Glass Shatterers! Deborah Cook - Benedict: La capinera (The Wren), High F

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~The "Glass Shatterers!" series focuses on sopranos who sustain High F, or sing higher.

THE SONGBIRD: Although born in Philadelphia, coloratura soprano Deborah Cook (1938 - 2019) primarily based her singing career out of Germany. She studied at Temple University and made her professional debut with the Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company in 1965. In the 1970s and 1980s, Cook sang coloratura and soubrette roles in opera houses and concert halls across Europe and the UK, including Zerbinetta at Glyndebourne and Fiakermilli at Covent Garden. She was featured in the world premiere of Henze's opera "We Come to the River" at Covent Garden in 1976. After returning to the U.S. in 1985, Cook became the executive secretary for the head of oncology at Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia, while teaching voice at Haverford College and Bryn Mawr College. She was the Cantor of several synagogues in Pennsylvania and later in Maine where she moved in the late 1990s. I don’t have details on the date or venue of this recording, but it is likely from Germany in the early 1980s.

THE MUSIC: Julius Benedict (1804 - 1885) was a German-born composer who lived most of his life and career in England, where he moved to 1835 at the suggestion of soprano Maria Malibran. He was a conductor and musical director, and composed several mostly now-forgotten operas, as well as orchestral and choral works. He is best remembered now, if at all, for a few of his coloratura art songs with flute obbligato that were regularly heard in recitals and recorded by operatic divas in the so-called "Golden Age," and still occasionally pop up in coloratura programs now. One of those is "La capinera" (The Wren), a short perky ditty published in 1881.