Episode 483. Adele Addison @ 101
Today beloved African American soprano Adele Addison, still “sharp as a tack” according to one of her close friends, celebrates her 101st birthday. And today, just as I did four years ago in honor of her 97th birthday, I celebrate this trailblazing icon with a wide-ranging program which focuses on her specialties: baroque and contemporary music, with a few additional surprises along the way. Thus alongside key works by Bach, Vivaldi, and Handel, we also hear work that Addison pioneered and recorded by composers such as Noël Lee, Harold Schramm, Lester Trimble, Richard Donovan, Benjamin Lees, Paul Hindemith, Marc Bucci, Aaron Copland, Francis Poulenc (whose Gloria she sang in its Boston world première), and Lukas Foss, assisted by conductors Charles Munch, Leonard Bernstein, Robert Shaw, Milton Katims and Frederic Waldman, fellow soprano Saramae Endich, and a plethora of the greatest instrumentalists of the era. Throughout Addison displays her bright, clear timbre, subtle text pointing, and radiant connection to whatever style of music she was singing. I am particularly honored to present to you once again a singer who I encountered over and over in my early listening experience and who continues to provide a glowing inspiration through her legendary recordings.
RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE
George Frideric Handel, Charles Jennens (after John Milton): Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures (L’Allegro ed il Penseroso). Adele Addison, Frederic Waldman, Musica Æterna Orchestra [1960]
Aaron Copland, Emily Dickinson: Nature, the gentlest mother (Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson, No. 1). Adele Addison, Aaron Copland [1967]
George Frideric Handel, Charles Jennens (after John Milton): There held in holy passion still (L’Allegro ed il Penseroso). Adele Addison, Frederic Waldman, Musica Æterna Orchestra and Chorus [1960]
Lukas Foss, W.H. Auden: We’re Late (Time Cycle, No. 1). Adele Addison, Leonard Bernstein, Columbia Symphony Orchestra [1961]
Francis Poulenc: Domine Deus. Agnus Dei (Gloria, FP 177/5). Adele Addison, Charles Munch, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chorus Pro Musica [world premiere performance Boston 21.I.61]
Antonio Vivaldi: Laudamus te (Gloria in D Major, RV 589). Adele Addison, Saramae Endich, Robert Shaw, The Robert Shaw Orchestra [1966]
Harold Schramm, Tayumanavar: Song of Tayumanavar. Adele Addison, Samuel Baron [1971]
Richard Donovan, Thomas Howell: When as the mildest month (Five Elizabethan Lyrics, No. 3). Adele Addison, Galimir String Quartet [Felix Galimir, Gino Sambuco, Samuel Rhodes, Pierre Basseux] [1967]
George Frideric Handel, John Dryden: Orpheus could lead the savage race (Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day, HWV 76/9). Adele Addison, Leonard Bernstein, New York Philharmonic [1960]
Paul Hindemith, Wilhelm Meinhold: Der Wurm am Meer (Die Serenaden, Op. 35, Part II, No. 6). Adele Addison, New York Chamber Soloists [Ynez Lynch, Melvin Kaplan, Alexander Kouguell] [1967]
Gustave Charpentier: Depuis le jour (Louise). Adele Addison, Brooks Smith [live New York 27.III.1957]
Marc Bucci, text after Elizabeth Enright: Spring Aria (Tale for a Deaf Ear). Adele Addison, James Payne [1962]
George Frideric Handel: Thou didst blow with the wind (Israel in Egypt). Adele Addison, Frederic Waldman, Musica Æterna Orchestra [1963]
Noël Lee, Federico Garcia Lorca: Mort au petit matin (Five Songs on Poems by Federico Garcia Lorca, No. 5). Adele Addison, Samuel Baron, Rey De La Torre [1962]
Johann Sebastian Bach: Laudamus te (Mass in b minor, BWV 232). Adele Addison, Oscar Shumsky, Robert Shaw, The Robert Shaw Orchestra [1960]
Lester Trimble, Geoffrey Chaucer: IV. The Wyf of Biside Bathe (Four Fragments from The Caunterbury Tales). Adele Addison, Robert Conant, Martin Orenstein, Charles Russo [1961]
Benjamin Lees, Walt Whitman: Cushion me soft, rock me in billowy drowse (Visions of Poets). Adele Addison, Milton Katims, Seattle Symphony Orchestra [world premiere Seattle 15.V.1962]
George Frideric Handel: Come unto Him, all ye that labour (Messiah). Adele Addison, Thompson Stone, The Handel and Haydn Society of Boston, The Zembler Sinfonietta [1955]
Traditional Spiritual: Were You There. Adele Addison [1959]