Program 9: The Great War and Its Echoes
Song: Mirror of the World Radio Series
Program 9: The Great War and Its Echoes
Song proclaims the patriotism that greeted the start of World War I, and the tragedy that followed, as expressed by composers on both sides of the Atlantic. In the unstable years of peace after 1918, we use the lens of song to examine Surrealism, jazz, and the growing influence of mass technology, plus compelling figures like Josephine Baker and Gertrude Stein.
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 The Great War and Its Echoes: Laura Tunbridge, University of Oxford
Song listings with composer / poet, performers, CD label, and CD number are listed below.
Schoenberg: Complete Songs
Clip from “Verlorene Haufen” from Zwei Balladen, Op. 12 (1907)
Composer: Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951)
Text: Victor Klemperer (1881–1960)
Konrad Jarnot, baritone
Urs Liska, piano
Capriccio: 7120
Ernestine Schumann-Heink: The Victor Recordings, Vol. 2- 1911-20
Clip from “When the boys come home” (1907)
Composer: Oley Speaks (1874-1948)
Text: John Hay (1838–1905)
Ernestine Schumann-Heink, contralto
Unidentified Orchestra
Josef Pasternack, conductor
Romophone: 81030
The British Music Collection: George Butterworth
“Think no more, lad; laugh, be jolly” from 6 Songs from A Shropshire Lad (1911)
Composer: George Butterworth (1885-1916)
Text: A. E. Housman (1859-1936)
Benjamin Luxon, baritone
David Willison, piano
Decca: 000200102
Ludlow & Teme / Western Playland / On Wenlock Edge
“On the Idle Hill of Summer” from Ludlow and Teme (1919)
Composer: Ivor Gurney (1890-1937)
Text: A. E. Housman (1859-1936)
Adrian Thompson, tenor
The Delmé Quartet
Iain Burnside, piano
Helios: 55187
Wondrous Free: Song of America II (2009)
“In Flanders Fields,” from Three Songs of the War (1917)
Composer: Charles Ives (1874-1954)
Text: John McCrae (1872-1918)
Thomas Hampson, baritone
Wolfram Rieger, piano
Thomas Hampson Media (THM): 5432
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Sings Reger, Sutermeister And Hindemith
“Schlagt! Schlagt! Trommeln!” (“Beat! Beat! Drums!”) from 3 Hymnen, Op. 14 (1919)
Composer: Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)
Text: Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
Translation: Johannes Schlaf
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone
Aribert Reimann, piano
Audite: 95637
Icon: Elly Ameling
“C’est la paix!” (“Peace has come!”) (1919)
Composer: Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
Text: Georgette Debladis
Elly Ameling, soprano
Dalton Baldwin, piano
Warner Classics: 6790732
José van Dam et la Mélodie Française (2010)
“Le Dromadaire” (“The Camel”), from Le Bestiaire (The Bestiary) (1919)
Composer: Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)
Text: Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918)
José van Dam, bass-baritone
Marciej Pikulski, piano
Forlane: 920637
Josephine Baker: Le Portrait (2010)
Clip of “La conga primitive man”
Josephine Baker, singer
Nothing Divine is Mundane
“Susie Asado” (1926)
Composer: Virgil Thomson (1896-1989)
Text: Gertrude Stein (1874-1946)
Glenn Siebert, tenor
Phillip Bush, piano
Albany Records: 272
Alexander Zemlinsky: Lieder
“Afrikanischer Tanz” (“African Dance”), from Zwölf Lieder, Op. 27 (1929)
Composer: Alexander Zemlinsky (1871-1942)
Text: Langston Hughes (1902-1967)
Andreas Schmidt, baritone
Cord Garben, piano
Deutsche Grammophon: 427348
Leoš Janáček: Glagolitic Mass, Sinfonietta, Piano Works, Songs
“The young swallows” & “Ploughing is heavy work,” from Zápisník zmizelého (The Diary of One who Disappeared) (1921)
Composer: Leoš Janáček (1854-1928)
Text: Ozef Kalda (1902-1967)
Ian Bostridge, tenor
Thomas Adès, piano
EMI Classics: 37606
Mélodies Françaises
“Aoua!,” from Chansons madécasses (1926)
Composer: Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Text: Evariste Désiré de Forges de Parny
Gerard Souzay, tenor
Dalton Baldwin, piano
Newton Classics: 8802007
Richard Strauss: Krämerspiegel – Ausgewählte Lieder
“Hast du ein Tongedicht vollbracht,” from Krämerspiegel, Op. 66 (1918)
Composer: Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Text: Alfred Kerr (1867-1948)
Peter Schreier, tenor
Norman Shetler, piano
Berlin Classics: 3222
Lotte Lenya sings Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins & Berlin Theatre Songs
“Alabama Song,” from The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (1927)
Composer: Kurt Weill (1900-1950)
Text: Bertold Brecht (1898-1956)
Lotte Lenya, soprano
Sony Classical Masterworks: 63222
Hanns Eisler: Kammermusik/Chamber Music
“Heiratsannonce (Liebeslied einse Grundbesitzers)” (“Marriage Announcement (Love Song of a Landowner)”) from Zeitungsausschnitte, Op. 11 (1925-6)
Composer: Hanns Eisler (1898-1962)
Text: newspaper clippings
Roswitha Trexler, soprano
Walter Olbertz, piano
Berlin Classics: 9231
José van Dam et la Mélodie Française (2010)
“Chanson du Duc,” from Chansons de Don Quichotte (1932)
Composer: Jacques Ibert (1890-1962)
Text: Alexandre Arnoux
José van Dam, bass-baritone
Marciej Pikulski, piano
Forlane: 920637
Barber: The Complete Songs
Clip from Dover Beach, Op. 3 (1931)
Composer: Samuel Barber (1910-1981)
Text: Matthew Arnold
Thomas Hampson, baritone
Emerson String Quartet
Deutsche Grammophon: 435 868
