Howard HANSON Merry Mount

Home , Lauren Flanigan, Love Brewster, Merry Mount (opera)

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AMERICAN OPERA CLASSICS Also available: Howard HANSON Merry Mount

Flanigan • MacNeil Zeller • Austin Marley Northwest Boychoir Seattle Girls’ Choir Seattle Symphony Gerard Schwarz 8.559251 2 CDs 8.669012-13 16 669012-13 bk Hanson 3/20/07 10:58 AM Page 2

Howard HANSON (1896-1981) Also available: Merry Mount, Op. 31 Opera in Three Acts and Six Scenes

Libretto by Richard L. Stokes, based on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, The Maypole of Merry Mount

Lady Marigold Sandys ...... Lauren Flanigan, Soprano Sir Gower Lackland ...... Walter MacNeil, Tenor Wrestling Bradford ...... Richard Zeller, Baritone Praise-God Tewke ...... Charles Robert Austin, Bass Plentiful Tewke ...... Louise Marley, Mezzo-soprano Thomas Morton ...... Byron Ellis, Bass-baritone Jack Prence ...... Paul Gudas, Tenor Myles Brodrib ...... Barry Johnson, Baritone Peregrine Brodrib ...... Christopher Bristol, Tenor Love Brewster ...... Diana Huber, Soprano Bridget Crackston ...... Rosy Freudenstein, Alto First Puritan ...... Fred K. Dent, Baritone 8.559047 Second Puritan ...... Daniel Jessup, Bass Desire Annable ...... Nan Beth Walton, Alto Jonathan Banks ...... Gino Luchetti, Tenor Faint-Not Tinker ...... Joachim Schneider, Baritone Jewel Scrooby ...... Gene Buchholz, Bass Seattle Symphony Chorale • Northwest Boychoir • Seattle Girls’ Choir

Abraham Kaplan, associate conductor for choral activities Joseph Crnko, director, Northwest Boychoir Dr. Jerome Wright, director, Seattle Girls’ Choir

Seattle Symphony 8.559072 Gerard Schwarz

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Seattle Symphony CD 1 45:13

Founded in 1903, Seattle Symphony (www.seattlesymphony.org) is one of the oldest and largest cultural Act 1: The Village (Midday) institutions in the Pacific Northwest. Gerard Schwarz has been Music Director since 1985. In 1998, the orchestra began performing in the acoustically superb Benaroya Hall in downtown Seattle. The Seattle Symphony is 1 Prelude 3:01 recognized for its adventurous programming and tradition of performing music by contemporary composers. Since 2 Be as a lion, dread Jehovah ... From plots of Hell and witcheries the 1980s, Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony have released more than 100 compact discs for Naxos, Delos, (Puritans, Bradford, Bridget, Plentiful, Myles Brodrib, Tewke, Desire) 8:09 Artek, EMI, Koch International, MMC, CRI, New World, JVC, Nonesuch, Reference Recordings and RCA. From 3 Ah - I deny thy Christ (Bradford, Banks, Tewke, Puritans) 3:51 September through July, the orchestra is heard live by more than 315,000 people annually in its main concert series, 4 A savoury discourse, good Master Bradford (Bradford, Tewke) 2:49 and by over a quarter of a million in its broadcasts on Classical KING FM 98.1 and at www.king.org. 5 Last night came One that paced a-down the stairway of the sky (Bradford) 2:37 6 My son, Thou’rt over-ripe for marriage! (Tewke, Bradford) 1:44 7 The willow keep to thatch our sleep (Plentiful, Bradford) 3:42 8 Plentiful Tewke hath catched the preacher! Gerard Schwarz (Love, Bradford, Peregrine Brodrib, Prence, Children) 4:48 9 Gi’ you good night, sir... Gerard Schwarz, Music Director of Seattle Symphony since 1985, is also Principal Conductor of the Eastern Music (Prence, Myles Brodrib, Marigold, Bradford, Tinker, Morton, Puritans, Cavaliers) 4:59 Festival, as well as Conductor Emeritus of New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival, having served there as Music 0 Scratch a Roundhead, find a rebel ... Thrones of Earth be idle things 2:15 Director from 1984 to 2001. He stepped down as Music Director of the New York Chamber Symphony in 2002, ! Right rev’rend priest, our holy joy ... Respect the Sabbath day taking the orchestra he founded in 1977 through its 25th anniversary. Gerard Schwarz served as Music Director of (Prence, Scrooby, Tewke, Bradford, Puritans, Cavaliers) 2:41 the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra for five seasons. A graduate of The Juilliard School, he began his @ Marigold! Lady! ... Let us be lions of Jehovah conducting career in 1966. Within ten years, he was appointed Music Director of the Erick Hawkins Dance (Bradford, Marigold, Lackland, Myles Brodrib, Tewke, Puritans, Cavaliers) 4:37 Company, the Eliot Feld Dance Company, the Waterloo Festival and the New York Chamber Symphony, as well as the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. In 1981 he established the Music Today contemporary music series in New York City and served as its Music Director through 1989. Gerard Schwarz has led the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra in débuts at the Tanglewood and Ravinia Festivals, and from 1991 to 1999 he conducted the Mostly Mozart Festival in Tokyo. From 1994 to 1999, he served as Artistic Advisor to Tokyu Bunkamura’s Orchard Hall, conducting six programmes annually with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. He has guest-conducted major orchestras throughout North America and Europe. In 1994, he was named Conductor of the Year by Musical America International Directory of the Performing Arts. He also has received the Ditson Conductor’s Award from Columbia University, an honorary Doctorate of Music from The Juilliard School, and honorary doctorates from Fairleigh Dickinson University, University of Puget Sound, Seattle University and Cornish College of the Arts. In May 2002, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers awarded him special recognition for his efforts in championing the works of American composers and the music of our time. In 2003, the Pacific Northwest Branch of the National Arts and Sciences gave him its first “IMPACT” lifetime achievement award. He was also named an Honorary Fellow at John Moores University, Liverpool. In 2004 he was appointed to the NEA’s National Council on the Arts.

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CD 2 78:49 Gino Lucchetti

Act II, Scene 1: The Maypole (Afternoon) Lyric tenor Gino Lucchetti of Seattle is well-known for his distinguished artistry. He has appeared as Don José in Lyric Opera Northwest’s production of Carmen, as Turiddu in Cavalleria rusticana with Concert Opera of Seattle, 1 Prelude - I wind and I wind, My true love to find (Men and Women) 3:48 and as the tenor leads in Tacoma Opera’s production of Donizetti’s Viva la Mamma and Black Box Theater’s 2 From forth the hill ... I christen ‘Merry Mount’ - Maypole Dance productions of Ned Rorem’s Three Sisters and Bertha. He has performed rôles for Seattle Opera and the Seattle (Lackland, Men and Women) 3:56 Symphony, and is a regular performer for the Seattle Opera Guild, where his rôles have included Faust, Duke of 3 Long Live the Lady (Men and Women) 0:53 Mantua, Manrico, Rodolfo, Nemorino, Don José, Des Grieux (Puccini and Massenet), Macduff, Pollione, Florestan, 4 Marigold! When the morning stars together sang Calaf and King Kaspar. His oratorio repertoire includes Verdi’s Requiem, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Rossini’s Stabat (Lackland, Marigold, Men and Women) 4:23 Mater, and Handel’s Messiah and Judas Maccabeus. A past member of the Seattle Opera Young Artists Program, 5 Methinks I see th’infernal rendezvous of Satan and his bond-slaves he was selected by Seattle Symphony as one of only three Pacific Northwest singers to participate in a public (Bradford, Men and Women, Morton, Tewke, Puritans) 6:36 master-class taught by Jane Eaglen. He also has recorded La Serenata, a collection of popular Italian songs and arias, appears in the popular Gabriel Knight series of video games produced by Sierra On-line, and sings frequently Act II, Scene 2: The Forest (Twilight) for festivals and private events.

6 O pity me! Thou alone of women Canst heal this tortured heart (Bradford, Marigold, Lackland, Tewke, Puritans) 3:05 Seattle Girls’ Choir 7 Let them strike twice, And I will come to thee! (Marigold) 2:38 8 Hale her to the village, A prisoner... (Tewke, Bradford) 0:40 Seattle Girls’ Choir is renowned internationally for its elegance and artistry. The Choir was founded in 1981 by its 9 Almighty Father, My King and my God (Bradford, Mystic Voices) 3:11 distinguished conductor, Dr. Jerome L. Wright. He envisioned a "junior conservatory" where young ladies grades 0 Chorus of Mystic Voices 3:11 one through high school could attend after school to study music theory, sight-singing and voice pedagogy. The Choir has performed in major choral festivals all over the world and has recorded four professional CDs. Act II, Scene 3: Bradford’s Dream: The Hellish Rendezvous

! Alleluia! Alleluia! (Bradford, Lucifer, Monsters, Witches and Demons) 14:23 Northwest Boychoir @ Now thou art mine (Lucifer, Monsters, Witches and Demons, Bradford) 1:47 # Rise up, my love my fair one (Bradford, Marigold as Astoreth) 4:33 The Northwest Boychoir’s musical sophistication, dedication to exacting perfection and extensive performance schedule have established its reputation as one of the nation’s premier boychoirs. In its 35 years, the Northwest Act III: The Village (Night) Choirs, led by music director Joseph Crnko, has trained thousands of young singers and shaped the lives of youth by teaching important lessons in personal commitment and the value of teamwork. Among the Northwest Boychoir’s Scene 1: The Forest notable achievements are collaborations with the leading musicians and organizations as well as film and video game soundtrack credits. $ Prelude 7:30

Scene 2: The Village Seattle Symphony Chorale

% Gird you with Sackcloth (Tewke, Puritans) 2:56 The Seattle Symphony Chorale, official chorus of the Seattle Symphony, was founded as the Seattle Chorale in ^ Never more shall prayer ravish these lips!... (Bradford, Chorus) 3:37 1953 by Leonard Moore. The Chorale began its affiliation as official chorus of the Seattle Symphony in 1976, and & Woe, woe! Lost sheep are we (Puritans then Bradford and Myles Brodrib) 1:47 now consists of approximately 130 members who collectively volunteer more than 24,000 hours each year. The * No witch am I; But one that long ago was happy (Marigold) 4:31 Chorale singers are chosen by audition and perform throughout the year with the Seattle Symphony. The Chorale ( Ay, even now thy lover frets at Hellgate - Death to the Witch also produces an annual series of “Summer Sings” choral readings. (Bradford, Marigold, Ensemble) 5:23

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Howard Hanson (1896-1981) Charles Robert Austin Merry Mount “Possessor of a strikingly beautiful voice” and “completely commanding on stage” are but two of the powerful Born of Swedish ancestry in Wahoo, Nebraska, on 28th By 1930, Hanson had composed in nearly every phrases used by critics and writers to describe the voice and stage talents of Charles Robert Austin. Internationally October, 1896, Howard Hanson was introduced to musical form save opera. His chance came with a acclaimed as a rising Wagnerian bass-baritone, Austin has sung the rôle of King Mark in Tristan und Isolde (Teatro music at the age of six when his mother began teaching commission from the Metropolitan Opera in New York. de la Opera San Juan, Virginia Opera, Tokyo Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra), him the piano, supplemented later by instruction on the The result was Merry Mount, which he dedicated to the Viet Pogner and Hermann Ortel in Die Meistersinger (Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Spoleto Festival), Daland in cello. Two years later Hanson wrote his first recently deceased Eastman. The opera received its Der fliegende Holländer (Opera Pacific), Klingsor in Parsifal (Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra), King Henry the composition, a piano trio influenced by Edvard Grieg— professional première at the Met conducted by Tullio Fowler in Lohengrin (Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra), and both Hunding (Virginia Opera) in Die Walküre not surprising given the youngster’s Scandinavian Serafin on 10th February 1934, both live and on radio, (Virginia Opera) and Wotan (Pittsburgh) in Die Walküre. ancestry. By the following year, Hanson was playing the receiving more than fifty curtain calls. The Met gave cello in a string quartet. His musical interest flourished nine performances of Merry Mount that season, as he studied music at Luther College while still a high including three “run-outs” (in Philadelphia, Brooklyn school student. In 1911, he received his diploma with and Rochester). Hanson had led a concert performance Louise Marley highest honors from Luther College; a year later he with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra the previous graduated as valedictorian from Wahoo High School. May at the Ann Arbor (Michigan) May Festival. Despite Louise Marley is the author of the novels Sing the Light, Sing the Warmth, Receive the Gift, and The Terrorists of Hanson’s studies continued at the Institute of the successful Met run, there was no follow-up second- Irustan, published by Ace Science Fiction, among other works. She is also a classical concert and opera singer, a Musical Art in New York City (The Juilliard School of season revival. mezzo-soprano who has sung many times with Seattle Opera, the Seattle Symphony, and other Northwest Music) with Percy Goetschius and later at Northwestern Hanson’s collaborator was Richard L. Stokes, a organizations. Her concert and recital performances have taken her across the United States and to Italy and Russia. University in Evanston, Illinois. It was at Northwestern New York-based music critic, who fashioned his 1927 She taught music subjects at Cornish College of the Arts for eleven years, leaving that position recently to have that he completed, among other works, his Symphonic libretto after The Maypole of Merry Mount, a grim story more time for writing. Prelude (1916), which was performed by the Chicago by Nathaniel Hawthorne, whose obsession with Puritan Symphony Orchestra under music director Frederick hypocrisy was most famously expressed in The Scarlet Stock. He moved into the world of academe as a Letter. Hawthorne had based the Maypole tale on an professor, and later, dean at the College of the Pacific in actual event in 1628 that focused on a violent encounter Barry Johnson San Jose, California. During his tenure, he continued to between business-oriented fur traders and the Pilgrims’ compose, developing his unabashedly ripe romantic community at Plymouth, Massachusetts, where The baritone Barry Johnson took his Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Arizona, followed by his style while many of his contemporaries were casting intolerant and self-righteous practitioners strongly Master’s Degree at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He was regional winner of the San Francisco Opera their lot with the compositional avant-garde. resented the secular “adventurers.” Auditions in 1987 and 1988, and of the Metropolitan Opera Auditions in 1989. In 1990 he was national winner of Hanson’s Swedish ancestry infused much of his The composer described the music for Merry Mount the Bel Canto of Chicago Competition. He has appeared in leading operatic rôles with Seattle Opera and Tacoma music and was a source of inspiration for his First as “warm-blooded…essentially a lyrical work [that] Opera, among other engagements, and enjoys a distinguished concert career. Symphony, ‘Nordic’ (Naxos 8.559072), composed in makes use of broad melodic lines as often as possible. 1923. In the same year he was invited to Rochester, There is less parlando than one might expect to find in a New York, to direct the symphony’s American contemporary opera, and a greater tendency toward the première. While there, he met George Eastman, who old arioso style….Both harmonically and rhythmically, had recently founded the Eastman School of Music at the listener will hear certain Americanisms. In the University of Rochester. Eastman persuaded Hanson orchestration, too, use has been made of certain to assume the school’s directorship, a position he orchestral colors and devices which were born on this occupied until retirement in 1964. During his forty-year side of the Atlantic….A word might be said concerning tenure he was responsible for inaugurating annual the frequent use of modal writing, especially in the festivals of American music, presenting works by more music of the Puritans. It seemed to me that the than 700 composers and close to 1,500 compositions. characteristics of such melodic modes as the Aeolian,

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Dorian, Phrygian and, in exalted moments, the minister, Wrestling Bradford. The people come out of Lauren Flanigan Mixolydian, are very much in keeping with the Puritan the meeting-house, the men, armed, to the left, character.” marshalled by Myles Brodrib, and the women to the Soprano Lauren Flanigan has firmly established herself as a unique musical presence in the world today. She is one Listeners familiar with Hanson’s music, particularly right. They wait for Bradford to appear, especially of the leading interpreters of the early operas of Verdi and has been featured on the telecast “Live from Lincoln his first two symphonies, will find strong melodic, Plentiful Tewke, who has dared to wear a bow of flame- Center” in performances of I Lombardi (opposite Luciano Pavarotti), The Richard Tucker Gala, Lizzie Borden and harmonic and timbral affinities with Merry Mount. coloured ribbon on her grey gown. Bradford emerges Central Park, which was written for her. Her diverse concert repertoire has included Chants d’Auvergne and Il and continues his tirade against the ungodly, to the Signor Bruschino with Orpheus, Epiphanies, Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, Philomel, Cantata para America Magica, Steven Lowe admiration of his people, as he inveighs against Satan Salome with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. and his assaults on this new English Israel, the cause of Synopsis their loss of crops and provisions: to this Indian sorceries have contributed. Samoset, to whom Bradford Howard Hanson’s opera Merry Mount, with a libretto by has pointed, reacts indignantly and stalks out. Bradford Walter MacNeil Richard L. Stokes, is based on the story The Maypole of now turns his attention to Desire Annable, mother of an Merry Mount, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Commissioned illegitimate child and guilty of whoring. In the words of Tenor Walter MacNeil has performed leading rôles at the San Francisco Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera and by the Metropolitan Opera of New York, it was first Christ he tells her to go and sin no more, and she is Metropolitan Opera, where he made his début on four hours’ notice as Alfredo in Verdi’s La traviata with renowned performed there on 10th February, 1934, the occasion of released from the stocks. As she staggers up, Love conductor Carlos Kleiber. His career includes performances of that opera with his father, baritone Cornell MacNeil. the recorded broadcast. Brewster tries to help her, but is pushed away by her Walter MacNeil has appeared at Ireland’s Wexford Festival, with opera companies in Toronto, Calgary and grandmother. They go out, shunned by the other Edmonton in Canada, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and with the New Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv. In the United CD 1 women. States he has appeared with New York City Opera, Houston Grand Opera and Opera Columbus, among many 3 Bradford has now turned his attention to the others. Act I: The Village Shaker Banks, in the pillory, who denies Bradford’s God and Christ, bringing cries of blasphemy and threats The first act is set in the main street of a Puritan of death from the crowd. Banks is set free, however, and settlement. At the back of the stage is a great square hustled out, with blows. The people continue their Richard Zeller building of sawn planks, supported by oak-beams, singing, praising the Lord and castigating the Devil. serving as church and fortress. It has a flat roof and a Bradford adds his closing Amen to those of the rest, as One of America’s leading baritones, Richard Zeller is internationally acclaimed for his concert and opera rôles. He parapet, with cannon embrasures, and portholes in the the people go out. Only Bradford, Plentiful Tewke and is known for his beautiful dramatic voice and presence as well as his outstanding musicianship. Zeller has appeared walls. In the façade are three doors, the centre one her father Praise-God remain. They whisper together in many productions at the Metropolitan Opera. His roles there include Ernesto in Bellini’s Il Pirata, Enrico in surmounted by a porch with the head of a wolf nailed to and she pushes Tewke forward, herself running into the Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, the lead rôle of Eddie in William Bolcom’s View from the Bridge, Chorèbe in its front. Faint-Not Tinker is standing guard on the roof. meeting-house, from where she can observe what Berlioz’s Les Troyens, Marcello in Puccini’s La Bohème, Schelkalov in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov and Barak in On one side of the meeting-house is a pillory, where the transpires. 4 Tewke praises Bradford’s sermon, while Richard Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten. He has also appeared with the New Jersey, St. Louis and Utah Shaker Jonathan Banks is held, and on the other side Faint-Not Tinker, on watch above, nods off. Bradford symphonies, the Cleveland Orchestra and the English National Opera. Zeller has recorded for Centaur Records and stocks, in which Desire Annable is held by the wrists continues his harangue against the world, sin and the Koch International. and ankles. Banks is gagged, his face writhing in fury. Devil, sentiments in which Tewke concurs. Bradford, Desire is an attractive young woman, tearful, with her though, is haunted by the vision of lascivious hair in disarray. Both have been pelted and are splashed concubines of Hell, with dewy flanks and honey-scented and stained. In the centre is a whipping-post, breasts. 5 He recounts how one, like Astoreth, Queen unoccupied. To the right stands the tall and imposing of the Moon, came to him the night before in a dream, Indian chief Samoset, with a squaw and her papoose tempting him to carnal sin. He kneels and prays to have crouching at his feet. In the background is the forest. this temptation taken from him. 6 Tewke tells him that 1 It is a Sabbath noon in May and during the Prelude he is more than ripe for marriage and that his daughter the voices of the congregation are heard 2 calling for Plentiful has a foolish fancy for him. Bradford had divine retribution on unbelievers, urged on by their aspired to celibacy, but sees marriage as perhaps God’s 8.669012-13 611 8.669012-13 669012-13 bk Hanson 3/20/07 10:58 AM Page 10

dress, with a great crescent of gems, like ram’s horns, on Scene 2: The Village will. Tewke calls his daughter out, and she eventually handsome and arrogant. He is accompanied by Lady her head, that persuades him to apostasy, as he curses admits that she loves Bradford, as the couple is left Marigold’s uncle, Thomas Morton, and a parson, Jewel Puritan New England, calling down storm and % Indian war-drums are heard. The scene is one of together. 7 Bradford urges marriage that very day. She Scrooby. Gower and Brodrib fight and the others join in. pestilence, and signs the Devil’s book and takes the disaster. The church has been burned to the ground and demurs, seeking delay of a month or a week. To this last Bradford, however, is mesmerised by Marigold, while Devil’s mark on his brow. @ Now he belongs to other structures are still burning. Samoset and his braves he agrees. Following custom, at her bidding, he gives Tinker seizes his drum and sounds the alarm. Other Lucifer, who leaves, with a contemptuous laugh. are ending a war-dance, while one of them drags in her half a coin and she kisses his hand, inflaming his Puritans rush in, with Cavaliers ranged now against # Astoreth remains with Bradford, who remembers the Love Brewster, who tries to scream, but is scalped. passion. His brutal kissing frightens her and she recoils. them, the latter with their preparations for a maypole. Song of Solomon, as he calls on her to rise up and come There is a shot and Samoset falls, a bullet in his head. He is dismayed, seeing no cure for him in this marriage. Tinker threatens to fire, but Elder Tewke comes in, and away. He leads her to the door of the tent, they embrace The Indians take flight as the Puritans return, some of At this point children come in, led by the serious boy sternly rebukes the combattants. The parties introduce and then go in. them wounded, Love’s grandmother distraught to find Peregrine Brodrib and the twelve-year-old Love themselves, the parson causing particular offence to the her grand-daughter’s body. Tewke and his fellow- Brewster, bringing flowers for Plentiful. 8 The Puritans by his obvious indulgence in worldly pursuits. Act III: The Village (Night) Puritans cry out in a biblical lament at what they see. children, delighted at seeing the couple together, begin The Cavaliers bring with them a royal warrant from When Bradford appears, they turn to him for prayer to sing: Plentiful Tewke hath catched the preacher!, to King Charles, which Tewke indignantly rejects. Scene 1: The Forest and help, but he is horrified at the realisation of his be rebuked by Bradford for profaning the Sabbath. 0 The two groups express their views of each other. curse. ^ He will never pray again and tells them of his Bradford goes out, followed by Plentiful, wringing her For the Cavaliers, Roundheads are rebels, while, for the $ The first scene serves as a brief prelude to what dream and of his own apostasy at the sight of Astoreth. hands. Bradford had told the children to study their Puritans thrones of earth be idle things. Bradford follows. Bradford lies asleep and Plentiful, who has & The Puritans lament their loss, now they are without a religious books, reminding them of the bears that ate interrupts them, rebuking his fellow-Puritans and covered him with her cloak, crouches by his side in shepherd to guide them. When Marigold appears, children who mocked Elijah. Peregrine now starts to welcoming the newcomers. The wildness of his manner terror. There is a lantern on the ground and ghostly distraught and spent with fatigue, her festal dress take the other children through their catechism. They are alarms his friends, as he promises to shelter Lady moonlight, with thunder and lightning. In his sleep bedraggled, she recoils with horror as she sees Bradford. interrupted by the mountebank Jack Prence, bearded, Marigold’s fool Prence, in his own house. He urges the Bradford calls out to Astoreth and tries to embrace The Puritans heap abuse on her calling for her death as a hunch-backed, about fifty years old and dressed in Cavaliers to repentance, but they only laugh. ! He is Plentiful, who shrinks away. Waking, he tells her how in witch, * but she tells me them she is no witch: once she motley, with cap and bells. He makes a game for them, mocked by Prence and then by Scrooby, before the his dream he was crowned Emperor of Hell. They hurry was happy, but now, her husband dead, she is happy no with three chalk circles, one for heaven, one for paradise others join in. Tewke thunders at them, a generation of away in fear. more, but soon will join him. ( As the people are about and one for hell. Two children stand in each, before the hellish vipers, and tells them to take ship and go back to to stone her, Bradford tears off his clerical bands and his game of tag begins. Peregrine eventually wants to join England. Finally a truce is called, after both sides have skull-cap, revealing the Devil’s mark on his brow. in, replacing Love’s partner, but is knocked over, expressed their antagonism. @ Marigold and Gower are Calling on his new master, he summons fire and flames finding himself relegated to hell, to the amusement of left gazing at each other, to be interrupted by Bradford, seize the village buildings. Marigold swoons in fear, and the children. He goes out angrily, threatening to tell his who falls on his knees before her and asks to be allowed Bradford seizes her, and carrying her in his arms, walks father. to rescue her from Satan, observed now by Plentiful into the flames, as the Puritans, aghast, kneel in prayer. 9 The game is interrupted by the arrival of Brodrib Tewke. Marigold tells Bradford to come to her at and three Puritans, the latter carrying pikes. They sundown, giving him a fleeting hope, but dashing it Keith Anderson question Prence, who has recently landed, with a when she demands that he marry her and Gower. They company of merry gentlemen from England and is ready go out, leaving Bradford in a frenzy of anguish, now to celebrate the maypole dance. Appalled, they tie him urging attack on the Cavaliers, in spite of the truce they to the whipping-post and set about him. Bradford enters, have promised. The Puritans resolve to do as he says. deep in thought, to be met by Lady Marigold Sandys, Plentiful approaches Bradford and touches his arm. He richly dressed, with riding-habit, velvet skirts and a looks at her like a stranger, and taking out his half of the feathered and bejewelled hat. She belabours Bradford, betrothal coin, throws it down and grinds it under his who is enraptured by her appearance, and sets Prence foot, to Plentiful’s tearful dismay. The act ends with the free. Brodrib makes threateningly towards her, but resolve of both parties to go their own ways, the Bradford intervenes. Now she calls on her friends, who Cavaliers to dance and sing, and the Puritans to scatter enter with drawn swords, just as Faint-Not Tinker wakes their enemies like chaff before the wind. up and falls off the parapet. Sir Gower Lackland is 8.669012-13 10 7 8.669012-13 669012-13 bk Hanson 3/20/07 10:58 AM Page 8

CD 2 Morton and Scrooby, then Gower, followed by the Nine Scene 2: The Forest Hell, with Gower as Lucifer, while the Worthies are Worthies. 2 Gower proclaims a Commonweal of Joy now the old pagan gods of the enemies of Israel, Dagon, Act II on the hill, which he now calls Merry Mount. Gower 6 The second scene follows at once. It is another part of Moloch and Gog-Magog, with Morton as Beelzebub, and the Worthies seat themselves, while Morton and the wood. Bradford comes in, followed by two Puritans, Scrooby as Antichrist in papal robes and tiara, together Scene 1: The Maypole Scrooby marshal the revellers, who dance round the dragging Marigold between them. One of the men with Mahomet, Anubis, a medicine-man represented by maypole, forming patterns with their interwoven carries a dark lantern, which Bradford tells him to open, Samoset and the beast of the Apocalypse, a compound The second act opens on the afternoon of the same day. streamers. While the dance is in progress, Samoset bidding the men leave him together with Marigold, so of the dancing bear, eagle and lion, with its three heads. The scene is set on a hill-top, with a glade of evergreens enters, with braves and squaws, and offers gifts to that he may wrestle with her soul. When they are gone, Marigold is Astoreth and Prence carries Lucifer’s train. and dogwood in flower. There is a maypole in the Gower, who gives the sign for the Indians to be made he immediately urges his attentions on her, declaring his Witches flutter down on broomsticks, a minotaur, with centre, a slender pine-tree, crowned with flowers and welcome with wine and food. The dancing becomes love, to her dismay and expressed loathing for him. He the head of a bull and the painted body of an Indian antlers, with the traditional streamers attached to it and wilder and the Indians slink out of sight, seeking the threatens to kill her, rather than see her with Gower, joins them in their grotesque dance. From beneath the to the surrounding foliage, forming a canopy. The places where the wine is kept. seizes her and she strikes him. Their struggle is toadstool hops a great toad, with a jewel in its forehead; maypole is decked out with flags, garlands and a bridal 3 At the sound of horns, the revellers stop dancing interrupted by the arrival of Gower, staggering in, his a calf-like beast, with a coronet and eyes before and wreath of roses. In front is a throne, with nine seats set and make way for 36 girls, four abreast, forming a costume dishevelled and torn. He and Bradford fight, behind shambles from its den in the rocks; more at its foot. There are silken arbours and green bowers, coach, twirling parasols to represent the wheels and but Gower breaks off as Tewke enters, with other monsters appear, goblins with tomahawks, devils with with banquet tables, at the left. Trumpets are heard and bearing Lady Marigold as the goddess Flora. Two Puritans, armed and carrying axes and lanterns. Gower pitchforks and cat-o’-nine-tails, satyrs, witches, lamiae the distant sound of a ship’s bell and of cannon-fire. For children serve as horses to draw the coach, with another seizes an axe, but is run through by the pike of one of and ogresses. Hisses and brutish cries resound, while the festival Morton is Master of Merry Disports; child as coachman and a fourth at the back, as a the Puritans, to Tewke’s dismay. Gower dies in Bradford remains inaudible and invisible to them. The Scrooby, vested as an English priest, with a chaplet of postilion. The revellers greet the Lady of the May, on Marigold’s arms. She kisses his brow and stands up. monsters point as a brilliant haze of emerald flares up in vine-leaves on his head and a garland over his shoulder, her wedding-day. 4 Gower greets her, praising her 7 She calls for vengeance, seeking her own death. the sky. Lucifer makes his entrance, in a procession led is Abbot of Misrule. Gower is May Lord, dressed in beauty, and she answers him in the same vein. He leads 8 Tewke orders the men to take her, as a prisoner, to by heralds from the summit of a ridge, across a bridge white, with a gilt staff, a rainbow-coloured scarf across Marigold to the maypole, where Scrooby now stands, the village, and this they do, bearing Gower’s body and down into the plain. Musicians play serpents and his breast and a small dress sword. His comic train- with his prayer-book, ready to marry the couple. As he away and leaving Tewke and Bradford alone together. other barbarous ancient instruments. A troop of warriors bearer is Prence. Gower is attended by the Nine is about to pronounce the final words of the service, Tewke rebukes Bradford and urges him to repent. with exotic weapons and sinister banners enters, with Worthies, Joshua, David, Hector, Alexander the Great, proclaiming them man and wife, he is interrupted by 9 Left alone, Bradford prays for divine help, as a nine Princes and their acolytes, swinging censers of Judas Maccabaeus, Julius Caesar, King Arthur, Bradford, who bids him hold. 5 Bradford now inveighs sinner. 0 Worn out by his despair and struggles, he falls brimstone. The monsters leap in delight. Prence carries Charlemagne and Duke Godefrey of Bologne. The against this pagan revelry, the maypole, the beastly asleep as mystic voices are heard, echoing his Amen, Lucifer’s train, followed by a Nubian guard, rings in merrymakers, some of them drunk, include nymphs, tower of scarlet Babylon. Armed Puritans swarm in and and the scene slowly comes to an end. their noses and woolly head-dresses. Lucifer stands on satyrs, dwarfs and fauns, shepherds and shepherdesses, the Cavaliers, without their proper weapons, are unable the ridge, his face deathly pale and with a blood-stained morris-dancers, jugglers, tumblers, minstrels, archers, to defend themselves. Morton accuses Tewke of Scene 3: Bradford’s Dream: bandage across his chest, supporting himself with a mountebanks, greenmen dressed in leaves, wild men in breaking his word, but the Puritans now drive the The Hellish Rendezvous golden staff. He is helped down the rocks by his animal skins, mummers, sword-dancers, a great ape, a Cavaliers off, and set about hacking down the maypole attendants. From the ground appear thrones for Lucifer dancing bear, a hobby horse and every form of and destroying all the signs of revelry. Samoset appears, ! As Bradford sleeps, his dream of the Valley of and for Astoreth, with thrones for the nine Princes. As traditional English reveller. There is an effigy of Flora, with his followers, and claps Brodrib on the shoulder. Tophet is seen, an infernal glen, with ramparts of Lucifer passes among them, the monsters kneel and goddess of spring, a group representing Robin Hood and The latter strikes the wine-cup from the Indian’s hand sandstone, crags and molten stone, trickling down. Bradford tries to stand, but cannot. Lucifer stands before his companions, prettily dressed milkmaids, chimney- and slashes him across the face with a gauntlet. Samoset Vapours arise from the cinders on the ground, his throne, the monsters bow down, and there is thunder sweeps belabouring bystanders with bladders on sticks strides off in anger, followed, after a moment’s meteorites smoulder and human bones glisten on the and lightning as they greet their master. At a sign, they and dancing round a figure of Jack-in-the-Green. hesitation, by Bradford. Wind and distant thunder is plain. Where the maypole once stood, there is now a all stand and then start to dance, to break off at a further 1 After a short prelude, the curtain rises. Women are heard, as the Puritans complete their task, to the great giant toadstool and in his dream Bradford sees a mixture sign from Lucifer. Bradford is seized and brought before preparing the maypole. The procession comes in, led by satisfaction of Tewke. of the pagan revelry of the maypole ceremonies and him and bidden to abjure his God. To tempt him, fragments of Christian demonology. The Cavaliers seem courtesans appear, dancing about him, but it is the final to represent the Princes, Warriors and Courtesans of appearance of Marigold as Astoreth, now in Babylonian

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CD 2 78:49 Gino Lucchetti

Scene 2: The Village Seattle Symphony Chorale

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Seattle Symphony CD 1 45:13

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Howard HANSON (1896-1981) Also available: Merry Mount, Op. 31 Opera in Three Acts and Six Scenes

Libretto by Richard L. Stokes, based on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, The Maypole of Merry Mount

Abraham Kaplan, associate conductor for choral activities Joseph Crnko, director, Northwest Boychoir Dr. Jerome Wright, director, Seattle Girls’ Choir

Seattle Symphony 8.559072 Gerard Schwarz

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AMERICAN OPERA CLASSICS Also available: Howard HANSON Merry Mount

Flanigan • MacNeil Zeller • Austin Marley Northwest Boychoir Seattle Girls’ Choir Seattle Symphony Gerard Schwarz 8.559251 2 CDs 8.669012-13 16 CMYK NAXOS Playing Howard Time: HANSON 2:04:02 (1896-1981)

broadcasting and copying of this compact disc prohibited. translations reserved. Unauthorised public performance, All rights in this sound recording, artwork, texts and Merry Mount, Op. 31 &

8.669012-13 MERICAN PERA LASSICS Opera in Three Acts and Six Scenes A O C

2007 Naxos Rights International Ltd. • Made in Canada Libretto by Richard L. Stokes Born in Nebraska, of Scandinavian heritage, Howard Hanson was Lady Marigold Sandys . . . Lauren Flanigan, Soprano influenced as much by Jean Sibelius as Sir Gower Lackland ...... Walter MacNeil, Tenor by his American surroundings. The plot of his 1933 opera, Merry Mount, set in HANSON: Wrestling Bradford ...... Richard Zeller, Baritone New England in 1625 during a conflict Praise-God Tewke . . . . . Charles Robert Austin, Bass between the Puritans and the Cavaliers, is anything but merry. Seattle Symphony Chorale However, the composer described the music as “warm-blooded…essentially a Northwest Boychoir • Seattle Girls’ Choir lyrical work [that] makes use of broad

melodic lines as often as possible”. Merry Mount Seattle Symphony • Gerard Schwarz Listeners familiar with Hanson’s first two symphonies will find strong CD 1 45:13 melodic and harmonic affinities with

Merry Mount Merry Mount. This recording derives 1-@ Act I 45:13 from a critically acclaimed pair of concert performances by Seattle CD 2 78:49 Symphony and Gerard Schwarz in October 1996. Hanson’s Symphony No. 1-# Act II 53:06 1 can be heard on Naxos 8.559072. $-( Act III 25:43

HANSON: Seattle Symphony is deeply grateful to the Kreielsheimer A full track and cast list can be found Foundation for making possible DDD on pages 2 to 4 of the booklet. this performance of Merry Mount Recorded live at Seattle Center Opera House, Washington, for the 100th anniversary of

on 28th and 29th October, 1996 Howard Hanson’s birth 8.669012-13 Producer: Adam Stern • Engineer: Al Swanson Booklet notes: Steven Lowe and Keith Anderson www.naxos.com 8.669012-13 Publisher: HARMS Inc., New York Cover picture: Whitsun Ales by Francis Donkin Bedford (Mary Evans / Edwin Wallace)

NAXOS American flag, folk artist, 1880s.