Susan Graham, Mezzo-Soprano Composed in 1842
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CAL PERFORMANCES PRESENTS PROGRAM NOTES Saturday, January 14, 2012, 8pm Henry Purcell (1659–1695) Hector Berlioz (1803–1869) Zellerbach Hall The Blessed Virgin’s Expostulation (Tell Me, La Mort d’Ophélie (“The Death of Ophelia”) Some Pitying Angel), Z. 196 Susan Graham, mezzo-soprano Composed in 1842. “The Author’s extraordinary Talent in all sorts Malcolm Martineau, piano of Musick is sufficiently known,” proclaimed On September 11, 1827, began what Hector Henry Playford in the preface to Orpheus Berlioz called in his Memoirs “the supreme Britannicus, the anthology of “the choicest drama of my life.” It was on that date that John PROGRAM songs” by the late Henry Purcell that he pub- Kemble’s company of English actors opened lished in London in 1698, “but he was especially their first Parisian season of Shakespearean Henry Purcell (1659–1695) The Blessed Virgin’s Expostulation admir’d for the Vocal, having a peculiar Genius plays. Of the opening night performance of (Tell Me, Some Pitying Angel), Z. 196 to express the energy of English Words, where- Hamlet, Berlioz wrote, “In the role of Ophelia by he mov’d the Passions of all his Auditors.” I saw Harriet Smithson. The impression made Hector Berlioz (1803–1869) La Mort d’Ophélie Purcell’s vocal works include one opera (Dido on my heart and mind by her extraordinary and Aeneas), anthems, services, odes, welcome talent, nay her dramatic genius, was equaled songs, catches, domestic devotional pieces, ex- only by the havoc wrought in me by the poet Six Songs on Texts from Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister tensive incidental music for more than 50 plays, she so nobly interpreted. Shakespeare, coming Franz Schubert (1797–1828) Heiss mich nicht reden (Mignon II), D. 877, No. 2 and some 200 secular songs for solo voice and upon me unawares, struck me like a thunder- Robert Schumann (1810–1856) So lasst mich scheinen, Op. 98a, No. 9 continuo that he wrote and published through- bolt.... Shaken to the depths by the experience of out his career. He was immensely gifted at em- Hamlet, I vowed not to expose myself a second Franz Liszt (1811–1886) Kennst du das Land, wo die Zitronen blühn bodying the sense, sound and syntax of English time to the flame of Shakespeare’s genius.” But Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) Nyet, tolko tot, kto snal, Op. 6, No. 6 lyrics in his music, a quality that Henry Hall, he could not stay away, and attended the perfor- Henri Duparc (1848–1933) Romance de Mignon, Op. 2, No. 3 a fellow choirboy with Purcell in the Chapel mance of Romeo and Juliet on September 15th. Royal and later organist at Hereford Cathedral, He was overwhelmed again by Shakespeare and Hugo Wolf (1860–1903) Kennst du das Land, wo die Zitronen blühn summarized in a rhyme that Playford append- Smithson (“I was lost,” in his own words), and ed to Orpheus Britannicus: “Each Syllable first so began his almost maniacal pursuit of Harriet INTERMISSION weigh’d, or short, or long/That it might too be which she at first spurned for fear of encourag- Sense, as well as Song.” So eagerly did British ing a madman but eventually accepted and be- music lovers welcome Purcell’s songs for their came, after much time and many machinations Joseph Horovitz (b. 1926) Lady Macbeth home music-making that Playford brought out a (including the composition and performance of second book of them in 1702 and published ex- the Symphonie Fantastique to impress her with Francis Poulenc (1899–1963) Fiançailles pour rire panded editions of both volumes in 1706. “[It ex- his artistic worth), his wife, on October 3, 1833. celled] any Collection of Vocal Music yet Extant Their marital story continued and ended sadly. I. La dame d’André in the English Tongue,” the publisher boasted. Harriet, her popularity faded and her life with II. Dans l’herbe The Blessed Virgin’s Expostulation (Tell Me, the impulsive composer less than satisfying, III. Il vole Some Pitying Angel) (Z. 196, published in 1693 took to drink, separated from her husband and IV. Mon cadavre est doux comme un gant in Harmonia Sacra), a musical scena of strong died in 1854. emotion and almost operatic drama, sets a poem Berlioz’s passion for Shakespeare, how- V. Violon by Nahum Tate (1652–1715), who provided the ever, remained undimmed. The great works of VI. Fleurs texts for a dozen of Purcell’s songs as well as the Bard filled a special need for the French his only opera, Dido and Aeneas. Tate’s deeply Romantics of the early 19th century, who were More Songs about “Ladies,” to be announced from stage felt verses and the powerful music that Purcell actively seeking new artistic horizons beyond shaped around them express Mary’s anguish the old strictures imposed by the doyens of when she discovers that the twelve-year-old their national culture. “To men fretting un- Funded by the Koret Foundation, this performance is part of Cal Performances’ 2011–2012 Jesus has, unbeknownst to her, stayed behind to der these unnatural restraints,” wrote David Koret Recital Series, which brings world-class artists to our community. Additional support talk with the Elders at the temple after she and Cairns in his study of Berlioz, “Shakespeare’s is provided by Patron Sponsors Susan Graham Harrison and Michael A. Harrison. Joseph have departed from Jerusalem. plays were a heaven-sent demonstration of the Cal Performances’ 2011–2012 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo. 4 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 5 PROGRAM NOTES PROGRAM NOTES sovereign power of an art which overleapt bar- love for Prince Hamlet and the death of her fa- become one”)—comes from near the end of the musical wrappings of voluptuously beautiful riers and which, so far from excluding contrast ther at Hamlet’s hand: Ophelia “fell in the weep- book, when Mignon, dressed as an angel, is cho- verse that count among the greatest contribu- of genres, positively reveled in it.” The initial ing brook” while gathering “fantastic garlands” sen to distribute Christmas presents to a group tions to the French vocal repertory. In 1868, impact of Shakespeare on Berlioz is even more along the “glassy stream,” the Queen recounts. of children. When one of the children asks her Duparc published his setting of Mignon’s song extraordinary because he did not understand a “Her clothes spread wide, And mermaid-like a if she is really an angel, Mignon, ill and near of longing for her homeland—Kennst du das word of English in 1827 (he took a night class in while they bore her up, Which time she chanted death, sings Goethe’s touching lyric. Land?, rendered into French by Victor Wilder 1828 and became a proficient reader), and was snatches of old lauds As one incapable of her In 1841, Franz Liszt leased an isolated is- as Le connais-tu ce radieux pays (“Do You Know familiar with the text of the English-language own distress.... But long it could not be Till that let in the Rhine called Nonnenwerth, south That Radiant Land?”)—but later withdrew the presentations only in translation. “The power of her garments, heavy with their drink, Pulled of Bonn, as a retreat from the rigors of tour- Romance de Mignon and two other songs from the acting, especially that of Juliet herself, the the poor wretch from her melodious lay To ing. The following year at Nonnenwerth, he set the Op. 2 set. They survived, however, and were rapid flow of the scenes, the play of expression muddy death.” Mignon’s Lied from Wilhelm Meister—Kennst re-issued after his death. and voice and gesture,” he wrote, “possessed me du das Land? (“Do you know the land?”)— Hugo Wolf’s career was marked by periods with the ideas and passions of the original as the which had already been used by Beethoven and of intense creativity separated by bouts of de- words of my pale and garbled translation could Six Songs on Texts from Goethe’s Schubert and which would inspire Schumann, spondency: between February and September never have done.” With their rich and varied Wilhelm Meister Wolf, Tchaikovsky and others to wrap it with 1888, he set 53 verses by Eduard Mörike; a book emotions, nobility of language and heightened Franz Schubert (1797–1828) music in later years. The deeply expressive song of 20 songs to Joseph Eichendorff’s poems fol- expression, the dramas of Shakespeare were an Robert Schumann (1810–1856) captures perfectly the bittersweet beauty of lowed before the end of October; and Goethe’s integral part of the Romantic sensibility. Franz Liszt (1811–1886) Goethe’s words. writings provided the texts for 50 more songs Berlioz returned to the works of Shakespeare Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky composed by February 1889. Among the dozens of songs for inspiration and subject matter throughout Henri Duparc (1848–1933) None But the Lonely Heart in November and that Goethe’s poetry inspired from Wolf were his career: concert overtures inspired by The Hugo Wolf (1860–1903) December 1869, immediately after the first ver- settings of four of Mignon’s lyrics in December Tempest (1830) and King Lear (1831); the monu- sion of Romeo and Juliet was completed, as the 1888, the last of which is his own treatment of mental “dramatic symphony” Romeo and Juliet Goethe’s well-known novel of 1796, Wilhelm last of the Six Romances, Op. 6, his earliest pub- Kennst du das Land. for vocal soloists, chorus and orchestra (1839); Meister, tells of the plight of Mignon, a young lished set of songs.