Episode 429. A Smattering of Sopranos
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Today’s episode reveals and celebrates the opera queen in me: it’s a program entitled “A Smattering of Sopranos” that features twenty-five different singers who “happen to be” sopranos and whom have not yet been featured in full episodes of the podcast. I love producing these “potpourri” episodes, which allow me to offer a marvelous sampling of singers in a wide-ranging repertoire from French, German, Italian, (and Polish!) opera to religious music to orchestral song to Deutsche Schlager to Lieder and melodies to Russian romances to the Great American Songbook. Singers heard include Suzanne Danco, Rita Shane, Raina Kabaivanska, Françoise Pollet, Maggie Teyte, Phyllis Curtin, Jarmila Novotná, Florence Quartararo, Janine Micheau, Stefania Woytowicz, Olive Moorefield, Elisabeth Rethberg, and the late Stefka Evstatieva, among many others and each one puts her distinctive stamp on the material.
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
Charles Gounod, Jules Barbier [after Percy Bysshe Shelley]: Aimons-nous, CG 449. Suzanne Danco, Frederick Stone [1950 broadcast]
Erwin Halletz, Rolf Olsen, Kurt Nachmann: Ich bin so wahnsinnig sexy (Skandal um Dodo). Olive Moorefield, Orchester Heinz Neubrand, Die Africanos [1959]
Vincent Youmans, Edward Eliscu, Billy Rose: Without a Song (Great Day). Pamela Coburn, Charles Woodward [1981]
George Frideric Handel, Barthold Heinrich Brockes: Gott selbst, der Brunnquell (Brockes-Passion, HWV 48). Maria Stader, August Wenzinger, Schola Cantorum Basiliensis [1967]
George Frideric Handel, Giacomo Rossi [after Torquato Tasso]: Molto voglio, molto spero (Rinaldo). Rita Shane, Stephen Simon, Orchester der Wiener Volksoper [1973]
Luigi Boccherini: Fac ut portem Christi morten (Stabat Mater, G532/9). Cecilia Gasdia, Claudio Scimone, I Solisti Veneti [1990]
Christoph Willibald Gluck, Nicolas-François Guillard [after Euripides]: Ô toi qui prolongeas mes jours (Iphigénie en Tauride). Elisabeth Rethberg, Orchestra conducted by Alfred Wallenstein [live radio broadcast 29.VIII.1941]
Edvard Grieg, Henrik Ibsen: Der Winter mag scheiden [Solveig’s Song] (Peer Gynt). Elisabeth Grümmer, Hugo Dietz, Berliner Symphoniker [1953]
Hugo Wolf, Eduard Mörike: In der Frühe (Mörike-Lieder). Claire Watson, Hubert Giesen [ca. 1967]
Carl Maria von Weber, Helmina von Chézy: Betörte, die an meine Liebe glaubt… Er konnte mich um sie verschmähn (Euryanthe). Inge Borkh, Carlo Maria Giulini, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino [live Florence 18.V.1954]
Stanisław Moniuszko, Jan Chęciński: Paria… on Paria (Paria). Stefania Woytowicz, Witold Rowicki, The National Philharmonic Orchestra of Warsaw [1961]
Charles Gounod, Jules Barbier, Michel Carré [after Gérard de Nerval]: Plus grand dans son obscurité (La reine de Saba). Françoise Pollet, Cyril Diederich, Orchestre Philharmonique de Montpellier [1990]
Giuseppe Verdi, Francesco Maria Piave [after Ángel de Saavedra]: Me pellegrina ed orfana (La forza del destino). Stefka Evstatieva, Ivan Filev, Sofia National Opera Orchestra [1986]
Amilcare Ponchielli, Arrigo Boito [as Tobia Gorrio, after Victor Hugo]: Suicidio! (La Gioconda). Elena S[o]uliotis, Silvio Varviso, Orchestra di Roma [1967]
Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Giacosa, Luigi Illica [after Victorien Sardou]: Vissi d’arte (Tosca). Florence Quartararo, unknown conductor and orchestra [radio broadcast 05.IV.1945]
Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Adami, Renato Simoni [after Carlo Gozzi]: In diesem Schlosse [In questa reggia] (Turandot). Anne Roselle [1928]
Richard Wagner, Mathilde Wesendonck: Der Engel (Wesendonck-Lieder, No. 1). Martha Mödl, Joseph Keilberth, Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester [1955]
Johannes Brahms, Klaus Groth: Wie Melodien zieht es mir, Op. 105/1. Phyllis Curtin, Pentti Koskimies [live Helsinki 11.VI.63]
Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, Aleksey Pleshcheyev: Not a word, my friend [Ни слова, о друг мой], Op. 6/2. Raina Kabaivanska, Krassimir Gatev [1975]
Traditional Czech: Umrem, umrem [I Saw My Country Die]. Jarmila Novotná [radio broadcast 1948]
Darius Milhaud, text from Song of Solomon: Qu’il me donne un baiser (Cantate Nuptiale, Op. 168/1). Janine Micheau, Darius Milhaud, Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire [1956]
Claude Debussy, Paul Verlaine: Spleen [Aquarelles II] (Ariettes oubliées, L. 60/6). Flore Wend, Noël Lee [1959]
Gabriel Fauré, Armand Silvestre: Le secret, Op. 23/3. Irène Joachim, Nadine Desouches [unknown details]
Gabriel Fauré, Albert Samain: Soir, Op. 83/2. Maggie Teyte, Gerald Moore [1943]
César Franck, Louis Fourcaud: Nocturne, FWV 85. Germaine Martinelli, Orchestra conducted by Albert Wolff [1929]
