Music Meets Drama

  Ludwig van Beethoven, Jean Sibelius, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, JS Bach, Frederic Chopin, Anton Bruckner, Robert Schumann, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Johannes Brahms, Luigi Boccherini, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Hector Berlioz, and Richard Wagner.  What do all of these composers have in common?  First, they are all men and second, they have statues of their likeness in public squares across Europe and some in the United States.    Chris Wiley, of London, England, recently posted on Facebook that a statue of composer/suffragette Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1944) had been unveiled in her home town of Woking, England.   The unveiling, appropriately, was held on International Women’s Day, March 8 th .     Dame Ethel Smyth’s legacy as a composer and suffragette is exemplary for those of us who have come after her.   She studied at the Leipzig Conservatory.   She   met Clara Schumann and J ohannes Brahms.   She composed instrumental...

 The great German composer, Richard Wagner (1813-1883) wrote challenging and complex operas including” Parsifal,” The Ring Cycle,” “ Lohengrin,” “ Die Meistersinger, “ “Tristan und Isolde”  and many others.  The vocal demands on singers who perform roles in these operas are great.  The vocal lines are long and complicated supported by an orchestra of 100 musicians.  Wagnerian singers are the royalty of opera singers and are in demand.   Less than thirty years after Wagner’s death, American bass-baritone Putnam Griswold (1875-1914) became known as the leading interpreter of Wagner’s   heroic bass roles.  His success did not come overnight and required years of training.    Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and raised in California, Griswold Putnam followed a business career.  At the age of 22 he discovered his singing voice.  He began his training in California, studied in London, Paris, Frankfurt and Berlin.  His...