Episode 384. Vera Little Revisited
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On June 3, 2024, the Berlin Senate’s Department of Culture installed a memorial plaque in honor of African American contralto and Deutsche Oper star Vera Little at her former residence. Little, who lived from 1927 to 2012, and spent the majority of her adult life in Berlin, was a dazzlingly gifted singing actress who sang everything from bel canto to Carmen to creating two roles in operas by Hans Werner Henze. This episode makes use of newly-acquired recordings of Little singing Carmen and Dame Quickly in Falstaff. We also sample the work of Little’s extraordinarily gifted brother, the tragically short-lived jazz trumpeter Booker Little, as well as several excerpts (read by your host) from Tears in My Eyes, published in 1978, the first of Vera Little’s several published books of memoirs and poetry. The episode concludes with the majority of Little’s 1957 single solo recording, Twelve Spirituals, on Decca Records, containing arrangements by Harry Burleigh, William Dawson, and Hall Johnson accompanied by Domincan-French pianist Andrès Wheatley.
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
Traditional Spiritual, arr. Harry T. Burleigh: Oh, What a Beautiful City. Vera Little, Andrès Wheatley [1957]
Georges Bizet, Henri Meilhac, Ludovic Halévy [after Prosper Mérimée; Italian translation by Achille de Lauzières]: Invan per evitar [En vain pour éviter] (Carmen). Vera Little, Aldo Bertocci, Mario Rossi, Orchestra Sinfonica di Torino della RAI [05.IX.59]
Alec Wilder, William Engvick: Who Can I Turn To? Booker Little, Tommy Flanagan, Scott Le Faro, Roy Haymes [1960]
Alec Wilder, William Engvick: Who Can I Turn To? Jeri Southern, Dave Barbour Trio [1954]
Georges Bizet, Henri Meilhac, Ludovic Halévy [after Prosper Mérimée; Italian translation by Achille de Lauzières]: from Carmen [sung in Italian]. Vera Little, Aldo Bertocci, Mario Sereni, Mario Rossi, Orchestra Sinfonica di Torino della RAI [live Torino 05.IX.59]
- Lassù, lassù, n’andremmo insiem [Non, tu ne m’aimes pas… Là-bas, là-bas, dans la montagne]
- Se tu m’ami, Carmen [Si tu m’aimes, Carmen]
- Più non m’ama il tuo cor [Tu ne m’aimes donc plus?]
Hans Werner Henze, Ingeborg Bachmann [after Wilhelm Hauff]: Hu, kaltes Land – und Leute gaffen (Der junge Lord). Vera Little, Christoph von Dohnányi, Orchester und Chor der Deutschen Oper Berlin [1968]
Hans Werner Henze, W.H. Auden, Chester Kallman [after Euripides; German version by Helmut Reinold, Maria Bosse-Sporleder]: O Gaia! O Gaia! O Gaia! (Die Bassariden). Vera Little, Peter Lagger, Christoph von Dohnányi, Wiener Philharmoniker [live Salzburg 06.VIII.66]
Igor Stravinsky, W.H. Auden, Chester Kallman [after William Hogarth]: from The Rake’s Progress [sung in German]. Vera Little, Anneliese Rothenberger, Waldemar Kmentt, Oscar Danon, Wiener Philharmoniker [live Wien 14.III.65]
- Liebling! Muss ich denn in Ewigkeit hier drin sein?… War es denn wirklich? [My love, am I to remain in here forever?… Could it then have been known?]
- Wie ich schon sagte, trugen beide [As I was saying both brothers wore moustaches]
Gaetano Donizetti, Felice Romani: from Anna Bolena (sung in German). Vera Little, Karl Ridderbusch, Alberto Erede, Orchester des Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln [live 16.XII.67].
- Oh qual parlar fu il suo!… Tremate voi?… Tutta in voi la luce mia… Anna pure amor m’offria
- Ah, Sire! Il mio rimorso mi guida al vostro piè… Per questa fiamma indomita
Giuseppe Verdi, Arrigo Boito [after William Shakespeare]: Reverenza! (Falstaff). Vera Little, [Some German Baritone], Lorin Maazel, Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin [live Tokyo 29.III.70]
Vera Little: Tears in My Eyes (published 1978). Two excerpts (read by Daniel Gundlach):
- The Big White School in Our Black Neighborhood [1973]
- The Vatican [1973]
from 12 Spirituals. Vera Little, Andrès Wheatley [Decca Records, published 1957]
- Robert McGimsey: Sweet Little Jesus Boy
- Hall Johnson (arr.): My Good Lord Done Been Here
- William L. Dawson (arr.): Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley
- William L. Dawson (arr.): Talk About a Child That Do Love Jesus
- Harry T. Burleigh (arr.): Sinner, Please Don’t Let this Harvest Pass
- Harry T. Burleigh (arr.): Deep River
- Harry T. Burleigh (arr.): Ride On, King Jesus
