Berlitz: Introduction to French, a cycle of eight short songs for voice and piano composed by Joseph Fennimore, received its first performance on 19 May 1971 at Carnegie Recital Hall in New York City. Sung at its premiere "with high comic flair and delectable histrionics" [1] by mezzo-soprano Joyce Castle, with the composer at the keyboard, the song cycle "proved to be a delicate artistic triumph: a total success with the audience and a resourceful idea realized with airy invention" [2] and was also termed "an instant hit." [3]
Joseph Fennimore is an American composer, pianist and teacher best known for his works for piano and chamber ensembles, ranked by Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Philip Kennicott as "one of this country's finest composers." His music has been performed and broadcast worldwide and included in the Metropolitan Opera Studio and New York City Ballet repertories.
Joyce Castle is an American mezzo-soprano who has had an active opera career for the last four decades. She earned degrees in music from The University of Kansas and the Eastman School of Music. She made her professional opera debut in 1970 at the San Francisco Opera as Siebel in Charles Gounod's Faust. In 1984 she became the first woman to portray Mrs. Lovett in an operatic staged production of Sweeney Todd at the Houston Grand Opera. She spent seven years performing with opera companies in France during the 1970s, after which her career has mainly been spent performing with opera companies throughout the United States. She has sung leading roles at the Metropolitan Opera for nine seasons and has also appeared frequently at the New York City Opera. Her career was recently profiled in the June 2010 issue of Opera News. She currently teaches on the voice faculty of the University of Kansas.
Juxtaposing simple and serious phrases typical of those found in teach-yourself language guides for travelers—one song, for instance, is called "When You Go Shopping"; another, "In an Emergency"—the lighthearted work was written in the winter and spring of 1970-71 and dedicated to the composer's patron at the time, Hildegarde Lasell Watson. Permission to use the Berlitz name was given by A. Edward Miller, president of Berlitz Publishing and an enthusiastic music-lover. G. Schirmer Inc. published the score in 1974, and it has since had numerous performances worldwide.
Castle and the composer recorded a CD version released in 1989 by Albany Records. Citing the "energetic élan" of Castle's performance on the disk, the November–December 1990 issue of the NATS Journal, the official publication of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, commended the Fennimore piece as "fun, particularly appealing" and "cleverly crafted."
The National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) is a professional organization for singing teachers, and it is the largest association of its kind in the world. There are more than 6,500 members, mostly from the United States. Additional members are from Canada and over twenty-five other countries around the world including: Australia, Austria, Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.
