Program 4: Fascination with the Foreign
Song: Mirror of the World Radio Series
Program 4: Fascination with the Foreign
Hector Berlioz was a political and musical radical. His songs are the framework for looking at life in France and Germany between the revolutionary years of 1830 and 1848, when a fascination with the outside world created passionate interest in Shakespeare, Scotland, and Swedish soprano Jenny Lind. Other composers lured by the unknown include Stephen Foster, Robert and Clara Schumann, Robert Franz, and Carl Loewe.
Listen to the full program:
Host & Artistic Director:
Thomas Hampson
Co-Produced by the Hampsong Foundation and The WFMT Radio Network
Production Team:
Executive Producers: Thomas Hampson & Steve Robinson (The WFMT Radio Network)
Audio Producer: Carolyn Paulin (The WFMT Radio Network)
Coordinating Producer: Miriam Lewin
Project Manager: Christie Finn
Writer for Fascination with the Foreign: Stephen Rodgers, University of Oregon
Song listings with composer / poet, performers, CD label, and CD number are listed below.
Roberto Alagna–Berlioz: Arias
Clip from “La Marseillaise” (“The Marseillaise”) (1792, arr. 1830)
Composer: Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle (1760–1836), arr. Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)
Roberto Alagna, tenor
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
Bertrand De Billy, conductor
Deutsche Grammophon: 000686202
Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique
Clip from Symphonie Fantastique (1830)
Composer: Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Charles Münch, conductor
RCA: 61721
Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique, Roméo et Juliette
“Strophes” from Roméo et Juliette (Symphonie dramatique), Op. 17 (1839)
Composer: Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)
Text: Émile Deschamps (1791-1871), after Shakespeare
Jessye Norman, soprano
Philadelphia Orchestra
Riccardo Muti, conductor
Warner Classics: 97957
Songs to Shakespeare
“O Happy Fair” (1816)
Composer: Henry Bishop (1786-1855)
Text: William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
Anthony Rolfe Johnson, tenor
Graham Johnson, piano
Hyperion: 66480
Beethoven – Berlioz – Franz – Grieg – Liszt – Loewe – Schumann – Wagner: Songs
“Ihr Auge” (“Her Eyes”), Op. 1, No. 1 (1843)
Composer: Robert Franz (1815-1892)
Text: Robert Burns (1759-1796)
Thomas Hampson, baritone
Geoffrey Parsons, piano
EMI Classics Special Import (Warner Classics): 575187
Thomas Quasthoff: A Romantic Songbook
“Tom, der Reimer” (“Tom, the Rhymer”), Op. 135a (1860)
Composer: Carl Loewe (1796-1869)
Text: Scottish ballad, trans. into German
Thomas Quasthoff, bass baritone
Justus Zeyen, piano
Deutsche Grammophon: 001697602
Deanna Durbin: Can’t Help Singing – Greatest Hits
“The Last Rose of Summer” (1813)
Composer: Sir John Stevenson (1761-1833)
Text: Thomas Moore (1779-1852)
Deanna Durbin, voice
Unidentified orchestra
HHO Licensing: Only available digitally
Schumann: Works
“Ich stand in dunkeln Träumen” (“I stood in darkened dreams”), Op. 13, No. 1 (1840-3, pub. 1844)
Composer: Clara Schumann (1819-1896)
Text: Heinrich Heine (1797-1856)
Thomas Hampson, baritone
Wolfgang Sawallisch, piano
Philadelphia Orchestra Association, 2003
Schumann: The Complete Songs, Vol. 9
“Röselein, Röselein!” (“Little Rose, Little Rose!”), Op. 89, No. 6 (1850)
Composer: Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Text: Friedrich Wilhelm Traugott Schöpff (under the pseudonym Wilfred von der Neun)
Christine Schäfer, soprano
Graham Johnson, piano
Hyperion: 44441
American Dreamer: Songs of Stephen Foster (1992)
“Ah! May the Red Rose Live Alway” (1850)
Composer: Stephen Foster (1826-1864)
Text: Thomas Moore (1779-1852)
Thomas Hampson, baritone
Jay Ungar, mandolin
Molly Mason, bass
David Alpher, piano
EMI/Angel: 54621
Donizetti: Songs
Arietta: “La lontananza” (“The distance”), No. 1 from Soirées d’automne à l’Infrascata (1837)
Composer: Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848)
Text: Felice Romani (1788-1865)
Dennis O’Neill, tenor
Ingrid Surgenor, piano
Naxos: 8557780
Fanny Mendelssohn: Lieder
“Gondellied” (“Song of the Gondolier”), Op. 1, No. 6 (1841)
“Bitte” (“Request”), Op. 7, No. 5 (1848)
Composer: Fanny Mendelssohn (1805-1847)
Text: Emanuel von Geibel (1815-1884)
Susan Gritton, soprano
Eugene Asti, piano
Helios: 55360
Hyperion: 55360
Berlioz: Mélodies (recorded 1991)
“La mort d’Ophélie” (“The Death of Ophelia”), Op. 18 (pub. 1848)
Composer: Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)
Text: Ernest Legouvé (1807-1903), after Shakespeare
Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo soprano
Cord Garben, piano
Deutsche Grammophon: 435860
