I became Beverly Sills' biggest fan after I first heard her sing in the late 1960's on "The Mike Douglas Show". Not only did I love the voice, but I also loved the person. She had a phenomenal personality and a great sense of humor and God knows she had had her share of tragedy. Each week when the TV Guide was delivered, I would go through it thoroughly checking the line-up for all the talk shows and public television stations with the hopes of seeing her name. I was obsessed with her and there is not a doubt that I drove my friends crazy talking about her constantly.
I had the good fortune to have heard her live about a dozen times and actually met her in person twice at the New York City Opera (I will probably write about this in detail in a future post). Over the years I purchased EVERY commercially available recording in both vinyl and CD formats, videos, DVDs and huge amount of bootleg recordings of recitals, concerts and operas. It's probably safe to say that I have close to everything there is out there.
In March of 1975 I wrote my first (and last) fan letter to anyone. The reason for the letter was to express my admiration and to wish her the best of luck on the occasion of her Metropolitan Opera debut which was occurring April 7, 1975. A few weeks later I received the postcard below. It is one of my most cherished possessions.
The seven people below were very important in my musical development. I wish I knew them all better and had asked more questions about their lives and backgrounds. None the less, I am most appreciative for their contributions.
Mother Genevieve Delaney, OSU:
My first piano teacher at Our Lady of Victory School (West Haven, CT) I started piano late while I was in 8th grade (13-14 years old)
Mrs. Helen Jamieson:
Mrs. Jamieson was the organist/choir director at Our Lady of Victory Church. I first met her when I began to lead the singing at three masses after Vatican II around 1966. She played the organ at two of the three Masses I lead in those days. She was a real character and she would always crack me up. She wore BIG hats and you could pick her out in a crowd. In those days I was just beginning to take piano lessons from Mother Genevieve and Mrs. Jamieson encouraged me to learn the organ too since there could many opportunities in the future. She began giving me some "pointers" on organ technique vs. piano technique and use of the pedals . . . how much fun . . . I loved it! Little by little she would let me play a hymn during the Mass and eventually turned the 12:15 Mass over to me! She was such a kind and encouraging woman. I remember her telling me, "When you make a mistake on the organ try to make the same mistake on the next verse. This way the congregation will think that must be how the music is written." What a hoot!
Mrs. Martin Reiss:
My second piano teacher while I was attending West Haven (CT) High School. Wish she stressed fingering and technique more to me but, in all honesty, I was more interested in having fun than practicing seriously. She was a very nice lady and I was good friends then with her son Martin.
Miss Pauline Chapman:
My high school choral director sophomore and junior year (couldn't schedule during 9th grade). I found her to be an inspiration and we did great works with her (i.e. Vivaldi's "Gloria" and all the great Randall Thompson pieces, etc.). She left West Haven High School the summer before my senior year and accepted a position at an American Embassy School in London I believe. She was tough and demanding but I was crazy about her.
Mr. Louis Negri:
My choral director during senior year. He was the one who suggested that I pursue a career in music. Never really thought about it seriously before that time. He continued a great tradition at West Haven High School and was incredibly good to me.
Mr. Thomas Clancy:
My private voice teacher for about three years while I was in high school. A wonderful man and teacher who gave me whatever technique I have. Wish I knew more about him. Had a beautiful tenor voice and besides singing and giving voice lessons, he also made records (yes, vinyl records) in his studio. Every time I was there I felt like I was living in the early 1900's Mr. Clancy's studio was located on the second floor of the Palladium Building on Orange Street in New Haven. At the time the only other tenant in this 3 or 4 story building (besides a couple of shops at street level) was a costume shop (don't recall the name). Wish I investigated this building more with its huge steep staircases and very high ceilings. I would wait in the hall outside his studio if he was still giving a lesson when I arrived and my mind would race imagining if only those walls could talk. If my memory serves me correctly the building was built in 1855 and I just found it fascinating but also worried that if I wondered around I would probably end up crashing through the floors.
Mr. Laurence Honan:
My private piano teacher at Western Connecticut State College. How I loved going to lessons! He really challenged me like no one before ever did. I wish I had him as a piano teacher from a young age. He had some phenomenal private students who still include his name on their professional resumes today. He was always a bit suspicious of the music faculty (especially the department head) but he was a great guy and I think I had a wonderful relationship with him as a student.
Sister Paula Carey, OSU was my 8th grade teacher at Our Lady of Victory School in West Haven, CT in 1966. She conducted the chorus along with Sister Teresita (see earlier post) and she was a typical "Irish Redhead" . . . I mean that in a good way. Of course, I didn't see her hair until my last year at the school when the traditional habits changed but I wasn't surprised that her hair was red! She was born in Ireland and had a thick Irish brogue. I remember her telling us that she never had corned beef and cabbage until she came to America. She always encouraged me to sing and was very complimentary about my voice which changed early into a rather deep baritone.
I attempted to track her down on the internet at the same time I was looking for Sister Teresita. I finally did locate her in late 2009 at the Ursuline Retirement Center in Blue Point, New York and forwarded her my address and phone number through one of the staff members but I guess it was too late. I heard later through Sister Teresita that Sister Paula was gravely ill. I wish I had looked for her earlier so I could have told her how much she had influenced my life. Sister died on June 8, 2010 just a little short of her 91st. birthday. Rest in peace, Sister Paula . . . you were a true servant of God. Below you will find the obituary from the Ursuline Sisters of Tildonk's website.
Sister Paula Carey, OSU
(from my Class Graduation Picture, 1967)
Sister Paula Carey, OSU
Our Lady of Victory Parish (West Haven, CT) February 11, 1967
Sister Paula Carey, OSU died June 8, 2010 at the St. Ursula Center Convent in Blue Point, NY. She was born July 18,1919. She entered the congregation of the Ursuline Sisters of Tildonk on August 24, 1938 and professed her final vows six years later. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Education, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in French from Fordham University; a diploma in Catechetics from Lumen Vitae in Brussels, Belgium and a Diploma in Liturgy from Liturgical Institute in Carlow, Ireland.
Sr. Paula ministered for many years as a teacher. Her ministry was extensive and included teaching at Our Lady of Grace in Howard Beach, NY from 1944-1963; Our Lady of Victory in West Haven, CT from 1963-1968; Holy Family High School in Huntington, NY from 1968-1969; St. William the Abbot in Seaford, NY from 1969 to 1984; St. Gregory the Great in Bellerose, NY from 1985-1989, and Our Lady of Hope, Middle Village, NY from 1990-1992.
After retiring from teaching, Sr. Paula ministered as a Pastoral Minister, visiting the sick and homebound parishioners of St. Gregory the Great Parish in Bellerose.
In 2000, after many years of active service, Sr. Paula retired in Blue Point where she continued in a ministry of prayer.
She is survived by her nieces Eileen Connolly, Maura Morgan, & Paula McElroy and many grandnieces and a grandnephew.
Her funeral mass was celebrated June 10th at the St. Ursula Center Chapel in Blue Point, NY followed by internment at the cemetery of the Ursuline Sisters in Blue Point.
I first became aware of Donald Craig in March of 1971 when he was the choral director of the Southwest Division Regional Music Festival sponsored by the Connecticut Music Educators Association. I was a senior in high school at the time and little did I know that he would be the man I would be auditioning for when I decided to pursue a degree in Music Education (voice) at Western Connecticut State University. In all honesty, I'm not sure if I auditioned before or after this concert.
Mr. Craig was a phenomenal choral director and he really knew his stuff. He came to Wesconn a couple of years before I arrived from Ithaca College where he had been the director of the Ithaca College Choir. I don't think we had him at his peak but, none the less, he made a huge impression on me and he was without doubt, the best choral director I had ever worked with. I'm sure he had a magnificent voice (a real basso) when he was younger but that voice, for the most part, was gone during my Wesconn years. I coached with him a couple of times on solos I was performing with the Concert Choir and he helped me tremendously. As much as I loved Mr. Furman (see earlier post) I probably would have learned more technique from Mr. Craig. However, since I felt changing teachers would be perceived as a betrayal by Mr. Furman, I didn't pursue this action.
Don Craig was a real showman. When the choir would tour he would have the host read all of his bio info and then he would run down the aisle to the stage. Talk about making an entrance. He had several works which were published by Plymouth Music (Don Craig Choral Series) and also was very well respected in the choral world.
Mr. Craig auditioned for the conductorship of the Waterbury Chorale, which I was singing with, in the late 1970s when the current conductor decided to pursue other interests. I thought he did a wonderful job and I am confident that he would have gotten the job but he decided to withdraw his application. I have no idea how old he was when he died. A friend sent me the obituary but I just can't remember the details. He gave me many solo opportunities when I was a student at Wesconn and even called me back to sing the baritone solos in Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana" (hence, "wafnaguy").
It amazes me that I can find virtually nothing about him on the internet. How sad . . . out of sight and out of mind. There are a few mentions of his association with Robert Shaw and Fed Waring but that's about it. Luckily I have the program of that Southwest Division and I will scan his biographical notes and paste them below.
Mmmm . . . interesting that there is no mention of Ithaca College. Below you can see a picture of him conducting the Ithaca College Concert Choir in 1963 which I did find on the internet. I "borrowed" another picture (completely out of character) from my friend Stacey Severn of him at an alumni cookout.
How well I remember Kate Smith. My father was a huge fan and I recall vividly him calling to me when she was on television. I think I fell in love with that voice because of him . . . he had good taste. Of course her career started on radio decades before I was born but I do remember those days in the 1960's to mid 70's when variety shows such as Ed Sullivan, Hollywood Palace, Sonny & Cher and Donny & Marie, etc were at their peak. Kate Smith was on all of them. Even at that young age I recollect being impressed by the size and range of her voice. My father would say, "wait until you hear the note she hits at the end". She had a powerful voice when she wanted to use it in those big songs such as The Impossible Dream, As Long As He Needs Me, More and God Bless America and Tommy Smothers would say, "When Kate Smith sings Climb Every Mountain you want to put your hiking boots on" . . . how true. It wasn't until I was much older that I discovered that she certainly hadn't been limited to those "gut busters". She had great presence and poise on stage and in interviews, she exhibited true grace and humility. When she was introduced to the King of England during WWII by F.D.R. he said, "This is Kate Smith . . . this IS America". Understandably, she had a very long career and, unfortunately, there is no one like her today.
"What happened to you, Hawley? Were you in the war?" These were the first words spoken to me by a young Ursuline Sister of Tildonk on the first day of 6th grade in September of 1964 at Our Lady of Victory School in West Haven, CT. I had broken my wrist falling out of a tree a couple of weeks before school started. I was terrified . . . nuns were so unapproachable in those days with their long habits and veils with only their faces and hands exposed. This was not the impression I wanted to make on first day of Catholic school education.
This woman planted the seed for my love of music and, over time, I would grow to love her. Sister Teresita Catalano, OSU was not only my 6th grade teacher but also the accompanist for the chorus and played the organ at church. I loved to watch her play and how I wished I could play the piano too. Never really thought about that until I met her and, because of her, I started taking piano lessons in 8th grade. She gave me my first vocal solos in chorus and always encouraged me to keep on singing. She was a good woman . . . everything a nun should be. When she was transferred at the end of 7th grade I remember going home and crying like baby. I just could not imagine Our Lady of Victory School without Sister Teresita.
Thanks to the internet, I tracked Sister Teresita down and actually talked to her for the first time in 44 years shortly after the first of this year. She remembered me, in great detail to be honest, by recounting some stories that involved both me and my mother That first phone conversation was over 90 minutes long. It was so good to hear her voice again and to be able to speak to her as an adult. She is currently retired living at St. William the Abbott Convent in Seaford, Long Island. When she left our Lady of Victory she went onto several other teaching positions and a principalship before retiring after 52 years in education. This September she will celebrate the 60th anniversary of her final vows. I have spoken to her a couple of times now and will continue to remember her throughout the year with cards, letters and phone calls. I sent her a CD of 26 selections I had performed over the years in recitals because if it wasn't for her, I doubt that I would have ever pursued a career in music. What a remarkable woman she is and her influence on my life will never be forgotten
I first met Jeannette Brown in September of 1976 when I joined what was then called The Waterbury Oratorio Society (now The Waterbury Chorale). Jeannette was the accompanist of the group and she impressed me immediately with her prowess at the piano. In all honesty, I don't think I knew her last name until a couple of months later. Heidi Flower (an old college friend) was getting married on November 27th of that year and she asked my to sing at her wedding which was taking place at the Prospect Methodist Church in Bristol, CT. She assumed that I knew that the "Jeannette" who was the organist at her church was the same "Jeannette" that accompanied the Waterbury Oratorio . . . I did not.
So began a long association with one of the finest musicians I had ever had the honor to work with. In 1981 Jeannette invited me to become her baritone soloist and paid quartet member at the First Baptist Church in Waterbury (her stint at Prospect Methodist was rather short . . . she was a First Baptist before she left due to a riff with the new minister at the church). First Baptist was the only church in Waterbury that had a paid quartet and I already new the soprano (Gertrude Raskaukas) and the alto (Catherine Frantzis) so I thought it could be fun. I didn't hesitate long to take Jeannette up on her offer. This would be a great chance to learn a repertoire which I was not very familiar with and at the same time have the opportunity to work with a phenomenal organist and pianist.
Jeannette could sight read anything and she made playing orchestral reductions appear easy (believe me they are NOT). Over the years we did countless weddings and recitals together and I loved every minute working with her. She knew what I was going to do (breathing, phrasing, etc.) even before I knew it. God, we had so much fun and laughed so much.
When she decided to retire after 40 odd years at First Baptist in 1989, I and two other members of the quartet (all of whom were not members of the church) decided to leave with her. It just wouldn't be the same and it was truly the end of an era. I sang my last recital with Jeannette in 1990. She was amazing as usual. I was okay.
Jeannette has been on my mind quite a bit these last couple of weeks. She lost her beloved husband of 67 years, Donald, on June 21st. She is now 90 years old and lives in an assisted living facility in Torrington. The "old Jeannette" comes and goes these days . . . I will visit her today with Heidi and intend to share some memories. I hope I can convey just important she has been to me . . . she's one of a kind.
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Had a wonderful visit . . . I'm so glad we went and I'm so glad I made her laugh.
Rehearsing with Jeannette and a close-up of Jeannette at the piano keyboard
Press photo for concert at First Baptist Church
Thank you note from Connie Small (the Browns' daughter)
Jeannette Benedict Brown
Pianist, organist, church choir director
PLYMOUTH — Ellen Jeannette Benedict Brown, 96, recently of Main Street, died Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015, at Woodlake in Tolland with her granddaughter and daughter-in-law by her side. She is once again with her beloved husband, Donald, who died in 2010.
Jeannette was born in Thomaston on Sept. 15, 1919, to the late Harry L. and Ruth (Langdon) Benedict. She was a graduate of Thomaston High School and the Perry Secretarial School, and was a very accomplished pianist, organist and choir director. For 45 years, she was the director of both the senior and junior choirs at the First Baptist Church of Waterbury, where she organized and directed the youth and hand bell choirs. She served as organist and choir director of the Prospect United Methodist Church in Bristol and as associate in music at the Church of Christ in Newington. She also taught piano and organ to many children in Plymouth and the surrounding towns.
She was a two-term dean of the Waterbury Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and served four terms as state chairman of the Guild. She was accompanist for the Mendelssohn Male Chorus, director of the all-male Barnstormers and Liederkranz, accompanist for the Waterbury Oratorical Society, taught the McTernan Boys choral group and directed the Waterbury Hospital nurses choral group.
She is survived by a daughter, Connie J. Small of Florida; and three sons, David N. Brown and his wife, Mai, of California, Christopher D. Brown and his wife, Denise, of Stafford, and Peter L. Brown and his wife, Sherry, of New York; 11 grandchildren; several great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews. Jeannette was predeceased by a sister, Ruth Eggleston, and a brother, George Benedict.
Calling hours will be held from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Dec. 5, at the First Congregational Church of Plymouth, with a service to follow at noon. In honor of Jeannette's love of color, wearing bright colors is welcome. Burial will follow in West Cemetery in Plymouth.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the First Congregational Church, 10 Park St., Plymouth 06782.
In this morning's (12/13/15) HARTFORD COURANT:
Music, And Choral Groups, Were Her Life
ANNE M. HAMILTON
Extraordinary Life: Music, And Choral Groups, Were Her Life
Jeannette Brown's life revolved around music, helping to bring out the talent she believed every one of her chorus members and students possessed. From her childhood on, she excelled at the piano and the organ, and she directed choral groups for more than six decades, including the Waterbury Chorale.
Jeannette Benedict Brown, 96, died Dec. 2. She was a long time resident of Plymouth.
She was born on Sept. 15, 1919, and when she was 16 and had studied the piano for just a year, the Thomaston Congregational Church asked her to be its organist. Her mother, Ruth Benedict, was a pianist, and from her, Brown had inherited a love of music. Her father, Harry Benedict, had died while she was young, and there was no money for further music lessons. Brown's mother took in boarders and sewed ties to support the family. Ruth eventually became the office manager for an insurance agency, and the family's finances improved.
After Jeannette graduated from Thomaston High School in 1937, she attended the Perry School of Business in Waterbury, where she and a good friend shared the top grades in typing and shorthand; Brown could type 160 words per minute. She obtained a job with the state Department of Taxation, now the Department of Revenue Services, and worked there for many years.
Her musical education continued through a fortuitous meeting with a generous music lover. One day, when she was 19 and practicing the organ, Jeannette sensed a presence in the church and realized someone was listening to her play. The woman asked if she was taking music lessons, and Jeannette told her that she could not afford them. "I'd like to sponsor you," replied the woman, who subsequently paid for a year of lessons for Jeannette. It turned out that the benefactor went to churches and other venues to search out promising young musicians and sponsor them.
Jeannette took the lessons, and benefited from the fact that she was born left handed. At that time, left-handed children were taught to write and eat with their right hands, so she developed equal dexterity in both hands — an advantage in both music and typing.
In 1943, she married Donald Brown, a salesman with Chase Brass and Copper in Waterbury. They knew each other well: they had been in the same classes since second grade, and started dating in high school. Brown was also a strong tenor who sang in his wife's choirs until his death in 2010.
In addition to raising their four children, Jeannette Brown gave piano and organ lessons, and her son, Chris, remembers many days when he had to be silent as his mother gave lessons in their house. Jeanette also performed in concerts with her mother — four hand piano renditions featuring composers from Poulenc and Stravinsky to Cole Porter.
In 1967, Jeannette Brown joined the Waterbury Oratorio Society as an accompanist. It soon changed its name to the Waterbury Chorale to reflect the fact that, in addition to works like "Messiah" and "Elijah" by Handel, it could perform other music. "As time went on, the audience changed," said Bunny Wynn, a longtime member of the group.
There are now about 90 singers in the group. Unlike some accompanists, Brown played at both concerts and rehearsals, and went with the Chorale on trips to New York, Washington, D.C., and St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands.
Brown helped expand the repertoire of the Chorale, introducing Elvis Presley as well as Pachelbel. One concert portrayed the history of the U.S. through music, from "Chester," by William Billings, an 18th century choral composer, to Civil War songs, and the contemporary "We Shall Overcome."
"She was just a phenomenon, "said Peg Sullivan, a member of the Chorale. "She wasn't just pounding out notes. She was very connected to the conductor's needs." Brown also knew when to speed up or slow down the tempo to match the pace of the singers, and how to blend their needs with the conductor's baton.
"She could make light of some situation that was possibly a little testy," said Sullivan. "She was not a placater — someone who wants everyone to love each other and get along. She was a peacemaker who liked to get in the middle of the battle and try to make peace."
"A lot of directors don't have the agility to do the voice thing. It's not like other instruments," Wynn said. "She was very good with directing singers."
"She was a joy and more fun," Wynn said. "If something went wrong, there was no screaming or yelling. It was, 'that was funny.'"
To break tension when it arose among the singers, Brown would play a few bars of a show tune or something from the American Songbook, like "Tea for Two."
Wynn was featured as soloist occasionally and would ask Brown to play for her when Wynn rehearsed. "She would play as long as I could sing. She'd make it sheer fun."
Brown made a point of helping singers experience the emotions behind the notes, and show them how they could change the way they sang and put more expression into the song. "She would give you an idea of what the heartfelt idea was, and how to sing through a line or music, and phrase and color it with the tone of your voice," Wynn said.
Brown was also the music director of the choir of the First Baptist Church in Waterbury for 45 years. After she retired, she was named Minister of Music Emerita. The volunteer choir members were helped by four paid soloists who helped her expand the group's repertoire.
Eunice Johnston joined the church choir when she was 10 years old. "I learned from her," said Johnston, who grew up to conduct her own church choir. "I learned her way of doing things, and how to direct."
Brown worked with other singing groups, like the Barnstormers, a men's group, and the Liederkrantz, a group that sang German songs. She also substituted for many church music directors around the Waterbury area over the years, and in the summers she played at the Plymouth Congregational Church, just a few blocks from her house.
Brown's sense of humor sustained her through challenges both large and small. When a pressure cooker full of beets exploded in her kitchen, she couldn't get the pink stain off the ceiling — so she painted the whole ceiling pink. Like her mother, she liked to sew, and she made many of her own clothes. She made a long tunic, slit on both sides, and she liked to flip the ends up when she sat down on the piano bench at the beginning of a performance the same way male players flipped up the ends of their tail coats.
Brown is survived by her daughter, Connie Small, three sons, David, Chris and Peter Brown, along with 11 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren.
Brown's good humor and her relaxed, though highly committed approach to music, struck others as meditative. "She saw peace in everything," said Sullivan,
He was the Leonard Bernstein of Western Connecticut State College: composer, conductor, lecturer, author, teacher and pianist. To many of his students he was "Sir James" or just "Jim", but to me he was always "Mr. Furman". James Furman was my private voice teacher in college from 1971-75. He was quite a character and he never ceased to amaze me. Early on he began calling me "Georgio" and that was how he usually referred to me except for the year I was president of the chorus and then it was always "Mr President". I learned so much from him. Not necessarily on how to sing but more on how to interpret music . . . phrasing and nuance were his strengths, not technique. When they say there is a thin line between genius and insanity this certainly would apply to Mr. Furman. The simplest tasks were difficult (making coffee, unlocking a door, lighting a pipe, playing a simple ditty on the piano) and it amazed me that after living in his apartment on Moss Avenue in Danbury for YEARS that he never knew that the additional door in his living room/bedroom did not lead into the apartment next door but rather was a second closet! On the other hand, his knowledge of music was incredible and he was walking encyclopedia. I have known another person who could read a full orchestral score by sight and reduce it to the piano. Mr. Furman was an extraordinarily passionate and caring man who was always concerned about the well being of his students and he knew what was important to them. One of my prized full opera recordings ("The Siege of Corinth" by Rossini) which Beverly Sills performed as her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1975, was given to me as a gift by Mr. Furman for my senior recital. He gave me so many opportunities: solos in several concerts (Bach cantatas and Charles Ives' "General William Booth Enters Into Heaven) a member of an alumni vocal sextet in a transcription of the Beethoven "Grosse Fugue" with the Manhattan String Quartet and, most importantly, recreating the role of Martin Luther King in his oratorio "I Have A Dream" in 1976.
He was a wonderful man who died to soon. It still surprises me that he was only 16 years my senior and it seems impossible that he has already been gone for 21 years. I miss him terribly. My good friend Stacey David-Severn has put up a wonderful blog in tribute of Mr. Furman. Please check it out here: James Furman, American Composer
"I Have A Dream" program and autographed score
Mr. Furman's card to me with the recording of "The Siege of Corinth"
I am not sure when I first became aware of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau but it had to be around 1971-72 when I was a freshman music education major (voice) at what was then Western Connecticut State College in Danbury, CT. Fischer-Dieskau was THE voice to aspire to if you were a baritone with a love of German lieder. Over the years I purchased many of his recordings of Schubert, Brahms, Schumann and Mahler (not to mention even a recording of songs by Charles Ives). I loved his recording of Samuel Barber's "Dover Beach". His English was quite good. Unfortunately, I never heard him live since his few concerts in New York would sell-out immediately and I was poor college student. I had several recordings of Fischer-Dieskau singing Mahler and one of my favorites was "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" which had a heart wrenching text by the German poet, Friedrich Rückert. Every time I hear it it puts a lump in my throat.
My father was so proud of me and would religiously record EVERYTHING I performed at Western Connecticut even though I begged him not to since it made me so nervous. When my parents came to my Senior Recital my father did not bring his tape deck. He finally listened to me. I concluded my Senior Recital in the Spring of 1975 with this great Mahler lied. A friend was taping the recital in the balcony but I did not tell my parents because I knew my father would want to once again bring the recording into work and play it for all these people who couldn't care less. About 4½ years later my father died suddenly of a heart attack. I put the cassette recording of my Senior Recital inside my father's breast pocket next to his heart. It was my only copy.
I can think of no other person who is more responsible for my love of vocal music than Beverly Sills. I first became aware of her when she was the co-host on the Mike Douglas Show in the late 1960s. One day she sang "All the Things You Are" by Jerome Kern and I fell in love with her immediately. A few days later I bought my first opera recording ("Bellini and Donizetti Heroines") at Cutler's in New Haven, CT. I didn't understand a word she was singing but oh that voice . . . how was it humanly possible to sing like that?
