Senior Recital
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DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC & THEATRE Edward Elgar was an English composer whose orchestral works are heard regularly in halls around the world. Among his most notable works are the Enigma Variations, his oratorio The Dream of Gerontius, and the Pomp and Circumstance Marches. Elgar’s compositional style draws heavily on the Romantic composers that came before him, while incorporating a distinctly British sound. Sea Pictures, Op. 37 is Elgar’s only song cycle for voice and orchestra. Written immediately after the Enigma Variations, the cycle features five poems all by different authors. Each poem details the author’s feelings about the ocean: its beauty, its enticement, its perils. Senior Recital Antonín Dvořák was a Czech composer of the Romantic era. He displayed Samantha Schmitz a talent for music that was nurtured throughout his formative years. Later work brought him in contact with Johannes Brahms, with whom he formed a long-lasting friendship. Dvořák’s abundant travels supplied him with a mezzo-soprano wide variety of musical inspiration which he incorporated into works for various ensembles. His style combines folk melodies with rich, romantic harmonies. Jodi Goble piano This recital is given in partial fulfillment of a Bachelor of Music Degree in Vocal Music Education. Samantha is a student of Professor Mary Creswell. March 6, 2020 7:30 pm Martha-Ellen Tye Recital Hall Program La Chevelure (The tresses) He told me: “Last night, I dreamed. I had your tresses around my neck. Sweeter than roses Henry Purcell I had your tresses like a dark chain from Pausanias (1659-1695) Around my neck and on my breast.” “I caressed them and they were my own; And we were thus forever joined, By the same tresses, lips on lips, Feldeinsamkeit Johannes Brahms As two laurels often have but one root.” Der Schmied (1833-1897) “And gradually, it seemed to me, Von ewiger Liebe So much were our limbs entwined, That I became yourself, Or that you entered into me, like my dream.” When he had finished, Ahimè! dove trascorsi! Christoph Willibald von Gluck He gently laid his hands upon my shoulders, … Che farò senza Euridice (1714-1787) And he looked at me with a glance so tender, from Orfeo ed Euridice That I cast down my eyes and trembled. INTERMISSION Trois chansons de Bilitis Claude Debussy La flûte de Pan (1862-1918) Le Tombeau des Naïades (The tomb of the Naiads) La chevelure Le tombeau des naïades Along the woods covered with frost, I wandered; My hair before my mouth blossomed with tiny icicles, And my sandals were heavy with soiled clods of snow. He says to me: “What are you looking for?” Selections from Sea Pictures, Op. 37 Edward Elgar I follow the trace of the Satyr. His little hoofprints alternate like holes in a white coat. Sea Slumber Song (1857-1934) Where corals lie He tells me: “The Satyrs are dead. The Swimmer The Satyrs and also the Nymphs. In thirty years there has been no winter as terrible as this. The spoor which you see is that of a buck. But let us stay here, on the site of their tomb.” Songs my mother taught me Antonín Dvořák And with the iron of his hatchet, he broke the ice of the spring (1841-1904) where once the Naiads were laughing. He took large frozen pieces, and holding them towards the pale sky, He gazed through them. Translation by Edith Braun Program Notes and Translations Claude Debussy ranks among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The French composer began by studying piano but found his vocation in composition. His innovative style was met with disapproval from many of his professors. This style incorporates artificial scales, cadence avoidance, and rhythmic freedom. A composer of the middle Baroque era, Henry Purcell is most famous for Debussy is the quintessential Impressionist composer, though like his his more than 100 songs and his opera Dido and Aeneas. As a court contemporary Ravel, he disliked this label and never used it himself. musician, Purcell worked for three different kings over twenty-five years. During this time, he composed chamber works, incidental music, anthems, Written in 1901, the Trois Chansons des Bilitis set selections from Pierre and art-songs. Often, Purcell would write one or two pieces for a particular Louÿs’ erotic poems Les Chansons de Bilitis. The poems follow Bilitis, a theatrical production. He did so for Pausanius, Betrayer of His Country. nymph on the island of Sappho, through her relationship with her lover Lykas. Debussy’s impressionistic compositional techniques aid the sensual “Sweeter than roses” is one of just two pieces written by Purcell for and dream-like nature of the pieces. Pausanius. In it, Purcell provides many opportunities for text painting through tone color changes and written rhythmic figures. His writing leaves the listener with no doubt that love has won. Johannes Brahms was a German composer of symphonies, concerti, chamber music, piano works, and more than 200 songs. Considered by his La Flûte de Pan (The flute of Pan) contemporaries to be both a traditionalist and an innovator, Brahms was heavily influenced by the structure of the Classical era and pushed the For the day of the Hyacinths, envelope with Romantic melodies and harmonies. His dedication to text, He gave me a syrinx made combined with his lush arrangements, have allowed his music to remain Of well-cut reeds, atop the standard repertoire. Joined with the white wax That is sweet on my lips like honey. He teaches me to play, while I sit on his knees; But I tremble just a little. He plays it after me, so softly That I can hardly hear him. We have nothing to say, Feldeinsamkeit So close we sit to each other; But our songs want to give question and answer, I rest at peace in tall green grass And gradually our lips And gaze steadily aloft, Join on the flute. Surrounded by unceasing crickets, It is late; Wondrously interwoven with blue sky. Now the chant of the green frogs The lovely white clouds go drifting by Is starting with the night. Through the deep blue, like lovely silent dreams; My mother will never believe I feel as if I have long been dead, That I stayed out so long Drifting happily with them through eternal space. In search of my lost belt. Christoph Willibald von Gluck was not born into a musical family. Quite to the contrary, he studied mathematics in Prague. Gluck’s love for Der Schmied music, particularly opera, eventually overwhelmed his desire to pursue mathematics, and he moved to Italy. It was there that he wrote his first I hear my sweetheart, opera and became acquainted with the Italian operatic model. He is swinging his hammer, remembered most for revolutionizing opera between the Baroque and it sounds, it resounds, Classical eras. In placing more attention on storyline complexity and it peals out afar character emphasis, his music supported the libretto in a more direct, less like ringing bells stylized way. His first opera of this style wasOrfeo ed Euridice. through alleys and square. “Che farò senza Euridice” is taken from Act III of Orfeo ed Euridice. In this At the black forge aria, Orfeo gives in to Euridice’s pleading and turns, only to realize that he my love is sitting, has killed his beloved once and for all. In his grief, he calls to Euridice, with but if I go past, no response. Gluck’s choice of setting the piece in C Major provides an the bellows start blowing, underlying sense of hope and undying love through an unimaginable the flames flare up feeling of grief. and blaze all around him. Che farò senza Euridice Alas! Where have I traversed? Von ewiger Liebe Where has a delirium of love thrust me? Bride! Euridice! Wife! Dark, how dark in forest and field! Ah, she lives no more; I call her in vain. Evening already, and the world is silent. Wretched me – I lose her Nowhere a light and nowhere smoke, once again and forever! And even the lark is silent now too. Oh law! Oh death! Out of the village there comes a lad, Oh cruel memory! Escorting his sweetheart home, I do not have help; He leads her past the willow-copse, Counsel does not come forth for me! Talking so much and of so many things: I see only ‘If you suffer sorrow and suffer shame, (oh savage sight!) Shame for what others think of me, the sad aspect Then let our love be severed as swiftly, of my horrible state. As swiftly as once we two were plighted. Be satisfied, wicked fate: Let us depart in rain and depart in wind, I am without hope! As swiftly as once we two were plighted.’ The girl speaks, the girl says: What will I do without my Euridice? ‘Our love cannot be severed! Where will I go without my beloved? Steel is strong, and so is iron, Euridice! Oh God! Answer! Our love is even stronger still: I am still your faithful one. Iron and steel can both be reforged, Where will I go without my beloved? But our love, who shall change it? Euridice… Ah, no more help, Iron and steel can be melted down, no more hope for me comes forth Our love must endure forever!’ from earth, nor from heaven! What will I do without my Euridice? Translations by Richard Stokes Translation by Martha Gerhart.