SONOKLECT '98-'99 A Concert ·Series of Twentieth-Century Music Terry Vosbein, Director
a utility aMong swAllows is theiR music: thEy produce it mid-air to avoid colliding* two degrees of paris
Music by composers John Cage Hans Werner Henze Olivier Messiaen Francis Poulenc Terry Vosbein
featuring Scott Williamson William Mccorkle Joshua Harvey
Washington and Lee University Johnson Theatre • 8:00 p.m. • 14 May 1999
* John Cage, from 36 Mesostics re and not re Marcel DuChamp PROGRAM
Solo for Voice 21 (1970) John Cage (1912-1992) Ceux qui ne comprendrontpas sont pries, par moi, d'observerune attitude toute de soumission, toute d'inferiorite (Erik Sa tie) Those which will not understand are requested by me to observe an attitude of submission.
Tel jour telle nuit (1937) Francis Poulenc Bonne journee (1899-1963) Une mine coquille vide Le front com.me un drapeau perdu Une roulotte couverte en tuiles A toutes brides Une herbe pauvre Je n'ai envie que de t'aimer Figure de force bn1lante et farouche
Six Poems of Emily Dickinson (1998) Terry Vosbein Perhaps you'd like to buy a flower (b. 1957) I died for beauty Hope is the thing with feathers How lonesome the wind must feel nights The saddest noise Make me a picture of the sun
2 Solo for Voice 91 (1970) John Cage (36 Mesostics re and not re Marcel Duchamp)
Trois Melodies (1930) Olivier Messiaen Pourquoi? (1908-1992) Le Sourire La Fiancee
Three Auden Poems (1983) Hans Werner Henze In Memoriam L.K.A. 1950-1952 (b. 1926) Rimbaud Lay your sleeping head, my love
Solo for Voice 52 (1970) John Cage (Aria No. 2)
Scott Wi[{iamson, tenor Wi[fiam'JvfcCorkfe, pianist Joshua j{arvey,pianist
3 TEXTS & TRANSLATIONS Tel jour, telle nuit (Eluard, ed. Gallimard) Francis Poulenc
Bonne journee A good day Bonne journee j'ai revu qui je A good day I have again seen n 'oublie pas whom I do not forget Qui je n 'oublierai jamais and women fleeting by whose eyes Et des femmes fugaces dont !es yeux formed for me a hedge of honour Mefaisaient une haie d'honneur they wrapped themselves in their smiles Bonne journee j'ai vu mes amis sans A good day I have seen my friends soucis carefree Les hommes ne pesaient pas lourd the men were light in weight Un qui passait one who passed by Son ombre changee en souris his shadow changed into a mouse Fuyait dans le ruisseau fled into the gutter J'ai vu le ciel tres grand I have seen the great wide sky Le beau regard des gens prives de tout the beautiful eyes of those deprived of everything Plage distante ou personne n'aborde distant shore where no one lands Bonne journee qui commem;a A good day which began melancolique mournfully Noire sous !es arbres verts dark under the green trees Mais qui soudain trempee d 'aurore but which suddenly drenched with dawn M'entra dans le c Une ruine coquille vide A ruin an empty shell Une ruine coquille vide A ruin an empty shell Pleure dans son tablier weeps into its apron Les enfants qui jouent autour d'elle the children who play around it Font mains de bruit que des mouches make less sound than flies La ruine s'en va a tiitons the ruin goes groping Chercher ses vaches dans un pre to seek its cows in the meadow J'ai vu le }our je vois cela I have seen the day I see that Sans en avoir honte without shame Il est minuit comme une fleche It is midnight like an arrow Dans un C 4 Le front comme un drapeau perdu The brow like a lost flag Le front comme un drapeau perdu The brow like a lost flag le le trame quandje suis seul I drag you when I am along Dans des rues fro ides through the cold streets Des chambres noires the dark rooms En criant misere crying in misery le ne veux pas les Lacher I do not want to let them go Tes mains claires et compliquees your clear and complex hands Nees dans le miroir clos des miennes born in the enclosed mirror of my own Tout le reste est parfait all the rest is perfect Tout le reste est encore plus inutile all the rest if even more useless Que le vie than life Creuse la terre sous ton ombre hollow the earth beneath your shadow Une nappe d'eau pres des seins a sheet of water reaching the breasts Ou se noyer wherein to drown oneself Comme une pierre. like a stone. Une roulotte couverte en tuiles A gypsy wagon roofed with tiles Une roulotte couverte en tuiles A gypsy wagon roofed with tiles Le cheval mort un enfant maftre the horse dead a child master Pensant le front bleu de haine thinking his brow blue with hatred A deux seins s'abattant sur lui of two breasts beating down upon him Comme deux poings like two fists Ce melodrame nous arrache this melodrama tears away from us La raison du cCEur. the sanity of the heart. A toutes brides Riding full tilt A toutes brides toi dont le fantome Riding full tilt you whose phantom Piaffe la nuit sur un violon prances at night on a violin Viens regner dans les bois comes to reign in the woods Les verges de l'ouragan the lashings of the tempest Cherchent leur chemin par chez toi seek their path by way of you Tu n 'es pas de celles you are not of those Dont on invente les desirs whose desires one imagines Viens boire un baiser par ici come drink a kiss here Cede aufeu quite desespere. surrender to the fire which drives you to despair. 5 Une herbe pauvre Scanty grass Une herbe pauvre Scanty grass Sauvage wild Apparut dans la neige appeared in the snow C'etait la sante it was health Ma bouche fut emerveillee my mouth marvelled Du gout d'air pur qu'elle avait at the savour of pure air it had Elle etait Janee . it was withered. Je n 'ai en vie que de t'aimer I long only to love you le n'ai envie que de t'aimer I long only to love you Un orage emplit la vallee a storm fills the valley Un poisson la riviere a fish the river le t'aifaite a la taille de ma solitude I have formed you to the pattern of my solitude Le monde entier pour se cacher the whole world to hide in Des fours des nuits pout se comprendre days and nights to understand one another Pour ne plus rien voir dans tes yeux to see nothing more in your eyes Que ce que fe pense de toi but what I think of you Et d'un monde a ton image and of a world in your likeness Et des fours et des nuits regles par tes and of days and nights ordered by paupieres your eyelids. Figure de force brulante et farouche Image of fiery wild forcefulness Figure de force brulante et farouche Image of fiery wild forcefulness Cheveux noirs ou l'or coule vers le sud black hair wherein the gold flows toward the south Aux nuits corrompues on corrupt nights Or engluuti etoile impure engulfed gold tainted star Dans un lit f amais partage in a bed never shared Aux veines des tempes to the veins of the temples Comme au bout des seins as to the tips of the breasts La vie se refuse life denies itself Les yeux nul ne peut Les crever no one can blind the eyes Boire leur eclat ni leurs larmes drink their brilliance of their tears Le sang au-dessus d'eux triomphe pour the blood above them triumphs for Lui seul itself alone lntraitable demesuree intractable unbounded Inutile useless Cette sante bfitit une prison. this health builds a prison. 6 Nous avons fait la nuit We have made night Nous avons fait la nuit je tiens ta main We have made night I hold your je veille hand I watch over you le te soutiens de toutes mes forces I sustain you with all my strength le grave sur un roe l'etoile de tes forces I engrave on a rock the start of your strength Sillons profonds ou la bonte de ton deep furrows where the goodness corps germera of your body will germinate le me repete ta voix cachee ta voix I repeat to myself our secret voice publique your public voice le ris encore de l'orgueilleuse I laugh still at the haughty woman Que tu traites comme une mendiante whom you treat like a beggar Des fous que tu respectes des simples at the fools whom you respect the ou tu te baignes simple folk in whom you immerse yourself Et dans ma tete qui se met doucement and in my head which gently begins d'accord avec la tienne avec la nuit to harmonize with ours with the night le m'emerveille de l'inconnue que tu I marvel at the stranger that you deviens become Une inconnue semblable a toi semblable a stranger resembling you a tout ce que resembling all that I love Qui est toujours nouveau. which is ever new. 7 Six Poems of Emily Dickinson Terry Vosbein Perhaps you'd like to buy a flower Perhaps you'd like to buy a flower, But I could never sell - If you would like to borrow, Until the Daffodil Unties her yellow Bonnet Beneath the village door, Until the Bees, form Clover rows Their Hock, and Sherry, draw, Why, I will lend until just then, But not an hour more! I died for beauty I died for Beauty - but was scarce Adjusted in the Tomb When One who died for Truth, was lain In an adjoining Room - He questioned softly "Why I failed"? "For Beauty", I replied - "And I - for Truth - Themself are one - We Brethren, are", He said- And so, as Kinsmen, met a Night - We talked between the Rooms - Until the Moss had reached dour lips - And covered up - our names - How lonesome the wind must feel nights How lonesome the Wind must feel Nights - When people have put out the Lights And everything that has an Inn Closes the shutter and goes in - How pompous the Wind must feel Noons Stepping to incorporeal Tunes Correcting errors of the sky And clarifying scenery How mighty the Wind must feel Moms Encamping on a thousand dawns Espousing each and spuming all Then soaring to his Temple Tall - 8 The saddest noise, the sweetest noise The saddest noise, the sweetest noise, The maddest noise that grows , - The birds, they make it in the spring, At night's delicious close. Between the March and April line - That magical frontier Beyond which summer hesitates, Almost too heavenly near . It makes us think of all the dead That sauntered with us here, By separation's sorcery Made cruelly more dear. It makes us think of what we had, And what we now deplore . We almost wish those siren throats Would go and sing no more . An ear can break a human heart As quickly as a spear, We wish the ear had not a heart So dangerously near. Hope is the thing with feathers Make me a picture of the sun "Hope" is the thing with feathers - Make me a picture of the sun - That perches in the soul- So I can hang it in my room - And sings the tunes without the And make believe I'm getting warm words- When others call it "Day"! And never stops - at all - Draw me a Robin - on a stem - And sweetest - in the Gale - is So I am hearing him, I'll dream, heard- And when the Orchards stop their And sore must be the storm - tune - That could abash the little Bird Put me pretense - away - That kept so many warm - Say if it's really - warm at noon - I've heard it in the chillest land - Whether it's Buttercups that "skim" - And on the strangest Sea - Or Butterflies - that "bloom"? Yet, never, in Extremity, Then - skip - the frost- upon the lea - It asked a crumb - of Me. And skip the Russet - on the tree - Let's play those - never come! 9 Three Songs by Olivier Messiaen Pourquoi? (Messiaen) Why? Pourquoi Les oiseaux de !'air, Why don't the birds of the air, Pourquoi Les reflets de l'eau, why don't the glimmers of the water, Pourquoi Les nuages du ciel, why don't the clouds of the sky, Pourquoi? Why? Pourquoi Lesfeuilles de l'Automne, Why don't the leaves of the autumn, Pourquoi Les roses de l'Ete, why don't the roses of summer , Pourquoi Leschansons du Printemps, why don't the songs of spring, Pourquoi? Why? Pourquoi n'ont-ils pour moi de charmes, Why don't they have charms for me, Pourquoi? Ah! Pourquoi? Why, oh why? Le Sourire (Sauvage) The Smile Certain mot murmure A certain word murmured Par vous est un baiser by you is a kiss, lntime et prolonge intimate and prolonged, Comme un baiser sur l'ame. like a kiss upon the soul. Ma bouche veut sourire My mouth wants to smile, Et mon sourire tremble. and my smile trembles. La Fiancee perdue (Messiaen) The Lost Fiancee C'est la douce fiancee It's the sweet fiancee C'est l'ange de la bonte, It's the angel of goodness . C'est un apres -midi ensoleille . It's a sunny afternoon . C'est le vent sur Lesfleurs. It's the wind upon the flowers . C'est un sourire pur come un cceur d'enfant, It's a pure smile like a child's heart, C'est un grand lys blanc comme une aile, it's a great white lily like a wing, tres haut dans une coupe d'or! very high in a gold bowl! 0 Jesus, benissez-la! Elle! 0 Jesus, bless her! Donnez -lui votre grace puissante! Give her your mighty grace! Qu'elle ignore la soujfrance, Les larmes! May she be unaware of suffering, tears! donnez -lui le repos, Jesus! Give her tranquility, Jesus! 10 Three Auden Poems Hans Werner Henze In Memoriam L.K.A. 1950-1952 At peace under this mandarin, sleep, Lucina Blue-eyed Queen of white cats: for you the Ischian wave shall weep, When we who now miss you are American dust, and steep Epomeo in peace and war augustly a grave-watch keep . r Rimbaud The nights, the railway-arches, the bad sky, His horrible companions did not know it; But in that child the rhetorician 's lie Burst like a pipe: the cold had made a poet. Drinks bought him by his weak and lyric friend His senses systematically deranged, To all accustomed nonsense put an end; Till he from lyre and weakness was estranged . Verse was a special illness of the ear; Integrity was not enough; that seemed The Hell of childhood: he must try again. Now, galloping through Africa, he dreamed Of a new self, a son, the engineer, His truth acceptable to lying men. Lay your sleeping head, my love Lay your sleeping head, my love, Human on my faithless arm; Time and fevers burn away Individual beauty from Thoughtful children, and the grave Proves the child ephemeral: But in my arms till break of day Let the living creature lie, Mortal, guilty, but to me The entirely beautiful. continued ... 11 Soul and body have no bounds : To lovers as they lie upon Her tolerant enchanted slope In their ordinary swoon, Grave the vision Venus sends Of supernatural sympathy, Universal love and hope; While an abstract insight wakes Among the glaciers and the rocks The hermit's sensual ecstasy. Certainty, fidelity On the stroke of midnight pass Like vibrations of a bell, And fashionable madmen raise Their pedantic boring cry: Every farthing of the cost, All the dreaded cards foretell, Shall be paid, but from this night Not a whisper, not a thought, Not a kiss nor look be lost. Beauty, midnight, vision dies: Let the winds of dawn that blow Softly round your dreaming head Such a day of sweetness show Eye and knocking heart may bless, Find the mortal world enough; Noons of dryness see you fed By the involuntary powers, Nights of insult let you pass Watched by every human love . 12 Solo for Voice 52 (Aria No. 2) John Cage The text employs vowels and consonantsfrom five languages: Armenian, Russian, Italian, French (Satie), and English (Thoreau). KTFXU vuosu A X Assez villain a voir Gakh-vuadz Sazov-nazov Mazert nman rehani Moiya Artik Balov-nitsa Dolcemente NW M X Khirgiz Labra odorate Etrange, n'est-ce pas? Tolko terzayesh Minya Tout; je recomencerais tout Yar nazani; a puff of wind sets them free Tendresse Rad -no OA At last; X Z S V M Z S D H N Amore in the night Edz I I IA O; sans sauce Mordu; esca la rosa Tak shtoje UA I U E c'est meme certain Moy gehnee, moy ahngehl , moydruge In the morning after a debauch Khrimian hairig TXC Tough as they are EUEE Allegro sta 13 'Wi[[iamAfcCorkJe William McCorkle, a native of Lexington, is a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy and Amherst College, and holds graduate degrees from Yale University. As a recipient of the Edward Poole Lay fellowship, he spent two years in study, research, and performance in Paris, France, working with Nadia Boulanger and William Christie. At Amherst College he taught piano, organ, and music theory and served as director of choral music. A distinguished keyboard artist, Mr. McCorkle has performed as organist, harpsichordist, and pianist in solo and ensemble performances throughout the Eastern United States and Europe. His recent performances have included organ recitals around Virginia and the Southeast and harpsichord continua with Opera Roanoke in works by Monteverdi and Purcell. He is well known to audiences at Washington and Lee from frequent appearances as keyboardist in University musical and theatre events . As organist and director of music for Lexington Presbyterian Church since 1979, Mr. McCorkle has led performances of major works and has given frequent solo and chamber concerts as organist and pianist. In recent years, he has turned his attention to composition, particularly of choral, solo vocal, and instrumental music for liturgical use. 15 1998-99 SONOKLECT Season 26 September Jazz Drummer Peter Erskine & the Lounge Art Ensemble . .. consisting of saxophonist Bob Sheppard and bassist Dave Carpenter, and dedicated to playing Modem American Music in the horn trio format. 14 November Flute Virtuoso Robert Dick . .. more than any other composer/ performer today, he has achieved international recognition for his creation of a rich new musical language for his instrument. 23 January GHOSTS!! .. . is a musical theater work for solo singer, puppets, masks and synthesizer in two acts, composed and performed by Michael Kallstrom . 13 March Tromba Due .. . is a unique artistic collaboration between two of the finest trumpeters actively involved in chamber music today, David Spencer and Ryan Anthony. 14May Two Degrees of Paris . . . a concert of music from, by, and about the city of lights , performed by Scott Williamson and friends.