Continued from part one At the end of 1935, a radio broadcast with Joseph Schmidt was broadcast to the United States: sitting in front of …
Joseph Schmidt: The Microphone Was His Concert Hall
Part one Early in his career, Joseph Schmidt sang roles that pushed other tenors to the limits of their vocal abilities at the height of …
Jo Stafford: The Voice of an Era
When Grace Kelly was young, Jo Stafford reportedly was her favourite singer: Listening to You Belong To Me by Jo Stafford, one is immediately struck …
Jerry Goldsmith: The Sound of Science-Fiction
Jerry Goldsmith immortalised himself with his music for several Star Trek films: His career began in the early 1950s when Goldsmith took a job as …
Gram Parsons: Ambassador of Country Music
In the course of his short life, he released just two albums as a solo artist, but with these albums he influenced country music like …
Nanci Griffith: From Beer Joint to Carnegie Hall
She grew up in Austin, the cradle of US folk music: she spent much of her youth in Austin and always wondered how she would …
Burt Bacharach: The Musical Instinct
This article is published on the occasion of the passing of Burt Bacharach on February 8th, 2023. Marlene Dietrich once said, when introducing composer Burt …
Christa Ludwig: It Takes More Than Only Primadonnas
The philosopher Theodor W. Adorno once said that a person’s musical education begins nine months before birth. Christa Ludwig proves Adorno right: In her memoirs, …
Kurt Weill: The New Opera
He had a major influence on the development of modern American stage music: Kurt Weill was one of the most important composers of the first …
Edith Piaf: A Sonorous Laugh (2.)
Continued from part one For Edith Piaf, there seemed to be no such thing as a hopeless situation: After Lepplée’s death, she was discovered by …