Sunday 15 December 2019 7–9.20pm Milton Court Concert Hall

LSO SEASON CONCERT RAMEAU, PURCELL & HANDEL

Purcell The Fairy Queen – Suite LSO Handel Water Music – Suite No 1 Interval Rameau Two Arias from Castor and Pollux Rameau – Suite

Emmanuelle Haïm conductor & Lucy Crowe soprano Reinoud Van Mechelen tenor CHAMBER LSO Chamber Welcome Latest News On Our Blog

Janáček’s earlier LSO PANUFNIK COMPOSERS SCHEME: LSO DISCOVERY SINGING DAY: this year, and Reinoud Van Mechelen, who APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN CHRIST ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES makes his debut with the LSO. Applications for the 2020/21 LSO Panufnik ‘Writing Christ on the Mount of Olives, I hope that you enjoy tonight’s concert Composers Scheme are now open. Generously Beethoven laid the groundwork for oratorios and that you are able to join us again supported by Lady Hamlyn and The Helen by Schumann, Mendelssohn and Berlioz, and soon. On Thursday, Principal Guest Hamlyn Trust, the scheme offers six emerging Gilbert and Sullivan’s operettas!’, explains Conductor François-Xavier Roth conducts composers each year the opportunity to Choral Director Simon Halsey. Read about the Orchestra, joined by soloist Alisa write for the LSO, guided by composers our most recent Singing Day and discover Weilerstein, in Bartók’s pantomime ballet Colin Matthews and Christian Mason. more about Beethoven’s only oratorio ahead The Miraculous Mandarin and Elgar’s Cello of two performances in the New Year. warm welcome to this evening’s Concerto. Looking ahead to the New Year, • lso.co.uk/more/news LSO concert at Milton Court Sir Simon Rattle begins a series of concerts SIX THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT Concert Hall. Following two celebrating 250 years since the birth of LSO MERCHANDISE BARTÓK’S THE MIRACULOUS MANDARIN performances of Mozart’s concertos for Beethoven with the composer’s Seventh AT THE BARBICAN SHOP woodwind in October, the LSO Chamber Symphony on 15 and 16 January and eagerly Amid the political turbulence of Hungary in Orchestra tonight plays a programme of awaited performances of his rarely heard Tote bags, tea towels, mugs: discover the the early 20th century, Bartók began writing , conducted by Emmanuelle Christ on the Mount of Olives. LSO’s range of gifts and keepsakes, plus his pantomime ballet. Discover more about Haïm, who makes her LSO debut. the latest LSO Live releases on CD. this previously censored work ahead of the Emmanuelle Haïm is a specialist in this Available now on Level -1. LSO’s performance on Thursday 19 December. repertoire, with an enviable reputation across Europe, and it is a great pleasure to ELGAR’S CELLO CONCERTO: welcome her as she brings her considerable 100-YEAR ANNIVERSARY expertise to this performance. Kathryn McDowell CBE DL Managing Director On 27 October 1919, the LSO performed the Tonight’s programme features Baroque world premiere of one of the most popular music from both sides of the Channel, from works in the repertoire: Elgar’s Cello Concerto. Purcell and Handel to French composer Jean- One hundred years later, we take a look at Philippe Rameau. We are delighted to be the history of this piece, its current popularity, joined by two soloists for arias by Rameau Please ensure all phones are switched off. and how this wasn’t always the case. and Purcell: Lucy Crowe, who returns to the Photography and audio/video recording LSO after her appearance in the title role of are not permitted during the performance. • lso.co.uk/more/blog

2 Welcome 15 December 2019 Tonight’s Concert In Brief Coming Up

onight’s concert opens with music writing for strings and woodwind evokes a Thursday 19 December 7.30pm Thursday 9 January 7.30pm from Purcell’s 1692 The Fairy place of peace, yet Castor’s anguish over Barbican Barbican Queen, with a adapted his love for Télaïre persists. Rameau’s suite from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s from Dardanus, premiered in 1739 at the ELGAR CELLO CONCERTO MENDELSSOHN VIOLIN CONCERTO Dream. Following Purcell’s untimely death Paris Opéra, concludes the programme. three years later, the score was lost, to be Subsequent re-writes can be considered Sophya Polevaya Spellbound Tableaux* Wagner Overture and Venusburg later rediscovered in the early 20th century. largely the result of a weak libretto, the Elgar Cello Concerto Music from ‘Tannhäuser’ The suite performed tonight features some score itself comprising some of Rameau’s Bartók The Miraculous Mandarin Mendelssohn Violin Concerto of Purcell’s finest music for theatre, from richest music. ‘Lieux funestes’ has since Brahms Symphony No 1 incidental music to aching lovers’ laments. become one of the composer’s most famous François-Xavier Roth conductor arias, sombre and harsh, accenting the Alisa Weilerstein cello Nathalie Stutzmann conductor Handel’s Water Music, supposedly composed suffering of the title character. • London Symphony Chorus Alina Ibragimova violin at the request of King George I to be played Simon Halsey chorus director at one of his riverside concerts on the banks 6pm Barbican Free pre-concert recital of the Thames, follows. Water Music is *World premiere, commissioned through the LSO Platforms: Guildhall Artists a collection of 21 movements, now often Panufnik Composers Scheme, generously supported grouped and published as three separate by Lady Hamlyn and The Helen Hamlyn Trust Recommended by Classic FM suites, the first of which is performed PROGRAMME CONTRIBUTORS tonight. The writing is rich and varied, Friday 3 January 1pm Friday 10 January 12.30pm guiding the audience through the many Lindsay Kemp is a senior producer for LSO St Luke’s LSO St Luke’s different faces and abilities of the orchestra. BBC Radio 3, including programming lunchtime concerts at Wigmore Hall and BBC RADIO 3 LUNCHTIME CONCERT LSO DISCOVERY The second half of the concert is dedicated LSO St Luke’s. He is also Artistic Advisor to BACH UP CLOSE FREE FRIDAY LUNCHTIME CONCERT: to the music of Rameau, beginning with York Early Music Festival, Artistic Director of FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE excerpts from his third opera Castor and Baroque at the Edge Festival and a regular J S Bach Sonatas for violin and harpsichord Pollux, based on the twin brothers from contributor to Gramophone magazine. No 4 in C minor BWV 1017; No 1 in B minor Musicians from all backgrounds explore Greek and Roman mythology. Of the BWV 1014; No 6 in G major BWV 1019 20th-century Russian responses to the two arias performed tonight, the first Alison Bullock is a freelance writer and Baroque in chamber music by Bach, is impassioned and deeply moving, the music consultant whose interests range Alina Ibragimova violin Stravinsky, Schnittke and Shostakovich. princess Télaïre’s heart-wrenching vocal from Machaut to Messiaen and beyond. A Carole Cerasi harpsichord line soaring above the orchestra. In the former editor for The New Grove Dictionary Rachel Leach presenter second, ‘Séjour de l’éternelle paix’, subdued of Music, she is now based in Oslo. Recorded for future broadcast by BBC Radio 3

Tonight’s Concert 3 The Fairy Queen – Suite 1692 / note by Lindsay Kemp LATER THIS SEASON

Sunday 15 March 2020 7pm 1 First Music: Prelude hakespeare was not always the The various musical set-pieces and Barbican 2 Hornpipe revered figure he is today, even in interludes of a work like The Fairy Queen 3 Second Music: Air England. In 1662, Samuel Pepys are not just incidental, however; they are VAUGHAN WILLIAMS 4 Rondeau declared after a rare performance of A designed to reflect the emotions of the main 5 Overture Midsummer Night’s Dream that it was ‘the characters and the overall atmosphere of Vaughan Williams Fantasia 6 ‘If love’s a sweet passion’ most insipid, ridiculous play I ever saw in the play. Thus, while many of the numbers on a Theme by Thomas Tallis 7 The Plaint: ‘O let me weep’ my life’, but there seems to have been little can be extracted from the play without any Britten Violin Concerto 8 Symphony while the swans sense of outrage 30 years later when it next great loss of musical sense, in context they Vaughan Williams Symphony No 6 come forward resurfaced in London in a version which, breathe much of the same atmosphere as 9 Hornpipe were it to hit the stage today, might well Shakespeare’s wondrous play, making not Sir Antonio Pappano conductor 10 Monkey’s Dance rejoice in the title ‘Dream: The Musical’. In a bad job at all of being the nearest thing Vilde Frang violin 11 Symphony and ‘Thus happy and free’ fact, Purcell’s The Fairy Queen was just the we have to a meeting of two of Britain’s 12 kind of thing London audiences in the 1690s greatest creative minds. Sunday 29 March 2020 7pm wanted: a spectacular musical play with Barbican Lucy Crowe soprano fine costumes, lavish sets, ingenious stage Tonight’s suite starts with four ‘act-tunes’ Reinoud Van Mechelen tenor machinery and a big cast of singers, actors, that were played while the theatre was ELGAR & SIBELIUS dancers and instrumentalists. ‘Dramatic filling up, before the overture to the ’ was how these entertainments were opera itself. Also included is a symphony Elgar Violin Concerto described, and The Fairy Queen, Purcell’s accompanying a magical transformation of Sibelius Symphony No 4 third following the successes of Dioclesian swans into fairies, and a Monkey’s Dance and King Arthur, scored a hit for the Dorset representative of a tradition of acrobatic Sir Mark Elder conductor Garden Theatre in May 1692, spoilt only by grotesquery which goes back to the Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider violin the fact that production expenses all but elaborate court masques of the early part wiped out the profits. of the century. As befits one of the greatest Sunday 15 & 29 March 5.30pm of all song composers, there are also two Barbican deeply touching lovers’ laments, plus a more LSO Platforms: Guildhall Artists relaxed celebration of love to be sung by ‘a Free pre-concert recital Chinese Woman’. • Recommended by Classic FM

lso.co.uk/201920

4 Programme Notes 15 December 2019 The Fairy Queen – Suite texts Henry Purcell In Profile 1659–95

If love’s a sweet passion Thus happy and free at Westminster Abbey and got paid for If love’s a sweet passion, why does it torment? Chinese Woman: copying books of organ parts. In 1677, he If a bitter, oh tell me whence comes my Thus happy and free, was appointed composer-in-ordinary for the content? Thus treated are we violins in succession to and, Since I suffer with pleasure, why should With nature’s chiefest delights. in 1679, succeeded as organist of I complain, We never cloy, Westminster Abbey. Or grieve at my fate, when I know ‘tis in vain? But renew our Joy, Yet so pleasing the pain, so soft is the dart, And one bliss another Invites. As a court composer, notably to Charles II, That at once it both wounds me, and tickles and as organist at Westminster Abbey and my heart. Chorus: later to the , Purcell composed Thus wildly we live, a large body of choral music for ceremonial I press her hand gently, look languishing down, Thus freely we give, occasions, including the coronation of And by passionate silence I make my love What heaven as freely bestows. James II in 1685 and, four years later, for known. We were not made William III. He produced even more music But oh! I’m blest when so kind she does prove, For labour and trade, for the thriving Restoration theatre, working By some willing mistake to discover her love. Which fools on each other impose. with such dramatists as John Dryden and When in striving to hide, she reveals all her William Congreve. With Dido and Aeneas, flame, he composed the first great English opera. And our eyes tell each other, what neither urcell was born in London in dares name. 1659, the son of Thomas Purcell, In the last years of his life, Purcell became a court musician. When he was increasingly prolific, writing some of his The Plaint five, his father died, forcing his mother greatest church music, including the Te Deum O, let me forever weep: to resettle the family of six children into and Jubilate in D as well as an anthem for My eyes no more shall welcome sleep. a more modest house and lifestyle. As the funeral of Queen Mary. A prominent I’ll hide me from the sight of day, a boy, Purcell became a chorister in the name in his own lifetime, Purcell was And sigh my soul away. Chapel Royal, studying under chorus overlooked by succeeding generations. He’s gone, his loss deplore, master Henry Cooke. He also took keyboard However, today he is acknowledged as And I shall never see him more. lessons from Christopher Gibbons, son of possibly the greatest English composer the composer Orlando Gibbons. In 1673, he until the rise of Sir Edward Elgar at the was appointed as unpaid assistant to John end of the 19th century. Purcell died at the Hingestone, the royal instrument keeper. early age of 36, most likely of pneumonia. • He acquired experience by tuning the organ

Texts & Composer Profile 5 Water Music – Suite No 1 in F Major HWV 348 1717 / note by Lindsay Kemp

1 Ouverture: Largo – Allegro that he composed for all of them, however, HANDEL IN PROFILE 1685–1759 Once in Hanover, however, he applied for 2 Adagio e staccato and that the so-called Water Music is leave to go to England, and spent most of 3 [Allegro] – Andante – [Allegro] therefore a compilation of this music. the next few years in London, where his 4 Menuet opera Rinaldo was produced in 1711. The 5 Air A newspaper account of the 1717 party, same year he was also awarded a royal 6 Menuet which went in open barges from Whitehall pension, and in 1714, after the death of 7 Bourrée to Chelsea and back, tells us that the Queen Anne, he found himself in the 8 Hornpipe King liked Handel’s music ‘so well, that he service of his old master, now King. In 1717, caus’d it to be plaid three times on going he entered the service of the soon-to-be lthough his greatness was and returning’. He had good reason to, for Duke of Chandos. During the next few years, readily acknowledged by his this is an extraordinarily rich collection London heard some of his best works, contemporaries, Handel was of pieces, covering a wide range of styles including the operas Giulio Cesare and seldom neglectful of the need to cultivate and employing a powerful orchestra (‘50 and music for the Chapel Royal. the right contacts. On arriving in England, instruments of all sorts’ were reported in Handel became a British citizen in 1727 and not long after acquiring a post back in 1717) whose diverse colourings must have he remained in London, putting on operas Germany as Kapellmeister (or director of been a revelation to English listeners of the and writing music for King and court. He music) to the Elector of Hanover, he quickly time. The 20-or-so pieces (from which we andel was born George Frideric was nonetheless unsure of his future, and and shrewdly moved to establish himself hear a selection tonight) are mostly dances, Handel in Halle, Germany, in 1685, after the first performance of hisMessiah not only in operatic circles, but also at court. and appear to fall into three distinct suites, the son of a barber-surgeon. His in Dublin in 1742, he concentrated on His long and unauthorised absence from each in a different key and characterised by father wanted him to become a lawyer, but oratorios, all performed in English and often Hanover eventually resulted in dismissal a different instrumental sonority, possibly after Handel showed musical aptitude (he including a concerto grosso performance in from the Elector’s service. Even so, the reflecting their respective roles on the practised in secret), he was allowed to study the interval. His performances of famous old story that Handel won back his night. The F major suite (No 1) features music formally. At 17 he was appointed became a regular feature of London life; in former employer’s favour after the latter had horns, instruments clearly suited to bold organist of Halle Cathedral, but the following 1749 he composed his Music for the Royal succeeded to the British throne as George I outdoor performance in the difficult acoustic year left for Hamburg, where he played in Fireworks, and in 1752 he composed his last by secretly providing music for a royal river circumstances of an open river, and as the the opera orchestra and, in 1704, had his oratorio, the masterful Jephtha. While he party on the Thames must be taken with a only one of the three suites to include an first opera,Almira , performed. In 1706, he was writing this work, Handel became blind, pinch of salt. Neither is it clear when this overture, it can perhaps be imagined as the was invited to Italy, and several major Italian first in his left eye and then totally. He died might have taken place, since there were one which played as the party set off. • cities saw performances of his works before in 1759, and his funeral at Westminster river parties every summer from 1715 to 1717, he left in 1710 for the court of the Elector of Abbey was attended by over 3,000 people. • and only at the last of them is Handel’s Interval – 20 minutes Hanover (later King George I of England). music known to have been heard. It is likely Profile by Alison Bullock

6 Programme Notes & Composer Profile 15 December 2019 Featuring Francesco Tristano (piano) | Mayah Kadish (violin) | Jonathan Roozeman (cello) & Lauri Porra (bass guitar) | The Marian Consort & Monteverdi String Band | Hille & Marthe Perl (electric viols) | Susanna | Stile Antico, Woven Gold & Rihab Azar | Singing Workshop with Stile Antico

10 to 12 January 2020 | LSO St Luke’s & Saint James Clerkenwell baroqueattheedge.co.uk Discover Bach’s chamber music in BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Jean-Philippe Rameau Castor and Pollux 1737 Concerts at LSO St Luke’s BCH Air de Télaïre ‘Tristes apprêts, with Castor; her intimate and deeply felt air pâles flambeaux’ ‘Tristes apprêts’ has always been the opera’s most admired number, recognised even Lucy Crowe soprano by Berlioz in 1842 as ‘one of the sublimest creations in dramatic music’. An island of UP COSE Air de Castor ‘Séjour de l’éternelle paix’ intense dignity and poise, its emotional authenticity comes from the devastating Friday 3 January 1–2pm Friday 24 January 1–2pm Reinoud Van Mechelen tenor restraint of its vocal line, articulated over JS Bach JS Bach consoling plaints from the . Sonata No 4 in C minor for violin and Harpsichord Concerto in D minor ameau’s operatic career had begun harpsichord BWV 1017 BWV 1052 late with the classical tragedy The story hinges on Pollux’s selfless decision Sonata No 1 in B minor for violin and Toccata in D major for solo harpsichord , which in 1733 to rescue Castor from Hades by taking his harpsichord BWV 1014 BWV 912 shot the 50-year-old, then known primarily place, thereby sacrificing his own immortality. Sonata No 6 in G major for violin and Harpsichord Concerto in G minor as a keyboard composer and theorist, to In ‘Séjour de l’éternelle paix’, from the harpsichord BWV 1019 BWV 1058 the height of operatic fame. Hippolyte opening of the fourth act, we find Castor was a tragédie en musique, the genre of languishing in the underworld, tortured Alina Ibragimova violin Justin Taylor harpsichord serious music-drama with roots in the great even in this place of peace, with its soothing Carole Cerasi harpsichord Consone Quartet tradition of French spoken theatre that and strings, by his love for Télaïre. • had been forged by Jean-Baptiste Lully the Friday 17 January 1–2pm Friday 31 January 1–2pm previous century, from which time, past Note by Lindsay Kemp JS Bach JS Bach Rameau’s and on to that of Gluck’s Parisian Cello Suite No 1 (arr for viola) Italian Concerto in F major BWV 971 triumphs of the 1770s, it was considered the Selection of Two-Part Inventions for Keyboard Partita No 4 in D major purest and noblest species of French opera. violin and viola BWV 828 Sonata for viola da gamba in G major Chaconne in B minor from Violin Partita Hippolyte was followed four years after by No 2 BWV 1004 (arr Busoni) Castor and Pollux, Rameau’s second five-act Maxim Rysanov viola tragédie. Mortal Castor and immortal Pollux Alexander Sitkovetsky violin Federico Colli piano are twins, and in the first act Castor has Steven Devine organ been killed in battle and is being mourned Find out more and book tickets by the people of Sparta. The grand choral lso.co.uk/lunchtimeconcerts set-piece obsequies are interrupted, however, 020 7638 8891 by Télaïre, daughter of the Sun and in love

15 December 2019 Castor and Pollux texts / translation by Cynthia Verba

Air de Télaïre Air de Castor

Tristes apprêts, pâles flambeaux, Mournful apparitions, pale flames, Séjour de l’éternelle paix, Abode of eternal peace, Jour plus affreux que les ténèbres, Day more frightening than darkness, Ne calmerez-vous point mon âme impatiente? Will you not calm my impatient soul? Astres lugubres des tombeaux, Dismal stars within tombs, Temple des demi-Dieux que j’habite à jamais, Temple of the demi-gods where I dwell forever, Non je ne verrai plus que vos clartés funèbres. No, I shall no longer see anything other than Combattez dans mon cœur ma flame Combat in my heart my rekindled passion; your funereal beams. renaissante; L’Amour jusqu’en ces lieux me poursuit de Love pursues me as far as these abodes with Toi, qui vois mon cœur éperdu, You who see my broken heart, ses traits: his darts; Père du jour, ô Soleil, ô mon père! Father of daylight! Oh Sun, Oh my father! Castor n’y voit que son amante, Castor sees only his beloved, Je ne veux plus d’un bien que Castor a perdu, I no longer wish the gift that Castor has lost, Et vous perdez tous vos attraits. And you lose all your charms. Et je renonce à ta lumière. And I renounce the light. Que ce murmure est doux, que cet ombrage How sweet this murmuring, how cool this est frais! shade; De ces accords touchants la volupté With these moving harmonies, pleasure m’enchante: enchants me: Tout rit, tout prévient mon attente, Everything laughs, everything arouses my Et je forme encor des regrets! expectations, And I still feel regrets!

Texts 9 Jean-Philippe Rameau Dardanus – Suite 1739 / note by Lindsay Kemp

1 Ouverture ameau’s third tragédie, Dardanus, The story is set in ancient Phrygia, and tells • CHACONNE 2 Air gracieux et air de Vénus came in 1739. By then he had won how Dardanus, son of Jupiter and founder ‘L’Amour, le seul Amour’ firm recognition as the leading of the royal house of Troy, comes to marry Popular in the Baroque era, a chaconne 3 Menuet tendre en rondeau French musical dramatist of the day, and his enemy’s daughter, Iphise, who loves him is a musical composition characterised 4 Tambourins even the various controversies and cabals but has initially been promised to one of her by variation of a repeated short harmonic 5 Recitatif et airs de Vénus ‘C’en est trop’, that inevitably attended his success father’s military allies. After the ouverture, progression. Often a repetitive bass-line ‘troubles cruels’ et ‘Quand l’Aquilon (Rameau even had a fight with one of his tonight’s selection from the opera includes (or ground bass) forms the foundation. fougueux’ critics) could not prevent the new opera a set of airs and dances from the prologue 6 Bruit de guerre from attracting massive interest and keen for Vénus, her followers and Cupid. After 7 Air de Dardanus ‘Lieux funestes’ anticipation. It ran for 26 performances, the brief ‘Bruit de guerre’ (or ‘noise of war’) 8 Ritournelle (Descente de Vénus) but was considered only a partial success we come to a sequence from Act 4, in which 9 Calme des sens nevertheless. There was criticism not Dardanus has been captured by his enemy 10 Gavotte vive so much of the music as of its plot, and is languishing in prison. In ‘Lieux 11 Récitatif et air de Dardanus ‘Où suis-je!’, whose over-dependence on supernatural funestes’, another of Rameau’s powerful ‘Hâtons-nous’ intervention (primarily in the form of a monologues, he bemoans his situation, 12 Duo d’Iphise et Dardanus ‘Des biens persistently troublesome sea monster) was above all the prospective loss of his love to a que l’amour nous dispense’ conceded even by the librettist. The opera rival, in aching dissonances and the sombre 13 Chaconne was drastically revised for revivals in 1744 wailing of . Vénus gently descends and 1760, by the second of which opinion and frees him, but not before sending him to Lucy Crowe soprano had stabilised to widespread admiration sleep and summoning dreams to encourage Reinoud Van Mechelen tenor for the work as one of its composer’s him to slay the sea-monster; the instrumental finest dramatic inventions. More than ‘Calme des sens’ and ‘Gavotte vive’ come one commentator now saw fit to describe from this dream sequence. When Dardanus Rameau as ‘the composer of Dardanus’. awakes he joyfully recognises his destiny and, in ‘Hâtons-nous’, rushes onwards to glory. To finish, there is a duet from the final act in which Iphise and Dardanus celebrate a happy outcome, rounded off by the ending traditional for French Baroque operas, a brilliant but graceful chaconne •. •

10 Programme Notes 15 December 2019 Dardanus – Suite texts / translation by Mark Hughes

2 Air gracieux et air de Vénus Quand l’Aquilon fougueux s’échappe de sa When the fiery Aquilon* escapes from his L’Amour, le seul Amour est le charme des cœurs. Love, and only Love, makes hearts beautiful. chaîne, chains, Au roi le plus puissant, que servent les What need does the most powerful king Sur les mers qu’il ravage, il fait régner la mort. He brings death on to the seas that he ravages. grandeurs? have for greatness? Mais quand le Dieu des vents, captivant But when the God of the winds, arresting his A vivre aussi content un berger peut prétendre. A shepherd can claim to live just as happily son effort, efforts, Et si pour l’un des deux le ciel s’est déclaré, as him. Ne lui laisse exhaler qu’une plus douce haleine, Only allows him to blow a gentle breeze, Celui qu’il a formé plus sensible et plus tender And if the heavens favoured one of the two, Il seconde le cours des vaisseaux qu’il entraîne, He assists the flotilla of vessels that he is Est celui qu’il a préféré. They will surely prefer he who is more Et les conduit au port. pushing along, sensitive and tender. And leads them to the port.

5 Recitatif et airs de Vénus 7 Air de Dardanus C’en est trop! Gardez-vous d’empoisonner It is too much! Guard against poisoning your Lieux funestes où tout respire Dreadful abode, where everything breathes vos traits. arrows. La honte et la douleur, Shame and suffering, Si par vous cet empire est durable à jamais, Even if it is through you that the empire is Du désespoir sombre et cruel empire, Sombre and cruel empire of despair, C’est par les seuls Plaisirs qu’il mérite de l’être. eternal, L’horreur que votre aspect inspire The horror I feel at the sight of you En ranimant l’Amour, épargnez ses attraits. Pleasures are the only thing that make it Est le moindre des maux qui déchirent Is the least of the evils that tears up my heart; Transformez-vous; soyez dignes de votre worthwhile. mon coeur; maître. When reviving Love, save its appeal. Transform yourself; be worthy of your master. L’objet de tant d’amour, la beauté qui The object of so much love, the beauty to m’engage, which I am bound, Troubles cruels, soupçons injurieux, Cruel troubles, offensive suspicions, Le sceptre que je perds, The sceptre that I am losing, Vous que l’orgueil nourrit, que le caprice guide, You who are fed by pride, guided by whim, Ce prix de mes travaux, The prize of my labours, Qui rendez et l’amant et l’amour odieux, Who make both the lover and love hateful, Tout va de mon rival devenir le partage, Everything shall be shared with my rivals, Devenez une ardeur délicate et timide Become a delicate and shy fervour, Tan-dis que sous les fers je n’ai que While I, in iron shackles, have only my Dont le respect épure et modère les feux. The respect of which purifies all and mon courage courage Inspirez par l’amour, guidez par sa lumière, moderates fires. Qui résiste à peine à mes maux. Which only just saves me from succumbing N’entrez dans les coeurs amoureux Inspire through love, guide by its light, to my pains. Que pour y éveiller l’empressement de plaire. Enter into loving hearts Only to awaken the eagerness to please. *Aquilon: Northern wind

Texts 11 Jean-Philippe Rameau In Profile 1683–1764

11 Recitatif et air de Dardanus Yet all this time he had been itching to Où suis-je! dans ces lieux quel dieu m’a Where am I? Which god brought me here? compose operas, and finally, following an transporté? Have I been set free? encounter with the playwright Pellegrin, M’a-t’on rendu la liberté? Will my cruel fate at last dry my tears? his first full-scale opera, Hippolyte et Aricie, Le sort cruel, enfin, va-t’il tarir mes larmes? But now, looking at this place, I have no was premiered at the Paris Opéra in 1733. Mais je n’en doute plus, à l’aspect de ces lieux, doubt that It drew instant acclaim for the 50-year-old Ces Songes séduisans, qui charmoient mes The seductive Dreams, who charmed away composer, as well as controversy for the way allarmes, my concerns, he had taken the classic French tragédie Etaient les oracles des dieux. Were the oracles of the gods. form, devised some 60 years earlier by Lully, to a new level of complexity. Rameau Hâtons-nous; courons à la gloire, Let us hurry, and run to glory, lived out the rest of his life as a figure of Cherchons le monstre affreux qui ravage Let us find that awful monster that ravages considerable eminence, dividing his time ces bords. the shores. between some 30 more works for the stage Vole, Amour, à mon bras assure la victoire, Fly, Love, let us be victorious together, and further theoretical writings. Vole, vole, seconde mes efforts. Fly, fly, help me in my efforts. One of the greatest composers of the 12 Duo d’Iphise et Dardanus Baroque era, Rameau has long been familiar Des biens que Vénus nous dispense, What incense, what shrine will repay the to harpsichordists, but the last half-century Quel encens, quels autels, acquiteroient le price for has seen him increasingly appreciated by prix? The goods that Venus grants us? musicians and listeners alike for all areas C’est en nous soumettant au pouvoir de son fils It is by subjecting ourselves to the power of of his output. The ever more frequent Qu’il nous faut lui marquer notre her son ean-Philippe Rameau was born in performances of his stage works have reconnoissance. That we must show her our gratitude. Dijon in 1683, the son of a church won the highest admiration; in addition Lance tes traits, Amour, Epuise ton carquois Shoot your arrows, Love, empty your quiver organist. After a period of study to their expressive power and dramatic Sur des cœurs livrez à tes flâmes, On hearts given to your flames. in Italy during his teens, he spent 20 years effectiveness, their unfailing tunefulness Triomphe, règne sur nos âmes, Triumph, reign over our souls, as an organist in Clermont, Dijon and Lyon and colourful orchestration have endeared Nous te jurons de vivre à jamais sous tes loix. We swear an oath to forever live under before moving to Paris in 1722, where over them to audiences, and suites of dances your laws. the next decade he published a number of drawn from them now make frequent boldly original harpsichord pieces as well as appearances in concerts of Baroque his Traité de l’harmonie, the composition orchestral music. • treatise which made his initial fame as a writer on, rather than of, music. Profile by Lindsay Kemp

12 Texts & Composer Profile 15 December 2019 Jean-Philippe Rameau In Profile 1683–1764

BEETHOVEN 250 conducted by Sir Simon Rattle January & February 2020 BARTÓK & DUKAS conducted by François-Xavier Roth & Sir Simon Rattle December 2019, January & February 2020 ARTIST PORTRAIT & DUKAS with soloist Antoine Tamestit April to June 2020 The LSO’s 2019/20 season PLUS DON’T MISS continues in the new year Sir Antonio Pappano, Karina Canellakis, Susanna Mälkki & Sir Mark Elder conduct Vaughan Williams, Ravel, Debussy & more

lso.co.uk/201920 Emmanuelle Haïm conductor

new production of Rameau’s Hippolyte et With Le Concert d’Astrée, Emmanuelle • IN CONVERSATION Aricie. Other recent debuts have included has an extensive discography with Erato/ the Bayerischer Rundfunk and Leipzig Warner Classics. Their recordings have Purcell, Handel and Rameau: for several Gewandhaus , as well as the won numerous awards, including Victoires decades now, these names have largely been Vienna Philharmonic with performances in de la Musique Classique (for Lamenti and the preserve of specialist ‘period’ orchestras. Vienna and at the Lucerne Festival. Carestini), the Echo Deutscher Musikpreis More recently, however, increasing numbers and nominations for the Grammy Awards. of ‘modern’ orchestras have been working In 2000, Emmanuelle founded Le Concert Their most recent releases are a CD of Italian with conductors such as Haïm to bring these d’Astrée, which quickly established an cantatas by Handel, performed by Sabine composers back into their repertoires. international reputation. During the 2019/20 Devieilhe and Lea Desandre, and a DVD of season, their performances include a new Handel’s Rodelinda filmed in Lille in 2018. Leading the performances from the production of Purcell’s The Indian Queen at harpsichord promises an alternative Lille Opera and a Rameau and Mondonville Emmanuelle is a Chevalier de l’Ordre way of working. ‘It’s very different from double bill in Luxembourg and Caen. They National de la Légion d’Honneur, an Officier the 19th-century spirit’, says Haïm. ‘The will also undertake a European tour with des Arts et des Lettres, an Officier de l’ordre role of the conductor is more inside the the Choir of Le Concert d’Astrée performing national du Mérite and an Honorary Member orchestra, playing an instrument and sharing Campra’s and motets by of the . • with the other players, being part of the Rameau and Mondonville, including music yourself. It’s more like a mixture of mmanuelle Haïm is highly performances in Lille, Luxembourg, Dijon, orchestral music and chamber music.’ acclaimed as a performer and Cologne and Berlin. Le Concert d’Astrée have champion of the Baroque their residency in Lille and are passionate ‘Purcell is such a genius. There are no repertoire, both as a keyboard player and and active ambassadors for this region. barriers for listeners because his music is conductor. During the 2019/20 season, so direct. Handel’s Water Music is gloriously she will make her debut with the Royal Emmanuelle has conducted regularly at written for the brass and winds, and the Concertgebouw and NDR Elbphilharmonie Glyndebourne Festival Opera, including Rameau – songs and dances from the Orchestras. Emmanuelle regularly conducts Handel’s and Monteverdi’s operas Castor and Pollux and Dardanus – is the Berlin Philharmonic and Los Angeles L’incoronazione di Poppea. She has also such brilliant music. The beauty in the way Philharmonic and returns to both during performed Handel’s Rodelinda with it’s written is obvious, but there are also this season. Last season, her debuts Glyndebourne Touring Opera and was the unwritten beauties that you have to grab included the New York Philharmonic first woman to conduct at Chicago Lyric from the special language of the music.’ and Philadelphia Orchestras, as well as Opera with Handel’s Giulio Cesare. Zurich Opera, where she conducted a Interview by Lindsay Kemp

14 Artist Biographies 15 December 2019 Lucy Crowe soprano Reinoud Van Mechelen tenor

in Handel’s Rodelinda. In recital, she has Ludus Modalis, B’Rock, Ricercar Consort, appeared at the Concertgebouw, Carnegie Capriccio Stravagante, Scherzi Musicali, Hall, Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Mostly Mozart the European Union Baroque Orchestra and and Salzburg Festivals, and the BBC Proms. Hespèrion XXI.

In concert, she has worked with the Major roles on opera stages include at the under Nézet-Séguin, Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Berlin State Opera, the Zurich Opera, the with Haïm, Oramo and Nelsons, Orchestra of Bordeaux Opera, the Théâtre des Champs- the Age of Enlightenment under Mackerras Elysées and the Opéra Royal de Versailles. and Egarr, Scottish Chamber Orchestra with In 2019, he sang the Evangelist in Bach’s Mackerras and Nézet-Séguin, the Monteverdi St John Passion with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Gardiner, and the Orchestra Orchestra under the baton of William Christie. ucy Crowe is one of the leading dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia einoud Van Mechelen studied lyric sopranos of her generation. with Pappano. Her most recent appearances at the Conservatoire Royal in Among the many recordings he has taken Performing at the Metropolitan include Mahler’s Symphony No 2 with the Brussels. In 2017, he was awarded part in are four albums on the label Alpha Opera New York, Royal Opera House, Berlin Philharmonic and , and the prestigious Caecilia Prize as Young Classics with the ensemble he has founded, Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Deutsche The Cunning Little Vixen with the LSO. Musician of the Year from the Union of the a nocte temporis: Erbame Dich (arias by Oper Berlin, Lyric Opera of Chicago, English Belgian Music Press. As early as 2007, he Bach); Clérambault, cantates françaises; National Opera, Glyndebourne Festival This season, Lucy makes her debut at Dutch drew attention at the European Baroque The Dubhlinn Garden and the just-released, Opera, Canadian Opera Company and National Opera in the title role of Rodelinda Academy in Ambronay under the baton of Dumesny, haute-contre de Lully. • Frankfurt Opera, her roles include Pamina and returns to House as Hervé Niquet. In 2011, he was a member of (The Magic , Mozart), Adele (Die Poppea in . In concert, she joins William Christie and ’s Jardin Fledermaus, Strauss), Eurydice (Orphée et the Berlin Philharmonic and Emmanuelle des Voix and subsequently became a regular Eurydice, Gluck), Adina (L’elisir d’amore, Haïm for Apollo e Dafne, the Monteverdi soloist of Les Arts Florissants. Donizetti), Sophie (, Orchestra and Sir for a Strauss), Gilda (, Verdi), Susanna world tour in celebration of Beethoven’s He has also performed with many other and Countess (The Marriage of Figaro, 250th birthday year, the Orchestre de renowned Baroque ensembles such as Mozart), Rosina (The Barber of Seville, Paris and Daniel Harding for Elijah, and Collegium Vocale, Le Concert Spirituel, La Rossini), Iole (Hercules, Handel), Vixen (The the English Concert and Harry Bicket in a Petite Bande, Les Talens Lyriques, Ensemble Cunning Little Vixen, Janáček), Micaëla and worldwide tour of Rodelinda. Lucy is a Pygmalion, Le Poème Harmonique, Le Merab (, Handel) and the title character Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music. • Concert d’Astrée, Il Gardellino, L’Arpeggiata,

Artist Biographies 15 London Symphony Orchestra on stage tonight

Guest Leader Violas Flutes Timpani LSO String Experience Scheme Igor Yusefofich Edward Vanderspar Gareth Davies John Chimes Since 1992, the LSO String Experience Gillianne Haddow Sharon Williams Scheme has enabled young string players First Violins Malcolm Johnston Percussion from the London music conservatoires at Ginette Decuyper German Clavijo Recorder Neil Percy the start of their professional careers to gain Laura Dixon Stephen Doman Heloise Gaillard work experience by playing in rehearsals Gerald Gregory Robert Turner Harpsichord and concerts with the LSO. The musicians Laurent Quenelle Benoit Hartoin are treated as professional ‘extra’ players Harriet Rayfield Cellos Olivier Stankiewicz (additional to LSO members) and receive fees Sylvain Vasseur Rebecca Gilliver Rosie Jenkins Lute for their work in line with LSO section players. Jennifer Brown Eligio Quinteiro Second Violins Noel Bradshaw Bassoons The scheme is supported by: David Alberman Hilary Jones Rachel Gough The Polonsky Foundation Thomas Norris Amanda Truelove Joost Bosdijk Derek Hill Foundation Sarah Quinn Laure Le Dantec Idlewild Trust Miya Väisänen Horns Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust Alix Lagasse Double Basses Alexander Edmundson Thistle Trust Iwona Muszynska Colin Paris Ollie Johnson Patrick Laurence David Elton Aaron Akugbo

Editorial Photography Ranald Mackechnie, Chris Wahlberg, Harald Hoffmann, Marco Borggreve, Marianne Rosensthiel, Senne Van der Ven Print Cantate 020 3651 1690 Advertising Cabbells Ltd 020 3603 7937

Details in this publication were correct at time of going to press.

16 The Orchestra 15 December 2019