Volume VI: WOLF, MARLBORO AND SONG
1987 - 1988


Paris Wolf Liederabend

If I had to pick a favorite composer of song, I think it would have to be Hugo Wolf. I never tired of studying his miniature masterworks and always welcomed their challenge. As Wayne Conner, my first voice teacher at Peabody Institute once said, Schubert, Brahms and Schumann wrote some not-so-great songs, but we're still looking for a text that Wolf did not set perfectly.

The Italienisches Liederbuch is a wonderful work to present in its entirety, with its many specific and detailed moods and emotions. I first sang the opus at The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. Rather than performing the songs in their published order or their order of composition, I arranged the 46 songs in a loosely connected story line. At my subsequent two performances later, at the Petit Jean Art Song Festival and at the Abbé de Royaumont (both with soprano Daisietta Kim and pianist Dalton Baldwin), this order was observed.

The settings of poetry by Eduard Mörike are my most favorite lieder of Wolf. And out of all my song repertoire, "Verborgenheit" was my "national anthem of song" in that it was always chosen when I was required to sing one art song at an audition or competition.

I am very fond of Wolf's setting of "Ganymed", the poem which is more well known via the Schubert setting. There is almost a reverent eroticism to this song that appeals to me so much.

"Morgenstimmung" closes this Wolf foray, a rarely heard song that Wolf also arranged for orchestra and men's chorus. Unfortunately, the manuscript was lost on a tram but one can easily hear the triumphant brass section in the postlude.

While studying with Hans Hotter at the Abbé de Royaumont just outside of Paris, I encountered a wonderful pianist named David Selig. An Australian living in Paris, he became a favorite accompanist of mine as well as a true friend. We subsequently made music many times together, first at the 1984 Paris International Singing Competition, then an international accompanying competition in the Hague. David was four tenths of a point away from first prize.

We also were a duo at the 1987 International Hugo Wolf Lieder Competition for Singers and Pianists in Stuttgart, Germany. The Paris Wolf Liederabend was a house recital or chamber concert that we did as a pre-competition concert. Again, I was blessed with a superlative colleague in David. He not only played magnificently but he provided the opportunity for us to work with Geoffrey Parsons, a world-renowned accompanist, known for his Wolf lieder with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. This "kleiner" liederabend of 10 selected lieder took place in the fall of 1987.


01 Ihr seid die Allerschönste (Italienisches Liederbuch)
02 Komm, o Tod (Spanisches Liederbuch)
03 Zur Warnung (Eduard Mörike)
04 Verborgenheit (Eduard Mörike)
05 dHoffärtig seid Ihr schönes Kind (Italienisches Liederbuch)
06 Ganymed (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
07 Der Feuerreiter(Eduard Mörike)
08 Herr, was trägt der Boden hier (Spanisches Liederbuch)
09 Unfall (Josef Karl Benedikt von Eichendorff)
10 Morgenstimmung (Robert Reinick)


Arnold Schoenberg

Ode to Napoleon, Op. 41

Felix Galimir was one of the founding members of the Marlboro Music Festival in the early 1950s. He was also a founding member of the Galimir Quartet, he worked with and knew all the great Viennese twentieth-century composer such as Berg, Webern and Schoenberg.

Since the opening of this massive work depicts war, Mr. Galimir, the "senior participant", asked the ensemble to dictate to the audience that silence was needed before the piece began. We waited a full minute (tuning was done backstage).

In this work, the role of the "Reciter" has one single line on his music staff instead of five. This line represents the reciter's mid-range of his speaking voice. Notes appearing on, below and above represent the area of pitch inflection. Geraldine Batlle, the wife of pianist Luis Batlle, assisted me with her expertise in this Lord Byron poem.

In this performance of July 23, 1988, the participants were:

Violine		Christian Tetslaff
Violin		Felix Galimir
Viola		Carla-Maria Rodrigues
Cello		Christopher Costanza
Piano		Erika Nickrenz

11 Ode to Napoleon, Op. 41


8 Composers/8 Songs

The champion of American song is undoubtedly tenor Paul Sperry. He has done more for the genre than any other singer I know of. His recitals have always been carefully programmed, just the right amount of humor, entertainment and culture. He very often does groups of songs without repeating a composer.

Such is the case for my english song group that Walter Huff and I performed at New York's Merkin Hall in 1988. There is constant change in mood and music with such a variety of styles; thus, the audience (a dwindling one in the realm of art song) finds it easier to concentrate and never encounter boredom. The recital opened with this standard-but-beautiful "Silent Noon" by Ralph Vaughan Williams. It comes from his cycle entitled "The House of Life". Then follows "O Mistress Mine" of Theodore Chanler, another discovery via Paul Sperry.

12 Silent Noon
13 O Mistress Mine

Henry Cowell's song "How Old Is Song" is set to text written by Cowell's father, Harry. It is scored for prepared piano: the score has somewhat simple triadic chords and single notes, but a certain way of playing this music gives it the charming effect of an actual harp. To achieve this effect, one must silently hold down a chord of two or three notes. The standing pianist then is instructed to strum the actual strings of the instrument surrounding this chord. When this is done one hears all of the notes that were strummed, but the notes of the two or three keys that the pianist silently held down are sustained. Walter placed colored dots on the dampers of the piano to help with locating the right area to strum. I was first introduced to this song by the American mezzo-soprano Mary Ann Hart. I have to say her voice is as beautiful in song as Tebaldi was in opera. She is another rare singer that has done much for the art of the song recital.

14 How Old is Song

For "Charlie Rutledge", I chose to give the decidedly cowboy flavor with a little bit of Elvis thrown in. This is a very boisterous song and singers are always covered up when the song gets goin'.

15 Charlie Rutledge

This song by Marc Blitzstein is self-explanatory.

16 The New Suit

"Inauguration Ball" is from a bombastic and chilling cycle called "War Scenes, with graphic Civil War poetry by a poet that Ned Rorem is closely associated with, Walt Whitman. In 1990, Mr. Rorem asked me to sing this cycle with him at the piano at a recital at Adelphi University, Long Island, New York.

17 Inauguration Ball (War Scenes)

I first met Richard Lalli when I studied at Yale University in the fall of 1984. A former graduate of the school, he was then on the faculty. We both shared a love of song and immediately began a lasting friendship. He has stood by me through many hardships and I am indebted to him. Professionally speaking, he performs regularly as recitalist, oratorio soloist, cabaret singer, voice teacher, coach, accompanist, composer, arranger... I don't think there's anything left that he hasn't mastered. This atmospheric arrangement of "The Last Rose of Summer" speaks well of his compositional ability.

18 The Last Rose of Summer

In 1989, I was called by Ned Rorem to replace Judith Blegen in a benefit recital for West Pride, an organization that successfully prevented Donald Trump from building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, The concert, held at Symphony Space on Valentine's Day, was given by classical artists that lived on the Upper West Side. Some of the guests were Itzak Perlman, Sherrill Milnes, Jerome Lowenthal and the master of ceremonies, Christopher Reeve. On the afternoon of the concert, I was asked by the coordinator for the concert for a brief bio. I gave him some information, including that I was "desperately looking for a place to live on the Upper West Side." And guess what Christopher Reeve said in his introduction of Mr. Rorem and myself...

William Bolcom and his wife Joan Morris were also guests on the program. The song, "George", is from his first volume of Cabaret Songs.

19 George

A name that has appeared on all but two volumes of DCzCDz is Walter Huff. He was the epitome of faith and partnership throughout my recital career. We first made music together when I needed an accompanist for a master class of Dalton Baldwin in the winter of 1979. It is interesting how I was able to experience three great performers that year: Gérard Souzay, Dalton Baldwin and Walter Huff.
Walter subsequently accompanied me in all of my most important recitals. We collaborated three times at Washington's Phillips Collection, New York's Town, Tully and Merkin Halls and when I entered the International American Music competition, he learned and mastered a mammoth amount of American song repertoire.

I always had such faith and trust in him that rehearsing almost became unnecessary. When we were asked to perform for the second time at the Phillips Collection, I chose the Italienisches Liederbuch of Hugo Wolf. Our first rehearsal was in Philadelphia during the month of August when he also rehearsed with the soprano Susan Tilton. The next time Walter and I rehearsed the Wolf was the day before the concert which took place on November 8, 1981. Every nuance was supported by him and it was such a pleasure at every turn of phrase.

I am not anywhere near the artistry of Souzay, Britten, Bernac, I shall always consider him my Baldwin, my Britten and my Poulenc.

Walter is now living in his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia and is prospering as a coach and accompanist as well as being chorus master of the Atlanta Opera.

Thank you, Walter Huff.