Polish soprano: Lucyna Szczepańska, AVE MARIA - Bach-Gounod, 1936 !

Lucyna Szczepańska (1909-1999) Polish soprano, called "A Warsaw Nightingale". A peak of her popularity and her successes covered the years 1932-39.
As the soloist of the Warsaw Opera was creating parts of Gilda, Elza, Lisa, Zosia, Amelia, Micaela, Leila, Graetchen and, subsequently, as the star of the Warsaw Operetta took part in spectacles to the music of Friml, Offenbach, Strauss, Lehar, Abraham and Heuberger.
She also sang and played in two Polish films, a piece of one of them may be watched on YT:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTQUWjrml-U

Recorded for Syrena-Electro, Odeon and Columbia.

This vivid and radiant career was disrupted, like so many others, by the day of September the 1st 1939 - the outbreak of the War.
During the war, Szczepańska did not resist, however, the offer of the German aggressor and agreed to perform in the "Theater der Stadt Warschau", controlled and censored by the occupant. This is revealed here as a fact in her biography, not as a moral estimation (!).
At the very end of the war, still in 1945, Lucyna Szczepańska illegally escaped from Poland
and through the Polish forces staying "on the West' arrived in Great Britain and later moved into the USA singing and performing there only occasionally; her great days having had already behind. To Poland returned in 1973.

Record and photos included to the video - JP's, the author of the video collection.

The song is preceded, however, by the instrumental introduction; it is overlapping beginning of the main recording to prevent it from unauthorised copying, so often experienced by me on YT.
This is taken from instrumental part of the "Addio", recorded for Parlophon by Joseph Schmidt, accompanied by Otto Dobrindt Orchestra.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Polish
• soprano
• Lucyna
• Szczepańska
• AVE
• MARIA
• Bach
• Gounod
• jurek46pink

[BelSoggiorno]

Lucyna Szczepańska is absolutely sublime here. She sings with a lovely tone that graces every note (unlike Eugenia Burzio's veristic "Ave Maria" on my channel...) And there is so much emotion in every phrase...

[jurek46pink]

@BelSoggiorno

The other side of this 78rpm is giving Schubert's AM - now I think that it will be worth of presenting

it, too.

Thank you.

[BelSoggiorno]

@jurek46pink

Also with Lucyna Szczepańska? Then you must upload it, please!

Adriano

[jurek46pink]

@BelSoggiorno

With pleasure. But not earlier than June, so many things fixed for presentation.

[jurek46pink]

@BelSoggiorno

Let me invite you, today, Friday evening:

it will be uploaded.

J.

[jordanlovessabres]

I'm in the process of learning Polish and this is so nice! Thank you for posting.

Piękne!!

[jurek46pink]

@jordanlovessabres

My best wishes !

[GW828]

".. ..Która perły masz od królów, złoto od rycerzy, W którą wierzy nawet taki, który w nic nie wierzy.." Jan Lechoń, Matka Boska częstochowska

[gmmix]

Beautiful performance and, as usual, your graphics are outstanding.

[chrizosthemis]

znakomicie. bardzo cenny film na YT.

[CurzonRoad]

Many thanks to JP for this very fine, lovely posting, and to AmhranaiAlainn for sharing!