CAL PERFORMANCES PRESENTS PROGRAM NOTES

Saturday, January 14, 2012, 8pm (1659–1695) (1803–1869) Zellerbach Hall The Blessed Virgin’s Expostulation (Tell Me, La Mort d’Ophélie (“The Death of Ophelia”) Some Pitying ), Z. 196 Susan Graham, mezzo- Composed in 1842. “The Author’s extraordinary Talent in all sorts , piano of Musick is sufficiently known,” proclaimed On September 11, 1827, began what Hector Henry Playford in the preface to 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- , 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 (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, so nobly interpreted. Shakespeare, coming (1797–1828) Heiss mich nicht reden ( II), D. 877, No. 2 and some 200 secular songs for solo voice and upon me unawares, struck me like a thunder- (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- (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 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 (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, . 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. The text is a Russian adapta- a song evoking The Death of Ophelia (1842); a woman stolen by Gypsies from her Italian home tion by Lev Mey of Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt, Funeral March for the Last Scene of “Hamlet” when she was a child. During the Gypsies’ wan- Mignon’s song from Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister Joseph Horovitz (b. 1926) (1848); and the opéra-comique Beatrice and derings in Germany, Mignon meets Lothario, about the agony of love in separation, a well- Lady Macbeth, A Scena for Mezzo-Soprano Benedict, based on Much Ado About Nothing a nobleman searching across the Continent for known poem of which Beethoven attempted no and Piano (1862, his last composition). Berlioz composed his abducted daughter, and Wilhelm Meister, a fewer than four settings and Schubert, six. None La Mort d’Ophélie for mezzo-soprano and piano student who buys her freedom from the Gypsies. But the Lonely Heart was introduced in Moscow Composed in 1970. Premiered in May 1970 in in May 1842 on a French paraphrase of Queen Mignon overcomes her jealousy of Wilhelm’s on March 26, 1870, by the Elizaveta Bergen, Norway. Gertrude’s speech in Hamlet that begins “There love for the actress Philine, and wins him for Lavrovskaia, a faculty colleague of the composer is a willow grows aslant a brook” by his friend herself by the story’s end, which also shows at the Moscow Conservatory, at a chamber con- In his inimitable edition (the eight, 1992) of Ernest Legouvé, who was close enough to the her reconciliation with Lothario, who turns cert that Tchaikovsky staged of his works to pro- Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, composer that he had loaned him sufficient out to be her father. In January 1826, Franz mote his growing reputation. The piece gained Nicolas Slonimsky, the self-styled “legend- money four years before to put aside his tax- Schubert made four settings of passages from an immediate popularity, and has remained his ary Russian-born American musicologist of ing duties as a music critic long enough to fin- Wilhelm Meister, including Mignon’s poignant best-loved song. manifold endeavors,” characterized the music ish the opera Benvenuto Cellini. Six years later song about her mysterious past, Heiss mich Troubled in spirit and in health and suffi- of Joseph Horovitz as “modernistic without so- Berlioz orchestrated the piece and arranged the nicht reden, heiss mich schweigen (“Don’t ask me ciently self-critical to destroy much of what he lemnity, appealing without crudity and often vocal part for women’s chorus, and included it to speak; ask me to be silent,” D. 877, No. 2), composed, Henri Duparc left a tiny musical cachinnogenic [provoking laughter].” Horovitz as the second movement of his triptych Tristia which Schubert had set as an independent song legacy to posterity: two tone poems (Lénore and was born in Vienna in 1926, studied music as a (“Sorrow”), where it is framed by a Méditation (D. 726) five years before. Aux étoiles), a suite of waltzes for orchestra, a boy, and escaped the Nazi Anschluss in Austria Religieuse on a text by Louise Belloc and the In 1849, the centenary of Goethe’s birth, half-dozen pieces for piano, a cello sonata, one when the family moved to England in 1938. He Funeral March for the Last Scene of “Hamlet.” Robert Schumann made settings of nine pas- vocal duet, a motet for three voices, a few ar- earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music In his gentle, aquatically undulant setting sages from his novel as Lieder und Gesänge aus rangements of organ works by Bach and Franck, and modern languages at New College, Oxford of La Mort d’Ophélie, Berlioz captured both Wilhelm Meister, Op. 98a. The text for the last and sixteen songs. He is remembered almost en- and then undertook advanced studies in compo- the poignancy and the manner of the death of song of the set—So lasst mich scheinen, bis ich tirely for his handful of songs, but what songs sition with Gordon Jacob at the Royal College Ophelia, deprived of her reason by her doomed werde (“Let me seem to be an angel until I they are—exquisite, fluid, precisely inflected of Music in London and privately with Nadia

6 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 7 PROGRAM NOTES PROGRAM NOTES

Boulanger in Paris. While holding positions as that produced pieces he deemed best suited to Fiançailles pour rire to be able to think more of- music director with the Bristol Old Vic (1950– the male voice, Poulenc cast about for some ten of Louise de Vilmorin, who was then im- 1951) and the Intimate Opera Company (1952– verses more appropriate for women singers. One prisoned [by the Nazis] in a castle in Hungary. 1963), he developed a reputation as a composer day at the home of the Countess Marie-Blanche (She had married Count Palffy, who had an with his incidental music, and ballets de Polignac—daughter of the celebrated cou- estate in Slovakia.) This was the only connec- and as a conductor with concert and theatrical turier Jeanne Lanvin, talented singer (who tion between my work and this horrible tornado engagements in Europe and the United States. participated in Nadia Boulanger’s first-ever re- [of war]. It was obviously fortuitous.” Poulenc Horovitz became Professor of Composition at cording of music by Monteverdi which helped set three more of Vilmorin’s poems in 1943, the RCM in 1961, and he has since held residen- to rekindle interest in that early–17th-century when she was still far from Paris. She survived cies at the Tanglewood Festival and elsewhere. master’s nearly forgotten genius), and hostess the war and lived until 1972, at which time she He has also served as an Executive Council of one of Paris’ most elegant musical salons— was the companion of the famed French author Member of the Performing Rights Society and Poulenc discovered a book of poems by Louise André Malraux. the Composers’ Guild of Great Britain, and de Vilmorin. “What joy for me when I read Aux ThoughFiançailles pour rire possesses a kind as President of the International Council of Officiers de la Garde Blanche,” Poulenc recalled. of general universal mingling of whimsy and Composers and Lyricists. His many distinc- “The poems of Louise de Vilmorin provided ma- sadness, Poulenc wrote that the last two songs tions for compositions in a gamut of styles and terial for truly feminine songs. I was enchanted also carried a special association for him in re- genres—16 ballets, two operas, nine concertos, by that. I found in her poetry a kind of sensitive gard to their author: “I composed Violon with a pieces for orchestra and wind band, chamber audacity, of wantonness, of avidity which could Hungarian restaurant, on the Champs-Elysées, music, songs, choral works, theater, radio and be extended into song. Since I like to group sev- in my mind, for which Louise’s husband, Count television scores—include the Gold Order of eral songs together, I begged Louise for more po- Palffy, had engaged a Gypsy orchestra from Merit from the Vienna, Commonwealth ems. During the summer of 1936, she wrote for Budapest. I have tried to suggest the local color Medal for Composition, Leverhulme Research me Le garçon de Liège and Eau-de-vie! Au-delà! only distantly, because the hand that wrote the Award, two Ivor Novello Awards, Farrar Prize on a visit to the country home of Marie-Blanche poem is French. The composer similarly trans- from the Royal College of Music, and honor- at Kerbastic.” Poulenc set these Trois poèmes de poses this rhythm of the Danube into our own ary membership in the Austrian Composers’ Louise de Vilmorin the following year, and then atmosphere.” Of Fleurs, which provides the Society; the Worshipful Company of Musicians paid tribute to their author: “Few people move touching close for the cycle, Poulenc said, “I be- awarded him the Cobbett Medal in 2008 for me as much as Louise de Vilmorin: because she lieve that there is in this song a melancholy so services to chamber music. is beautiful, because she is lame, because she irremediable that the listener will assign to it, Horovitz wrote in a note in the score of writes innately immaculate French, because her after the first bars, its role of coda. It must be Lady Macbeth, “A Scena for Mezzo-Soprano name evokes flowers and vegetables [her family sung humbly, its lyricism coming from within.” and Piano” commissioned by the 1970 Bergen was one of the country’s most successful produc- Festival in Norway, “The composer has selected ers of plant-seed], because she loves her brothers the words from the speeches of Lady Macbeth. like a lover and her lovers like a sister. Her beau- © 2012 Dr. Richard E. Rodda This selection is intended to portray the devel- tiful face recalls the 17th century, as does the opment of this character, from early aspirations sound of her name.... Love, desire, illness, exile to grandeur, to later power and finally to guilt and money difficulties were at the root of her and madness. The implication is that the Scena genuineness.” In 1938, Louise included the three begins after Lady Macbeth has read the report of poems she had written for Poulenc in a new col- Macbeth’s victory at the start of the play.” lection titled Fiançailles pour rire (“Whimsical Betrothal”). At the end of the following year, as the shroud of war was descending upon Europe, Francis Poulenc (1899–1963) Poulenc chose six lighthearted verses from Fiançailles pour rire (“Whimsical Betrothal”) Fiançailles pour rire to set in honor of Louise. “Had it not been for the war,” he explained, “I Composed in 1939. should doubtless never have written this song cycle. I hasten to explain this in order to ex- Early in 1936, after a period of song composition cuse myself from an assertion that my work, at using texts mostly by Apollinaire and Eluard first glance, may seem paradoxical. I composed

8 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 9 ABOUT THE ARTISTS ABOUT THE ARTISTS

ezzo-soprano susan graham, one of Poèmes de l’amour, with Ravel’s Shéhérazade and Roocroft, Michael Schade, , Mthe world’s foremost stars of opera and Chausson’s Poème de l’amour et de la mer. Her and Sarah Walker. recital, is a compelling and versatile singing ac- disc of songs with Pierre-Laurent He has presented his own series at St. John’s tress. Celebrated as an expert in French music, Aimard won a Grammy, and she received both a Smith Square (the complete songs of Debussy Ms. Graham has been honored by the French Grammy nomination and France’s and Poulenc), the (a Britten and government with the title “Chevalier de la award for her Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. Poulenc series broadcast by the BBC) and at the Légion d’honneur.” Her complete opera recordings range Edinburgh Festival (the complete lieder of Hugo Highlights of Ms. Graham’s 2011–2012 sea- from Handel’s and Gluck’s Iphigénie en Wolf). He has appeared throughout Europe son include the Grammy Award-winner’s much Tauride to Barber’s and Heggie’s Dead (including London’s Wigmore Hall, Barbican, anticipated Canadian Opera Company debut Man Walking. Ms. Graham’s Dido in Queen Elizabeth Hall and ; as Iphigenia in Gluck’s Iphigenia en Tauride. was recorded live for DVD at the Paris Châtelet. , Milan; the Châtelet, Paris; the Ms. Graham also returns to San Francisco Born in New Mexico and raised in Texas, Liceu, Barcelona; Berlin’s Philharmonie and Opera in the title role of Handel’s Xerxes and Susan Graham studied at Texas Tech University Konzerthaus; Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, to the for performances of Franz and the Manhattan School of Music, which and the Vienna Konzerthaus and Musikverein), Lehár’s popular operetta . In awarded her an honorary Doctor of Music in North America (including in New York both January, she embarks on an American recital 2008. She won the National Alice Tully Hall, and Carnegie Hall), Australia tour with her frequent collaborator, pianist Council Auditions and the Schwabacher Award (including the Sydney Opera House) and at

Malcolm Martineau that culminates in her re- Dario Acosta from ’s Merola Opera the Aix-en-Provence, Vienna, Edinburgh, turn to Carnegie Hall. Program, as well as a Career Grant from the Schubertiade, Munich and Salzburg festivals. This past season, Ms. Graham took on a num- Ms. Graham is a leader in the international Richard Tucker Music Foundation. Ms. Graham Recording projects have included Schubert, ber of favorite roles. At Teatro Real Madrid and Christoph Gluck opera revival. She has sung was Musical America’s 2004 Vocalist of the Year, Schumann and English song recitals with Bryn at her home company, New York’s Metropolitan the title role of Iphigénie en Tauride in a new and in 2006 her hometown of Midland, Texas, Terfel (for Deutsche Grammophon); Schubert Opera, she starred opposite Plácido Domingo production staged for her by the Metropolitan declared September 5 “Susan Graham Day” and Strauss recitals with Simon Keenlyside in the title role of Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride. Opera and at , San in perpetuity. (for EMI); recital recordings with Angela At , she reprised her por- Francisco Opera, and the Royal Opera House, Susan Graham is represented by IMG Artists. Gheorghiu and (for Decca); trayal of the Composer in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Covent Garden. Magdalena Kožená (for DG); Della Jones (for Naxos, and with the Philadelphia Orchestra At home and abroad, Susan Graham has Pianist Malcolm Chandos); Susan Bullock (for Crear Classics); she sang Marguerite in Berlioz’s La damnation sung leading roles from the 17th to 20th cen- Martineau was born Solveig Kringelborn (for NMA); Amanda de Faust. turies in the great opera houses of the world, in Edinburgh, read Roocroft (for Onyx); the complete Fauré In the 2009–2010 season, Ms. Graham sang including Milan’s La Scala, the Royal Opera Music at St. songs with Sarah Walker and Tom Krause; Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder with Michael Tilson House, Covent Garden, Vienna State Opera, Catharine’s College, the complete Britten folk songs for Hyperion; Thomas and the , and Opéra National de Paris, Dresden’s Semperoper Cambridge, and stud- and the complete Beethoven folk songs for recorded the song cycle for the Symphony’s own and the Salzburg Festival, and she has appeared ied at the Royal Deutsche Grammophon. record label. She returned to the Metropolitan with many of the world’s leading conductors College of Music. This season’s engagements include appear- Opera for a signature role—Octavian in Der and orchestras. Recognized as ances with Sir Thomas Allen, Susan Graham, Rosenkavalier—and she portrayed Dido in Ms. Graham created the part of Sister Helen one of the leading ac- Simon Keenlyside, Angelika Kirchschlager, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas with the Philharmonia Prejean in ’s for companists of his gen- Magdalena Kožená, Dame Felicity Lott, Baroque Orchestra and Nicholas McGegan San Francisco Opera, and created leading roles eration, he has worked Christopher Maltman, Kate Royal, Michael on the West Coast. Lyric Opera of Chicago in two Metropolitan Opera world premieres: with many of the world’s greatest singers, includ- Schade and Bryn Terfel. welcomed her back for her first company per- An American Tragedy by and The ing Sir Thomas Allen, Dame Janet Baker, Olaf Mr. Martineau was given an honorary doc- formances in Berlioz’s , Great Gatsby by . Bär, Barbara Bonney, , Angela torate at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music which she performed during the 2008–2009 sea- Three seasons ago, Ms. Graham expanded Gheorghiu, Susan Graham, , and Drama in 2004. son at the Met and in The Met: Live in HD. With her distinguished discography with two record- Della Jones, Simon Keenlyside, Angelika Malcom Martineau is represented by Houston Grand Opera, she has also taken on the ings: Un frisson français with pianist Malcolm Kirchschlager, Magdalena Kožená, Solveig Askonas Holt. title role in Handel’s Xerxes, singing the famous Martineau, a survey of a century of French Kringelborn, Jonathan Lemalu, Dame Felicity aria “Ombra mai fù.” Ms. Graham closed out song; and her interpretation of Berlioz’s La Lott, Christopher Maltman, , the 2009–2010 season performing Chausson’s mort de Cléopâtre, recorded with the Berlin Lisa Milne, Ann Murray, Anna Netrebko, Poème de l’amour et de la mer with the New York Philharmonic and Sir and released Anne Sofie von Otter, Joan Rodgers, Amanda Philharmonic under Sir Andrew Davis. by EMI Classics. Earlier solo CDs include

10 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 11