Independent Opera Shining the spotlight on new talent INDEPENDENT OPERA AT SADLER’S WELLS 2005–2020 Introduction Message from Wigmore Hall Thursday 15 October 2020, 7.30pm In this period of uncertainty, Independent Opera at Sadler’s It gives me great pleasure to welcome Independent Opera Wells is grateful to be able to present its annual Scholars’ to Wigmore Hall for its fourth showcase event. Now, more Independent Opera Recital at Wigmore Hall. For this final concert in Independent than ever, such opportunities are vital for young singers. Opera’s 15-year history, we are thrilled to bring together We are immensely grateful to Independent Opera for its four talented singers: tenor Glen Cunningham, soprano pioneering work and for its extraordinary commitment Scholars’ Recital Samantha Quillish, bass William Thomas, mezzo-soprano to young artists when they need it most. Tonight’s concert Lauren Young and renowned pianist Christopher Glynn. is a great example of the spirit of Independent Opera and all that it has represented over so many years. I hope Antonín Dvorˇák The four emerging artists you will hear tonight were Glen Cunningham tenor that you all enjoy this concert. Cigánské melodie, Op. 55 selected from Independent Opera’s partner conservatoires: Royal College of Music No. 1 Má písenˇ zas mi láskou zní Royal College of Music, Royal Academy of Music, Guildhall John Gilhooly Director No. 4 Když mne stará matka zpívat School of Music & Drama and Royal Conservatoire of Samantha Quillish soprano Moravian Duets, Op. 38 Scotland. The Independent Opera Voice Scholarships were Royal Academy of Music No. 4 Hoˇre awarded to selected students entering their final year of Messages from Independent Opera No. 3 Vˇeneˇcek study. The scholars received support towards their fees, Maurice Ravel As we gather this evening to hear the performances of these a £5,000 bursary towards their continuing professional William Thomas bass talented singers, we are reminded of the importance of Cinq mélodies populaires grecques development after graduation and mentoring from Guildhall School of Music & Drama live performance, particularly during a time of wrenching Chants populaires Independent Opera’s Creative Director, Natalie Murray challenge for so many. We applaud these singers who have No. 3 Mélodie Italienne Beale, the curator of tonight’s programme, entitled Folk. Lauren Young mezzo-soprano persevered under the most difficult of circumstances to Henri Duparc This year, Independent Opera is delighted to have prepare for tonight’s event. We also applaud John Gilhooly Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Phidylé commissioned a new song cycle for tonight’s recital. and his remarkable team at Wigmore Hall who have opened Le manoir de Rosemonde A Dead Man’s Song by composer Ben Foskett and poet the doors for this recital. This will be a night to remember Christopher Glynn piano Camille Saint-Saëns and celebrate – a night when we can once again enjoy the Keaton Henson is given its world première this evening Danse macabre, Op. 40 by William Thomas and Christopher Glynn. gift of moving performances by Independent Opera scholars Igor Stravinsky from Britain’s leading opera schools. The Woods are Green William Bollinger Co-Founder from The Rake’s Progress Ben Foskett A Dead Man’s Song (Independent Opera Great performances rely on the relationship between the commission, world première) artist and the audience. In recent times we have all seen James MacMillan that bond tested and yet we are finding opportunities, like Scots Song tonight’s performance, to keep that relationship alive. Robert Burns Giving artists the chance to perform for live audiences has Ae fond kiss always been central to our mission at Independent Opera, and we are immensely grateful to you, our audience, for Benjamin Britten The foggy, foggy dew joining us and supporting our young scholars tonight. Lehár Natalie Murray Beale Creative Director Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiß from Giuditta Johann Strauss II Honorary Patrons Co-Founders Trustees Trinke, Liebchen Dame Anne Evans Judith Bollinger Annita Bennett from Die Fledermaus Michael Grandage CBE William Bollinger Elisabeth Buchanan Bedˇrich Smetana Nicholas Payne Alessandro Talevi Wilson Kerr Nuže, milý chasníku Alistair Spalding CBE from The Bartered Bride Engelbert Humperdinck Presented by Independent Opera at Sadler’s Wells Evening Prayer from Hänsel und Gretel Lauren Young, Natalie Murray Beale Creative Director William Thomas, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Chrissy Jay General Manager Glen Cunningham and The Nightingale Samantha Quillish. Grace Cook Administration Manager This concert will be approximately 90 minutes with no interval. 36 Wigmore Street, London, W1U 2BP. Director: John Gilhooly The Wigmore Trust. Registered Charity no. 1024838. www.wigmore-hall.org.uk 1 Programme Notes Independent Opera’s final Scholars’ Recital opens with required at very short notice five Greek songs to be provided two songs and two duets by Dvořák. Cigánské melodies with accompaniments for a lecture he was giving at the Op. 55 was composed in January 1880 to Czech texts by Ecole des Hautes Etudes. A mutual friend, Michel-Dimiti Adolf Heyduk. Dvořák composed the songs especially for Calvocoressi, selected the poems for which Ravel, in a matter the Bohemian tenor Gustav Walter, who gave the first of hours, provided the piano accompaniments. Two of these, performance in Vienna. Because Walter sang only in German ‘Quel galant’ and ‘Chanson des cueilleuses de lentisques’, and would be singing to a German-speaking audience, were published in 1906, while the remaining three, which Dvořák asked Heyduk to translate his poems into German. have since been lost, were jettisoned by the composer Although the manuscript has only the German text, the who considered the accompaniments too short. When work was published in 1881 with the original Czech words Calvocoressi a little later needed three more songs to be (modified in places by Dvořák). The critical edition by Šourek harmonized for a lecture of his own, Ravel obliged once prints both the Czech and German texts, and it is the Czech more, and the resulting amalgam, Cinq mélodies populaires version that will be performed this evening. The theme of the grecques, was eventually premièred by Marguerite Babaïan freedom-loving spirit who loves the open air inspired Dvořák and published in 1907. The songs are: ‘Le réveil de la mariée’, to create what is perhaps his finest cycle of songs, with words Ravel provides shimmering accompaniment to this song in based on folk poetry. Tonight we hear Nos. 1 and 4. which a young Greek peasant awakens his bride by serenading her in front of her house; ‘Là-bas, vers l’église’, In Má píseň zas mi láskou zní the two verses are connected a moving song for fallen war heroes; ‘Quel galant m’est by a lilting dance-measure, which the voice then takes over comparable’, a brash song of a virile peasant who hints that in the coda. The fourth song, Když mne stará matka (known pistols and sabres are not the only things that dangle in English as ‘Songs my mother taught me’), is the most beneath his belt; ‘Chanson des cueilleuses de lentisques’, celebrated of the cycle, and has achieved worldwide with its beautiful melody sung by the women as they work; popularity. There is something archetypically Czech in the and ‘Tout gai’, a setting of nonsense words to a rumbustious way 6/8 time is gently pitted against 2/4, and the song dance that alternates between 2/4 and 3/4 time. reaches its melodic climax in the second verse with a phrase of haunting beauty. When Dvořák visited London in 1884 at the invitation of the Philharmonic Society, there was a “The only love affair I have ever had was performance of ‘Songs my mother taught me’ by Edward with music.” Maurice Ravel Lloyd which, according to Herman Klein, caused the undergoes remarkable modulations and reaches a Near Rajec on the Morava composer ‘to wipe the furtive tears off his cheek’. passionate climax in the final verse, but not before another (Slovakia), Bedrich Havranek (1821-99), oil on canvas 1850. In 1910, Ravel entered the folksong-setting competition of ‘Repose, ô Phidylé’, this time a third higher. The surging In 1875 Brahms was one of the judges of the Austrian State the Maison du Lied in Moscow. Each composer was asked to postlude allows the accompanist to sing wordlessly of Prize, whose task it was to give the award to talented submit seven songs from seven different countries. Ravel those passions that the singer has voiced. composers in need. The winner was Antonín Dvořák, and won four prizes with the pastoral Chanson française, Chanson among the compositions he submitted were the Klänge aus espagnole, Chanson hébraïque and the mock-tragic Mélodie Le manoir de Rosemonde from 1879 is a good example of Mähren (Moravian Duets). Brahms had no idea of the poverty (Chanson) Italienne. These songs, along with three others, Duparc’s mature declamatory style. The song is dominated in which Dvořák’s family lived until he visited him in Prague were collected as Chants populaires. by the rhythmic opening and the ascending bass figure soon after the award had been conferred. He found the that ushers in the voice. The briefest of postludes family in a tiny flat consisting of one room and kitchen, Next we hear two masterpieces by Henri Duparc that date suggests that Duparc was familiar with ‘Ich hab im Traum discovered that Dvořák’s only regular income was earned as from 1882-1883 but were not premièred until six years geweinet’ from Dichterliebe. the poorly paid organist of St Adalbert’s Church, and that later , in January 1889, at the Société Nationale. When without the award he would probably have starved. He also Jules Massenet heard Phidylé, he declared that the French Camille Saint-Saëns composed some 150 songs to English, noticed a pile of manuscripts in the flat, including three Mélodie now possessed a masterpiece comparable to Italian, German, Spanish and, of course, French texts.