proudly presents the 2020-2021 Student Artist Series Elizabeth Aranda, soprano Janice ChenJu Chiang, piano This Senior Recital is given in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Music in Performance degree. Saturday, April 10, 2021 1:30 p.m., Livestreamed from Kitt Recital Hall Program Six Elizabethan Songs Dominick Argento Spring (1927-2019) Sleep Winter Dirge Diaphenia Hymn “Hello? Oh Margaret, it’s you!” Gian Carlo Menotti from The Telephone (1911-2007) Elizabeth Aranda, soprano Janice ChenJu Chiang, piano ~ Intermission ~ “La Mort d’Ophélie,” op. 18, no. 2 Hector Berlioz “Zaïde,” op. 19, no. 1 (1803-1869) “Del cabello más sutil” Fernando Obradors “Chiquitita la novia” (1897-1945) “Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiß” Franz Lehár from Giuditta (1870-1948) Elizabeth Aranda, soprano Janice ChenJu Chiang, piano Please turn off or silence all electronic devices. Unauthorized audio and video recordings are prohibited. Program Notes by Elizabeth Aranda (2021) DOMINICK ARGENTO (1927-2019) Six Elizabethan Songs Argento was born in 1927 in York, PA. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Peabody Conservatory and a PhD from the Eastman School of Music. He made his way to Italy with Luigi Dallapiccola, where he completed his first opera,Colonel Jonathan the Saint. After his travels abroad, he became the director of Hilltop Opera in Baltimore and taught theory and composition at the Eastman School. From 1958 to 1977, he taught theory and composition at the University of Minnesota. He has written many operas, notably The Boor (1957). Argento has also received many awards including the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1975 for the song cycle From the Diary of Virginia Woolf. He also received a 2004 Grammy for “Best Classical Contemporary Composition” for Frederica von Stade’s recording of Casa Guidi. He composed his Six Elizabethan Songs in 1957-1958, using poems by William Shakspeare, Ben Jonson, and others. This was the first set he created after finishing graduate school, and is now his most popularly performed set. Six Elizabethan Songs shows up commonly in recitals because of its interesting melodies and relationship to the piano. Argento has a way of finding the dramatic impulses that drive his vocal melodies. GIAN CARLO MENOTTI (1911-2007) “Hello? Oh, Margaret, it’s you!” from The Telephone Menotti was a popular Italian composer who wrote many famous operas during his lifetime. His success with twentieth-century dramatic storylines, made his operas intriguing. He uses polytonality and dissonance for dramatic emotion. His first opera The Death of Pierrot, was written when he was only eleven years old. He began his studies at Milan Conservatory and eventually made his way to the Curtis Institute of Music. His career centered in the United States. However, he remained a citizen of Italy. His first melodramatic opera, The Medium, utilizes a small cast and orchestra. After the success of this, he responded by writing The Telephone in 1946. They have often been paired together on Broadway. The aria “Hello? Oh, Margaret, it’s you!” is often referred to as the “Telephone Aria,” where Lucy avoids her future proposal for a simple phone conversation. The aria is a staple in the popularly practiced book Coloratura Arias for Soprano. The wide opportunities for acting beats, along with quick passages of coloratura, create an interesting piece that is both fun for the audience and challenging for the performer. HECTOR BERLIOZ (1803-1869) “La Mort d’Ophélie,” op. 18, no. 2 “Zaïde,” op. 19, no. 1 While Hector Berlioz was growing up, his father took special attention to train his son musically. Berlioz began composing in his teenage years, but most of his first pieces have not been recovered. Originally in Paris for Medical School, he took to composing, and in 1822 began his studies under Jean-François Le Sueur. He composed fifty or more songs that were a base to the French melodie. He was influential in the style of romance. He published five collections and was most famous for hisMelodies irlandaises. He did not have much interest in the traditional treatments of piano and voice and strove to create a complex sophistication of the poetry in his music. Melody was a primary element to Berlioz’s style, not always focusing on melody, but its relationship to the accompaniment. He used diminished 7th chords to highlight his choice of poem. He created tension and intensity to bring out the text. “La mort d’Ophélie” is part of the three movement trista. The piece is typically performed along an orchestra. The direct translation is “The Death of Ophelia” based on the drowning of Ophelia in Hamlet Act IV. Originally composed in 1842 for solo voice and piano, Berlioz later added a treble choir and orchestra. “Zaide” was written for both piano and orchestra, although most commonly performed in recitals with the piano accompaniment. The music is very complex on the vocalist with the high tessitura and quick vocal agility. “Zaide” never quite eases for the vocalist, from agility to intense legato. FERNANDO OBRADORS (1897-1945) “Del cabello más sutil” “Chiquitita la novia” Fernando Obradors was born in Barcelona, where he studied piano with his mother. He taught himself counterpoint, harmony and composition during his adolescent years. He is most famous for his Canciones clasicas españolas, which was published in four volumes. His music has a light texture that draws from the popular conception of the Spanish sound. They are often performed due to the treatment of rhythm, lyricism, and colorful vocals. Obradors drew from fifteenth-, eighteenth-, and nineteenth- century popular poetry. He conducted the Liceo and Rico Barcelona Orchestras and composed many orchestral works during this time. His most successful romantic piece will be “Del cabello mas sutil.” The piano accompaniment based along the long melody creates a feeling of romance and warmth. He has a delicate approach and the short song is over too soon. Many performers extend the beauty by repeating the piece a second time in succession. The smooth legato lines and simple melody make for a comforting piece to all who encounter. “Chiquitita la novia” is a representation of how Obradors pulled from the native Spanish folksongs. The sound is obviously Spanish to the audience,and has an intensity that is constantly driving the piece forward. Completely different from the legato lines of “Del cabello mas sutil,” this piece is filled with a passion that captures the audience’s attention. Both songs are very different, but pull from different aspects of traditional Spanish songs. FRANZ LEHÁR (1870-1948) “Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiß” from Giuditta Franz Lehár is a Hungarian composer born April 30, 1870, and died in 1948. He was mostly a composer of operetta, Die lustige Witwe (The Merry Widow), being his most successful. He studied at Prague Conservatory and was highly encouraged by Antonín Dvořák to expand his music career. He began his professional career as a bandmaster in Austria in 1890 and ushered in a new era of Viennese operetta by introducing Eastern European folk music and the Parisian cancan into his operetta work. Lehár stayed in Austria during the Second World War and, although his wife was Jewish, Hitler’s admiration for The Merry Widow saved his wife. After the war, Lehár stayed very quiet. Before the war, he attempted to revive his career with his opera Giuditta. This opera proved to be less successful in the shadow of Hitler’s love for The Merry Widow. The aria “Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiß” is one of the most recognizable, and memorable, from the operetta, Giuditta. The audience watches as Giditta discusses her power over men. The wide range for the vocalist gives many acting opportunities. The lower register is represented in descriptions of her beauty, and the upper register shows her passion. From the grand finish to the entertaining acting opportunities, this piece is popular in recitals and performances. Texts and Translations DOMINICK ARGENTO (1927-2019) Six Elizabethan Songs Spring (Thomas Nash) Spring, the sweet Spring, is the year’s pleasant king; Then blooms each thing, then maids dance in a ring, Cold doth not sting, the pretty birds do sing, Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo! The palm and may make country houses gay, Lambs frisk and play, the shepherds pipe all day, And we hear aye birds tune this merry lay, Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo! The fields breathe sweet, the daisies kiss our feet, Young lovers meet, old wives a-sunning sit, In every street these tunes our ears do greet, Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo! Spring! The sweet Spring! Sleep (Samuel Daniel) Care-charmer Sleep, son of the sable Night, Brother to Death, in silent darkness born, Relieve my anguish and restore thy light, With dark forgetting of my cares, return; And let the day be time enough to mourn The shipwreck of my ill-adventur’d youth: Let waking eyes suffice to wail their scorn, Without the torment of the night’s untruth. Cease, dreams, the images of day-desires To model forth the passions of the morrow; Never let rising sun approve you liars, To add more grief to aggravate my sorrow. Still let me sleep, embracing clouds in vain; And never wake to feel the day’s disdain. Winter (William Shakespeare) When icicles hang by the wall And Dick the shepherd blows his nail, And Tom bears logs into the hall, And milk comes frozen home in pail; When blood is nipt and ways be foul, Then nightly sings the staring owl: Tu-who! Tu-whit! Tu-who!—A merry note! While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.