New Arts International

Renowned baritone Thomas Hampson considers Richard Hageman as “an American composer of the highest caliber [and] an important contributor to the arts in America” and yet VOICES is the first album ever to be dedicated solely to Hageman’s songs. This album assembles more than two dozen of Hageman’s songs, the majority of which are world premier recordings.

Richard Hageman
Born in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, on July 9, 1881, Hageman studied, as a protégé of Queen Regent Emma, at the Conservatoire Royal in Brussels from 1893-1895 and thereafter at the Amsterdamsch Conservatorium.

Hageman conducted the Netherlands Opera in Amsterdam from 1898 until he moved to Paris in 1903. There he met Yvette Guilbert, the popular diseuse, whom Henri Toulouse-Lautrec immortalized in several paintings. After accompanying Guilbert on two US concert tours, Hageman moved to New York in 1908, to start a 13-year association with the Metropolitan Opera as coach and conductor. After returning to Europe in 1930, he completed and promoted his only opera, Caponsacchi (1931) in Germany and Austria. In 1937, Caponsacchi was staged, for the last time, at the Metropolitan Opera.

Hageman moved to Hollywood in 1938, quickly establishing himself as an A-list composer. He scored films for directors such as John Ford and Frank Lloyd. Six of his film scores were nominated for an Academy Award, later known as an Oscar, winning with John Ford’s western, Stagecoach (1939). He conducted performances at the Hollywood Bowl and starred in several films, including The Great Caruso (1951) with Mario Lanza and Rhapsody (1954) with Elizabeth Taylor.

Voices, Songs by Richard Hageman