Senior Voice Recital Ryan Ransdell, Piano
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John Brown University | Department of Music & Theatre presents Senior Voice Recital Ryan Ransdell, piano April 25th, 2021 3:00 P.M. Berry Performing Arts Center Program Chi il bel sogno di Doretta Giacomo Puccini from La Rondine (1858-1924) Lied der Mignon Franz Schubert Kennst du das Land (1791-1828) Heiss nicht mich reden Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt Three Browning Songs, Op. 44 Amy Beach The Year’s at the Spring (1867-1924) Ah, Love, But a Day! I Send My Heart Up To Thee Quatre chansons de jeunesse Claude Debussy Pantomime (1862-1918) Clair de lune Pierrot Apparition The Next Time It Happens Oscar Hammerstein & Richard Rodgers from State Fair (1895-1960) (1902-1979) The Beauty Is Adam Guettel from A Light in the Piazza (b. 1964) Make Someone Happy Jule Styne from Do Re Mi (1905–1994) Make Our Gardens Grow Leonard Bernstein from Candide (1918-1990) Ensemble Shawna Hartman, piano Ms. Jolly is a student of Mrs. Liesl Dromi. This recital is given in partial fulfillment of a Bachelor of Arts in Music degree. Notes Giacomo Puccini Puccini was born into a family of musicians and seemed destined to follow in the footsteps of his father, a church organist. Instead, young Puccini found himself in the world of opera—composing a total of eleven in his lifetime1. He composed in the popular genre of verismo (from Italian vero, meaning “true”), in which composers designed operatic movements that captured everyday people in familiar situations. They often depicted brutal, unpleasant conditions that went against the Romantic idealism of the day. Inspired by musical giants like Wagner, along with his contemporaries such as Strauss and Stravinsky, Puccini produced beautiful, memorable, and romantic melodies2. Puccini established himself quickly in the standard aria repertoire of the 19th century. La Rondine, however, did not achieve the same acclaim as his other operas. He intended to compose it as an operetta for a commission made by the Carltheater in Vienna. Instead, he wrote a standard, three-act commedia lirica opera. The libretto was written by Giuseppe Adami, based on a libretto by Alfred Maria Willner and Heinz Reichert. The story follows an affluent mistress, Magda, who challenges convention by pursuing romance with a naive man, Ruggero. At the top of Act 1, Magda hosts a party in her luxurious home and the young poet, Prunier, explains how sentimental love is the newest trend. He fancily illustrates this fad in his own work about his current, favorite protagonist, Doretta, who has turned down a life of luxury for love. Magda sits with Prunier at the piano and contrives the rest of the dream in “Chi il bel sogno di Doretta”, in which Doretta discovers romance with a penniless student. 1 Burkholder, J. Peter, et al. A History of Western Music. 10th ed., W.W. Norton & Company, 2019. pg. 694. 2 “Giacomo Puccini: Composer.” English National Opera, eno.org/composers/giacomo-puccini/. Chi il bel sogno di Doretta Chi il bel sogno di Doretta Who could guess Doretta’s Potè indovinar? beautiful dream? Il suo mister come mai How did its mystery end? Come mai fini Ahimè! un giorno uno studente Alas, one day a student In bocca la baciò kisses her lips, E fu quel bacio and that kiss was Rivelazione: Revelation: Fu la passione! It was passion! Folle amore! Folle ebbrezza! Frenzied love! Frenzied rapture! Chi la sottil carezza Who could ever describe the subtle caress D’un bacio così ardente of a kiss so ardent? Mai ridir potrà? Ah! mio sogno! Ah, my dream! Ah! mia vita! Ah, my life! Che importa la ricchezza Of what importance is wealth Se alfine è rifiorita if, at last, happiness has blossomed again! La felicità! Oh golden, dream, to be able to love like that!3 O sogno d’or Poter amar così! 3 Translation by Martha Gehart (2004) from Robert L. Larsen, ed, Arias for Soprano, Vol. 2 (New York: G. Schirmer, Inc., 2004), p. 23. Franz Schubert Franz Schubert’s compositional output, though limited by his short life, serves as the cornerstone for German Lieder, the blending of poetry and music that focus on romantic expression. His work inspired the beginnings of the genre for popular composers such as Shumann, Mendelssohn, and Brahms. Schubert composed Lieder at the age of sixteen and finished nearly half of his work (600 songs) before the age of nineteen4. In addition to his songs, he composed a variety of chamber works, piano pieces, symphonies, and operas. He tragically died at the age of thirty-one after contracting typhoid fever, but his works were largely disseminated across Europe by his peers and friends known as “Schubertiads”.5 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, a popular German poet and author active in the late eighteenth to early nineteenth century, composed the novel Willhelm Meisters Lehrjare and included several lyric poems—known as Lied der Mignon—which were “incidental” to the plot.6 As Goethe intended his work to be sung, Schubert attempted to set the text of Goethe’s Mignon six times.7 He struggled to capture the German Romantic concept of Sehnsucht or “longing”, prevalent in Goethe’s poems.8 In “Kennst du das Land,” Mignon longs for her sunny home. This homesickness is expressed in the growing and repeated shouts of “dahin!,” and the modulation to a minor key in the third stanza as she describes her captive journey out of her homeland. In “Heiss nicht mich reden,” Schubert draws out each phrase before it breaches into a strong dissonant, chordal structure, declaring her resignation to silence. In “Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt,” the B-flat octaves suggest anguish while she tells of her great heartbreak—first wistfully, passionately, thensehr leise (very softly).9 The piano tests the dissonant world of solitude while the melody moves slowly; this section is in contrast to the panicked, short outbursts from Mignon—as if gasping in pain—occurring in the second period. She eventually resigns again to the langsam (slowly) tempo in the third period, weakened by her despair. 4 Kimball, Carol. Song: a Guide to Art Song Style and Literature. Hal Leonard, 2006. pgs. 108-110. 5 Burkholder, J. Peter, et al. A History of Western Music. 10th ed., W.W. Norton & Company, 2019. pgs. 591-592. 6 Norton, Robert E., “A Study of Mignon’s Lied in Selected Settings” (1970). Theses and Dissertations. 912. 7 Predota, Georg. “How Composers Set Goethe’s ‘Nur Wer Die Sehnsucht Kennt.’” Interlude, 30 Mar. 2020. 8 Doktorchik, Acacia M. “Sehnsucht and Alienation in Schubert’s Mignon Settings.” Core.edu, University of Lethbridge, The Open University , 2011. pg. 4. 9 Norton, Robert E., “A Study of Mignon’s Lied in Selected Settings” (1970). Theses and Dissertations. 912. Kennst du das Land Kennst du das Land, wo die Zitronen blühn Do you know the land where the Im dunklen Laub die Gold-Orangen glühn, lemon-trees blossom, and oranges Ein sanfter Wind vom blauen Himmel weht, glow golden in dark foliage; where Die Myrte still und hoch der Lorbeer steht, a soft breeze blows from a blue Kennst du es wohl? sky, and high laurels and silent myrtles grow? Do you know it? Dahin! Dahin O, there would I go with you, Möcht’ ich mit dir, o mein Geliebter, ziehn. beloved, there! Kennst du das Haus? Aut Saülen ruht sein Do you know a house -- its roof Dach, rests on pillars; there’s a gleaming Es glänzt der Saal, es schimmert das Gemach, hall, and shimmering rooms, and Und Marmorbilder stehn und sehn mich an: marble statues look at me and say, Was hat man dir, du armes Kind, getan? ‘What have they done to you, poor Kennst de us wohl? child?’ Do you know it? Dahin! Dahin O there would I go with you, Möcht ich mit dir, o mein Beschützer, ziehn. my protector, there! Kennst du den Berg und seinen Wolkensteg? Do you know a mountain with a Das Maultier sucht im Nebel seinen Weg; path veiled in clouds? The mule In Höhlen wohnt der Drachen alte Brut; seeks its way in the mist; in caves Es stürzt der Fels und über ihn die Flut dwell an ancient dragon’s brood, Kennst du ihn wohl? and the torrent sweeps over a plunging rock. Do you know it? Dahin! Dahin There lies our way, O father, Geht unser Weg! O Vater, lass uns ziehn! let us go there!10 10 Translation by Lois Phillips, “Lieder Line by Line”, Clarendon Press, 1996. Heiss nicht mich reden Do you know the land where the Heiss mich nicht reden, heiss mich schweigen, Do not ask me to speak, rather bid lemon-trees blossom, and oranges Denn mein Geheimnis ist mir Pflicht; me be silent! I am bound by my glow golden in dark foliage; where Ich möchte dir mein ganzes Inn’re zeigen, secret, and long to reveal my a soft breeze blows from a blue Allein das Schicksal will es nicht. whole soul. But fate will not allow it. sky, and high laurels and silent myrtles grow? Do you know it? Zur rechten Zeit vertreibt der Sonne Lauf The sun in its due time dispels the Die finstre Nacht, und sie muss sich erhellen; darkness of night: light must O, there would I go with you, Der harte Fels Schließt seinen Busen auf, appear. An unyielding rock opens beloved, there! Missgönnt der Erde nicht die tiefverborg’nen itself up, for the earth does not Quellen. begrudge its deep hidden springs. Do you know a house -- its roof rests on pillars; there’s a gleaming Ein jeder sucht im Arm des Freundes Ruh’, Everyone seeks rest on the arm of hall, and shimmering rooms, and Dort kann die Brust in Klagen sich ergießen; a friend, where the heart can pour marble statues look at me and say, Allein ein Schwur drückt mir die Lippen zu, forth its lament.