Episode 355. John Wustman (Honor Your Mentors I)
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I have been reminded over and over again in recent weeks of the preciousness of life as numerous dear friends and family members face loss of loved ones and their own life-altering health crises. This got me to thinking about how much my mentors have shaped my life. So with this latest episode I inaugurate a new Countermelody series entitled “Honor Your Mentors.” I have already posted numerous times on the podcast about my beloved teacher John Wustman. This coming July my friend and colleague Chanda VanderHart’s monumental book Accompaniment in America: Contextualizing Collaborative Piano, co-authored with Kathleen Kelly and Elvia Puccinelli, will be published by Routledge. Chanda has put together an astonishing digital archive featuring a wealth of material related to the book: https://accompanimentinamerica.website/index.html. Included among these is an interview I did with Chanda about my teacher and mentor John Wustman. Chanda has given me permission to include that interview on my podcast, but don’t miss all of the material that is available on the website that richly supplements the book itself.
I was enormously saddened a few days ago to read of the death of my first serious voice teacher in New York, Joan Caplan. Joan was not only a teacher and mentor, she was a close friend. In recent years she had been living at the Actors Fund Home in Englewood, New Jersey. I was able to visit her there last summer and had intended to go see her again when I am back in New York next month. Alas, that will no longer be possible, but since I was already planning an episode featuring my dear Mr. Wustman, I decided to honor both of these life-changing mentors of mine in a single episode. Joan is heard singing Mahler, Donizetti, and Handel; and John is heard in a sampling of his studio recordings featuring, among others, Régine Crespin, Carlo Bergonzi, Brigitte Fassbaender, Luciano Pavarotti, and Irina Arkhipova.
I was also reminded again this week of the preciousness of life as numerous dear friends and family members face life-changing health crises. Please do not forget to tell those that you love how much they mean to you. And don’t wait until their funerals to give them their flowers!
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
Gaetano Donizetti, Felice Romani [after Victor Hugo]: Il segreto per esser felici (Lucrezia Borgia). Joan Caplan [unknown pianist and date]
Traditional Auvergnat, arr. Joseph Canteloube: Lou coucut (Chants d’Auvergne, IV/6). Régine Crespin, John Wustman [live Strasbourg 1966]
Robert Schumann, Joseph von Eichendorff: Zwielicht (Liederkreis, Op. 39/10). Mildred Miller, John Wustman [1977]
Giuseppe Verdi, Francesco Maria Piave [after Victor Hugo]: Ella mi fu rapita… Parmi veder le lagrime (Rigoletto). Luciano Pavarotti, John Wustman [live Carnegie Hall 01.XI.87]
Carl Loewe, Johann Gottfried von Herder: Herr Oluf, Op. 2/2. Donald Bell, John Wustman [1962]
Franz Schubert, Johann Mayrhofer: Lied eines Schiffers an die Dioskuren, D. 360. Donald Bell, John Wustman [1962]
Gabriel Fauré, Paul Verlaine: Clair de lune, Op. 46/2. Régine Crespin, John Wustman [1966]
Francis Poulenc, Guillaume Apollinaire: Hôtel (Banalités, FP 107/2). Régine Crespin, John Wustman [1967]
Claude Debussy, Pierre Louÿs: Le tombeau des naïades (Chansons de Bilitis, L.90/3). Régine Crespin, John Wustman [1967]
Modest Mussorgsky, Arseny Golenishchev-Kutuzov: Полководец [Field-Marshal Death] (Песни и Пляски Смерти [Songs and Dances of Death]). Irina Arkhopova, John Wustman [1970]
Gioachino Rossini, Carlo Pepoli: La danza [Tarantella] (Soirées musicales). Carlo Bergonzi, John Wustman [1977]
Stefano Donaudy, Alberto Donaudy: O del mio amato ben. Carlo Bergonzi, John Wustman [1977]
Franz Liszt, Francesco Petrarca: I’ vidi in terra (Tre Sonetti di Petrarca, S. 270/3). Luciano Pavarotti, John Wustman [live Carnegie Hall 01.XI.87]
Claus Ogerman, Rabindranath Tagore [German translation by Gabriele M. Muncker, Adam Haas]: Zeit ist endlos, Herr (Tagore-Lieder, No. 3). Brigitte Fassbaender, John Wustman [1986]
Alban Berg, Alfred Mombert: Warm die Lüfte, es spriesst Gras auf sonnigen Wiesen (Vier Lieder, Op. 2/4). Brigitte Fassbaender, John Wustman [1986]
Hugo Wolf, Eduard Mörike: Der Knabe und das Immlein (Mörike-Lieder, No. 2). Susan Dunn, John Wustman [2010]
Hugo Wolf, Eduard Mörike: Auf eine Christblume II (Mörike-Lieder, No. 21). Thomas Potter, John Wustman [2010]
Hugo Wolf, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Mignon [Kennst du das Land?]. Régine Crespin, John Wustman [live Hunter College 11.XI.67]
Johannes Brahms, Georg Friedrich Daumer: O schöne Nacht (Vier Quartette, Op. 92/1). Robert Shaw, Robert Shaw Festival Singers, John Wustman [1993]
Hugo Wolf: Verschwiegene Liebe (Eichendorff-Lieder). John Wustman [ca. 1964]
Robert Schumann, Joseph von Eichendorff: Mondnacht (Liederkreis, Op. 39/5). Régine Crespin, John Wustman [live Strasbourg 1966]
Thank you for this very interesting, informative and enjoyable episode! I stumbled upon it as I was searching to see if Mr. Wustman was still alive after reflecting on my memory of having sung for him when I was 18 or 19 at FSU just before a master class he gave there. This would have been (I believe) in the spring of 1982 or 1983. My voice teacher, the late Evelyn Klepinger, arranged for me to sing for him because – God bless her – she believed I would someday become a very important singer and she wanted to introduce me to Mr. Wustman, who got his start with Robert Shaw through her (one of her dear friends was Nora, Shaw’s personal and professional secretary for most of his life.) Evelyn used to refer to him as “Little Johnny Wustman.” 😄 Her career began with William Hermann, voice teacher to Roberta Peters. I believe Evelyn was his accompanist and then became a vocal coach and ultimately, a renowned voice teacher in her own right. She used to tell me about how young “Bobbie” Peters would bounce all around the room during her lessons, hardly standing still for a moment. (The exact opposite of me. Lol)
Anyway, I can’t recall what I sang for Mr. Wustman, but at that age, Evelyn was having me sing lighter arias like “Deh vieni non tardar” from “Le Nozze di Figaro”, although I was also singing “Non piú di fiori” (La Clemenza di Tito); she eased me very gently into the dramatic soprano repertoire since I was technically still in my teens. But for fun, she let me try some of the powerhouse arias during my lessons. I remember at 17, after my sight-read through “Pace, Pace mio Dio” (La Forza del Destino), with that pianissimo B♭that builds in intensity and then the final “maledizione!”, which I sang just as Verdi wrote it – in one long breath, Evelyn finished the ending, clapped her hands together and exclaimed, “I know you’re poor now, but some day, you’ll be so rich you won’t know what to do with it all!” Oops! That prophecy went unfulfilled, unfortunately.
ANYWAY (as with most divas – even failed ones, I manage to make everything about ME as usual), I really enjoyed and appreciated your podcast. I wish I’d honored Evelyn more while she was alive, but I was ashamed that I hadn’t lived up to her expectations, so I avoided contact with her. She passed away in 1997, a few months after I’d moved to Seattle. While living there, I was blessed in 2001 to be able to sing for the vocal coach for Seattle Opera, who recommended that I spend 6 months working with a local teacher to prepare for my audition with Seattle Opera. She said (director) “Speight (Jenkins) loves discovering local talent. He’ll start you in small roles at first, of course” and I remember thinking “roles? You think he’ll actually CAST me in ROLES?” LOL (My self-esteem was always pretty low, which is why I think I was never able to make a success of it.) But I feel like Evelyn would’ve been proud. Even my college voice teacher, Yvonne Ciannella, who was part of the reason for my damaged self-esteem, would have been proud, I think,, if I’d told her. She passed away in 2022.
Oh my God, I did it AGAIN!
I’ll just say “mille grazie!” for your podcast, and see myself out now after asking if Mr. Wustman is still with us.
Dear Karen, I was delighted to get your message. John is still with us, to answer your question. As to the other content of your lovely message, I will respond to you privately. Sincerely yours, Daniel