Episode 464. Moffo and Gedda: Together Yet Separate

Episode 464. Moffo and Gedda: Together Yet Separate

Today’s episode goes back three and a half years to two artists whom I had recently featured on back-to-back Countermelody episodes: Anna Moffo and Nicolai Gedda. In the case of each of these singers, I entered the ring with a not-altogether-positive impression: in the case of Gedda, it was because of an apparent desire by either him or his record company to sing nearly everything, with sometimes uneven results. In the case of Moffo, it was the more serious issue of the vocal difficulties she encountered in the 1970s, the period when I first came to know her singing, when her singing too often became a sad caricature of her earlier work. My individual episodes on Moffo and Gedda allowed me to reassess both singers and arrive at a more positive evaluation of their contribution. Today’s episode features both artists side by side. Both Moffo and Gedda had their own very distinctive style of singing that might at first seem incompatible. And in his autobiography, Gedda cast shade on some of his unnamed Met colleagues, especially (by implication) Moffo. In spite of all of this, they sang in a number of legendary performances together, including in particular broadcasts of Manon and Pelléas et Mélisande. I play excerpts from each of these, plus a televised appearance of the two singing in La Traviata. In addition, in order to better highlight the differences in their musical and vocal approaches, I include parallel performances by both singing the same song: Schumann’s “Ich grolle nicht;” Schubert’s “Du bist die Ruh’,” and, inevitably, the Rachmaninov “Vocalise.” The episode begins with a tribute to Felicity Lott, the beloved British soprano who died over the weekend of cancer, aged 79.

RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE

Maurice Ravel, Tristan Klingsor: La Flûte enchantée (Shéhérazade). Felicity Lott, Pierre Boulez, Wiener Philharmoniker [live Salzburg 27.VIII.1994]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Lorenzo da Ponte [after Pierre Beaumarchais]: Cosa mi narri?… Che soave zeffiretto (Le nozze di Figaro). Felicity Lott, Maria Ewing, Andrew Davis, Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra [live 14.XI.1987]

Robert Schumann, Heinrich Heine: Ich grolle nicht (Dichterliebe, Op. 48/7)

• Nicolai Gedda, Hans Willi Häusslein [live Paris – Théâtre des Champs Elysées 1959]
• Anna Moffo, Gerald Moore [1972]

Sergei Rachmaninov: Vocalise, Op. 34/14

• Nicolai Gedda, Alexis Weissenberg [1969]
• Anna Moffo, Leopold Stokowski, American Symphony Orchestra [1964]

Giuseppe Verdi, Francesco Maria Piave [after Alexandre Dumas]: Un dì felice (La traviata). Anna Moffo, Nicolai Gedda, Donald Voorhees, Bell Telephone Hour Orchestra [Bell Telephone Hour telecast, 27.IV.62]

Gaetano Donizetti, Salvadore Cammarano [after Walter Scott]: Veranno a te sull’aure (Lucia di Lammermoor). Anna Moffo, Nicolai Gedda, Carlo Franci, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra [live 01.II.69]

Claude Debussy, Maurice Maeterlinck: Pelléas et Mélisande. Anna Moffo, Nicolai Gedda George London, Ernest Ansermet, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra [live 29.XII.62]:

• Vous ne savez pas où je vous ai menée [Fountain Scene, Act II, Scene 1]
• Mes longs cheveux descendent [Tower Scene, Act III, Scene 1]
• Nous sommes venus ici il y a bien longtemps [Park Scene, Act IV, Scene 4]

Jules Massenet, Henri Meilhac, Philippe Gille [after Abbé Prévost]: Manon.Anna Moffo, Nicolai Gedda, Thomas Schippers, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra [live 21.XII.63]

• Mademoiselle… Nous vivrons à Paris (Manon)
• Allons, il le faut… Adieu, notre petite table… Instant charmant… En fermant les yeux
• Pardonnez-moi, Dieu de toute puissance… Toi! Vous!… N’est-ce plus ma main?

Franz Schubert, Friedrich Rückert: Du bist die Ruh’, D.776.

• Anna Moffo, Gerald Moore [1972]
• Nicolai Gedda, Jan Eyron [live 07.VII.70]