On that October evening in 1949 when the world boxing champion Marcel Cerdan, Edith Piaf’s lover, was killed, Piaf was due to perform at the …
Hildegard Knef: The Berlin Snout
Ella Fitzgerald once said she was the best singer who actually had no voice: Hildegard Knef is one of the most famous German actresses and …
The History of Vinyl: It sizzles like a fire
It is much easier to make files available on a computer than to produce a vinyl record: There was a time when the vinyl record …
Luigi Tenco: Cantautore with style
He both sang about and mercilessly portrayed the Italian society of the time: some music connoisseurs go so far as to say that he helped …
Barbara: The Singing Pianist
This article is published on the 25th anniversary of Barbara’s death on 24 November 2022. Her chansons all had autobiographical features: there was no such …
Ennio Morricone: The maestro of film music
Ennio Morricone once said that he was actually a concert composer – film music was just a side hustle. But the name Ennio Morricone is …
Franco Corelli: He saw notes in his dreams
The name Franco Corelli is often mentioned in the same breath as Fritz Wunderlich: Both are considered the most important tenors of the 20th century …
Julie London: The Voice of Intimacy
Not without reason has Julie London’s singing voice been described as “the voice of intimacy”: When Julie London sang, she was usually accompanied only by …
Jacques Brel: The chanson was his vocation
“There is nothing more annoying than having to put a note under every word,” Jacques Brel once claimed. It was his greatest passion and talent …
Montserrat Caballé: The Spanish Opera Diva (2.)
Continued from part one At the beginning of the seventies, Montserrat Caballé was faced with probably the greatest artistic challenge of her career: opera connoisseurs …