The Bard College Conservatory of Music Spring 2008 Concerts & Lectures
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THE BARD COLLEGE CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC SPRING 2008 CONCERTS & LECTURES MASTERS VOICE RECITAL JULIE ANNE MILLER, MEZZO-SOPRANO LUCAS WONG, PIANO with Lin Wang, violin, Hui Shan Chin, piano Thursday, May 15, 2008, 8:00 p.m. OLIN HALL Canción de la Infanta Pauline Viardot Haï luli (1821-1910) Morirò Haugtussa, Op. 67 Edvard Grieg Det Syng (1843-1907) Veslemöy Blåbær-Li Møte Elsk Killingdans Vond Dag Ved Gjæle=Bekken INTERMISSION Quatre poëmes, op. 5 Charles Martin Loeffler La Cloche fêlée (1861-1935) Dansons la gigue! Le son du cor s’afflige vers les bois Sérénade Lin Wang, viola Hui Shan Chin, piano Casa Guidi Dominick Argento Casa Guidi (b. 1927) The Italian Cook and the English Maid Robert Browning The Death of Mr. Barrett Domesticity This program is given in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Masters of Vocal Arts degree. About the Program PAULINE VIARDOT (1821-1910) Pauline Vardot was a French singer and composer of Spanish origin. She was most well known in her day as a mezzo-soprano with an extraordinary vocal range (over three octaves) who sang a wide variety of music with great dramatic intent and a superb vocal technique. During her life, she collaborated with and inspired many composers such as Chopin, Berlioz, Meyerbeer, Gounod, Saint-Saëns, Liszt, Wagner, Schumann and Brahms. Although she did not view herself primarily as a composer, her compositional output was very great and incorporated an array of national styles. She wrote 5 operas and over 100 songs, including transcriptions of 12 of Chopin’s mazurkas. Her music is very well written and reflects the joy she derived from music and drama. Mrs. Viardot was fluent in French, Italian, Spanish, English, German and Russian; “Canción de la Infanta,” “Haï luli!” and “Moriró” demonstrate her ability to set any language to music. “Canción de la Infanta” recounts the true story of the death of the Prince Alonso of Portugal in 1490. His death destroyed any hope that Spain and Portugal might be united under one monarchy. In “Haï luli!” the hurried bass line shows the anxiety felt by a young girl that her lover might not be faithful. The theatricality of “Morirò” demonstrates Viardot’s love of operatic- style drama. EDVARD GRIEG (1843-1907) Edvard Grieg wrote of his songs: “How does it happen that my songs play such an important part in my production? …I loved a young girl who had a wonderful voice and an equally wonderful gift of interpretation. That girl became my wife and my lifelong companion to this day.” This deep love and respect for his wife, although not solely responsible, compelled Grieg to write over 170 songs. Folk-like in form, his songs are typically strophic and straightforward in appearance, but his use of harmony to express a wide range of emotions causes his songs to be transformed into something far more complex than simple folksongs. His song cycle Haugtussa, Op. 67 was written between 1895 and 1898 and is a set of folksongs that are strophic and modified strophic in form. This poetry deeply affected Grieg and he began setting it in the same year that the poet, Arne Geborg, published it. Haugtussa is about a young girl named Veslemøy (“Little Maid”). Grieg originally planned to set twelve of the seventy poems from Geborg’s Haugtussa, but eventually included only the eight that appear in this program. The majority of these texts comes from the section of Geborg’s book called “Sumar I fjellet” (“Summer on the mountain”). They all tell the story of Veslemøy’s love for a boy named Jon. The first song, “Det syng,” is a prologue to the rest of the cycle. In this song, nature entices Veslemøy to come to Blue Hill (a mystical place) where she will be able to forget the world and its disappointments. One can hear the beguiling call of nature in the lilting second half of each strophe. “Veslemøy,” the second song, is a description of the Veslemøy herself. Grieg uses the piano part in this piece to subtly underscore the qualities that she possesses. The third song, “Blåbær-li,” tells of Veslemøy’s life during the summer when she lives in the mountains and tends to her herd. The “skipping” interludes and joyous character of the setting reflect the joy she finds in the beauty of nature and in her life. In the fourth song “Møte,” Veslemøy meets Jon (her love), and in Grieg’s harmony, one can hear the anxiety, confusion and finally the intense delight that she experiences when she is with him. “Elsk,” the fifth song, tells us of Veslemøy’s love for Jon and her desire to see him again, but the underlying harmonies create a feeling of foreboding that the love affair may come to a sad end. The sixth song, “Killingdans,” is a respite from the love story and tells of a typical day in Veslemøy’s life. In listening to the bouncing melody one can picture her sitting on the grass watching her goats frolic as she entertains herself by playing word games with their names. “Vond dag,” the seventh song, begins very similarly to “Møte,” but Grieg’s use of a minor key tells us that this song does not end well for Veslemøy. Her heart- wrenching outburst when she finds out her lover has been unfaithful is underscored by dissonances within the piano part and also between the voice and the piano. In the eighth song, “Ved Gjœtle-bekken,” Veslemøy turns to the brook for comfort to ease her pain. The running sixteenth notes in the piano part represent the brook, while the simple and at times soaring vocal line expresses both the pain Veslemøy feels as well as her eventual peace by the waters. CHARLES MARTIN LOEFFLER (1861-1935) Charles Martin Loeffler spent the majority of his life in Boston where he was highly respected as a musician, composer and intellectual. He had the distinct cultural advantage of being born in France and living in Europe until he was 20. During that time, he studied the violin and was able to absorb the musical styles of Russia, Hungary, Switzerland, Germany and France. His exposure to the music of these countries, especially that of France, gave his compositions a unique and exotic quality that captured the American audience’s attention. Loeffler was a fastidious composer whose music could even seem avant-garde due to his use of programmatic forms and advanced harmonies; his early pieces especially were described as decadent due to the dark and at times bizarre moods that the harmonies created. Written in 1893, the four songs that are found in Quatre poëms, op. 5 were originally part of a set of nine songs that Loeffler set for voice, viola and piano. The four songs in this set are almost symphonic in scale and display Loeffler’s love of dense harmonies and unusual poetic and harmonic colors. In “La cloche fêlée,” a bell-like motif permeates the piano part while the viola line represents the poet’s memories as it at soars above the ensemble. “Dansons la Gigue!” mirrors the poetry; it alternates between a romping dance rhythm and more contemplative sections in the same way that the poet admonishes people to dance and then joyfully remembers the woman he once loved. Loeffler’s love of dense harmonies and unusual sound worlds is very apparent in “Le son du cor s’afflige vers les bois”; these colors evoke the sounds one hears outside on an autumn night. “Sérénade” is about a man seducing a woman through song; the pizzicato in the viola represents the man’s mandolin, and the minor key underscores his torment at seeing the woman who is the object of his desire. DOMINICK ARGENTO (b. 1927) American composer Dominick Argento, although praised for his instrumental works, has a particular affinity for the human voice; the majority of his output consists of vocal music. Born in York, Pennsylvania to Sicilian immigrants, he later went on to complete his studies at Peabody Conservatory and in Florence, Italy. In 1975, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his song cycle From the Diary of Virginia Woolf. Although he may at times employ complex compositional techniques such as 12-tone writing, serialism and full chromatic harmonies, Argento seeks to portray the thoughts and feelings of real people; beauty, genuineness and humanity are at the heart of his music. His song cycle Casa Guidi was written for orchestra and mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade in 1983. Argento compiled the texts for these songs from ten different letters which Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote to her sister Henrietta between 1846 and 1859. These letters tell of Elizabeth’s married life with poet Robert Browning and give us a glimpse of the domestic bliss they enjoyed. The song “Casa Guidi” sets the stage for the rest of the cycle by introducing us to the apartment and surroundings where Elizabeth Barrett Browning lived in Florence. One can hear her excitement as she tells her sister about her new abode and the seemingly mundane things that take place in her daily life. In “The Italian Cook and the English Maid,” Elizabeth recounts the funny antics and arguments that her maid and cook engage in on a daily basis. The music evokes both the bustle of daily chores and Alessandro’s (the cook) pompous remarks about the horrors of English life. “Robert Browning” tells us how Elizabeth feels about her husband Robert Browning; she is in awe that she is married to such a wonderful man and wonders if he is really an angelic being.