Ice Cream and Cake

Barbara Cook was born 25 October 1927 in Atlanta, Georgia. I remember her silvery soprano voice in Candide -


but I think you will like this from She Loves Me. Happy Birthday Barbara! Have some "Vanilla Ice Cream" with your birthday cake!

Marta Eggerth: "Never retire."

I would not have known about Marta Eggerth's birthday had I not listened to a tribute to her on our local public radio station's Saturday Afternoon at the Opera. The host played a number of Merry Widow songs sung by her (in at least 4 languages!). He quoted Marta Eggerth's advice for a long life: "Never retire." She and her son have their own YouTube channel.

Marta Eggerth - 99 years old today - is one of the last of the great European operetta stars. Max Reinhardt directed her in Die Fledermaus.
In 1927. Franz Lehar wrote shows for her.

In 2004 when Queen Juliana died, a Dutch television history program called Andere Tijden (in English, Other Times) featured a segment about Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhard's 1937 wedding and marriage. Part of it was spent at the Hotel Patria in the Polish ski resort of Krynica (on the Czech border). The hotel was owned by Jan Kiepura, the singer, who had recently married Marta Eggerth. There is a fascinating clip featuring Marta Eggerth - starting at 11:58 to about 25:00 - reminiscing about meeting and spending time with the royal couple at the hotel. She also sings in the clip - definitely she has not lost her theatrical and operatic allure. The program is in Dutch and Polish but Ms Eggerth speaks in English. I cannot embed it, so click here for the clip.

Last year when she was 98, one of her films was shown at MoMA in NYC.

Flicka

“I don’t feel sad,” she said. “I feel emotional, but not sad. I’ve been so lucky, and I’ve had such a ball doing it. And there comes a point when you think, to want to go on even longer is just greedy if you’ve been given such a good time. I’ve had the most wonderful colleagues, and the most wonderful managers and agents and accompanists, and most wonderful orchestra partners. I’ve just had a great time. There’s no blow there. The blow doesn’t need to be softened.”

I wish I were in NYC tonight! Frederica von Stade's farewell concert is at Carnegie Hall tonight. Here's snippet of an interview with Jason Victor Serinus in Playbill:

JVS: As a singer, what was the biggest obstacle you had to overcome?

FVS: First of all, you have to put up with imperfection, and the number one imperfection is your very own voice. I think the times I’ve been happiest in my career are when I’ve forgiven my voice for all it can’t do and been grateful for all its miracles.

JVS: Which have been your favorite opera roles?

FVS: Probably Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro)—that kind of optimistic, almost annoyingly joyful person. The other would be Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande), the other side of my soul. She’s the personification of innocent sadness—the pure sadness children get that they can’t explain.

JVS: That’s one of the extraordinary things about your voice and about you as an artist: On the one hand, you’re filled with such joy, yet your ability to evoke grief and sadness is extraordinary.

FVS: Life is the agony and the ecstasy. Where I think we get into trouble as humans is that we expect all ecstasy, and we think there’s something wrong if we’re not happy.

JVS: This will be your farewell at Carnegie Hall. What do you want to say to people?

FVS: The biggest thought, energy, inspiration behind this particular evening is thank you. It’s been a fabulous time.

Frederica von Stade photo by Robert Miller.

Happy Birthday Wolfgang Amadeus

For your music pleasure: Die Zauberflöte!

George Jellinek 1909-2010

The history of a people is found in its songs. - George Jellinek

R.I.P. George Jellinek
His contributions to our listening pleasure as well as informing us about opera and opera singers are what made WQXR an exemplary station in NYC and our nation!

WXQR obituary.

Jellinek created The Vocal Scene program in 1969, a year after he became WQXR’s music director. The weekly, one-hour show was devoted to opera and great opera singers. The show continued for 36 years, and was syndicated on classical stations around the country.

George Jellinek interviewed Virginia Zeani in 1993 for "The Vocal Scene." It's in three parts; here is Part I:

HOOKED ON ROSENKAVALIER!

FOR YOUR SUNDAY MUSIC PLEASURE, Anne Sofie von Otter (Octavian) presents a silver rose to Barbara Bonney (Sophie) in 'Mir ist die Ehre widerfahren' from Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, Royal Opera House Covent Garden 1985:

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Today is the birthday of Frederica von Stade. Here she sings - with Kathleen Battle and Elisabeth Söderström - a concert performance of Hab' mir's gelobt, the final trio from my most favourite opera ever, Der Rosenkavalier...