So Lit Song Lit

Ingolf Dahl was a German-born, naturalized American composer, who was well-connected throughout the entire entertainment industry as well as in classical music. His art songs are marked by intricate rhythms and atonal vocal lines that bring the texts to life.

Purchase information:
A Cycle of Sonnets - not available for purchase, but is available through Inter-Library Loan. The OCLC number is 12263419.
Three Songs to Poems of Albert Ehrismann is available at Sheet Music Plus.

Recordings featured in this episode, performed by Gracyn Blu Louis, mezzo-soprano, Sarah Austin, mezzo-soprano, and Ellen Rissinger, pianist:

• Sonnet I Solo e pensoso
• Sonnet II Benedetto sia 'l giorno
• I. Of him who died on the moor
• III. The ships have come to the harbor

Recorded at the Carnegie Mellon School of Music Recording Studio in Pittsburgh, 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/

For more information on Gracyn Blu Louis, visit their website, or you can follow them on Instagram @gracynblu

You can follow Sarah Austin on Instagram @sarah_austin_music

Hans Werner Henze was a German composer who grew up during the time period of the Hitler Youth and went on to become a communist, leaving Germany because of his political views and its intolerance toward homosexuality. His music is influenced by serialism, atonality, jazz, and Arabic music, as well as standard compositional practices.

For purchase information, click on the set titles below. 

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

• I. Aggio saputo cala morte vene (Fünf Neapolitanische Lieder)
• V. Arbero piccerillo (Fünf Neapolitanische Lieder)
• 2. Rimbaud (Three Auden Songs)
• 3. Lay your sleeping head, my love (Three Auden Songs)

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/

NewMusicShelf is a website dedicated to the production and distribution of scores by living composers. Their Anthology of New Music Series includes a volume of Trans & Non-Binary Voices.

Recordings featured in this episode, performed by Gracyn Blu Louis, mezzo-soprano, and Ellen Rissinger, pianist:

• At a Dinner Party (Hope Salmonson)
• Captain of my Soul (Yoshi Weinberg)
• Solitaire (Rossa Crean)
• Breathe (Keith Allegretti)

Recorded at the Carnegie Mellon School of Music Recording Studio in Pittsburgh, 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/

For more information on Gracyn Blu Louis, visit their website, or you can follow them on Instagram @gracynblu

Composer Jennifer Higdon has won a Pulitzer Prize and THREE Grammy awards! With a long list of prizes and commissions to her credit, she  has a substantial output of songs, as well as vocal chamber music and songs with orchestra.

Her songs are available for purchase on her website.

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

• Lilacs
• To Home
• Morning Opens

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/

One of the most prolific female composers of the 17th century, Isabella Leonarda, was also a high-ranking nun in an Ursuline convent, fulfilling all of her duties as a nun before composing on her own time - which we assume means she never slept! Her motets would be an excellent way to begin a recital.

While several of her works are available for purchase, the motets we discuss on this episode are on IMSLP - make sure to click on the "collections" tab to find several of her motets.

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

• No. 6 O flammae
• No 11 Salve regina (2 sections)
• No 20 Purpurei flores, recitative, and Sinfonia

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/

Mathilde von Kralik was an Austrian composer with an extensive list of art songs in a very Romantic style. Shout-outs to tenor Donald George for sending us her name and some ideas to get started (you can listen to his recording of Kralik Lieder with pianist Lucy Mauro on Spotify) and to Ars Augusta, a non-profit society with the mission to promote "forgotten musical heritage especially Lied or Baroque operas", who sent us her Lied der Sappho (please contact them for purchase information of the score).

Her Liederbuch Maia (a collection of 54 songs in 3 volumes) is available through Theodore Front Musical Literature. Silbernebel is available on IMSLP through Creative Commons.

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

• Silbernebel
• Lied der Sappho (mvmts 1 and 3)
• Götter, Helden und Minne (Maia)
• Aus meines Sanges blühendem Garten (Maia)
• Ich bin dein (Maia)

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/

Dutch composer Henriëtte Bosmans survived the war-torn Netherlands through both WWI and WWII, saving her mother from a concentration camp. She composed Dix Mélodies starting in 1949, after the war, after the death of her mother, and just a few years before her own passing.

You can hear Henriëtte and her partner Noémie Perugia performing some of these songs on YouTube. The score is available through Sheet Music Plus.

Recordings featured in this episode, performed by Sarah Austin, mezzo-soprano, and Ellen Rissinger, pianist:

• La chanson des marins halés
• Le regard éternel
• La chanson fatale
• Le diable dans la nuit

Recorded at the Carnegie Mellon School of Music Recording Studio in Pittsburgh, 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 follow Sarah Austin on Instagram @sarah_austin_music

Dame Ethel Smyth was a leader of the British women's suffragette movement in the early 20th century, and the first woman composer to have her opera, Der Wald, performed at the Metropolitan Opera in NYC. The Ethel Smyth dot org website is run by Women's Philharmonic Advocacy, and includes a complete list of works with purchase information for every piece.

We also talked a bit about the Rachel Peter's song "Ethel Smyth Plays Golf in Limbo." 

Click on the song set below for purchase information for the scores.

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

• Possession (Three Songs)
• Bei einer Linde (Op. 3)
• Tanzlied (Op. 4)
• Nachtgedanken (Op. 4)

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/

Karol Szymanowski was a notable Polish composer, with a vast repertoire of song literature in many languages. His musical styles span from late German Romanticism to impressionistic and atonal, and can be a great introduction to singing atonal music!

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

To clarify one point in the podcast, the Hafisliebeslieder, Op. 24, were originally poems by the 14th century Persian poet Hafiz of Shiraz. Szymanowski set the paraphrased German translation created by Hans Bethge, so German is the appropriate language for this set.

For purchase information, click on each individual song.

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

• Op 7 No 1 Łabędź (The Swan)
• Op 20 No 1 Na księżycu czarnym (To the Dark Moon)
• Op 24 No 3 Die Brennenden Tulpen
• Op 24 No 6 Trauriger Frühling
• Op 48 Berceuse No. 3
• Vocalise (note: this is from a complete edition of works. It may be preferable to look for this piece through Inter-Library Loan)

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/

Most of us probably know of Gian Carlo Menotti as an opera composer, with 25 operas to his credit, but he also had a small output of art songs to his own texts. His songs sound very much like miniatures of his operas and can be a great introduction to his style prior to working on the arias.

The scores for today are available at Sheet Music Plus: Canti della lontananza, Five Songs

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

• Mattinata di neve
• Il settimo bicchiere di vino
• La lettera
• The Eternal Prisoner
• The Idle Gift

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/