Track Listing

1. La donna ancora è fedele, opera (with intermezzo 'Filandra e Selvino'): Se Florindo è fedele
2. Deborah, oratorio, HWV 51: Begrüssing
3. Ode for St Cecilia's Day (Song for St Cecilia's Day) for soloists, chorus & orchestra, HWV 76: Die Flöte weich Gefühl
4. Die Forelle ('In einem Bächlein helle'), song for voice & piano, D. 550 (Op. 32)
5. Schwanengesang (Swan Song), song cycle for voice & piano, D. 957: Der Doppelgänger
6. Die schöne Müllerin, song cycle, for voice & piano, D. 795 (Op. 25): Wohin?
7. Der Jüngling und der Tod ('Die Sonne sinkt'), song for voice & piano (two versions), D. 545
8. Erlkönig ('Wer reitet so spät'), song for voice & piano, D. 328 (Op. 1)
9. Vier ernste Gesänge (4), for voice & piano (Four Serious Songs), Op. 121: "Denn es gehet dem Menschen"
10. Vier ernste Gesänge (4), for voice & piano (Four Serious Songs), Op. 121: "Ich wandte mich, und sahe an alle"
11. Vier ernste Gesänge (4), for voice & piano (Four Serious Songs), Op. 121: "O Tod, o Tod, wie bitter bist du"
12. Vier ernste Gesänge (4), for voice & piano (Four Serious Songs), Op. 121: "Wenn ich mit Menschen-und mit Engelszungen redete"
13. Befreit ('Du wirst nicht weinen'), song for voice & piano (or orchestra), Op. 39/4 (TrV 189/4)
14. Im feld ein Mädchen singt (A maiden yonder sings), song for voice & piano, Op. 50/3
15. Work(s): Var det en dröm?
16. When I am laid in earth (from 'Dido and Aeneas'), soprano aria (Dido's Lament), Z. 626/38b
17. O men from the fields!
18. In the silence of the secret night, song for voice & piano, Op. 4/3: When Night Descends (In the Silence of the Night)
19. Élégie: O doux printemps d'autrefois, for voice & piano (from 'Mélodies, Vol.1')
20. Let Us Break Bread Together
21. My Soul's Been Anchored in the Lord, spiritual
22. Trampin', Trampin' (Tryin' to Make Heaven My Home)
23. Sinner, Please Don't Let This Harvest Pass
24. Honor! Honor!
25. The Cuckoo
26. Will-o-the-Wisp

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #136246 in Music
• Released on: 1999-11-30
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Amazon.com
The rich-toned, musically elegant, always dignified contralto Marian Anderson (1897-1993) is probably best known as the first African-American to sing at New York's Metropolitan Opera House, but by the time she did (in the mid '50s), her once burnished, glorious voice was no longer at its best. Years before, when she was not permitted to sing in the Daughters of the American Revolution's Constitution Hall (or any other hall in the U.S. capital), she gave a concert in the open air, in front of the Lincoln Memorial, which was attended by press, dignitaries, and a crowd of more than 75,000. Much of her late work is well known--arias from Verdi's Un ballo in maschera, spirituals, and the like--but this CD also allows us to hear the voice when it was young--in the 1930s and '40s. One can almost hear Schubert's trout ("Die Forelle") dancing around in the water, and an aria by Scarlatti shows Anderson's coloratura abilities--the big voice could be scaled down to intimate, chamberlike proportions. She brings her intelligence and textual insights to other songs by Schubert and Brahms as well. This is a marvelous collection and a fine tribute to an American original. --Robert Levine

Customer Reviews

Marian Anderson - an outstanding collection
This CD with recordings of Marian Anderson between 1936 and 1952, should be heavily promoted. The CD gives listeners a fantastic opportunity to hear the singer in a variety of song styles and languages. I heard her sing live, once, in the 1960's and was stunned then by her vocal skills and musicality. This is the first record or CD which truly reflects her amazing talent.