Category: Opera

John Aylward’s ANGELUS

Above: Paul Klee’s Angelus Novus (1920)

A New Focus Recordings release of John Aylward’s Angelus, performed by the Ecce Ensemble, has come my way. In the pre-dawn hours of yet another day of pandemic isolation, I put on my headphones and listened to the 40-minute work; I found it to be an engrossing sonic experience.

Above: composer John Aylward

Among the composer’s sources of inspiration for this work were the Paul Klee painting Angelus Novus, the stories of his mother’s experiences of fleeing Europe during World War II, and the words of great writer-philosophers from which the monodrama’s texts are drawn.

Adrienne Rich’s “What is Possible” is the first of the work’s ten movements, and also the longest. A setting of the poem by Adrienne Rich, it calls for both spoken and sung passages from the singer. Nina Guo has a wonderfully natural speaking voice, devoid of theatricality or affectation. The sung lines reveal Ms. Guo’s wide range, and her mastery of it. Coloristic writing for the instrumentalists will be a notable feature throughout the entire work; in this first section, the wind soloists dazzle. From this single track omward, the watchword of the enterprise seems to be clarity: it is perfectly recorded.

For the second track, the composer turns to Walter Benjamin’s “Angelus Novus”, a description of the Klee painting. The music is insectuous, the vocal line sometimes has a melting quality.

“Dream Images“, drawn from Nietzsche, opens with lecture-like spoken words, and an undercurrent of muzzled speech. Ms. Guo’s rhetoric can suddenly transform into flights of song. She speaks of the “…need for untruths…” and goes into a repetitious loop at “…our eyes glide only over the surface of things…”

Deft instrumentation sets forth in “The Abstract“, inspired by Schopenhauer’s The World as Will and Representation. The concrete (cello) contrasts with the abstract (oboe), mixing with Ms. Guo’s voice. The singer steps back for the closing lines (“…you are like an actor who has played your part…), spoken in a state of detachment.

Percussion and voice mesh in the miniature “Supreme Triumph” to a D.H. Lawrence text. This flows directly into “Secret Memory“, from Carl Jung’s Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self. The oboe is prominent and the voice flies high, with some uncanny sustained tones. The flute then joins the soprano in a kind of cadenza, ending with a wispy swoop.

This carries us into the seventh movement, Anima, a setting which blends words by the composer and Thomas Mann. As the flute warbles, the vocal line becomes quirky indeed – with clicks, hisses, and shushings. The text morph to German, with more vocal sound effects.

Plato’s Phaedrus, and phrases from the Catholic Angelus prayer, are sources for “Truth“. with its evocative instrumentation as the singer embarks on a sort of fantastical mad scene. Strings, winds, and percussion swirl along before subsiding to underpin the singer’s chanted prayer.

Plato holds his place for the ninth movement, the voice in lyrical flights interspersed with fragmented spoken lines. The music becomes intense, with ominous drums and screaming winds, as bells signal a warning before fading to stillness.

The final movement of Angelus is the most marvelous of all. A brooding prelude for the woodwinds emerges to a setting of excerpts from Weldon Kees’ A Distance from the Sea. The speech/song is pensive and illusive, with Ms. Guo in a reflective lyrical state. “Nothing will be the same…” she sings, in a moment now so strangely timely. “The night comes down…” she speaks, as the music turns soft and hazy, and then vanishes into air.

Above: Nina Guo

Nina Guo’s performance of Angelus is so impressive, and her colleagues from the Ecce Ensemble make the music truly vivid. The players are Emi Ferguson (flutes), Hassan Anderson (oboe), Barret Ham (clarinets), Pala Garcia (violin), John Popham (cello), and Sam Budish (percussion). Jean-Philippe Wurtz conducts.

The release date is April 24th, 2020. Look for it here, or (digitally) here.

~ Oberon

April 17, 2020
Hertha Töpper as Octavian

Above: Hertha Töpper as Octavian in DER ROSENKAVALIER

[Update: Hertha Töpper passed away on March 28th, 2020, at the age of 95]

I’ll never forget listening to Strauss’s DER ROSENKAVALIER for the first time: it was a Saturday matinee broadcast from the Old Met at Christmastime in 1962. I was 14 years old and had been in love with opera for three years.

At that time, the German operas were not easy for me; I had made it thru my first broadcast RING Cycle in 1961 and I seem to recall having been more thrilled by the story than by the music. ROSENKAVALIER, with its long conversational stretches, posed a challenge all its own. But the singing of the three female leads in the opera’s final scene moved me deeply, and when the broadcast ended I sat down and wrote fan letters to all three of them: Hertha Töpper (Octavian), Anneliese Rothenberger (Sophie), and Régine Crespin (the Marschallin). Within days I received replies from all three.

Metropolitan Opera House December 22, 1962 Matinee/Broadcast
DER ROSENKAVALIER Octavian.....................Hertha Töpper Princess von Werdenberg......Régine Crespin Baron Ochs...................Otto Edelmann Sophie.......................Anneliese Rothenberger Faninal......................Ralph Herbert Annina.......................Rosalind Elias Valzacchi....................Paul Franke Italian Singer...............Sándor Kónya Marianne.....................Thelma Votipka Mahomet......................Marsha Warren Princess' Major-domo.........Robert Nagy Orphan.......................Loretta Di Franco Orphan.......................Nadyne Brewer Orphan.......................Dina De Salvo Milliner.....................Lilias Sims Animal Vendor................Frank D'Elia Hairdresser..................Harry Jones Notary.......................Gerhard Pechner Leopold......................Erbert Aldridge Lackey.......................Joseph Folmer Lackey.......................John Trehy Lackey.......................Lou Marcella Lackey.......................Edward Ghazal Faninal's Major-domo.........Andrea Velis Innkeeper....................Charles Anthony Police Commissioner..........Norman Scott
Conductor....................Lorin Maazel

Ms. Töpper sent me the gorgeous photo which appears at the top of this article. Ever since then, this has remained the quintessential image of Octavian for me. As it turned out, Octavian was Töpper’s only Met role, though she had an enormous career in Europe.

Here’s a sampling of the Töpper Octavian, with Erika Köth as Sophie:

Hertha Töpper & Erika Köth – Presentation of the Silver Rose ~ ROSENKAVALIER

Hertha Töpper was born in 1924 and made her operatic debut at Graz as Ulrica in BALLO IN MASCHERA in 1945. By 1951 she was singing at Bayreuth, and had debuted at Munich as Octavian. She went on to sing at all the major opera houses and festivals of Europe; among her most prominent roles were Brangäne, Carmen, Fricka, and Dorabella. She also was a well-loved recitalist and concert singer, specializing in the music of Bach.

A couple of years ago, by chance, I plucked Töpper’s recording of Bartok’s BLUEBEARD’S CASTLE (in German) from the library shelf; it proved to be a revelation, with fantastic singing from both the mezzo and the great Dietrich Fisher-Dieskau, and truly atmospheric conducting by Ferenc Fricsay.

~ Oberon

March 30, 2020
Clifford Harvuot

Above, finalists in the Metropolitan Opera’s 1941-42 Auditions of the Air: tenor Elwood Gary, soprano Frances Greer, the Met’s General Manager Edward Johnson, soprano Margaret Harshaw, conductor Wilfred Pellertier, and baritone Clifford Harvuot.

As a winner of the Auditions of the Air, Clifford Harvuot’s first appearance on The Met stage came at a Sunday Night Gala on March 15, 1942. He sang the Prologo from PAGLIACCI. From then until December 21, 1975, the baritone chalked up nearly 1,300 performances with the Company, in New York City and on tour.

Harvuot particularly excelled in two Puccini roles, both of which brought out a feeling of ‘humanity’ in his voice. One was Sonora, the miner in FANCIULLA DEL WEST who is hopelessly in love with Minnie. It is Sonora who, in Act III, persuades the other miners that they must set Minnie’s beloved Dick Johnson free. Clifford Harvuot sing Sonora nearly 30 times at The Met, his Minnies being Leontyne Price, Dorothy Kirsten, and Renata Tebaldi.

He was also a very sympathetic Sharpless in MADAMA BUTTERFLY, appearing in the role with the great Butterflies of the day: Tebaldi, Albanese, Stella, Kirsten, and Tucci.

Helen Vanni – Carlo Bergonzi – Clifford Harvuot – BUTTERFLY trio – Met 1962

Other frequent Harvuot roles:

Angelotti in TOSCA

Schaunard in BOHEME

Alfio in CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA

Listen to Clifford Harvuot as Silvio in PAGLIACCI with Lucine Amara as Nedda here.

~ Oberon

March 30, 2020
Sandra Warfield & James McCracken

Mezzo-soprano Sandra Warfield and tenor James McCracken were husband and wife. McCracken of course had a huge international career, Verdi’s Otello being one of his finest roles. Ms. Warfield’s career was not so hi-profile, though substantial.

The couple were married in 1953. In 1957, feeling that The Met was not utilizing him to his full capabilities, McCracken headed to Europe where he and Ms. Warfield joined the Zurich Opera. In 1964, McCracken returned to The Met in triumph as Verdi’s Moor.

In 1966, the couple sang together as Samson and Dalila in a Met concert performance at Lewisohn Stadium. In 1968, they sang these roles together again in the Met’s New York City Parks series. On January 13th, 1972, Warfield and McCracken finally appeared together in principal roles on The Met stage in a performance of SAMSON ET DALILA that marked Ms. Warfield’s final Met appearance.

Sandra Warfield went on to a successful career in cabaret whilst her husband continued to be a major Met star until 1986, when he sang with the Company for the last time in a concert performance of AIDA in Central Park. Aprile Millo and Grace Bumbry were his co-stars that evening. Mr. McCracken passed away in 1988, and Ms. Warfield in 2009.

In 1983, having absented himself from the Met yet again for three years, McCracken sang at the gala performance celebrating the 100th birthday of The Met. Having been thrilled by two of the tenor’s late-career performances as The Moor at Hartford and Boston, I was so happy to have been there on that gala afternoon to witness the warm welcome he received when he walked onstage to sing Otello’s great monolog, with James Levine conducting. You can watch that performance here. Thereafter he sang about a dozen more performances with the Company, including the AIDA that marked Leontyne Price’s farewell to opera in 1984 – a performance that was televised.

I am not sure if Mr. McCracken ever sang Andrea Chenier onstage, but his recording of the Act I Improviso is powerful:

James McCracken – ANDREA CHENIER ~ Improviso

Ms. Warfield is heard here as Mozart’s Marcellina in the Act I duet with Roberta Peters as Susanna. And here are Warfield and McCracken together in the Judgement Scene duet from AIDA:

Sandra Warfield & James McCracken – AIDA scene

~ Oberon

March 27, 2020
Prologo

One of my all-time favorite renderings of the Prologue to Leoncavallo’s PAGLIACCI by the wonderful Puerto Rican baritone Pablo Elvira.

PAGLIACCI – Prologo – Pablo Elvira – Met bcast 1

March 23, 2020
Love Duet

On February 3rd, 1962, I tuned in to Texaco Metropolitan Opera Radio Network (as it was then called) and heard Puccini’s MADAMA BUTTERFLY sung live for the first time. Gabriella Tucci, who in my earliest years of opera mania was my favorite soprano, gave a magnificent performance. Carlo Bergonzi stepped in for the indisposed Sandor Konya, and this was a boon for me as Bergonzi was (and remains) my favorite tenor.

And so, the Tucci/Bergonzi rendering of the love duet from that matinee performance is very special to me:

Gabriella Tucci & Carlo Bergonzi – MADAMA BUTTERFLY ~ Love Duet – Met 1962

March 22, 2020
Souvenirs from Cardiff ~ Part II

~ Author: Oberon

1989 was a banner year for the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition: the “Battle of the Baritones” put the competition on every opera lover’s map. Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Bryn Terfel vied for the top prize; in the end, Dima was named Singer of the Year and Sir Bryn captured the Lieder Prize. Both men went on to hugely successful international careers.

Of course, at the time, there was no internet to speak of. You could not instantly follow the competition from afar, and even news of it was slow to reach us from the other side of The Pond. But my wonderful friend Mollie Warren diligently taped much of the proceedings directly off the BBC; then she made copies of the cassettes to send to me. So within a couple of weeks, I was listening – in Hartford CT – to the sounds of Mssrs. Hvorostovsky and Terfel: I like to think I was one of the very first people in the Western Hemisphere to hear these voices.

The three other finalists in the 1989 competition were Finnish mezzo-soprano Monica Groop, Swedish soprano Hillevi Martinpelto, and the Australian soprano Helen Adams. I cannot seem to find much information regarding Helen Adams in the years following her appearance at Cardiff; she is heard here in “Depuis le jour” from LOUISE.

Above: Monica Groop

Monica Groop’s extensive international career in opera, concert, and song has included a memorable portrayal of Lucretia in Britten’s RAPE OF LUCRETIA in 2003 at New York City Opera; it marked the only time I saw this wonderful singer live onstage. Her other operatic roles have ranged from Melisande to Zerlina, and she has sung and recorded a great deal of Baroque music – in which she excels – as well as lieder of Schubert and Brahms, and the complete songs of Edvard Grieg.

Some samples of Ms. Groop’s artistry, singing in Italian, French, and German:

Monica Groop – Stà nell’Ircana ~ ALCINA

Monica Groop – D’amour l’ardente flamme ~ DAMNATION DE FAUST

Monica Groop sings Schubert’s Du bist die Ruh

Monica Groop at Cardiff, 1989:

Monica Groop – Cardiff 1989 – CLEMENZA~WERTHER

Hillevi Martinpelto went on from Cardiff to a very successful career, performing and recording with prominent orchestras and conductors.

Here she is singing Weber…

Hillevi Martinpelto – Ocean! Thou mighty monster ~ OBERON

…and in a true rarity:

Hillevi Martinpelto – from Karl-Magnus Fredriksson’s The Disguised God ~ Soprano & Chorus

Here is Hillevi Martinpelto at Cardiff, 1989:

Hillevi Martinpelto – FORZA aria – Cardiff 1989

And finally, the winners:

…Dima…

Dmitri Hvorostovsky – BALLO aria – Cardiff 1989

…and Bryn…my original cassette of Bryn from the competition would not play, but here he is, onstage, singing Schumann…

…and here’s a bit of Wagner, from a commercial recording:

Bryn Terfel – Song to the Evening Star – TANNHAUSER

~ Oberon

March 18, 2020
Moffo & Merrill ~ LA TRAVIATA @ The Met

~ Author: Oberon

By chance, I came upon this lovely Louis Melançon photo (above) of Anna Moffo and Robert Merrill in Verdi’s LA TRAVIATA in the Met’s 1966 Cecil Beaton production of the Verdi classic, which evoked in me memories of their partnership in this opera. From Moffo”s debut in 1959 til her final Met appearance in a staged opera there in 1976, they sang these roles together 50 times with the Company, in New York and on tour. They also made a beautiful recording of the opera together for RCA. Listen to a portion of their Act II duet here.

Moffo’s 1959 Met debut came at The Old Met in the Tyrone Guthrie production. On September 24th, 1966, during the second week at the New Met, Cecil Beaton’s lavish production opened with Moffo, Merrill, and tenor Bruno Prevedi in the leading roles. Georges Prêtre was on the podium. I saw the Moffo Violetta four times, twice with Merrill as Germont, and twice with Mario Sereni, who was very good in the role, and a less ‘wooden’ actor than Merrill.

Above: Moffo as Violetta in the scene at Flora’s party

Anna Moffo had two Saturday matinee broadcasts of TRAVIATA in the Beaton production, nine months apart. For me, they offered tell-tale signs of what would be the diva’s eventual vocal decline. In the first broadcast, on March 25th, 1967, she sounded fantastic: the voice lyrical and free-flowing, the top gorgeous, the drama expressed thru colour rather than force: in sum, one of her great performances.

During June, 1967, I saw two more Moffo Violettas (one with Merrill, the second with Sereni) and she was very impressive indeed, receiving huge ovations. I met her at the stage door; she was extremely beautiful in person, and very kind.

On December 30, 1967, Moffo had her second matinee broadcast in the Beaton production. I was very excited to be seeing her onstage again, but from her very first line – “Flora, amici, la notte che resta...” – something had changed. On “…che resta..” she really leaned heavily on the low notes, sounding almost chesty. I was still a novice opera-lover at that time, but alarm bells went off. Moffo continued to pressurize her lower notes throughout the first act, but the coloratura and high notes of “Sempre libera” seemed fine.

During the intermission, I asked a fellow Moffo fan if her vocalism that day was worrisome to him; he felt she was making an effort to sound more ‘dramatic’, and he didn’t feel panicky about it. The soprano continued singing in this manner for the rest of the opera, and – since the drama gets increasingly intense as the story unfolds – we heard these big, juicy lower notes from Moffo throughout the afternoon.

As it turned out, I never saw Anna Moffo on The Met stage again after that, though she continued singing there for nearly a decade. On February 1, 1969, came the disastrous LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR broadcast, which I listened to in disbelief, which gave way to despair. The voice was wildly unpredictable: woozy in the middle, over-ripe in the lower range, and screamy at the top. Awkwardly, I ran into her in the Met lobby a couple of weeks afterward and she recognized me; she asked if I had heard the LUCIA broadcast, and I gave a neutral response. She said she had been ill that day, but that now things were back to normal.

I cannot say for certain whether she ever regained peak form again, but from reports from friends, she was not singing with the lustre and ease we’d come to expect from her. Her later recordings are so sad…I cannot listen to them.

In 1975, TJ and I – living in Hartford – tuned in for her broadcast of Nedda in PAGLIACCI. Moffo sounded dreadful, the voice unsupported. “What is she thinking?” I asked TJ. “I guess she feels she still has something to offer,” he replied.

In 1979, I was still living in Hartford (but no longer with TJ) when Moffo came to The Bushnell to sing MERRY WIDOW in English. I decided to go, and always regretted it afterwards.

Anna Moffo and Robert Merrill reunited on the Met stage one last time for the Met’s 100th Anniversary Gala on October 22, 1983. They sang the duet “Sweethearts“ from Sigmund Romberg’s MAYTIME. The audience greeted them affectionately, and they managed to get thru their duet without mishap.

I hadn’t intended to delve into the story of Moffo’s decline when I posted the photo at the top of the article; I prefer simply to remember her lovely performances from the first decade of her Met career. But one thing led to another once I started writing.

One of the most moving passages in her performances as Violetta was her farewell to Alfredo in Act II, when she thinks she will never see him again. In the Beaton production, this was staged so that Violetta came downstage while sustaining the top B-flat and sank to her knees, clasping Alfredo’s hand. Here is the phrase – “Amami, Alfredo…!” as Ms. Moffo sang it at La Scala in 1964:

Anna Moffo – Amami Alfredo! ~ TRAVIATA (Live)

And here is Moffo at her best, from a commercial arias compilation, conducted by Sir Colin Davis:

Anna Moffo – TRAVIATA ~ Act I scena (commercial recording)

~ Oberon

March 18, 2020
Moffo & Merrill ~ LA TRAVIATA @ The Met

~ Author: Oberon

By chance, I came upon this lovely Louis Melançon photo (above) of Anna Moffo and Robert Merrill in Verdi’s LA TRAVIATA in the Met’s 1966 Cecil Beaton production of the Verdi classic, which evoked in me memories of their partnership in this opera. From Moffo”s debut in 1959 til her final Met appearance in a staged opera there in 1976, they sang these roles together 50 times with the Company, in New York and on tour. They also made a beautiful recording of the opera together for RCA. Listen to a portion of their Act II duet here.

Moffo’s 1959 Met debut came at The Old Met in the Tyrone Guthrie production. On September 24th, 1966, during the second week at the New Met, Cecil Beaton’s lavish production opened with Moffo, Merrill, and tenor Bruno Prevedi in the leading roles. Georges Prêtre was on the podium. I saw the Moffo Violetta four times, twice with Merrill as Germont, and twice with Mario Sereni, who was very good in the role, and a less ‘wooden’ actor than Merrill.

Above: Moffo as Violetta in the scene at Flora’s party

Anna Moffo had two Saturday matinee broadcasts of TRAVIATA in the Beaton production, nine months apart. For me, they offered tell-tale signs of what would be the diva’s eventual vocal decline. In the first broadcast, on March 25th, 1967, she sounded fantastic: the voice lyrical and free-flowing, the top gorgeous, the drama expressed thru colour rather than force: in sum, one of her great performances.

During June, 1967, I saw two more Moffo Violettas (one with Merrill, the second with Sereni) and she was very impressive indeed, receiving huge ovations. I met her at the stage door; she was extremely beautiful in person, and very kind.

On December 30, 1967, Moffo had her second matinee broadcast in the Beaton production. I was very excited to be seeing her onstage again, but from her very first line – “Flora, amici, la notte che resta...” – something had changed. On “…che resta..” she really leaned heavily on the low notes, sounding almost chesty. I was still a novice opera-lover at that time, but alarm bells went off. Moffo continued to pressurize her lower notes throughout the first act, but the coloratura and high notes of “Sempre libera” seemed fine.

During the intermission, I asked a fellow Moffo fan if her vocalism that day was worrisome to him; he felt she was making an effort to sound more ‘dramatic’, and he didn’t feel panicky about it. The soprano continued singing in this manner for the rest of the opera, and – since the drama gets increasingly intense as the story unfolds – we heard these big, juicy lower notes from Moffo throughout the afternoon.

As it turned out, I never saw Anna Moffo on The Met stage again after that, though she continued singing there for nearly a decade. On February 1, 1969, came the disastrous LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR broadcast, which I listened to in disbelief, which gave way to despair. The voice was wildly unpredictable: woozy in the middle, over-ripe in the lower range, and screamy at the top. Awkwardly, I ran into her in the Met lobby a couple of weeks afterward and she recognized me; she asked if I had heard the LUCIA broadcast, and I gave a neutral response. She said she had been ill that day, but that now things were back to normal.

I cannot say for certain whether she ever regained peak form again, but from reports from friends, she was not singing with the lustre and ease we’d come to expect from her. Her later recordings are so sad…I cannot listen to them.

In 1975, TJ and I – living in Hartford – tuned in for her broadcast of Nedda in PAGLIACCI. Moffo sounded dreadful, the voice unsupported. “What is she thinking?” I asked TJ. “I guess she feels she still has something to offer,” he replied.

In 1979, I was still living in Hartford (but no longer with TJ) when Moffo came to The Bushnell to sing MERRY WIDOW in English. I decided to go, and always regretted it afterwards.

Anna Moffo and Robert Merrill reunited on the Met stage one last time for the Met’s 100th Anniversary Gala on October 22, 1983. They sang the duet “Sweethearts“ from Sigmund Romberg’s MAYTIME. The audience greeted them affectionately, and they managed to get thru their duet without mishap.

I hadn’t intended to delve into the story of Moffo’s decline when I posted the photo at the top of the article; I prefer simply to remember her lovely performances from the first decade of her Met career. But one thing led to another once I started writing.

One of the most moving passages in her performances as Violetta was her farewell to Alfredo in Act II, when she thinks she will never see him again. In the Beaton production, this was staged so that Violetta came downstage while sustaining the top B-flat and sank to her knees, clasping Alfredo’s hand. Here is the phrase – “Amami, Alfredo…!” as Ms. Moffo sang it at La Scala in 1964:

Anna Moffo – Amami Alfredo! ~ TRAVIATA (Live)

And here is Moffo at her best, from a commercial arias compilation, conducted by Sir Colin Davis:

Anna Moffo – TRAVIATA ~ Act I scena (commercial recording)

~ Oberon

March 17, 2020
Antonín Švorc

Above: Antonín Švorc as the Flying Dutchman; photo by Oldrich Pernica

Antonín Švorc was a Czech operatic bass-baritone. He studied at the Prague Conservatory, making his professional opera debut in 1955, and joined the roster of principal artists at the National Theatre in Prague in 1956. In 1962, Švorc debuted with the Prague State Opera where he performed for the next several decades. In 1985 he was named a People’s Artist of Czechoslovakia. After retiring from the stage, he taught at the Prague Conservatory. He passed away in 2011.

Antonín Švorc’s repertory was vast indeed. In addition to singing in many Czech operas (including those of Dvořák and Smetana), his oles in the standard repertory included Verdi’s Amonasro, Iago, Nabucco, and Simon Boccanegra, Wagner’s Dutchman, Hans Sachs, Wotan, Kurvenal, Telramund, and Donner; Strauss’s Jochanaan, Orest, and Barak, as well as Scarpia, Alfio, Don Pizarro, Prince Igor, and Boris Godunov.

Above: Antonín Švorc as Simon Boccanegra; photo by Jaromir Svoboda

Czech soprano Ludmila Dvořáková joins her compatriot, Antonín Švorc, in a recording of the final scene of DIE WALKURE (sung in Czech) here.

Švorc gives a dramatic reading of the opening portion of the Dutchman’s monolog….

Antonín Švorc – Flying Dutchman ~ monolog

…and in Berlin in 1967, he sang Orestes opposite Ingrid Steger’s Elektra, conducted by Otmar Suitner. Here is part I of the Recognition Scene from that performance:

Ingrid Steger & Antonín Švorc – ELEKTRA – Recognition Scene ~ Part I – Berlin 1967

~ Oberon

March 17, 2020