Episode 373. Carol Neblett: Girl of the Golden West

Episode 373. Carol Neblett: Girl of the Golden West

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Today is the day that the United States formerly celebrated its independence. But the events of recent months have not made me feel much like celebrating. As I racked my brain to think of an “American” (read: US-American) of whom we could be truly proud, my mind flew to Carol Neblett, one of the great (if relatively unsung) voices of the 1970s and beyond. Carol died prematurely and unexpectedly in November 2017, and from the earliest days of the podcast, it has been my intention to bring increased attention to her incandescent voice and artistry. For a while, her son Stefan Schermerhorn and I have been planning to do such a tribute, but as with so many such plans, life got in the way. With the looming national holiday, however, I felt the urgent need to do a Carol Neblett episode. So I contacted Stefan earlier this week to ask him if he had any reminiscences to share with us as I was preparing this urgently-needed episode. He returned with an absolutely charming Fourth of July anecdote which begins the tribute. There follows a plethora of live recordings of near-definitive performances of an enormous range of roles that were core to Carol’s repertoire: Violetta, Ariadne, Thaïs, Marietta, Manon, Musetta, Louise, Tosca, Magda in La Rondine, Margherita in Mefistofele, Leonora in Il Trovatore, and Elettra in Idomeneo. Also well-represented is no doubt her most celebrated portrayal: Minnie in La Fanciulla del West. Being a tall and statuesque California-born blonde made Carol a physically ideal Minnie, but even moreso, it was THAT VOICE which allowed her to negotiate all of the part’s considerable vocal difficulties and made her legendary in the part. This is the first of a planned series of Neblett episodes that I hope will bring you as much delight in listening as it did me in preparing it. And in this undeniably grim period of our nation’s history, we desperately need Carol Neblett as a shining example of the brilliance of which the United States is still capable.

RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE

Giacomo Puccini, Carlo Zangarini, Guelfo Civinini [after David Belasco]: S’amavan tanto (La Fanciulla del West). Carol Neblett, Gian Piero Mastromei, Bruno Bartoletti, Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra [live Chicago 22.IX.1978]

Gian Piero Mastromei

Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Giacosa, Luigi Illica [after Henri Murger]: Quando m’en vo (La Bohème). Carol Neblett, Gilda Cruz-Romo, Enrico Di Giuseppe, Abe Polakoff, William Ledbetter, Michael Devlin, Don Yule, Julius Rudel, New York City Opera Orchestra and Chorus [live NYCO 28.II.1970]

Gilda Cruz-Romo

Giacomo Puccini, Carlo Zangarini, Guelfo Civinini [after David Belasco]: Oh, se sapeste (La Fanciulla del West). Carol Neblett, Bruno Bartoletti, Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra [live Chicago 22.IX.1978]

Recording session for Die tote Stadt, 1975

Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Paul Schott [pseudonym of Erich Korngold and Julius Korngold, after Georges Rodenbach]: Und der Erste, die mich Liebe belehrt (Die tote Stadt). Carol Neblett, Imre Pallo, New York City Opera Orchestra [live NYCO 04.IV.1975]

Giuseppe Verdi, Salvadore Cammarano [after Antonio García Gutiérrez]: Tu vedrai che amore in terra (Il Trovatore). Carol Neblett, Carl Suppa, Orchestra of the New Orleans Opera Association [live New Orleans 14.III.1975]

Jules Massenet, Louis Gallet [after Anatole France]: Le ciel s’ouvre… Deux séraphins aux blanches ailes (Thaïs). Carol Neblett, Julian Patrick, Knud Anderson, Orchestra of the New Orleans Opera Association [live New Orleans 14.IV.1973]

Julian Patrick
A 1971 caricature by Sam Norkin of Carol Neblett as Louise, with Georges Liccioni on the left

Gustave Charpentier: Depuis le jour (Louise). Carol Neblett, Charles Wendelkon-Wilson, New York City Opera Orchestra [live NYCO 05.IX.1971]

Jules Massenet, Henri Meilhac, Philippe Gille [after Abbé Prévost]: Ah! Parlez-moi!… Nous vivrons à Paris (Manon). Carol Neblett, Ion Piso, John Darrencamp, Barbara Blanchard, Helene Guilet, Kay Creed, Julius Rudel, New York City Opera Orchestra [live NYCO 17.IV.1970]

Ion Piso
Neblett as Poppea

Claude Debussy, Paul Verlaine: L’ombre des arbres (Ariettes oubliées, L. 60/3). Carol Neblett, Darlene Lawrence [live Provo, UT 21.II.1974]

Gian Carlo Menotti: Hello? Hello? Oh, Margaret, it’s you (The Telephone). Carol Neblett, Darlene Lawrence [live Provo, UT 21.II.1974]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Giambattista Maresco: O smanie, o furie… D’Oreste, d’Ajace (Idomeneo). Carol Neblett, John Pritchard, San Francisco Opera Orchestra [23.IX.1977]

Giuseppe Verdi, Francesco Maria Piave [after Victor Hugo]: Già da tre lune… Veglia, o donna, questo fiore (Rigoletto). Carol Neblett, Louis Quilico, James Levine, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra [live Hollywood Bowl 09.IX.1972]

Louis Quilico as Rigoletto

Giuseppe Verdi, Francesco Maria Piave [after Alexandre Dumas fils]: Ah, dite alla giovine (La Traviata). Carol Neblett, Dominic Cossa, Chris Nance, New York City Opera Orchestra [live NYCO 17.IX.1971]

Dominic Cossa

Arrigo Boito: L’altra notte in fondo al mare (Mefistofele). Carol Neblett, Julius Rudel, New York City Opera Orchestra [live NYCO 07.XI.1971] (verse 1); Anton Guadagno, London Symphony Orchestra [live London 25.V.1972] (verse 2)

Cesare Siepi and Carol Neblett in London for Mefistofele, 1972

Richard Strauss, Hugo von Hofmannsthal: Es gibt ein Reich (Ariadne auf Naxos). Carol Neblett, Kenneth Schermerhorn, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra [unknown date]

Giacomo Puccini, Carlo Zangarini, Guelfo Civinini [after David Belasco]: Laggiù nel Soledad (La Fanciulla del West). Carol Neblett, Mario Basiola, Nino Sanzogno, Orchestra del Teatro Regio, Torino [live Torino 24.XI.1974]

Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Giacosa, Luigi Illica [after Victorien Sardou]: Orsù, Tosca, parlate (Tosca). Carol Neblett, Luciano Pavarotti, Cornell MacNeil, Thomas Booth, Bruno Bartoletti, Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra [live 26.XI.1976]

Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Adami [after Alfred Maria Willner, Heinz Reichert]: Ore dolce e divine (La Rondine). Carol Neblett, Noemi Lugo, Vilia Hinds, Alicia Maraslian, Michelangelo Veltri, Orquestra del Teatro Municipal de Caracas [live 10.VI.1973]

Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Adami, Renato Simoni [after Carlo Gozzi]: O Principi, che a lunghe carovane (Turandot). Carol Neblett, Barry Morell, Kenneth Schermerhorn, Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra [live 18.XI.1978]

Giacomo Puccini, Carlo Zangarini, Guelfo Civinini [after David Belasco]: Quante?… Una… [Poker Scene] (La Fanciulla del West). Carol Neblett, Giangiacomo Guelfi, Silvio Varviso, Wiener Philharmoniker [live Wiener Staatsoper 23.V.1976]

Giangiacomo Guelfi as Jack Rance

6 thoughts on “Episode 373. Carol Neblett: Girl of the Golden West”

  1. Great episode. Carol occupies a special place as she inadvertently got me my first Facebook ban -i posted a photo( THE photo!) Of her as Thais in the buff. She just looks so good in that photo I assumed Facebook would recognize it as art instead of porn. I was mistaken. But it was worth it. I never heard her in the opera house but met her about 2008 here in San Diego. She came to here a tenor/doctor who was a friend of her then husband. She seemed pleased to be recognized . Would have been fun to interview her.

    1. Thank you so much for listening, Jef! I thought it was interesting that she said in a later interview that, given the chance to go back and do it again, she would still do the Thais scene as it was originally staged, but that she would have insisted on better backstage control of the situation. This was clearly long before intimacy coordinators and all of that! I’m really hoping to interview her son Stefan in the future, as our mutual schedules permit.

  2. LOVED this episode — Carol was a dear friend in San Diego, and we had great times in Amsterdam, too..

    Thanks also for your messages of hope….

    and for all the great episodes.

    Fondly,

    Martin

    1. Dear Martin, so great to hear from you. I’m glad the episode brought back happy memories for you. Sending you all good wishes! D

  3. Thank you so much for sharing this! I have been an opera enthusiast for 30 years. I was only vaguely familiar with Carol Neblett. What a revelation! A truly magnificent voice. I think she is as great as any soprano I have ever heard. I am so glad these recordings have been preserved.

    1. Oh, dear Marian, I do so fully agree with you! The breadth of her repertoire was absolutely staggering and the personal warmth and charisma that she brought to her portrayals, alongside that gloriously beautiful voice: all these factors place her firmly in the pantheon of the very greatest of sopranos! I only wish that the recordings offered better fidelity, but even so, there are so many joys to be had in listening to her sing. <3

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