So Lit Song Lit

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was a British composer and conductor with strong ties to the United States. His songs have a very "salon-music" feel to them, romantic and accessible for audiences. His daughter Avril was also a composer-conductor and we would love to find out how to access her music, so if anyone knows, please reach out!

Recordings featured in this episode, performed by Donovan Elliot Smith, tenor, Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano, Hanna Atsedwoin, soprano, Aliyah Quill, soprano and Ellen Rissinger, pianist:

• Lucy (from 3 Songs, Op. 27)
• Tears (from Southern Love Songs, Op. 12)
• Elëanore (found in the Anthology of African and African Diaspora Songs)
• Oh, the summer (duet composed in 1911) - sung by Hanna and Aliyah

Recorded at the Carnegie Mellon School of Music Recording Studio in Pittsburgh, PA, and Morningstar Studios in Norristown, PA.

Be sure to check out the new CD What Dreams We Have: The Poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar, performed by Kenneth Overton, baritone, and Casey Robards, pianist! 

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So Lit Song Lit is a production of Cincinnati Song Initiative. You can learn more about its network of podcasts at cincinnatisonginitiative.org/podcasts.

You can follow Ellen and The Diction Police on Facebook and at www.dictionpolice.com.

You can follow Toni Marie on Facebook at Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano and Instagram @ToniMariePalmertree

You can follow Donovan Elliot Smith on his YouTube page.

You can follow Hanna Atsedewoin on Instagram @hanna_atse

Aliyah Quill is currently a senior at Carnegie Mellon University.

Harry Thacker Burleigh was the first Black composer to have a major influence on classical music, both by his own compositions and by his influence on Antonín Dvořak. His art songs were composed before his collection of spirituals and have recently been collected and edited by Louise Toppin, Ann Sears and Jean Snyder (who also wrote a biography of Burleigh) into 47 Art Songs by Harry T. Burleigh as part of the Videmus African American Art Song Series published by Classical Vocal Reprints.

Our special guest host on this episode is baritone Kenneth Overton, whose CD with pianist Casey Robards will be released at the end of the month--UPDATE, the CD has dropped! Be sure to check out their new CD What Dreams We Have: The Poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar!

We also mention The Spirituals of Harry T. Burleigh on the episode.

Recordings featured in this episode, performed by Ricky L. Owens, countertenor, Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano, and Ellen Rissinger, pianist:

• Songs of Laurence Hope
  • Worth While
  • Among the Fuchsias
  • Till I Wake
• Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal

Recorded at The Church Recording Studio in Pittsburgh, PA, and Morningstar Studios in Norristown, PA.

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So Lit Song Lit is a production of Cincinnati Song Initiative. You can learn more about its network of podcasts at cincinnatisonginitiative.org/podcasts.

You can follow Ellen and The Diction Police on Facebook and at www.dictionpolice.com.

You can follow Toni Marie on Facebook at Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano and Instagram @ToniMariePalmertree

For more information on Ricky L. Owens, Jr., countertenor, visit his website.

Season 3 drops starting August 20th, this time on Tuesdays! This season, Toni Marie and Ellen focus on Black composers, with an incredible array of guest hosts and performers. Make sure to subscribe and tell all your friends, colleagues, and students, you won't want to miss this season!
So Lit Song Lit is a production of Cincinnati Song Initiative. You can learn more about its network of podcasts at cincinnatisonginitiative.org/podcasts.

American composer Craig Bohmler has an extensive list of musicals as well as operas, art songs, concerti, etc. He has at least ten song cycles to his credit, and his music is highly accessible for audiences while still giving musicians as fun challenge to perform!

His cycles Love Letters and Quatre Petites Chansons pour le Petit Déjeuner are available from Sheet Music Plus as well as many other outlets.

Recordings featured in this episode, performed by Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano, and Ellen Rissinger, pianist:

• Love Letters
  • Unconditional Love
• Quatre Petites Chansons pour le Petit Déjeuner
  • I. À Monsieur Fauré
  • III. À Monsieur Poulenc
  • IV. À Monsieur Debussy

Recorded at Morningstar Studios in Norristown, PA.

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So Lit Song Lit is a production of Cincinnati Song Initiative. You can learn more about its network of podcasts at cincinnatisonginitiative.org/podcasts.

You can follow Ellen and The Diction Police on Facebook and at www.dictionpolice.com.

You can follow Toni Marie on Facebook at Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano and Instagram @ToniMariePalmertree

You can find out more about Zach on his website, https://www.zacharydeansmith.com/

Another student of Nadia Boulanger, Louise Talma was an American composer who taught at the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau as well as Hunter College. She was the first American female composer to have a full-scale opera performed in Europe. Terre de France uses traditional harmonies, but in the 1950s Talma started experimenting with serial techniques.

The score to Terre de France is available at Sheet Music Plus. We also mention her cycle Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird several times on the episode.

Recordings featured in this episode, performed by Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano, and Ellen Rissinger, pianist:

• 1. Mère, voici vos fils (mistranslated in the episode! "Mother, here are your sons")
• 3. Ballade
• 4. Ode
• 5. Adieux à la Meuse

Recorded at Morningstar Studios in Norristown, PA.

***
So Lit Song Lit is a production of Cincinnati Song Initiative. You can learn more about its network of podcasts at cincinnatisonginitiative.org/podcasts.

You can follow Ellen and The Diction Police on Facebook and at www.dictionpolice.com.

You can follow Toni Marie on Facebook at Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano and Instagram @ToniMariePalmertree

You can find out more about Zach on his website, https://www.zacharydeansmith.com/

Laura Kaminsky is the composer of the opera As One, which has become one of the most performed operas since it premiered in 2014. Her music is many-faceted, with dissonance and harmony, as well as rhythmically interesting moments.

Laura's works can be purchased through Bill Holab Music.

Recordings featured in this episode, performed by Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano, and Ellen Rissinger, pianist:

• Whitman Songs
  • To a Stranger
• Five Songs of Fauset and Grimké
  • Your Hands
  • Words! Words!
  • Fragment

Recorded at Morningstar Studios in Norristown, PA.

***
So Lit Song Lit is a production of Cincinnati Song Initiative. You can learn more about its network of podcasts at cincinnatisonginitiative.org/podcasts.

You can follow Ellen and The Diction Police on Facebook and at www.dictionpolice.com.

You can follow Toni Marie on Facebook at Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano and Instagram @ToniMariePalmertree

You can find out more about Zach on his website, https://www.zacharydeansmith.com/

Australian composer Peggy Glanville-Hicks studied composition with Ralph Vaughan Williams and Nadia Boulanger, among other teachers. In addition to  songs, she also composed several operas and orchestral works, and worked as a music critic for the New York Herald Tribune for a time.

Mimic Heaven, or 5 Songs to texts by A.E. Housman, is available through the Australia Music Center or through Inter-Library Loan (OCLC number is 1850131) in case the other company doesn't ship to the U.S.

Recordings featured in this episode, performed by Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano, and Ellen Rissinger, pianist:

• Mimic Heaven
• Stars
• Unlucky Love

Recorded at Morningstar Studios in Norristown, PA.

***
So Lit Song Lit is a production of Cincinnati Song Initiative. You can learn more about  their network of podcasts at cincinnatisonginitiative.org/podcasts.

You can follow Ellen and The Diction Police on Facebook and at www.dictionpolice.com.

You can follow Toni Marie on Facebook at Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano and Instagram @ToniMariePalmertree

You can find out more about Zach on his website, https://www.zacharydeansmith.com/

Augusta Holmès was a French composer of Irish descent in the 19th century. Her music was received negatively by many famous male composers of the time as being "too virile", so she published some early works under a pseudonym. The songs in this episode are in French but with a distinct Spanish flair to them.

A huge shout-out to Allen Armstrong, Nicole Asel, and Deborah Popham for researching and bringing attention to Holmès!

The book Augusta Holmès: Selected Songs (from the Women Composers Series by Da Capo Press) seems to be out of stock at Amazon, it would be worth seeing if they can get a copy - however it is easily available through Inter-Library Loan (OCLC number is 10452732) at MANY libraries, check your local/school library because they may already have it (it's listed in 157 libraries)! 

Recordings featured in this episode, performed by Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano, Zachary Dean Smith, tenor, and Ellen Rissinger, pianist:

• La haine
• Le vin
• Garci Perez

Recorded at Morningstar Studios in Norristown, PA.

***
So Lit Song Lit is a production of Cincinnati Song Initiative. You can learn more about  their network of podcasts at cincinnatisonginitiative.org/podcasts.

You can follow Ellen and The Diction Police on Facebook and at www.dictionpolice.com.

You can follow Toni Marie on Facebook at Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano and Instagram @ToniMariePalmertree

You can find out more about Zach on his website, https://www.zacharydeansmith.com/

American composer David del Tredici is considered a pioneer of neo-Romanticism, and his art songs definitely show that. With many art songs, song cycles, vocal chamber works, and compositions for voice and orchestra, it is well worth perusing his website (which also lists clips to hear the pieces!) to check out the rest of his output.

His volume Songs for Baritone and Piano (with 11 songs, including the cycle Gay Life) is available at Sheet Music Plus.

Recordings featured in this episode, performed by Troy Cook, baritone, and Ellen Rissinger, pianist:

• Ballad in Yellow
• 2. In the Temple (Gay Life)
• 5. Here (Gay Life)

Recorded at Morningstar Studios in Norristown, PA.

***
So Lit Song Lit is a production of Cincinnati Song Initiative. You can learn more about  their network of podcasts at cincinnatisonginitiative.org/podcasts.

You can follow Ellen and The Diction Police on Facebook and at www.dictionpolice.com.

You can follow Toni Marie on Facebook at Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano and Instagram @ToniMariePalmertree

You can find out more about Zach on his website, https://www.zacharydeansmith.com/

You can find out more about Troy Cook on his website, https://www.troycookbaritone.com/

Juliusz Wertheim was a Polish composer, pianist, and conductor from the turn of the last century who was close friends with Arthur Rubinstein. His songs are lovely and lilting, accessible for an audience, and definitely should be a part of the standard repertoire!

His music is available online through a website that is working to keep more Polish music available. Because of this, they have made his works downloadable on IMSLP. University of North Texas also has him listed on their Lost Composers page - composers whose music has been lost because of the Holocaust, so research is being done to find more of his works.

With many thanks to Mark Trawka at the Pittsburgh Opera for his help with Polish diction!

Recordings featured in this episode, performed by Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano, Zachary Dean Smith, tenor, and Ellen Rissinger, pianist:

• W słońcu
• Czemuż ja cię kochać muszę?
• Listek i serce
• Liebesahnung
• Gekommen ist der Maie

Recorded at Morningstar Studios in Norristown, PA.

***
So Lit Song Lit is a production of Cincinnati Song Initiative. You can learn more about  their network of podcasts at cincinnatisonginitiative.org/podcasts.

You can follow Ellen and The Diction Police on Facebook and at www.dictionpolice.com.

You can follow Toni Marie on Facebook at Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano and Instagram @ToniMariePalmertree

You can find out more about Zach on his website, https://www.zacharydeansmith.com/