More praise for Renee Fleming
We had written about Boston Globe music critic Richard Dyer’s column praising soprano Renee Fleming. Now, the Boston Herald critic, T. J. Medrek, recently had an excellent column about her. He wrote that she is truly at the peak of her career and is adored by opera audiences around the world – she is even hailed as possessing the most beautiful voice in the world. Medrek also described her as stunningly beautiful.
She is 47, and sang an all-American program with the Boston Symphony Orchestra Sept. 29. She sang Samuel Barber’s lush, evocative “Knoxville Summer of 1915,” plus the arias “Summertime” and “My Man Is Gone Now,” from Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess.” She also performs operatic roles in Italian, French, German, Russian and even Czech. The Boston Symphony opening night tickets were on sale from $75 to $2,500. Imagine!
But I was interested in Medrek’s mention of Fleming’s new CD, “Homage: the Age of the Diva,” released last month. Fleming said that she chose every single aria, and she hopes people will love it.
I was able to obtain a copy at Bull Moose Music on Middle Street in Portland, and am enjoying it, although I am familiar with only two of the 14 arias, one from Puccini’s “Tosca,”the other from Verdi’s “Il Trovatore.” I’m enjoying her glorious voice in them all. I would love to see her in person, but the days when the Metropolitan Opera used to go on tour to large cities (and that included Boston) are over, and my chance of getting to New York City are quite slim. The Met does still broadcast their operas on Saturdays, during the winter, so I shall hear those this winter.
“God Bless America,” the song
Many of us have sung the song “God Bless America,” but did we know that the well-known composer Irving Berlin (1888-1989) wrote both the words and music?
Some of his best-known songs are “Always,” “All Alone,” “Remember,” “White Christmas,” “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” and “Oh, How I Hate to Get Up In the Morning.”
His original name was Israel Baline. He was born in Russia, came to the United States in 1893, where his early years were spent in great poverty. In 1904, he worked as a singing waiter in Chinatown and Bowery cabarets in New York City. In 1914, he wrote his first musical comedy, “Watch Your Step,” and in 1919 he started a firm for the publication of his music.
In 1938, he worked on a song he had written in 1918, which he decided was too solemn for a comedy he wrote when he was inducted in the Army, stationed at Camp Upton, in Yaphank, Long Island, N.Y. The comedy was “Yip, Yip, Yaphank.”
The song, “God Bless America,” was sung by Kate Smith, who asked him for a patriotic song for her to perform on her CBS radio program, which was to be broadcast from the New York World’s Fair on Nov. 10 to honor Armistice Day. The combination of that song and Kate’s fine contralto voice created an instant hit. Berlin generously signed over his royalty money from the song to charity, and the revenues went to the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts of America.
This is the chorus of that song, which is still sung frequently and proudly today:
“God Bless America”
Chorus:
God Bless America, land that I love,
Stand beside her and guide her,
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains to the prairies,
To the oceans white with foam.
God Bless America, my home sweet home.
Getting Gum-Gum straight
We used an interesting recipe back on June 28 called Gum-Gum’s Chop Suey. I had quoted Carol Reynolds (but in my May column I wrote Carol Ripley). She had worked for and was a good friend of the Stanley T. Bennett family, on Fairmont Street, Portland. She had thought that “young Stanley” Bennett had trouble with the word Grandma, and called her “Gum-Gum.” But I heard from my friend Alden Bennett, a Deering High School classmate of mine, Class of 1936. He and his wife Ellie, retired, live in Pennsylvania, but he is proud of his Portland and Chebeague Island connections and they still visit here. He also subscribes to the American Journal.
Alden wrote us in June. He said: “I feel bound to give my own version of ‘Gum-Gum.’ Stanley T. Bennett II was actually the fifth-born of my parents’ fourteen grandchildren, and Blanchie (Mrs. Stanley T. Bennett) was already ‘Gum-Gum’ before he arrived. Source of the name is probably Joe McKane (Barbara’s oldest), or, possibly, Stanley’s older sister, Priscilla Doucette.
Thanks. I think I’ve got it straightened out now!
Grange delight
The 1986 Grange cookbook, “The Glory of Cooking,” included recipes from many Grangers in the United States. This one from a Mainer, Dorothy Hutchins Maine director of women’s activities, sounded interesting.
THREE JELL-O DESSERT SALAD
3 small packages Jell-O, assorted colors
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoons unflavored gelatin
1 cup pineapple juice, heated
1 pint whipping cream
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Dissolve each package of Jell-O in 1-1/2 cups boiling water. Pour each into shallow pan. Chill until set. Combine next 3 ingredients in bowl, mix well. Press half the crumb mixture into dish. Soften unflavored gelatin in 1/3 cup cold water. Combine with hot pineapple juice in bowl, stirring until gelatin dissolves; cool. Whip cream with 1/2 cup sugar and vanilla in bowl until stiff peaks form. Stir in juice mixture. Cut congealed Jell-O into cubes. Fold into whipped cream. Spoon into prepared dish. Sprinkle with remaining crumbs. Chill 4 hours or longer. Cut into squares. Pan size: 9 x 13 inches. Yields 12 to 14 servings.
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