Today's post completes the collection of the four early LPs by the great American bass-baritone William Warfield, as issued by Columbia in the early 1950s.This 1951 album presents an unusual coupling, bringing together "Ancient Music of the Church" with ballads by the German Romantic composer Carl Loewe (1796-1869). I believe the latter songs may have been products of Warfield's first recording session.
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| William Warfield |
The disparate program may have been designed to appeal to the enthusiastic audiences who had attended Warfield's first two Town Hall recitals. For his debut in March 1950, the singer had programmed three of the Loewe ballads and three of the "ancient music" settings as found on the LP, and he performed the other items during his 1951 recital.
The New York Times was enthusiastic following Warfield's debut. Of the Loewe ballads, the reviewer stated, "Mr, Warfield turned in quick succession: from the light charm of 'Kleiner Hausalt' to the lyric tenderness of 'Suesses Begraebnis' to the spirited vigor of 'Odins Meeres-Ritt.' It was a tour de force, for ordinarily one would think it would take a soprano to carry off the first, a tenor the second and a bass the last. Yet the singer did each practically perfectly in its own way."The early music works elicited this reaction: "This revealed still another facet of his talent, for he also has the gifts of the oratorio singer" - foreshadowing Warfield's success in that field.
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| Warfield in the studio |
Also on the program for Warfield's premiere recital were a Fauré song, a
new work by John Klein and a spiritual, concluding with two jubilee
songs for which Warfield provided his own accompaniment. Otherwise, his
usual pianist, the excellent Otto Herz, was at the keyboard.
Although Carl Loewe's songs are not often heard today, he was a talented composer whose works have an immediate appeal. The settings heard here are of poetry by Friedrich Rückert, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Aloys Schreiber. The LP did not provide texts or translations, but I've added them to the download.
The "Ancient Music of the Church" selections are by the 12th century composer Pérotin, the transitional figures Claudio Monteverdi and Heinrich Schütz, and the Baroque composer Andreas Hammerschmidt. While I am certainly not an expert on such matters, I suspect these readings would be considered anachronistic these days. Performance practices have changed drastically in the 70 years since these recordings. Warfield's singing is expressive, nonetheless.
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| Andrew Tietjen |
The download also includes both Times reviews mentioned above and three reviews of the LP, all laudatory.
The earlier installments in this series of Warfield recordings were:
- Schumann - Liederkreis and Brahms - Four Serious Songs
- Copland - Old American Songs and Dougherty - Sea Chanteys
- "Deep River" - folk and folk-influenced songs
