Countermelody
Countermelody is devoted to the glories of the human voice raised in song.
Episodes
August 8, 2025 • 80 mins
If the exceptional Illinois-born contralto Carol Smith (20 February 1926 – 06 June 2021) has previously escaped your notice, now is the perfect opportunity to get to know her better. She began her career singing the music of Bach with the legendary Bach Aria Group, founded in 1946 by philanthropist, scholar, and collector William H. … Continue reading Episode 383. Get to Know...
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August 4, 2025 • 92 mins
If you “get” Gundula Janowitz, then you really get her, and this birthday tribute will be a delectable treat. If, however, you don’t get her, or don’t think that you get her, you might want to give this episode a try, anyway, for it focuses on her work as a Lieder singer. It is my … Continue reading Episode 382. Eine Janowitzische Geburtstagfeier
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August 1, 2025 • 101 mins
At first blush, this episode may look a bit slapdash, but it actually reflects very much where I am at this moment. It’s got a bit more of a narrative than most of my episodes do, and somehow in this story a number of different strands come together. The starting point was a Pride bonus … Continue reading Episode 381. I Got a Name (Pride Edition)
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July 28, 2025 • 100 mins
The esteemed, indeed beloved, German baritone Hermann Prey died seventeen years ago already on July 22, 1998. I want to remember him today by celebrating a cornerstone of his repertoire: the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. I’ve been playing a lot of Bach recently on the podcast, as his music is one of the few … Continue reading Episode 380. Hermann Prey Sings Bach
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July 25, 2025 • 97 mins
So many great singing artists lost to the world of late! Almost a month ago now, the great Welsh tenor Stuart Burrows (07 February 1933 – 29 June 2025) left this mortal coil at the age of 92. Burrows was an artist of extraordinary technique, elegance, and sincerity and it has been an honor and … Continue reading Episode 379. Stuart Burrows In Duet
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July 21, 2025 • 107 mins
Even after I publish a Countermelody episode on a favorite singer, I continue to collect material on them, which I then occasionally fold into a potpourri episode of vocal and musical delights. I have dubbed such episodes part of my “Rescue Mission” series and I’m tempted to call today’s episode I’m tempted to call “Friend … Continue reading Episode 378. Rescue Mission III (F...
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July 18, 2025 • 85 mins
This past April, my former voice teacher and treasured friend Joan Caplan died at the age of 92. A few weeks ago, family and friends organized a memorial gathering for which I produced a short audio tribute, which is heard at the beginning of this episode. Before the event, we heard a number of recordings … Continue reading Episode 377. Joan Caplan Memorial Tribute
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July 14, 2025 • 106 mins
Today in honor of Bastille Day, I present an episode featuring the late Gabriel Bacquier, who considered himself an “acting singer” rather than a “singing actor.” He made his first mark as a sublime Mozart singer, from there moving into Verdi baritone parts, and finally as a supremely skilled basso buffo. What is less well-known … Continue reading Episode 376. Bacquier en Réc...
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July 11, 2025 • 94 mins
Back in December I published my first episode honoring the superb soprano Gilda Cruz-Romo, as part of my series honoring Mexican opera singers. In my research, I amassed a large number of live recordings from which I intended to cobble together a second episode in honor of her upcoming birthday. I was distracted by some … Continue reading Episode 375. Gilda Cruz-Romo In Memor...
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July 7, 2025 • 111 mins
Today’s episode offers music of consolation, divinely sung. On a Sunday morning back in December, freshly arrived back in New York from a challenging trip to my home state of Wisconsin, I sat down to a cup of coffee and began playing a setlist that I had created in the aftermath of my “Great Contraltos … Continue reading Episode 374. Maureen Lehane Sings Bach
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July 4, 2025 • 100 mins
Today is the day that the United States formerly celebrated its independence. But the events of recent months have not made me feel much like celebrating. As I racked my brain to think of an “American” (read: US-American) of whom we could be truly proud, my mind flew to Carol Neblett, one of the great … Continue reading Episode 373. Carol Neblett: Girl of the Golden West
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June 30, 2025 • 104 mins
Today may be my final episode for Pride Month 2025, but it is most certainly not my final episode celebrating and affirming Pride and all our glorious forebears who preceded us! Today’s episode is a belated birthday tribute to British tenor Peter Pears (22 June 1910 – 03 April 1986), most celebrated for his long-standing … Continue reading Episode 372. Pears Sings Not-Britten...
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June 27, 2025 • 100 mins
One hundred years ago today, Margaret Jean Roberts was born at the edge of a field before her parents could reach the hospital. The story of how she became Margherita Roberti, one of the leading dramatic sopranos in Italy, and a specialist in the music of Verdi, is a fascinating tale, indeed. My guest today … Continue reading Episode 371. Margherita Roberti @ 100 (with August...
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June 23, 2025 • 78 mins
Continuing the Countermelody show of Pride for this month’s LGBTQ+ celebrations, I take a look back at the Women’s Music Movement of the mid-1970s as reflected in the 1977 Olivia Records release Lesbian Concetrate: A Lesbianthology of Songs and Poems. I present the album in its entirety, as well as providing some historical context for … Continue reading Episode 370. Lesbian ...
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June 20, 2025 • 87 mins
Yesterday was a crucial celebration for all US-Americans: Juneteenth. In honor of that event and in continuing observation of Pride 2025, I offer today an episode in honor of the great Joséphine Baker (1906 – 1975). I have been an avid (not to say rabid) Baker fan for more than thirty years, so when she … Continue reading Episode 369. Joséphine Baker Revisited (Live Edition)<...
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June 17, 2025 • 106 mins
Somewhere along the line in planning my Pride 2025 episodes, I hit upon the idea of paying tribute to Gay Eccentrics. (Maybe because I am one of them myself?) There are many mad queer geniuses in the history of music, and I have chosen today to focus on three twentieth-century case studies. First, the husband … Continue reading Episode 368. Gay Eccentrics (Pride 2025) ...
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June 13, 2025 • 97 mins
Continuing our exploration of queer pride in classical music, I bring you the great baryton-martin Pierre Bernac (1899 – 1979), known first and foremost as a creator of some of the most exquisite mélodies of his friend and musical partner Francis Poulenc. Later Bernac became renowned as the exemplar of style and taste in the … Continue reading Episode 367. Bernac Sings Not-Po...
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June 8, 2025 • 92 mins
I’m going all out (literally) for this year’s Pride celebrations, especially because the haters are out there in such force. Today I pay tribute to my fellow Milwaukeean, the marvelous bass-baritone Donald Gramm (1927-1983), one of the central house singers at both the Metropolitan Opera and New York City Opera from the 1960s through his … Continue reading Episode 366. Donald...
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June 6, 2025 • 93 mins
Today is the second part of my Latin American orchestral song tribute. Last week we explored Villa-Lobos and Revueltas; today we devote ourselves to Argentina, and primarily two composers: Alberto Ginastera, and Osvaldo Golijov, in settings by writers as varied as Emily Dickinson, Rosalía de Castro, Manuel Mujica Lainez, David Grossman, Mercedes de Toro, Alejandro … Continue reading
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June 2, 2025 • 87 mins
It’s Pride Month, and what better time to focus on queer musical culture in all its various manifestations! As far back as I can remember, I have been an Opera Queen, and today I kick off our queer celebrations with the a tribute to one of our favorite divas, the late Grace Bumbry. The chutzpah … Continue reading Episode 364. Grace Bumbry: Proud Soprano (Live Edition) ...
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