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proudly presents the 2020-2021 Student Artist Series Talen Bowling-Swan, bass Janice ChenJu Chiang, piano This Public Recital is given in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Music degree. Saturday, November 8, 2020 10:30 a.m., Livestreamed from Kitt Recital Hall Program I. Les Heures Augusta Holmès (1847-1903) 2. L’heure d’or 3. L’heure de pourpre II. Wink & Wonder Judith Cloud (b. 1954) 1. Morning at the Temple 2. Camera Ready 3. Fairy Circle 4. Beloved Girl 5. The Visitor World premiere ~ Intermission ~ III. “Die stille Stadt,” op. 50, no. 4 Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) “Heidezauber,” op. 24, no. 4 Toivo Kuula (1883-1918) “Talvikuutamolla,” op. 26, no. 5 Leevi Madetoja (1887-1947) “Ihme,” op. 21, no. 6 Yrjö Kilpinen (1892-1959) IV. “Charlie Rutlage” Charles Ives (1874-1954) “General William Booth Enters into Heaven” Talen Bowling-Swan, bass Janice ChenJu Chiang, piano Please turn off or silence all electronic devices. Unauthorized audio and video recordings are prohibited. Program Notes by Talen Bowling-Swan (2020) AUGUSTA HOLMÈS (1847-1903) Selections from Les Heures A Parisian composer born to Irish parents, Augusta Holmès (originally anglicized Holmes) studied as a pupil of César Franck and wrote operas, symphonic poems, and dramatic symphonies, as well as over 120 art songs. An advocate of the Wagnerian approach to musical composition, Holmès is most known for her highly dramatic orchestral works, such as her politically driven symphonic poems Pologne and Irlande. Ode triomphale, a massive work for 900 singers and 300-piece orchestra is considered her major contribution as a composer. Though she devoted most of her attention to large works after she moved to Paris in 1875, Les Heures was published in 1900, near the end of her life, and is set to the composer’s own texts. In this song cycle, the narrator experiences with each movement a different hour of color, and each hour is tied to a form of love that one experiences at different stages of life. II. L’heure d’or II. The Hour of Gold Restons étendus sur le sable d’or, Let us remain lying on the sand of gold, Sous les cieux brûlants d’âpres flammes; Under the burning skies of fiery flames; Que tes bras divins m’étreignent encor! May your arms divine embrace me again! Aux feux du Soleil consumons nos âmes. In the heat of the sun our souls are consumed. Toute la mer se livre au Dieu du jour The whole sea surrenders to the God of day Livre ta lèvre à ma caresse! Deliver you lip to my caress! Du coeur des forêts monte un chant From the heart of the forests a song of d’amour love rises Oh! Chante à mon coeur ta profonde Oh! Sing to my heart your deep ivresse! intoxication! Sous le voile d’or de tes clairs cheveux Under the golden veil of your light hair Plonge dans mes yeux tes yeux vagues, Plunge in my eyes with your vague eyes, Tes yeux qu’à languit l’ardeur des aveux, Your eyes that languish by the ardor of confessions, Tes yeux pleins de ciel et couleur des Your eyes full of sky and the color of the vagues! waves! Le flot étoilé de vivantes fleur The starry flow of living flowers Vers ta beauté rampe et se traîne; Towards your beauty crawl and drag A tes pieds de neige aux roses pâleurs At your feet of snow with pale roses La mer reconnaît Anadyomène! The sea recognizes Anadyomene! C’est l’heure d’or! It is the hour of gold! Toujours, encor, Always, more, Expirons tous deux dans sa chaude Let us both expire in its hot breath! haleine! III. L’heure de pourpre III. The Hour of Purple C’est l’heure! It is the hour! Où le soleil mourant roule vers sa rouge Where the dying sun rolls towards its red demeure . remains . C’est l’heure! It is the hour! L’heure du baiser fauve et torturant! The hour of the wild and torturing kiss! Écoute! Listen! Ecoute, blottie entre mes bras, Listen, huddled in my arms, Mon coeur qui saigne goutte à goutte . To my heart that bleeds drop by drop . Écoute! Écoute! Listen! Listen! Si tu me trahis, tu mourras! If you betray me, you will die! Pleure! Weep! Pleure si jamais en passant, même en Cry if ever in passing, even in dreams, rêve, Un désir t’effleure! A desire touches you! Pleure, pleure, pleure, Weep, weep, weep, Pleure, car la neige boira ton sang! Weep, because the snow will drink your blood! C’est l’heure! It is the hour! Où le soleil mourant roule vers sa rouge Where the dying sun rolls towards its red demeure . remains . C’est l’heure! It is the hour! L’heure où l’on s’aime, en se torturant! The hour when we love each other, through torture! JUDITH CLOUD (b. 1954) Wink & Wonder An accomplished mezzo-soprano soloist and voice teacher, Arizona-based composer Judith Cloud is known for writing compositions that are both highly lyrical and musically demanding, fusing a rich harmonic and rhythmic language with a compelling vocal line. In addition to her wide repertoire of art song compositions in numerous languages, Cloud has also written several large-scale vocal, choral, and instrumental works. Notable works include her cantata Feet of Jesus, set to poems by Langston Hughes, and Beethoven’s Slippers, a monodrama for soprano soloist with libretto by Douglas Atwill. Judith Cloud set Wink & Wonder to five poems from Douglas Atwill’s first volume of poetry: Seventy-One Poems, Art, Love, Lust, Sex, Death, Family, Santa Fe, Grammar, & the Garden. As Cloud states, “these particular poems I chose for their graceful humor, delicate imagery, and profound humanism.” Morning at the Temple I was sure that I knew the man from somewhere, before his hair went white, perhaps from the downtown bar we all went to, dancing and drinking too much, or maybe at an opening night at a gallery, warm, white wine in plastic glasses, but he had a solemn guise now, in well-cut Buddhist robes, waving the incense and ringing a bell as the three other priestly men, intoned the deep-throated phrases for a blessing on our friend who had gone, tintinnabulation included, everybody standing for the ceremonial send-off that she had so wanted, and at the end as the four holies in a row passed in a procession in front of us, he turned to me, all but unseen in his wafting cloud of enlightened smoke, with a single ring of his bell and a wink. Camera Ready Wet the smiling lips for the photograph. Say quickly Parsifal’s parsley, persnickety persimmons, parsimonious patriarchy, perfidious patrons, patriotic past-times, and putrid Prussian pastry. Are we ready now? Fairy Circle There is a large, at least century-old piñon in the front of my new house, crowded around with younger pines and junipers, dark in the impenetrable center with saplings, a rotting tree-house with ladder, myriad groundcovers and many-branched shrubs, truly a copse, where I resist the well-intended friends who call for sharp-pruning, clearing away the undergrowth, and certainly undoing the tree-house lest I put an end to the seasonal gatherings there of the Other-folk who bring good fortune when I know they must cluster in its midst on the nights without a moon. Beloved Girl I had a black cat who learned by herself to go out of the cat door early each morning, but preferred for me to let her back in, scratching with screeches on the glass of the bedroom French door, and I thought each time it was an opportunity to practice my hoped-for telekinesis, to picture with my strong mind the turning of the door knob, the slight pulling inwards of the door, but I always had to get up out of bed and open the door like an ordinary man with “Good morning, Ramona.” The Visitor Somewhat early for his appointment, Death, eschewing the doorbell or the brassknocker, chose to walk around and wait it out in the back garden until needed in the house, making himself small enough to hide under the boxwook, keeping out of sight in the shade, impatiently turning healthy leaves brown, dead-heading perfect blossoms and practicing his ancient skills on the black beetles unfortunate enough to scramble by, until he was needed for his expertise at the main event in the master bedroom. JEAN SIBELIUS (1865-1957) “Die stille Stadt,” op. 50, no. 4 A composer at the forefront of bringing Finnish music to the international stage, Jean Sibelius is primarily known for his nationalist orchestral work Finlandia, a programmatic work that describes the struggle of the Finnish people to overcome the oppression of Swedish and Russian rule. Sibelius spent much of his career helping to develop a Finnish national identity through music, and his efforts are seen not just through Finlandia but in such works as the Karelia Suite, his choral symphony Kullervo, Valse triste, and The Swan of Tuonela—works which express both a unique musical identity, and have programmatic elements featuring Finnish folklore and settings. Not all of Sibelius’s works are concerned with developing a national musical identity for Finland, however. Sibelius has a significantoeuvre , including seven symphonies, sixteen symphonic poems, a violin concerto, numerous vocal orchestral works, and over ninety songs. Composed in 1906, “Die stille Stadt” is part of Sibelius’s Six Songs on German Texts, a song collection most known for being Sibelius’s only songs in the German language.