William Warfield's First Recordings - Loewe Ballads and Ancient Music

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.

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.

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.

Among the items on Warfield's 1951 recital was Howard Swanson's song "Cahoots," which I shared last year in the premiere recording by Helen Thigpen.

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.

Andrew Tietjen

His accompanist here, Andrew Tietjen, was the associate organist of New York's Trinity Church. He would die young just a few years later; his obituary is in the download.

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

William Warfield Sings Schumann and Brahms

The American bass-baritone William Warfield was a great singer who did not achieve the fame his gifts warranted, possibly because he made very few solo recordings. We have been slowly working through them on this blog.

Warfield's initial session for Columbia, in 1951, was devoted to lieder by Carl Loewe and a selection of "Ancient Music of the Church." That recording will appear here in the future.

William Warfield

Later in 1951, Warfield premiered Copland's Old American Songs, which Columbia coupled with Celius Dougherty settings of sea chanteys. This record, which appeared here many years ago, is now available in a newly remastered edition.

In 1952, Warfield's third Columbia session produced more quasi-popular material, this time settings of folk or folk-influenced songs, with backings led by (and possibly authored by) Lehman Engel. This also has appeared here, and now has been remastered.

Today we have a fine collection of Schumann and Brahms lieder dating from 1953. Following this session, Warfield was to make no other solo recordings, save for a reprise of Copland's Old American Songs, this time in the orchestrated version. He was, however, often heard in ensemble works such as The Messiah, and of course in Porgy and Bess.

Warfield in the recording studio

This Brahms-Schumann recital elicited strong reviews; I've included examples from The New Records, The New York Times and Billboard. The LP cover quotes approving European reviews of Warfield's appearances, such as this from Vienna's Weltpresse: "This glorious voice is a baritone which reached from dark bass-register to bright tenor notes, and is of a singular technical perfection and smoothness of voice control. Joy and pain, hope and sorrow and great inner strength are in the voice..."

The LP program shows these qualities very well. It includes Schumann's Liederkreis, 1840 settings of poems by Joseph von Eichendorff, and Brahms' Vier ernste Gesänge (Four Serious Songs), the composer's 1896 settings of Biblical texts. (The download includes texts and translations for both works.) It's a shame Warfield was not asked to record more of this repertoire.

Otto Herz

The fluid accompanist on the LP was Otto Herz, who at the time was much in demand by young performers making their debuts  at New York's Town Hall, as did Warfield in 1950. The download includes an obituary for this sensitive pianist.

Also included is an interview with Warfield by the Chicago Tribune's John von Rhein dating from 2000, when the vocalist was 80 and still teaching at Northwestern. He died two years later.