] (Winter Words, Op. 52/7). Eleanor Steber, Edwin Biltcliffe [live New York 07.XII.74]
Vincenzo Bellini, Carlo Pepoli: Qui la voce sua soave… Vien, diletto (I Puritani). Eleanor Steber, Edwin Biltcliffe [live Carnegie Hall 10.X.58]
George Frideric Handel, Nicola Francesco Haym: Se pietà di me non senti (Giulio Cesare). Eleanor Steber, Allen Rogers [live Boston 20.IV.75]
Carl Maria von Weber, Friedrich Kind [after Johann August Apel, Friedrich Laun]: Leise, leise, fromme Weise (Der Freischütz) Eleanor Steber, Allen Rogers [live Boston 20.IV.75]
Claude Debussy, Paul Verlaine: Chevaux de bois (Ariettes oubliées, L. 63/4). Eleanor Steber, Allen Rogers [live Boston 20.IV.75]
Alban Berg, Rainer Maria Rilke: Traumgekrönt (Sieben frühe Lieder, No. 4). Eleanor Steber, Edwin Biltcliffe [1962]
Ludwig Van Beethoven, Alois Jeitteles: An die ferne Geliebte, Op. 98 [complete]. Eleanor Steber, Edwin Biltcliffe [1962]
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, unknown poet [probably Joachim Heinrich Campe]: Abendempfindung, K. 523. Eleanor Steber, Robert K. Evans [live Graz 04.VIII.79]
Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Giacosa, Luigi Illica [after Victorien Sardou]: Vissi d’arte (Tosca). Eleanor Steber, Edwin Biltcliffe [live at the Continental Baths 04.X.73]