from Michael Barrett: Today’s song is “Let Us Break Bread Together” sung by Jessye Norman, with beautifully orchestrated accompaniment. Antonin Dvorak was an early champion of the negro spiritual during his stay in New York (and Iowa) in the early 20th century. He encouraged his black students to draw upon this music, extolling it for its […]
Read Morefrom Michael Barrett: In our brief survey of the Negro Spiritual this week, we’ve heard from Marian Anderson and Mahalia Jackson. Let’s hear now from Robert McFerrin Sr. from 1957. Yes, this is Bobby McFerrin’s Dad. Two years before this recording Mr. McFerrin became the first black man to sing at the Met. Listening to […]
Read MoreToday’s Song of the Day features Mahalia Jackson and Nat King Cole in Steal Away. The lyrics are “Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus. Steal away, steal away home. I ain’t got long to stay here.” Again, it is code for an escape to freedom. This recording from 1957 is a good reminder of how […]
Read MoreThis week’s Song of the Day selections come from NYFOS co-founder Michael Barrett: I have just been baptized in the Colorado River. It wasn’t intentional. I was swept into the rapids of Cataract Canyon about 100 miles south of Moab, Utah. I had several mouthfuls of the the holy water, and somehow survived. Two nights before I […]
Read MoreThis is our final post from guest DJ Mark Campbell. Thank you, Mark! Next week: NYFOS Co-founder Michael Barrett! Did You Ever Cross Over to Sneden’s? Music and lyrics by Alec Wilder TGIF. After all the heavy songs on my list this week, I now feature one that had no relation to a personal crisis […]
Read Morefrom librettist Mark Campbell: Knoxville: Summer of 1915 Music by Samuel Barber; text by James Agee I know this is not a “song.” But this is my week, not yours. I first heard this work in 1989 when my mother was diagnosed with cancer—and continued listening to it after she died a few months later. […]
Read Morefrom librettist Mark Campbell: Being Alive Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim I had to include a Sondheim song this week. Had to. “Being Alive” is not necessarily my favorite song from the Sondheim canon—but I have to admit that in my long and varied romantic life, I’ve often asked the same questions about love […]
Read Morefrom librettist Mark Campbell: This Charming Man Music and lyrics by The Smiths, Johnny Marr and Morrissey I am an ardent fan of Morrissey and The Smiths and love so many of their songs, so choosing one was very difficult. While this song was released originally in 1983, it was re-released in 1992, the time […]
Read MoreThis week’s SOTD curator is Mark Campbell, great friend of NYFOS and librettist of NYFOS’s two opera commissions: Bastianello and Lucrezia (by John Musto and William Bolcom, respectively). Thank you, Mark, for offering selections this week! from Mark Campbell: I am writing this on a flight somewhere over the Midwest, returning home from San Francisco where the […]
Read MoreOur last post from Cantor Joshua Breitzer! Remember to join Josh and NYFOS for A Goyishe Christmas to You! on December 14 at HENRY’s Restaurant. And up next week, one of NYFOS’s favorite librettists, Mark Campbell, will DJ the Song of the Day for you — stay tuned! from Joshua Breitzer: In the last decades Israel has […]
Read More