THE COLORADO COLLEGE MUSIC DEPARTMENT presents A Senior Recital Raquel Vásquez, mezzo soprano

Daniel Brink, piano

February 8, 2014 7:30 PM Packard Hall

The Voice Brendan Graham (b. 1945)

Faites-lui mes aveux Charles Gounod (from Faust) (1818-1893) Gretchen Am Spinnrade Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

Chi Vuol la Zingarella Giovani Paisiello (from I Zingari in Fiera) (1740-1816) Chanson Espanole Maurice Ravel (from Chants Populaires) (1875-1937) Chanson Eccosaise Maurice Ravel (from Chants Populaires) Ag An Phobal Traditional Go ‘Way from My Window Luigi Zaninelli (b. 1932)

Children Will Listen Stephen Sondheim (from ) (b. 1930) If I Had a Fine White Horse Lucy Simon (music) (from Secret Garden) (b. 1943) Martha Norman (lyrics) (b. 1947) Lullaby Gian Carlo Menotti (from The Consul) (1911-2007)

Fewer Words Ricky Ian Gordon (b. 1956) What You Don’t Know About Women Cy Coleman (from ) (1929-2004) Tabetha Katz, mezzo soprano Ladies Who Lunch Stephen Sondheim (from ) (music) (from ) (b. 1945) (lyrics) (1950-1991)

Please turn off all electronic devices during the performance.

Emotion, Meaning and the Voice

The voice, with its seemingly limitless capacity for expression, plays a powerful role in conveying emotion and meaning in music. However, few of the scholars who study emotion and meaning in music focus on the role of the voice. My recital explores the integral role of vocal music in expressing the emotions involved in a sense of place, longing, and positive change.

The Voice by Brendan Graham (2007). Graham is a well-known composer of Irish popular music. He wrote this song as part of an Irish music competition. The lyrics suggest that the singer is responding to the personified homeland of Ireland and expressing the feelings of an “emotional” home. This song also suggests the role of the voice in expression, the overarching theme of this recital.

The next two songs are based on the play Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, in which the main character sells his soul to the Devil and falls victim to an ill-fated love.

Faites-lui mes aveux from the opera Faust (1859) by Charles Gounod. Gounod was a French composer of the Romantic era. This aria opens the third act of the opera Faust, and is sung by Siébel, a teenage boy in love with Maguerite. The aria expresses his and longing.

Faites-lui mes aveux, portez me voeux! Make her my confession; carry my wishes! Fleurs écloses près d’elle, Blooming flowers near her, Dites-lui qu’elle est belle, Tell her that she is beautiful, Que mon coeur, nuit et jour, That my heart, night and day, Languit d’amour! Languishes with love! Faites- lui mes aveux, portez me voeux! Make her my confession; carry my wishes! Révélez à son âme Reveal to her soul Le secret de ma flamme, The secret of my flame, Qu’il s’exhale avec vous So it exhales with you Parfums plus doux! Perfumes more sweet!

Fanée! hélas! Wilted! Alas! ce sorcier que Dieu damne The sorcerer whom God damns M’ a porté malheur! Has brought me bad luck! Je ne puis, sans qu’elle fane, I can’t, without it’s withering Toucher une fleur. Touch a flower. Si je trempais mes doigts If I dip my fingers Dans l’eau bénite! Into holy water! C’est là que chaque soir It’s there that each evening Vient prier Marguerite! Marguerite comes to pray! Voyons maintenent! Voyons vite! Let’s see now! Let’s see quickly! Elles se fanent? Non! Do they wilt? No! Satan, je ris de toi! Satan, I laugh at you! C’est en vous que j’ai foi, It is in you that I have faith, Parlez pour moi! Speak for me! Qu’elle puisse connaître May she know L’émoi qu’elle a fait naître, The emotion which she has caused to be born, Et dont mon coeur troublé And of which my troubled heart N’a point parlé! Has scarcely spoken! C’est en vous que j’ai foi, It is in you that I have faith, Parlez pour moi! Speak for me! Si l’amour l’éffarouche If love alarms her Que la fleur sur sa bouche May the flower on her mouth Sache au moins déposer Try at least to deposit Un doux baiser! A sweet kiss! Un baiser, un doux baiser! A kiss, a sweet kiss!

Gretchen Am Spinnrade by Franz Schubert (1814). Schubert was a versatile Austrian composer who is known for his solo piano pieces, symphonies, operas, lieder, and liturgical music. This particular work refers to Faust. Gretchen is the German counterpart of Marguerite, who sings as she sits at her spinning wheel longing for her lover, Faust.

Meine Ruh ist hin, mein Herz ist schwer; My peace is gone, my heart is heavy, Ich finde sie nimmer und nimmermehr. I can never find peace, never again. Wo ich ihn nicht hab, ist mir das Grab, In his absence, I feel as if dead, Die ganze Welt ist mir vergällt. And the whole world is turned to gall.

Mein armer Kopf ist mir verrückt, My poor head is distracted, Mein armer Sinn ist mir zerstückt. My poor mind is shattered, Meine Ruh is thin, mein Herz ist schwer, My peace is gone, my heart is heavy Ich finde sie nimmer und nimmermehr. I can never find peace, never again.

Nach ihm nur schau ich zum Fenster hinaus, For him alone I look out of the window, Nach ihm nur geh ich aus dem Haus. For him alone I go out of the house. Sein hoher Gang, sein’ edle Gestalt, His lofty carriage, his noble form, Seines Mundes Läceln, seiner Augen Gewalt. The smile of his lips, the power in his glance.

Und seiner Rede Zauberfluss And the magic flow of his speech, Sein Händedruck, und ach, sein Kuss! The clasp of his hand, and oh! His kiss! Meine Ruh is thin, mein Herz ist schwer; My peace is gone, my heart is heavy, Ich finde sie nimmer und nimmermehr. I can never find peace, never again.

Mein Busen drängt sich nach ihm hin. My bosom yearns towards him, Ach, dürft ich fassen und halten ihn! Oh, might I grasp and hold him! Und küssen ihn, so wie ich wollt. And kiss him all I could, An seinen Küssen vergehen sollt! And on his kisses I would pass away!

Chi Vuol La Zingarella by Giovanni Paisiello (1798). Paisiello was an Italian composer in the Classical era, known mostly for his operas. This aria comes from the 1798 opera I Zingari in Fiera. In the aria, a gypsy fortune teller sings to attract clients.

Chi vuol la zingarella Who desires the gipsy girl Graziosa accorta e bella? graceful, prudent and beautiful? Signori, eccola qua. Gentlemen, here she is. Signori, eccola qua. Gentlemen, here she is.

Le donne sul balcone The ladies on the balconies So bene indovinar. are easily to be figured out. I giovani al cantone The young men at the street corners So meglio stuzzicar. are teased more easily.

A vecchi innamorati The heads of old men in love Scaldar fo le cervella. Can be set on fire.

The next two songs are part of a set of five folk songs, Chants Populaires, composed by Maurice Ravel, a French Impressionist composer. The songs are inspired by folk music and express common experiences among ordinary people.

Chanson Espanole by Maurice Ravel (1910). In this Spanish song a woman sings goodbye to her lover as he leaves for war. The second verse laments the trauma suffered by men during war.

Adios men homiñ, adios, Goodbye, my man, goodbye Ja qui te marchas pr’a guerra since you are leaving for the war. Non t’olvides d’aprendina Do not forget to be in touch Quiche qued’ a can’a terra. With those staying behind in the country. La la la! La la la!

Castellanos de Castilla Castillanas of Castille, Tratade ben os gallegos: treat well the Galicans: Cando van, van como rosas, they go, go like roses, Cando ven, ven como negros. They return, they return like blacks. La la la! La la la!

Chanson Ecossaise by Maurice Ravel (1909). This is a Scottish song, sung by a traveler revisiting a place from his past; nature awakens memories of unrequited love.

Ag An Phobal transcribed by Raquel Vásquez (2013). This traditional sean-nós song, in Irish Gaelic, comes from County Donegal. The song tells the story of a married man and his mistress, and how they come to terms with their situation.

Ag an Phobal Dé Domhnaigh

Ag an phobal Dé Donhnaigh thug mé mórchion don chailín Sí ba deise is ba bhreácha dar tógadh riamh I mbaile Bhí a béilín mar bheadh an rós ann is bhí a caoinchom mar bheadh an sneachta ‘S a Rí nach bhfuil mo lóistín san dit a gcoirionn sí a leabaidh

Tá an rógaire ‘o mo mhealladh is tá’n peacadh a dhéanamh Tharraing sé mo chroí istigh agus bhí sé arís a shéanadh Ach má tá do bhean sa bhaile agat nó do leanbán le bréagadh Pill arís uirthi a shladaí ‘s cha bhíonn roinnt agam féin leat.

Dá mbíodh a fhios ag mo dheartháir mo leatrom ba trua leis Dá mbíodh a fhios go dearfa bheadh air imní agus buaireamh Fá mo chéad searc bheith mo thréigean is an créatúr botch a lua liom ‘S tú m’ansacht ar fhearaibh Éireann a’s in do dhiaidh atá mé buartha.

Dá mbíodh péire glan sciathán as mo chliatháin féin anuas liom Dá mbíodh fhios go dearfa go rachainn ón buachaill D’éireochainn féin in aired mar bheadh an éanlaith fá na cuanta Nó go n-insínn mo ghearán do mo leannán ar an uaigneas.

Bliain agus daichead dá mairfeá thusa a bhuachaill Do ghrása cha dtabharfainn do éinneach ar an domhan Ach nuair nach bhfuil na buaibh agam ná na buaraigh lena gceangal Seo mo chúig bheannacht déag duit is beimid araon ag goil ‘na bhaile. (Williams 2010:171)

At the Congregation on Sunday

At the congregation on Sunday I gave great affection to the girl She was the prettiest and the finest that was ever reared in any townland Her little mouth was like roses and her gentle waist like snow And God I wish my lodging was where she dresses her bed.

The rogue is seducing me and the sin is being committed. He drew my heart inside and denied it thereafter But if you have your wife at home and your little child to coax Return again to them, you wrecker, and I’ll have nothing to do with you.

Indeed if my brother knew my oppression he would pity me Indeed if he knew he would be worried and upset Because my first love was deserting me and the poor creature being engaged to me You are my beloved of the men of Ireland and after you I am sorrowful.

If I had a smooth pair of wings down both my sides Indeed if I had I would go from the boy I would rise up like the birds by the sea bays To tell my story in the solitude to my lover.

A year and forty if you lived my boy Your love I’d never give to anyone in the world But since we haven’t cattle or the spancels to tie them with My blessings upon you and let us each us go home.

Go ‘Way from My Window arranged by Luigi Zaninelli (1984). Zaninelli is a well-known arranger of traditional melodies. This is an American folk song about a woman with a broken heart.

Children Will Listen from Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim (1988). Sondheim is one of the most respected composers on Broadway. He worked with to create Into the Woods, a show based on fairytales with a moral twist. The first act of the musical follows the line of a story to happy ever after. The second act shows that ever after wasn’t really so happy. The song occurs just prior to the Act 2 finale as a lamentation of what was lost.

If I Had a Fine White Horse from Secret Garden by Lucy Simon and (1991). The Secret Garden is a musical based on the 1911 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett; it premiered on Broadway in April, 1991. This song occurs when Martha (the maid) urges Mary (the protagonist orphan) to explore the surrounding court yards, which encourages Mary to make a positive change in her life.

Lullaby from The Consul by Gian Carlo Menotti (1950). Menotti was well-known for his operas. The Consul was one of his most popular works and has been performed in twelve languages. It is an opera about the struggles of escaping a crazed dictatorship. This song is sung by a grandmother to a child as it dies of disease, but it embodies the longing for freedom.

Fewer Words by Ricky Ian Gordon (1990). Gordon writes operas, works, and songs. This particular song ironically uses a lot of words to express the challenges of human interaction, the medium of language and the use of words as symbols.

What You Don’t Know About Women from City of Angels by Cy Coleman (1989). Coleman was a gifted composer of jazz music as well as an accomplished jazz pianist. This song comes from the musical City of Angels, which premiered in 1989. The plot follows two story lines: one in film, and one in reality. The two are counterparts to each other. The mirrored plot lines allow the two women to express their frustration with their respective men.

Ladies Who Lunch Stephen Sondheim’s Company (1970). Company is a musical about relationships and marriage in the 1970s. Joanne (a jaded woman who has married several times) drunkenly mocks society women, including herself.

I am Changing from Dreamgirls by Henry Krieger and Tom Eyen (1982). Dreamgirls is a musical based on the career of The Supremes and the history of Motown. This particular song marks a major turning point for Effie; she has fallen from grace and is determined to start over. The lyrics reflect on self-empowerment and the potential for people to change.

Acknowledgements

 To Dan Brink, teacher, therapist, accompanist, and life saver  To Tabetha Katz, friend and performer  To Victoria Hansen, vocal instructor and positive support system  To Victoria Levine, Colorado mom, advisor, and motivator in all things good  To my parents, Rhonda and Amarante Vásquez, there are not words for what they do  To CC professors for their challenges, support and love in all my endeavors  To my roommates, canine and otherwise, for tolerating my squawking and making my days full of sunshine and daisies and wagging tails ;)  To my friends too many to name for helping me believe in myself