wwuh
wwuh logo 2

Broadcasting as a Community Service  

91 .3FM
 


new UH logo  
  
WWUH 91.3 FM
Program Guide
September/October, 2017
In This Issue
Volunteer Spotlight
Volunteer Spotlignt
Hosts Needed
Flashback: 1974
Public Affairs on WWUH
Classical Music on WWUH
Composer Birthdays
Sunday Afternoon at the Opera
WWUH Archive Now Online
How To Listen
Join Our List
 
WWUH - Your Live, Local, Listener-Supported Station
 
 
 
There has been a disturbing trend over the last decade or so of college stations being sold to out of state religious broadcasters.  This has just happened to WBRU, Brown University's station that has a reputation of outstanding programming spanning many decades. 

To add insult to injury many of the remaining college broadcasters have become automated which when implemented properly still is no substitute for a local and live programmer.  And unfortunately much of the program automation I hear on college stations is stale and unimaginative and often lacks announcements for local events.

I'm mentioned this in the hope that if you value live community programming such as is produced by stations like WWUH that you show your support.  Tell a friend about "your" great station and donate when they ask for your help.


John Ramsey
General Manager

Volunteer Spotlight - Susan Forbes Hansen
Susan Forbes Hansen 


 



On August 30, 2010, I hosted the first Monday afternoon airing of "Watch This Space."  The show occupied that slot until October 11, 2013, when Steve Theaker and I swapped time-slots - me to Friday mornings, Steve to Monday afternoons.  So now I get up at 4:15 on Friday mornings (if I've gone to sleep at all), fix myself a smoothie, and haul it and my CDs and myself to the station. It's a time of day when one is really aware of the season-changes - the sky goes from black to bright and black again; sometimes I see the moon and sometimes I see the sun; and some mornings I hear frogs and some mornings I hear birds and some mornings there's near-complete silence around the small river that flows through the campus and next to our parking lot.
 
I've been doing folk-music-shows on radio since 1979, when I joined the WHUS staff at UConn and began hosting "The Sunday Night Folk Festival."  I've hosted the long-running "Valley Folk" at WFCR and the shorter-lived "In Town" (originated by WWUH-alum John Merino) at WNPR.  Clearly there's something in this music that speaks to me, that keeps me paying attention. Maybe because it's a genre that itself pays attention:  not many genres speak to so many important issues.  That's not to say it's ALL serious and grim - hardly.  There's great diversity and humor and beauty in the work that I get to play and it just keeps fitting well into my ears and brain.  My taste in other genres is very limited - it's just that ... fitting-thing. 
 
Sometimes we get to host musicians in the studio, for a bit of live music and a bit of chat about that music and its inspirations. Sometimes they're touring through the area and sometimes they've just driven in from the town next door.  It helps us connect more directly to what they're singing about.
 
I made my first-ever radio-station-donation to WWUH.  It was a tiny contribution, based on my tiny salary, sometime around 1977.  I don't remember what the show was, I only remember that it was during the business day because I called from my new job at a small ad agency across from Bushnell Park.  I don't even remember how the radio came to be tuned to WWUH - there was a radio next to my desk and the station had probably been set by my recent predecessor.   Later  I started volunteering at the station as a phone-op during fund-drives, and once I was a retiree I was able to fill in occasionally and to work on the folk calendar.
 
WWUH's listeners are wonderful (of course the folk-listeners are the best!).  They call with encouragement and contributions and the very rare complaint.  They're with us at 6am and any other part of the day to answer phones.  They've alerted me to events and passings and songs that juuuuust might fit, and some have become friends.    

Volunteer Spotlight
Andy Zeldin










     






     

     Andy Zeldin joined the staff in 1975. He had fallen in love with radio and music at a very early age and had listened to WWUH for years before volunteering.  His first show, a Friday night Gothic Blimp Works, was in May, 1975.  Prior to joining the WWUH staff Andy didn't have any radio experience but he had  "played around with home equipment creating (musical) segues that made sense in my head and ears."   
     Andy does periodic fill ins in the Rock, Blues and Jazz Departments at UH and loves the freedom to play anything he wants to, except of course for songs with bad words in them. He enjoys a great segue, and makes every attempt to achieve them on the air, making a smooth flow of music from one set to the next, as he wanders all over the musical map when doing a Rock show. 
     WWUH is the station Andy listens to the most but he says he "twizzles the dial around other college radio stations, and occasionally listen to commercial radio to reinforce how much I love alternative college radio."
      His love of music, of WWUH and of the interaction with fellow music lovers is what keeps him active at WWUH.  He also has a "continued and continuous" desire to turn people on to what he considers great music.
      When asked if he played a musical instrument Andy responded " Besides outstanding proficiency on most "air instruments", no, I do not play a land based instrument. My singing can actually bring down birds, so I tend to only sing in the shower, my car, or in the on-air studio.
      Andy describes WWUH as "a  shaken, not stirred cocktail of love of music, love of discovering and sharing great music, the freedom to play whatever floats my boat".  He continues to be drawn to WWUH by the people who volunteer and run the station, and of course the listeners who make it a true two-way street.
      

Have An Idea for A Program?
 

If you have an idea for a radio program and are available to volunteer late at night, please let us know.

We may have some midnight and/or 3am slots available later this year.  Email station manager  John Ramsey to find out more about this unique and exciting opportunity for the right person.

Qualified candidates will have access to the full WWUH programmer orientation program so no experience is necessary. He/she will also need to attend the monthly WWUH staff meetings (held on Tuesday or Sunday evenings) and do behind the scenes volunteer work from time to time. This is a volunteer position.

After completing this process, we will review the candidate's assets and accomplishments and they will be considered for any open slots in our schedule.


C
Flashback - 1974
43 Years Ago
 

 "Insight into WWUH"
 May 1974 submitted by G.M. Judy Corcoran.


During the last promotional campaign for WWUH, we tried to find an adjective to describe WWUH.  It is almost impossible to describe WWUH in one word.  We feel too big to be called college radio. We're not quite public radio because the government does not fund us, although we air the kinds of programs many public radio stations do.  And we're more than alternative rock, because we air some of the best soul, jazz, and classical music around. We finally decided on WWUH: Public Alternative Radio. 

Working at WWUH has been a unique experience for most of us.  At most college stations, radio is a hobby.  To most people at WWUH, radio is a lifestyle and WWUH is our family. The people rarely leave or lose contact with the station.  This has been one part of the success of WWUH.  The other part has been the staff's dedication to forego almost anything to keep the station on the air with quality programming.  And with a staff that turns over nearly each semester (some of us even graduate), keeping the high programming standard is no easy feat.
 
Judging from listener response and due largely to the Program Guide, WWUH has a steady audience who are finally realizing that we offer different forms of programming at specific times. Consequently, they tune back.  There is also a small audience who listen to UH most of the time, people who like jazz, classics, rock, public affairs, and special programs.

One advantage of non-commercial college radio is that it is constantly growing and experimenting.  Some problems come and go, some remain, but the basic concern for the station is always there.  WWUH has addressed three major concerns this year: lack of money, lack of space, and lack of academic credit for the work that is done. 

WWUH took a big step this year when it finally moved its transmitter to Avon Mountain.  Besides making UH one of the largest college stations in the East, the move cost around $14,000.   After begging and borrowing, we came up with the money.  In the past, WWUH has had a reserve fund from the original Roth family grant but now that account is almost empty. 

Fiscal year '74-75 should be extremely tight.  We have received $14,000 from the University for the past few years as an annual operating budget.  This year we purchased a new audio control board for $3,000 and now we are in need of automatic gain control, an FM exciter, cart machines, a production board, and eventually, a new transmitter.

There have been many meetings and memos this past semester regarding the building of the Communications Department to provide a Major in public communications.  There is much interest among students at UH for such a program, as many people at WWUH have, are, and will work as professionals in broadcasting.  Fortunately, WWUH allows non-students to work here, both on and off air. This is one of the reasons the air sound is so good. 

During this past year, about seven announcers have had previous professional experience.  This arrangement is beneficial to both listeners and to students, who learn from these professionals.

The programming department became very strong during the past year.  With much credit due to Roger Stauss, Program Director, WWUH has been on the air, with a few exceptions, for 20 hours a day, 365 days a year.  WWUH has also regularly produced its own programs such as "Music from Czechoslovakia," hosted by Joza Karas, an hourly program featuring native artists performing music composed by Czechoslovakians.  Another WWUH original weekly program is "African Worlds," hosted by Professor Ifekandu Umunna, which highlights many different African cultures.

          On April 22, WWUH signed back on the air with its new transmitter facilities.  The move cost a lot of money, caused a lot of work, produced a lot of headaches, and took a lot of time.  The move is probably one of the most significant things that have happened to WWUH since it began.  A big fundraising marathon and arts festival were planned for May but cancelled in April because at that time we didn't know when the transmitter move would be completed.  It has been rescheduled for the fall.
        
  Another project in the works concerns the rights of a non-commercial station to state its editorial options.   Currently, Section 399 of the Communications Act of 1934 states: "No non-commercial, educational broadcasting station my engage in editorializing or may support or oppose any candidate for political office."   I have written to the FCC for confirmation that this law is still in effect.  If so, I plan to notify the non-commercial college stations across country and work in a combined effort to change the law.

WWUH has been gaining recognition in the community.  The Program Guide, under the editorship of Terry Sobestanovich, has helped publicize both the station and the many different programs offered on WWUH.  Donations have been averaging $20 a week and many programs have been underwritten by commercial institutions.
Complimentary letters average about three a week.

The main thing that I have noticed is that WWUH is becoming known as "a radio station."  WWUH is often played in stores and can be heard on car radios and blasting from people's rooms and homes. Window stickers are often sighted and area professionals are aware of us.  But we haven't done it alone.  Much of the credit for the current station's success is due to the people who started WWUH.  Everyone who has passed through its doors has been touched and has touched others.  WWUH is a good place.

Public Affairs on WWUH
Real Alternative News
 
For close to 50 years WWUH has aired a variety of community affairs programs.

Here is our current schedule:
Monday: Noon - 1pm  Alternative Radio
  8:00 - 9:00 pm  Radio Ecoshock
Tuesday:  Noon - 12:30 pm  New World Notes
   12:30 -  1:00 pm  Counterspin
    8:00 - 9:00 pm  Black Agenda Report
Wednesday:  Noon - 12:30 pm  911 Wake Up Call
                 12:30 - 1:00 pm   Building Bridges
           8:00 - 8:30 pm  911 Wake Up Call
           8:30 - 9:00 pm  New World Notes
Thursday:   Noon - 1:00 pm  Project Censored
                  7:30 - 8:00 pm  Making Contact
                  8:00 - 8:30 pm  This Way Out
                  8:30 - 9:00 pm Gay Spirit
Friday:        12:00 - 12:30 pm  New Focus
                  12:30 - 1:00 pm  TUC Radio
Sunday:      4:30 - 5:00 pm  Explorations
 
WWUH Classical Programming  
September/October, 2017
 

Sunday Afternoon at the Opera... Sundays 1 - 4:30 pm
Evening Classics... Weekdays 4:00 to 7:00/ 8:00 pm
Drake's Village Brass Band... Mondays 7:00-8:00 pm

September
Fri
1
Music to celebrate Labor Day
Sun
3
Rorem: Our Town
Mon
4
Stucky: American Muse; Gershwin: Concerto in F for Piano and Orchestra; Previn: Tango, Song and Dance; Copland: Music for Movies; Drake's Village Brass Band...USAF Heritage of America Band: American Salute
Tue
5
Telemann: Ouverture-Suite in E minor after 'Die kleine Kammermusik' TWV 55:e3; Hindemith: Septet for Wind Instruments; D. Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonatas; J. S. Bach: Cantata for the 12th Sunday after Trinity [Trinity 12] BWV 69a: 'Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele'; W.A. Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major, K. 219; Brahms: Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34
Wed
6
Rota: Symphony No. 1; Chausson: Songs; Saint-Saens: La Muse et le Poete; Wofl: Piano Sonata; Negra: Le Gratie d'Amore
Thu
7
Host's Choice
Fri
8
Strauss was his name, but he didn't waltz into fame
Sun
10
Mozart: Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail
Mon
11
Carter: String Quartet #2; Schuman: String Quartet #3; Porter: String Quartet #5; Antheil: Symphony #4 "1942";
Adams: On the Transmigration of Souls; Rouse: Symphony #3 "After Prokofiev"; Drake's Village Brass Band... Alison Balsom: Debut - Music for Trumpet and Organ
Tue
12
Nin: Suite Espagnole; Boyer: Titanic; Taneyev: String Quartet #1 in b , Op. 4; Connesson: Cosmic Trilogy
Wed
13
Neukomm: Grand Sinfonia; Crecquillon: Missa Mort m'a Prive; Debussy: Martyrdom of St. Sebastian; Paderewski: Pianos Sonata in E Flat; Naudot: Caprice
Thu
14
Handel: Alexander's Feast Concerto Grosso; J.M. Haydn: Trumpet Concerto in D, Duo for Violin and Viola No. 1 in C MH 335, Symphony No. 11 in B Flat MH82/P9; Cherubini: Medea Overture, String Quartet No. 2 in C; Bache: Piano Concerto in E; Bizet: Carmen Suites Nos. 1 & 2; Cimarosa: Piano Sonatas Nos. 5-8.
Fri
15
Classical music goes ambient
Sun
17
Hartmann: Liden Kirsten
Mon
18
Porter: String Quartets # 6 & 7; Antheil: Symphony #5 "Joyous"; Rouse: Symphony #4; Boston Symphony Chamber Players Play Carter, Ives and Porter Drake's Village Brass Band... Alison Balsom: Légende
Tue
19
Still: Lyric Quartet; Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto #1 in a, Op. 33; Haydn: String Quartet in g, Op. 20, #3; Grieg: Symphonic Dances, Op. 64
Wed
20
Tippett: Symphony No. 1; Rheinberger: Requiem; Ciconia: Songs; Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin; Blumer: From the Animal Kingdom
Thu
21
Host's Choice
Fri
22
Fall has fallen and it can't get up
Sun
24
Verdi: Luisa Miller
Mon
25
Music from 1967... Schuller: Triplum; Ligeti: Concerto for Cello and Orchestra; Gould: Audiograph for Orchestra and Brass Choir; Hovhaness; To Vishu; Copland: Inscape; Mahler: Blumine; Foss: Phorion; Carter: Piano Concerto Drake's Village Brass Band... Philip Jones Brass Ensemble Play West Side Story/ Little Three Penny Music
Tue
26
Telemann: Ouverture-Suite in G major after 'Die kleine Kammermusik' TWV 55:G2; Hindemith: Das Marienleben, revised version, 1948 (Songs 1-8); D. Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonatas; J. S. Bach: Cantata for the 15th Sunday after Trinity [Trinity 15] BWV 138: 'Warum betruebst du dich, mein Herz'; Dora Pejacevic: Piano Concerto in G Minor, Op. 33; Fasch: Suite for 2 Orchestras, FWV K:B1
Wed
27
Schubert : Mass in E Flat Major; Berwald: Duo in D Major; Trabaci: Cento Veri; Simpson: Dances; Quantz: Flute Concerto
Thu
28
Ponce: Gavotta; Mattheson: Overture in F; Cimarosa: Piano Sonatas Nos. 9-12; Kellner: Ach Schonster Unter Allen; Stich-Punto: Horn Concerto No. 5 in F; Florent Schmitt: Lied et Scherzo, Op. 54; Vivian Fine: Canciones y Danzas - No. 3 "Tango: The Frog Prince and The Senorita"; Dvorak: Prague Waltzes; Mahler: Symphony No. 1; Sibelius: King Kristian II, incidental music, Op. 27.
Fri
29
Host's Choice
October
Sun
1
Dvorak: Rusalka
Mon
2
Porter: String Quartets 8 & 9; Poulenc: Sextet; Vaughan Williams: Discoveries; Bates: B Sides Drake's Village Brass Band... American Brass Quintet Play David Sampson and others
Tue
3
Telemann: Ouverture-Suite in C minor after 'Die kleine Kammermusik' TWV 55:C3; Hindemith: Das Marienleben, revised version, 1948 (Songs 9-15); D. Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonatas; J. S. Bach: Cantata for the 16th Sunday after Trinity [Trinity 16] BWV 95: 'Christus, der ist mein Leben'; Clara Schumann: Piano Sonata in G Minor; C.P.E. Bach: Oboe Concerto in E-Flat Major, Wq. 165, H. 468
Wed
4
Sullivan: Selections from Patience; Schoenberg: Pelleas and Melisande; Porpora: Magnificat; Nickelmann: Harpsichord Sonatas; Music from the Court of Philip of Spain
Thu
5
New Releases. A Sampling of New Acquisitions from the WWUH Library
Fri
6
They missed the train - Part 1 (Composers who should have been 20th century composers but didn't quite make it)
Sun
8
Rameau: Les Indes Galantes
Mon
9
John Adams 70th Birthday... Adams: Son of Chamber Symphony, String Quartet; Adams Conducts American Elegies; Adams: Harmonium Drake's Village Brass Band... Joseph Alessi, Trombone New York Legends
Tue
10
Wolf: String Quartet in B , Op. 3, #1; Herrmann: Devil and Daniel Webster Suite; Wyner: The Mirror; Tubin: Symphony #3
Wed
11
Brunetti: Sinfonia No. 26; Delius: Songs; Poulenc: Gloria; Berlioz: Harold in Italy; Pinto: Grand Sonata
Thu
12
Weiss: Concerto Grosso in Bb, Tombeau sur la mort de Monsieur Comte de Logy; Krebs: Concerto for Oboe and Keyboard in b; Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini Overture; Cimarosa: Piano Sonatas Nos. 13-16; Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, Serenade to Music, Six Studies in English Folksong, The Wasps Aristophanic Suite; Willan: I beheld her beautiful as a dove, Rise up my love my fair one; Buchardo: Bailecito, Cancion del carretero; Haydn: Piano Sonata in No. 59 in E Flat Hob.XVI:49; Rachmaninoff: Prince Rotislav.
Fri
13
A ballet score by Declan Patrick MacManus
Sun
15
Rossini: Tancredi
Mon
16
Philip Glass 80th Birthday... Glass: The Photographer, Symphony #10 Drake's Village Brass Band... Philip Myers, French Horn New York Legends
Tue
17
Hovhaness: Symphony #1, Op. 17, #2; Crusell: Clarinet Quartet #2 in c, Op. 4; Melartin: Violin Concerto, Op. 60; Mosonyi: String Quartet #1 in D
Wed
18
Pichl: Sinfonia; Donizetti: Selections from Lucia di Lammermoor; Nebra Blasco: Hymns; Czerny: String Quartet in D Minor; D. Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonata
Thu
19
Host's Choice
Fri
20
What do Igor Stravinsky and Wynton Marsalis have in common?
Sun
22
Pergolesi: Adriano in Siria
Mon
23
Charles Ives Birthday Celebration... Three Classic Ives Albums - Old Songs Deranged, Music for Theatre Orchestra with the Yale Theatre Orchestra; Charles Ives Songs with Jan DeGaetani and Gilbert Kalish
Tue
24
Godard: Violin Concerto #2, Op. 131; Krommer: String Quartet in e, Op. 7, #2; Klami: Kalevala Suite, Op. 23; Bruch: String Quartet in c, Op. 9
Wed
25
Corcoran: Symphony; Victoria: Mass; Tunder: Concerto; Shostakovich: Piano Concerto; Schumann: Piano Concerto in A Minor
Thu
26
Host's Choice
Fri
27
Music for Halloween
Sun
29
Gilbert & Sullivan: The Sorcerer
Mon
30
Monday Night at the Movies... John Williams 85th Birthday Close Encounters , Clarinet Concerto, Cello Concerto Drake's Village Brass Band... John Williams Music for Brass
Tue
31
Telemann: Ouverture-Suite in C major TWV 55:C6; Hindemith: Clarinet Concerto; D. Scarlatti: Keyboard Sonatas; J.S. Bach: Cantata for the 20th Sunday after Trinity [Trinity 20] BWV 162: 'Ach, ich sehe, itzt, da ich zur Hochzeit gehe'; Eugenio Toussaint (1954-2011): Dias de los Muertos (Days of the Dead)
 
 


  
Thursday Evening Classics
 
              Library
 
Thursday Evening Classics - Composer Birthdays for September/October, 2017
 
September 7
1726 François-André Danican Philidor
 
September 14
1737 Johann Michael Haydn
1760 Luigi Cherubini
1833 Francis Edward Bache
 
September 21
1698 François Francoeur
1874 Gustav Holst
 
September 28
1681 Johann Mattheson
1705 Johann Peter Kellner
1746 Giovanni Punto (Jan Václav Stich)
1870 Florent Schmitt
1913 Vivian Fine
 
October 5
1875 Cyril Bradley Rootham
 
October 12
1686 Silvius Leopold Weiss
1713 (bapt) Johann Ludwig Krebs
1872 Ralph Vaughan Williams
1880 Healey Willan
1881 Carlos López Buchardo
 
October 19
1903 Vittorio Giannini
1908 Nils Geirr Tveitt
1916 Karl-Birgir Blomdahl
 
October 26
1685 Domenico Scarlatti
1694 Johan Helmich Roman

 
 
  
SUNDAY AFTERNOON AT THE OPERA
your "lyric theater" program
with Keith Brown
programming selections for the months of  Sept. and Oct.,2017

 
SUNDAY - SEPTEMBER 3RD Rorem, 
Our Town It was a hit when the original play was first staged in 1938; then in 1940 came the movie version, with film music by none other than Aaron Copland. Now Thornton Wilder's Our Town has been made into an opera! In 1951 Copland was asked to expand his film score into an opera, but Wilder wouldn't permit it. The playwright was notoriously picky about authorizing musical arrangements of his stageworks. Our Town had to wait until long after Wilder's passing when in 2006 Ned Rorem's operatic version was premiered at the Indiana University Opera Theater and subsequently professionally produced by Lake George Opera in upstate New York. Rorem treats the play as a chamber opera; his scoring is light and transparent. The formal structure of scenes closely follows Wilder's stage conception. Wilder wanted to depict stories of the lives of common laboring folk in an early twentieth century American town. Our Town the opera is perfect for broadcast on the Sunday of the Labor Day holiday weekend. And not only is Ned Rorem's Our Townan American working people's opera: it's a quintessentially New England opera as well. Wilder's town Grover's Corners is modelled on Peterborough, New Hampshire. Our Town was recorded in 2013 at the Rogers Center for the Arts, Merrimack College, in North Andover, Massachusetts, also in New England and not all that far from Peterborough. Gil Rose conducts the instrumentalists and chorus of Monadnock Music, with a large cast of Grover's Corners townies. Our Town the opera was released just this year on two compact discs through New World Records.
 
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 10TH
Mozart, Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail
No opera of Mozart's was so successful in his own lifetime. Immediately after its introduction at Vienna's Burgtheater in 1782 it took off for opera houses all over German-speaking Europe and beyond. "The Abduction from the Seraglio" is the finest specimen of a special subgenre of lyric theater in the eighteenth century: the "Turkish" opera. Sometimes comedic, sometimes melodramatic in nature, such operas were based upon a love story or tale of rescue and were set in some exotic location in the Near East. Every composer of any stature in Mozart's time tried his hand at Turkish opera. Over the years I've broadcast recordings of such works by Sammartini, Kraus and Haydn. Mozart's Turkish opera is also a Singspiel, an 18th century form of German musical comedy with spoken dialog. There are a lot of good recordings of "The Abduction" around. On Sunday, October 4, 1992 I broadcast a Sony Classical release of the Singspiel, recorded in 1991 in Vienna with Bruno Weil conducting the Vienna Symphony and chorus of the Vienna State Opera. That same year John Eliot Gardiner, the specialist in historically informed eighteenth century performance practice, recorded his own interpretation in London for Deutsche Grammophon's Archiv subsidiary. Gardiner led his own English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir. The Gardiner "Abduction" went over the air on Sunday, August 4, 2013. The British label L'Oiseau Lyre (a subdivision of Decca) came out with a recording of Die Entfuhrung in 1990. This also was a historically informed, period instrument interpretation. The late Christopher Hogwood, another pioneer in this field, directed the ensemble he founded, the Academy of Ancient Music. The L'Oiseau Lyre recording I broadcast almost exactly two years ago on Sunday, September 13, 2015. Normally I would not feature this opera again so soon, but the French Harmonia Mundi label came out in 2015 with a "period" take on "The Abduction" that is so good it surpasses all those that have come before it. Rene Jacobs has given us a series of recordings of the Mozart operas which  have opened people's ears to their full freshness and dramatic power. I have broadcast these HM releases as they have been received into our WWUH classical music record library. Jacobs directs the period instrument players of the Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin and the Radio Berlin Chamber Choir. Among the assets of the Jacobs take on this Mozart opera are passages of the complete spoken word dialog and appropriate sound effects, plus an additional track of a Turkish march by Michael Haydn inserted into Act One just before the chorus of the Turkish Janissary soldiers.
 
SUNDAYSEPTEMBER 17TH Hartmann, Liden Kirsten 
Let's look into the history of opera in Scandinavia. Liden Kirsten is a pioneering work of Danish opera. Denmark's leading composer of the nineteenth century, J. P. E. Hartmann (1805-1900) collaborated with the world-famous Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen, whose libretto for "Little Kirsten" incorporates examples of old Danish folk ballads. Hartmann set the ballads to melodies inspired by Danish folk song. "Little Kirsten" is a chivalric romance taking place circa 1100 AD. The opera received its definitive recording through Dacapo Records. That recording was made in 1998 in co-production with Radio Denmark. It employs the musical resources of the  Danish National Radio Symphony and Choir, Michael Schonwandt conducting. I last broadcast Liden Kirsten on Sunday, September 12, 1999. After Hans Christian Andersen, Scandinavia's next most famous writer in the nineteenth century would certainly be the Norwegian playwright Hendrik Ibsen. Norway's most famous composer Edvard Grieg provided the incidental music for Ibsen's play Peer Gynt in 1876. Keep listening for the complete incidental music, which includes solo singing and choral numbers. (Jarvi/ Gothenburg Sympyhony/ Gosta Ohlin's Vocal Ens. /Pro Musica Chamber Choir /Deutsche Grammophon, 1987.)
 
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 24TH Verdi, Luisa Miller
With Luisa Miller (1849) Giuseppe Verdi turned the corner into the period of his most famous works, the ones that are considered pillars of the international operatic repertoire. Luisa itself, however, suffered the fate of its predecessors. Like those early "galley slave" works of his, they were all the rage for a  few years upon their introduction on stage, lingered on to the end of the nineteenth century and then disappeared until their general revival in the second half of the twentieth century. In this his fourteenth opera Verdi was really hitting his stride as an opera composer. Verdi's librettist Salvatore Cammarano adapted a play by the eighteenth century German playwright Friedrich Schiller. The story goes to show that a love match between a young nobleman and a peasant girl is bound to end in tragedy. RCA Italiana recorded Luisa Miller in Rome in with a cast of luminaries from the Met. The Italian-American soprano AnnaMoffo was heard in the title role. I broadcast those vintage early stereoRCA LP'sway back on Sunday, September 24, 1988. Then on Sunday, November 17, 1996 came a Decca/LondonCD release of a Luisa Miller taped in 1975 with  the Spanish diva soprano Monserrat Caballe as the beautiful commoner's daughter. Opposite Caballe was the late great tenor Luciano Pavarotti as Rodolfo, Count Walter's son. Peter Maag was conducting the National Philharmonic Orchestra and London Opera Chorus. That Luisa recording is now certainly of historic significance. This Sunday you get to hear Caballe again as Luisa in a 1968 production of the opera at the Metropolitan Opera house, NYC. She was recorded live onstage on February 17, 1968. This time she faces the Met's own tenor Richard Tucker as Rodolfo. The Italian American basso Giorgio Tozzi portrays Count Walter. Thomas Schippers directed the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus. Although it was taped in the era of stereophonic sound, this Luisais a monaural recording, an aircheck of what went out in radio broadcast live from the Met. A series of historic recordings from the Met's audio archives were issued through Sony Classical in digitally upgraded sound and in compact disc format. Luisa Miller was released in that series on two CD's in 2012.
 
SUNDAY OCTOBER 1ST 
Dvorak, Rusalka
I was jinxed the first time I tried to broadcast Antonin Dvorak's Rusalka (1901) on Sunday, May 22,1994. I had hoped to air an old Urania LP set, recorded in mono sound in 1952 in East Germany, setting forth this the greatest of all Czech operas in German language translation. I was unable to get hold of that recording by showtime, so I substituted the much more recent Supraphon CD release of excerpts from the opera in the original Czech. Prior to this 1984 release Supraphon, the Czechoslovak state record label, had recordedRusalkatwice. Their 1984 Rusalka is clearly better than all those that came before it, in no small part because of soprano Gabriela Benackova's soaring interpretation of the title role. Vaclav Neumann directs the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus. The complete three act opera was issued on three compact discs. Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904) is best known today for his "New World" Symphony no. 9 and for his Slavonic Dances and other orchestral works. He also wrote eight operas, but they are rarely performed outside of his native country. All of Dvorak's music is redolent of Nature, and the beauties of the Bohemian countryside were often the direct inspiration for some of his finest music. Such is the case with the fairy tale opera Rusalka. Thinking about the jinx, the story of Rusalka concerns a magic spell which is ultimately a curse. A water nymph undertakes the spell because she wants to win the love of a mortal prince. Tragic consequences ensue. I last broadcast the 1984 Supraphon Rusalka on Sunday, June 16, 1996.
 
SUNDAY OCTOBER 8TH 
Rameau, Les Indes
GalantesJean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764) was the greatest composer of the French baroque, as well as the most important musical theoretician of his age. He should rightly be ranked alongside his contemporaries J. S. Bach and George Frideric Handel. Rameau took to composing French opera only later in his life. He was fifty years old when his first one Hippolyte et Aricie premiered in 1733. Les Indes Galantes followed in 1735 and he penned many more right up until the time of his death at age eighty one. I first broadcast Les Indes Galantes way back on Sunday, September 22, 1985 working from CBS Masterworks stereo LP's. Previously I had broadcast CBS Masterworks releases of Rameau's Le Temple de la Gloire (1747-48) on Sunday, December 11, 1983 and Hippolyte et Aricie on Sunday, April 29, 1984. All three recordings featured the period instrumental group La Grande Ecurie et la Chambre du Roy, founded and directed by Jean-Claude Malgoire. Like John Eliot Gardiner and Christopher Hogwood, Malgoire was a pioneer in the field ofauthentic baroque practice. In Les Indes Galantes Rameau aimed at providing the opera-going public of Paris with a truly international spectacle. "Love around the world" is the theme of this galant ballet heroique, as it was styled. Dancers representing the European nations of France, Italy, Spain and Poland take part in the prologue. The four acts of the opera are separate romantic vignettes set in Turkey, Peru, Persia and the rainforest of  the Amazon. "Make love, not war!" is a tacit sub-theme throughout. When I last aired Les Indes Galantes that CBS Masterworks release was not at all new. The original 1974 recording was reissued in 2016 on three compact discs through Sony Classical.
 
SUNDAY OCTOBER 15TH Rossini,Tancredi
This is Gioacchino Rossini's first great opera seria, written for the illustrious Teatro La Fenice in Venice in 1813, when the composer was a mere twenty one years of age. Tancredi took Europe by storm. It remained so popular that it influenced Wagner half a century later, when he quoted a Rossini tune in a chorus in Die Meistersinger. Rossini changed the original happy ending of the opera for a revival in Ferrara, giving it a  surprising tragic twist. The  music for the alternate final scene, when the mortally wounded knight is married to his beloved Amenaide, was rediscovered in the early 1970's. The American diva Marilyn Horne championed the Ferrarese death scene. She made it her own in the 1985 CBS Masterworks release of Tancredi, recorded live in performance in co-production with the Italian record label Fonicetra. Ralf Weikert conducts the La Fenice theater orchestra and chorus. Keep in mind that the role of the knight Tancredi was taken by a mezzo. In the eleventh century AD the noble knight defended Christian Sicily against the Muslim invaders from North Africa. Tancredi's betrothed Amenaide is soprano Lella Cuberli. I have  broadcast the CBS Masterworks LP release of Tancredi twicebefore, first on Sunday, November 10, 1985 when it was a brand new acquisition to our WWUH record library, and again on Sunday, November8, 2009.
 
SUNDAY OCTOBER 22ND Pergolesi,   Adriano in Siria
In the first half of the eighteenth century there was what has been called the "Neapolitan School" of opera composers. The only one of these Neapolitans whose name is remembered today is Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-36), and the only opera he is remembered for is the short one act comic intermezzo La Serva Padrona (1733). Pergolesi helped to create the genre of the Italian opera buffa. He wrote a few full length comic operas and he turned out serious lyric theaterworks, too. One of these is Adriano in Siria (1734). Pergolesi worked from a libretto by Pietro Metastasio. In the mid eighteenth century Metastasio's wordbooks were set to music again and again. They set the standard in Italian opera seria at the  end of the baroque. In Adriano in Siria Metastasio concocted a totally fictional story about the Roman emperor Hadrian. This opera's got it all: the conflict between love and duty, intrigue both amorous and political, disguise, a faked murder and arson,to boot! The fabulous castrato singing star Caffarelli took the role of Parnaspe, prince of Parthia, when Adriano premiered at the Teatro San Bartolomeo in Naples. Adriano the emperor was portrayed by a female soprano in what's called a "breeches role." High voices were always favored in baroque opera. In place of the castrato voice in the world premiere recording of Adriano in Siria we hear the countertenor Franco Fagioli, and another high-voiced male singer Yuriy Mynenko was cast as Adriano. This opera seria was produced for concert performance in the studios of Radio Cracow in Poland. Jan Tomasz Adamus conducted the period instrumentalists of the Capella Cracoviensis. Decca released Adriano in Siria on three compact discs in 2016.
 
SUNDAY  OCTOBER 29TH Gilbert & Sullivan, The Sorcerer Among the comic operas in the G & S  canon Ruddigore (1887) is certainly appropriate for Halloweentide broadcast. I presented an old Decca/London LP recording of it (Godfrey/D'Oyly Carte Opera Co.) on Sunday, October 30, 1983 and again on Halloween Sunday, 1993. The Sorcerer (1877) is equally suitable as Halloween fare, but until very recently I had difficulty finding a recording of it. In fact, this early G & S collaboration has been neglected in the discography. The Sorcerer has been available on compact disc since 2005 courtesy of the American Albany Records label. Albany has given us the first complete recording on two CD's. It provides all of Sir Arthur Sullivan's tuneful score and W. S. Gilbert's witty spoken dialogue. Long before Harry Potter there was the Victorian sorcerer Mr. John Wellington Wells. J. W. Wells was a consummate spellmaker and was quite commercially successful at his craft. Moreover, he's a lot more entertaining than that boy Harry. The Sorcerer was not recorded in some British Savoyard production, but by the American Ohio Light Opera Company, who staged it for their 2005 festival. Ohio Light Opera's Ted Christopher is hilarious as Wells.
    
That Albany Records release of The Sorcerer comes out of my own collection of G & S recordings. Also drawn from my own holdings of opera on compact disc are the Supraphon recording of Dvorak's Rusalka, Rameau's Les Indes Galantes and Adriano in Siria by Pergolesi. Our Town on New World CD's was loaned for broadcast by Rob Meehan, former classics deejay here at WWUH and a specialist collector of the "alternative" classical music styles of the twentieth and twenty first centuries. All the other recordings featured in this two-month period of programming come from the WWUH classical music record library. As always, I must thank our station's operations director Kevin O'Toole for mentoring me in the preparation of these notes for cyber-publication.

Never Miss Your Favorite WWUH Programs Again!
WWUH Round Logo Introducing... the WWUH Archive!

We are very excited to announce
that all WWUH programs are now available on-demand 
using 
the "Program Archive" link 
on our home page,   
 
  This means that if you missed one of your favorite shows, or if you want to listen to parts of it again, you can do so easily using the Archive link.  Programs are available for listening for 
two weeks after their air date.
  
 
Enjoy the music, even when you can't listen "live"!
West Hartford Symphony Orchestra
 
In Collaboration with the WWUH Classical Programming we are pleased to partner with the West Hartford Symphony Orchestra to present their announcements and schedule to enhance our commitment to being part of the Greater Hartford Community
 
West Hartford Symphony Orchestra
Richard Chiarappa, Music Director

For information, 860-521-4362 or http://whso.org/.


 The Connecticut Valley Symphony Orchestra

The Connecticut Valley Symphony Orchestra is a non-profit Community Orchestra. They present four concerts each season in the Greater Hartford area, performing works from all periods in a wide range of musical styles. The members of Hartford's only community orchestra are serious amateurs who come from a broad spectrum of occupations.
   
For further information: 


The Musical Club of Hartford
 
  
The Musical Club of Hartford, Inc., is an organization whose primary goal is to nurture the Musical Arts and promote excellence in music, both among seasoned music lovers as well as the younger generations. The Musical Club makes music more readily available to people of all ages and social backgrounds in our community.


 The Hartford Chorale
  
 
The Hartford Chorale is a volunteer-based, not-for-profit organization, and serves as the primary symphonic chorus for the greater Hartford community. The Chorale provides experienced, talented singers with the opportunity to study and perform at a professional level of musicianship. Through its concerts and collaborations with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and other organizations, the Chorale seeks to reach and inspire the widest possible audience with exceptional performances of a broad range of choral literature, including renowned choral masterpieces.
 
For further information: Hartford Chorale 860-547-1982 or www.hartfordchorale.org .

Manchester Symphony Orchestra

Manchester Symphony Orchestra and Chorale
Bringing Music to our Community for 57 Years!

The Manchester Symphony Orchestra and Chorale is a nonprofit volunteer organization that brings quality orchestral and choral music to the community, provides performance opportunities for its members, and provides education and performance opportunities for young musicians in partnership with Manchester schools and other Connecticut schools and colleges.

http://www.msoc.org


Beth El Temple in West Hartford


 
Music at Beth El Temple in West Hartford is under the aegis of The Beth El Music & Arts Committee (BEMA). With the leadership of Cantor Joseph Ness, it educates and entertains the community through music.
 
Beth El Temple
2626 Albany Ave, West Hartford, CT 06117
Phone: (860) 233-9696



How To Listen To WWUH
Come as You Are... Tune in However Works Best for You
  
In Central CT and Western MA, WWUH can be heard at 91.3 on the FM dial.  Our programs are also carried at various times through out the day on this station:

WDJW, 89.7, Somers, CT

You can also listen on line using your PC, tablet or smart device.  Our MP3 stream is  here.

We also recommend that you download the free app "tunein" 
here to your mobile device.   


  
Hi tech or low tech, near or far, we've got you covered!