KPFA-FM Music Dept. ➔ Golden Voices: Interview with Ina Souez: Program Two
Analog Audio
Event Type
Interview and MusicOrigin
KPFAIdentifier
GV.1960.07.05Program Series
Golden VoicesProgram Length
59 minsDates
1960-07-05 | broadcast| 402 | created
Description
In the second of two self-contained one hour programs originally recorded in 1960, Anthony Boucher interviews soprano Ina Souez, about her career as an opera singer. Although Souez spent much of her time performing in the great European opera houses during the 1920s and 30s, she was in fact born to a family of Cherokee decent in Colorado in 1903. Souez initially studied with the Canadian singer Florence Hinman, before moving to Milan at the age of 18, where she quickly made an impression and was soon performing across Europe. She married an English diplomat in the 1930s, moving to the U.K. where she became a regular performer at the influential Glyndebourne Festival and Covent Garden. After World War II, she largely gave up opera and instead toured extensively as a jazz singer performing with Spike Jones’ band the City Slickers, before retiring from the stage and working as a vocal coach. This interview focuses on Ina Souez’s many years with the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in Sussex England. Founded in 1934 by John Christie, the Glyndebourne Festival Opera quickly gained a reputation as one of the finest opera festivals in the United Kingdom, where performers and audience members both enjoyed a sumptuous setting and impeccably provided provisions. With a lengthy rehearsal schedule that virtually guaranteed near perfect performances, recordings made at Glyndebourne in the 1930s, and particularly of the Mozart operas that were their specialty, have remained in print up to the present day, selections of which are included in this program. Unlike many of her contemporary prima donnas, the ever cheerful Ms. Souez has nothing but good things to say about her colleagues, and she is perfectly delightful as she reminisces about the many talented singers she had the pleasure of working with or seeing perform.Genres
OperasMusical Selections
Sull'aria...Che soave zeffiretto [the letter duet from “Le Nozze di Figaro,” libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte] (1786) (2:36) / Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart -- Un ange est venu (2:45) / Herman Bemberg -- In Wien wo der Wein und der Walzer blüht [from the film “Zwei Herzen im Dreivierteltakt”] (3:13) / Robert Stolz -- Benedetti i doppi coniugi...E nel tuo, nel mio bicchiero [from Cosi Fan Tutte,” libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte] (ca. 1790) (4:44) / Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart -- O amore, o bella luce del core [aria from “L'amico Fritz,” libretto by P. Suardon with additions by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti] (ca. 1891) (2:37) / Pietro Mascagni -- Te Deum [from “Tosca,” libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa] (ca. 1900) (3:48) / Giacomo Puccini -- Ah dove è il perfido [from “Don Giovanni,” libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte] (ca. 1787) (5:46) / Wolfgang Amadeus MozartPerformers
Audrey Mildmay, soprano (Sull'aria ; Ah dove)Aulikki Rautawaara, soprano (Sull'aria)
Glyndebourne Festival Orchestra (Sull'aria ; Benedetti ; Ah dove)
Fritz Busch, conductor (Sull'aria ; Benedetti ; Ah dove)
John Brownlee, baritone (Un ange)
Nellie Melba, soprano (Un ange)
Irene Eisinger, soprano (In Wien)
Ina Souez, soprano (Benedetti ; Ah dove)
Luise Helletsgrüber, soprano (Benedetti ; Ah dove)
Heddle Nash, tenor (Benedetti)
Willi Domgraf-Fassbänder, baritone (Benedetti)
Dino Borgioli, tenor (O amore)
Mariano Stabile, baritone (Te Deum)
Koloman von Pataky, tenor (Ah dove)
Salvatore Baccaloni, bass (Ah dove)
Roy Henderson, bass (Ah dove)
Subjects
Operas -- ExcerptsVocal duets with piano
Songs (High voice) with orchestra
Motion picture music
Related places
Berkeley (Calif.) (was recorded at)Berkeley (Calif.) (was broadcast at)
Related Entities
Glyndebourne Festival OrchestraBoucher, Anthony, 1911-1968
Souez, Ina
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 1756-1791
Da Ponte, Lorenzo, 1749-1838
Bemberg, H. (Herman), 1859-1931
Stolz, Robert, 1880-1975
Mascagni, Pietro, 1863-1945
Suardon, P.
Targioni-Tozzetti, Giovanni, 1863-1934
Puccini, Giacomo, 1858-1924
Illica, Luigi, 1857-1919
Giacosa, Giuseppe, 1847-1906
Mildmay, Audrey, 1900-1953
Rautawaara, Aulikki
Busch, Fritz, 1890-1951
Brownlee, John, 1901-1969
Melba, Nellie, Dame, 1861-1931
Eisinger, Irene, 1903-1994
Helletsgrüber, Luise
Nash, Heddle, 1896-1961
Domgraf-Fassbaender, Willi
Borgioli, Dino
Stabile, Mariano
Patakay, Kolomon von, 1896-1964
Baccaloni, Salvatore, 1900-1969
Henderson, Roy, 1899-2000