-fierbergerCollege of Fine Arts °111%b VISIONS OF PEACE AND HEAVEN UNIVERSITY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA CHORAL UNION Timothy Russell, conductor Robert Porco, guest conductor Lucy Shelton, soprano Robert Barefield, baritone School of Music Herberger College of Fine Arts Arizona State University Wednesday, October 22, 2003 7:30 p.m. Gammage Auditorium ARIZONA STATE mat UNIVERSITY PROGRAM TEXTS Symphony No. 4 Gustav Mahler GUSTAV MAHLER SYMPHONY No.4 I. Bedachtig, nicht eilen We enjoy heavenly pleasures Whole dishfuls are set for us! II. In gemachlicher Bewegung, ohne Hast and therefore avoid earthly ones. Good apples, good pears and good grapes, III. Ruhevoll and gardeners who allow everything! IV. Sehr behaglich ("Wir geniessen die himmlischen Freuden") No worldly tumult is to be heard in heaven. If you want roebuck or hare, All live in gentlest peace. on the public streets Lucy Shelton, soprano We lead angelic lives, they come running right up. Should a fast-day come along, Timothy Russell, conductor yet have a merry time of it besides. We dance and we spring, all the fishes at once come swimming We skip and we sing. with joy. INTERMISSION Saint Peter in heaven looks on. There goes Saint Peter running with his net and his bait John lets the lambkin out, to the heavenly pond. Ralph Dona Nobis Pacem Vaughan Williams and Herod the Butcher lies in wait for it. Do you want carp, do you want pike, or Cantata for Soprano and Baritone Soloists, Chorus, and Orchestra We lead a patient, trout? innocent, patient, Good dried cod or fresh anchovies? dear little lamb to its death. Saint Lawrence had to Agnus Dei Saint Luke slaughters the ox forfeit his life. "Beat! beat! drums!" without any thought or concern. Saint Martha shall be the cook. Reconciliation Wine doesnt cost a penny There is just no music on earth in the heavenly cellars. that can compare to ours. Dirge for Two Veterans The angels bake the bread. Even the eleven thousand virgins "The Angel of Death has been abroad" venture to dance, "0 man greatly beloved" Good greens of every sort And Saint Ursula herself has to laugh. grow in the heavenly vegetable patch, Cecilia and all her relations good asparagus, string beans, make excellent court musicians. Lucy Shelton, soprano and whatever we want. The angelic voices Robert Barefield, baritone gladden our senses, so that all awaken for joy. Robert Porco, conductor * Out of respect for the performers and those audience members around you, please turn all beepers, cell phones, and watches to their silent mode. Thank you. RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS IV. Dirge for Two Veterans DONA NOBIS PACEM The last sunbeam Lightly falls from the finished Sabbath, Two veterans, son and father, On the pavement here, and there dropped together, Agnus Dei Lamb of God beyond it is looking And the double grave awaits them. qui tollis peccata mundi, who takes away the sins of the world, Down a new-made double grave. dona nobis pacem. Grant us peace. Now nearer blow the bugles, Lo, the moon ascending, And the drums strike more convulsive, II. Up from the east a silvery round moon, And the daylight o'er the pavement Beat! beat! drums! – blow! bugles! blow! Beautiful over the house-tops, ghastly, quite has faded, Through the windows – through the doors – burst like a ruthless force, phantom moon, And the strong dead-march enwraps me. Into the solemn church and scatter the congregation, Immense and silent moon. Into the school where the scholar is studying; In the eastern sky up-buoying, Leave not the bridegroom quiet – no happiness must he have now with his bride, I see a sad procession, The sorrowful vast phantom Nor the peaceful farmer any peace, ploughing his field, or gathering in his grain, And I hear the sound of coming moves illuminated, So fierce you whirr and pound you drums – so shrill you bugles blow. full-keyed bugles; 'Tis some mother's large transparent face, All the channels of the city streets In heaven brighter growing. Beat! beat! drums! – blow! bugles! blow! they're flooding Over the traffic of cities – over the rumble of wheels in the streets; As with voices and with tears. O strong dead-march you please me! Are beds prepared for the sleepers at night in the houses? O moon immense with your silvery No sleepers must sleep in those beds, I hear the great drums pounding, face you soothe me! No bargainers' bargain by day – would they continue? And the small drums steady whirring, O my soldiers twain! 0 my veterans Would the talkers be talking? would the singer attempt to sing? And every blow of the great passing to burial! Then rattle quicker, heavier drums – you bugles wilder blow. convulsive drums What I have I also give you. Strikes me through and through. Beat! beat! drums! – blow! bugles! blow! The moon gives you light, Make no parley – stop for no exposutulation, For the son is brought with the father, And the bugles and the drums give you music, Mind not the timid – mind not the weeper or prayer, In the foremost ranks of the fierce And my heart, 0 my soldiers, my veterans, Mind not the old man beseeching the young man, assault they fell, My heart gives you love. Let not the child's voice be heard, nor the mother's entreaties, Make even the trestles to shake the dead where they lie awaiting the hearses, V. So strong you thump 0 terrible drums – so loud you bugles blow. The Angel of Death has been abroad throughout the land; you may almost hear the — Walt Whitman beating of his wings. There is no one as of old ... to sprinkle with blood the lintel and the two side-posts of our doors, that he may spare and pass on. III. Reconciliation — John Bright Word over all, beautiful as the sky, Dona nobis pacem. Beautiful that war and all its deeds of carnage must in time be utterly lost, That the hands of the sisters Death and Night incessantly, softly, We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble! wash again and ever again this soiled world; The snorting of his horse was heard on Dan; the whole land trembled at the sound of For my enemy is dead, a man divine as myself is dead, the neighing of his strong ones; for they are come, and have devoured the land ... and I look where he lies white-faced and still in the coffin – I draw near. those that dwell therein... Bend down and touch lightly with my lips the white face in the coffin. The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved... — Walt Whitman Is there no balm in Gilead?; is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of Dona nobis pacem. the daughter of my people recovered? — Jeremiah 8: 1 5-22 DONA NOBIS PACEM (CONTINUED) More than one writer has spoken of Mahler's nine symphonies (plus a tenth, unfinished one) as a grand cycle; there are so many connections among them. None of those VI. connections is more potent, though, than the ones between his third and fourth "0 man greatly beloved, fear not, peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong." symphonies. And this is not by coincidence, but the result of Mahler changing his mind. Originally, he had planned to end the Third Symphony (1896) with a song that he had — Daniel 10:19 written in 1892, "Das himmlische Leben" (The heavenly life). Some of the music in the "The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former . and in this place Third Symphony comes from the song, but Mahler eventually decided not to use it in will I give peace." the symphony. — Haggai 2:9 It was not the first time the song was laid aside. It was originally to be the fourth "Nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. in the cycle of songs that we know as Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Magic Horn of And none shall make them afraid, neither shall the sword go through their land. Youth). The title comes from a collection of folk poetry (and some skillful imitations) Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. that was the source of many Mahler song texts. Mahler at first called his set Humoresken- Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Humoresques—an important clue to the affect he intended. Even the title of our song, Open to me the gates of righteousness, I will go into them. "Das himmlische leben," went through several incarnations: the poem itself was originally Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled; and let them called "Der Himmel hangt voller Geigen" (Heaven is full of fiddles). At one point, Mahler hear, and say, it is the truth. wrote to a friend that he had "definitely given [it] the title, 'What the child tells me.'" And it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues. So this childlike picture of heaven had to wait until 1901 before Mahler found just And they shall come and see my glory. And I will set a sign among them, and they shall the right context for it. He decided that it did not belong in a cycle among similar songs, declare my glory among the nations. or even as the conclusion to a long and weighty symphony, but as the capstone of his For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, so Fourth Symphony, a sunny work that on the surface is simple and naïve.