FACULTY and GUEST ARTIST RECITAL Thomas Jaber, Organist
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FACULTY AND GUEST ARTIST RECITAL Thomas Jaber, Organist Andrea Jaber, Mezzo-soprano Friday, September 12, 2014 7:30 p.m. Edythe Bates Old Recital Hall and Grand Organ PROGRAM Hymn - The Lord’s My Shepherd, I’ll Not Want (CRIMOND) Please stand as you are able and join in singing. Jessie Seymour Irvine (1836–1887) was the daughter of a Church of Scotland parish minister who served at Dunottar, Pe- terhead, and Crimond in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. She is referred to by Ian Campbell Bradley in his 1997 book Abide with Me: The World of Victorian Hymns as standing "in a strong Scottish tradi- tion of talented amateurs ... who tended to produce metrical psalm tunes rather than the dedicated hymn tunes increasingly composed in England". Her most famous tune is CRIMOND, which is best known as one of the most popular settings for the (paraphrased) words of Psalm 23: “The Lord's my shepherd”. It is believed that Irvine wrote the tune while still in her teens, as an exercise for an organ class she was attending. Prelude and Fugue in C Minor, Johann Sebastian Bach BWV 549 (1685-1750) Stabat Mater Antonio Vivaldi 1. Stabat mater dolorosa (1678-1741) The mother stood sorrowing by the cross, weeping while her Son hung there; 2. Cujus animam gementem Whose soul, lamenting, sorrowing and grieving, has been pierced by the sword. 3. O quam tristis et afflicta O how sad and afflicted was that blessed Mother of her only-begotten Son. Who wept and grieved and trembled to behold the torment of her glorious child. 4. Quis est homo What man would not weep if he saw the Mother of Christ in such torment? 5. Quis non posset contristari Who could not be sorrowful to behold the pious mother grieving with her Son? 6. Pro peccatis suae gentis For the sins of His people she saw Jesus in torment and subjected to the whip. She saw her sweet Son dying, for- saken, as He gave up the spirit. 7. Eia mater, fons amoris Ah Mother, fount of love, let me feel the force of grief, that I may grieve with you. 8. Fac ut ardeat cor meum Make my heart burn with the love of Christ, the God, that I may be pleasing to Him. 9. Amen Arioso Johann Sebastian Bach (trans. of Sinfonia to Cantata, BWV 156) Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the Death of Children) Gustav Mahler 1. Nun will die Sonn’ so hell aufgeh’n (1860-1911) Now the sun wants to rise as brightly as if nothing terrible had happened during the night. The misfortune had happened only to me, but the sun shines equally on everyone. You must not enfold the night in you. You must sink it in eternal light. A little star went out in my tent! Greetings to the joyful light of the world. 2. Nun seh’ ich wohl, warum so dunkle Flammen Now I see well, why with such dark flames in many glances you flash upon me o eyes: as if in one look to draw all your strength together I didn’t realize, because a mist surrounded me woven of tangled destinies that your beam was already re- turning homewards to the place from which all rays emanate. You would tell me with your brightness: We would gladly stay with you! Now that is denied to us by fate. Look at us, soon we will be far away! What are only eyes to you in these days, in the coming night shall be your stars. 3. Wenn dein Mütterlein When your mother steps in through the door and I turn my head to see at her, falling on her face my gaze does not first fall, but at the place nearer the doorstep, there, where your dear little face would be, when you with bright joy step inside, as you used to, my little daughter. When your mother in through the door with the glowing candle, it seems to me, always you came in too, hurrying behind her, as you used to come into the room. Oh you, of a father's cell, ah, too soon extinguished light! 4. Oft denk’ ich, sie sind nur ausgegangen I often think: they have only just gone out, and now they will be coming back home. The day is fine, don't be dismayed, They have just gone for a long walk. Yes indeed, they have just gone out, and now they are making their way home. Don’t be dismayed, the day is fine, they have simply made a journey to yonder heights. They have just gone out ahead of us, and will not be thinking of coming home. We go to meet them on yonder heights In the sunlight, the day is fine On yonder heights. 5. In diesem Wetter In this weather, in this windy storm, I would never have sent the children out. They have been carried off, I wasn't able to warn them! In this weather, in this gale, I would never have let the children out. I feared they sickened: those thoughts are now in vain. In this weather, in this storm, I would never have let the children out, I was anxious they might die the next day: now anxiety is pointless. In this weather, in this windy storm, I would never have sent the children out. They have been carried off, I wasn't able to warn them! In this weather, in this gale, in this windy storm, they rest as if in their mother's house: fright- ened by no storm, sheltered by the Hand of God. The original Kindertotenlieder were a group of 428 poems written by Friedrich Rückert in 1833–34 in reaction to the illness (scarlet fever) and death of two of his children. Karen Painter, associate professor of musicology at the University of Minnesota, describes the poems thus: “Rückert's 428 poems on the death of children became singular, almost manic documents of the psychological endeavor to cope with such loss. In ever new variations Rückert’s poems attempt a poetic resuscitation of the children that is punctuated by anguished outbursts. But above all the poems show a quiet acquiescence to fate and to a peaceful world of solace.” These poems were not intended for publication. Mahler selected five of Rückert's poems to set as lieder, which he composed between 1901 and 1904. The songs are written in Mahler's late-romantic idiom, and like the texts reflect a mixture of feelings: anguish, fantasy resuscitation of the children, resignation. The final song ends in a major key and a mood of transcendence. The cello melody in the postlude to “In diesem Wetter, in diesem Braus” alludes to the first subject of the finale of Mahler's Third Symphony (1895/96), a movement titled “What love tells me” (“Was mir die Liebe erzählt”). “Musically, then, this is the last word of the Kindertotenlieder: that death is power- ful, yet love is even stronger.” The poignancy of the cycle is increased by the fact that four years after he wrote it, Mahler lost his daughter, Maria, aged four, to scarlet fever. He wrote to Guido Adler: “I placed myself in the situation that a child of mine had died. When I really lost my daughter, I could not have written these songs any more.” Prelude and Fugue on the theme BACH Franz Liszt (1811-1886) ABOUT THE ARTISTS Tom and Andrea Jaber have appeared in countless concerts together since they first met in 1971. Now married for 38 years, they are the very proud parents of three children - Benjamin, Pa- tricia, and Joseph. Tom Jaber is Professor of Music at the Shep- herd School of Music. He conducts the Rice University Chorale and coaches singers and pianists who are pursuing a variety of degrees in voice and vocal coaching. Andrea Jaber received the first Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Voice that was granted by Rice University in 2002. Dr. Jaber is the Assistant Chair of Fine Arts in Music at Houston Community College Southwest. Both Tom and Andrea Jaber are very grateful to organist Ken Cowan, Professor of Music, for the honor of performing this evening's concert in the Edythe Bates Old Recital Hall and Grand Organ. .