CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE GRADUATE RECITAL IN VOICE A graduate project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Music in Music, Performance by Yifan Zhu May 2020 The graduate project of Yifan Zhu is approved: Prof. Ketchie Diane Date Prof. Erica Davis Date Dr. Katherine R Baker, Chair Date California State University, Northridge ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature page……………………………………………………………………………ii Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………..iv Appendix:Program………………………………………………………………………x iii ABSTRACT GRADUATE RECITAL IN VOICE by Yifan Zhu Master of Music in Music, Performance The repertoire for my graduate recital includes a range of periods from the classical period to the twentieth century. My recital of eight sets of music includes four arias from different periods as well as essential genres of art song literature, including the German lied, the French mélodie and Italian art song as well as selections from the twentieth century. From these genres and languages, the eight sets provide the audience with a world tour of different composers’ styles. Each period expresses different types of love as well as the illuminates the emotional journeys of various characters. Music is my life and my life is music. —— Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart The first set of my program is by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791), is one of the most important composers of the classical period. His father was a famous violinist, composer, and music educator, and provided his son with an excellent musical education. When Mozart was 12 years old, he was asked by Franz Anton Mesmer to compose Bastien und Bastienne, K.50, a one-act singspiel comic opera1. This opera was his first opera, and it provided the basis of his later operas. The opening selection of my recital is “Vedrai, carino” from Act II, Scene I of the Mozart’s opera, Don Giovanni, composed in 1787. Zerlina, a peasant girl, sharing with her fiance, Masetto, the fact that she possesses a remedy for everything that is upsetting him. The remedy is actually the beating of her own heart out of love for him. The music is in 3/8 meter, which is danceable and lively. During this aria, Mozart uses a lot of appoggiatura in the vocal as well as the piano to illustrate that Zelina is both clever as well as gentle. The second Mozart aria is “Porgi, Amor” from the opera buffa2 Le Nozze di Figaro based on a story by the French dramatist Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais. Porgi, Amor is in the first scene of Act II, and is sung by the Countess Rosina. In this aria, she expresses her inner pain and wishes that her love for her husband would returned by him to her. 1It is a form of German-language music drama, now regarded as a genre of opera. It is characterized by spoken dialogue, which is alternated with ensembles, songs, ballads, and arias which were often strophic, or folk-like. Singspiel plots are generally comic or romantic in nature, and frequently include elements of magic, fantastical creatures, and comically exaggerated characterizations of good and evil. 2 Opera buffa (Italian: “comic opera”)genre of comic opera originating in Naples in the mid-18th century. It developed from the intermezzi, or interludes, performed between the acts of serious operas. iv This aria is in E flat major, giving it a warm and sacred feeling. In this piece, Countess Rosina begs Cupid to let her husband come back to her. This aria shows Rosina’s elegance as well as her inner sorrow. Despite her longing and frustration, she remains restrained due to the social restrictions of that time period. Those are miracles that no merely human brain can work. The artist is the sound conduct of a Force that dictates to him what he should do. ——— Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (1833–1897) is one of the greatest composers of the nineteenth century, and is a famous composer of German Lieder3. He composed nearly 380 songs for solo voice as well as choir, and approximately 100 songs were folk songs and children’s songs. His German lieder make up the second section of my program. The song “Der Jäger” describes a womanizer, which is someone who entices as many women as he can. The introduction of this piece is playful because both hands play the same notes in a different range. The music is a 3/4 meter that is danceable and tuneful. “O kühler Wald” uses Clemens Brentano's poem, which is the monologue of a lover alone in a forest. The piano uses block chords and develops a very simple vocal line that is legato and peaceful. The range of this song is not significant. “Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer” describes a young girl begging for her lover to come to see her before she dies. The soaring vocal line enhances the emotion of this piece. It shares musical motives with his Violin Sonata No.2 in A major. To come to Fauré in the history of French song is to enter the promised land. —— James Husst Hall Fauré’s mélodie4 comprise the third set of the program. Gabriel Fauré (1845- 1924) is one of the most famous French composers from the romantic period. His compositions explored a variety of musical textures and some new colors in the creation of French mélodie. “Après un rêve”, one of his most famous compositions, is a perfect example of Fauré’s unique style, by using traditional song form with a legato vocal line soaring above block chord parallel harmonies. The song is composed in AAB form. In the A section, he uses the same melody with different words to describe a beautiful dream, and he uses new material to strengthen the emotion in the B section to enhance that it is a perfect dream, from which people do not want to wake up. The piano supports the voice by repeating block chords, and the vocal line is very legato in contrast to the piano accompaniment. “Après un rêve” is a typical piece from his early compositional period (1860-65). while Chanson d’amour and “Clair de lune” are from his middle period (1880-1904). Chanson d’amour is a song about obsessive love. Fauré 3 Lied, plural Lieder, any of a number of particular types of German song, as they are referred to in English and French writings. The earliest so-called lieder date from the 12th and 13th centuries and are the works of minnesingers poets and singers of courtly love , 4 Mélodie, (French: “melody”),the accompanied French art song of the 19th and 20th centuries. Following the model of the German Lied, v strengthens the poem by writing the first four phrases as a refrain. The piano line uses broken chords, and this same structure of the accompaniment helps to express the ecstasy of romantic love. This piece is in simple binary form, and Fauré chooses to repeat it, which emphasizes the eagerness of this love. Fauré often chooses the theme of love in his middle compositional period. In the mélodie, Clair de lune, Fauré creates a special solo introduction for the piano that has its own harmonic and melodic development. The vocal line is contrasting from the piano and is through-composed without almost any repetition. The song creates the mood of a peaceful night. I lived for art, I lived for love —— Giacomo Puccini “Mi chiamano Mimì” is the last selection in the first half of my recital, and is one of the most famous arias from La bohéme by Puccini (1858-1924). Giacomo Puccini was born into a musical family, and he wrote his first opera when he was 26 years old. He then became famous quickly in 1893 due to his opera, Manon Lescaut. One of his most important characteristics is that his plots tend toward verismo5: every character is in an authentic real life situation. He composed ten operas and created a specific place and time for each opera. La bohéme, Tosca and Madama Butterfly mark the pinnacle of his compositional works. La bohéme is based on Scènes de la vie de Bohème, a novel by Henri Murger. “Mi chiamano Mimì”(“They call me Mimi”) occurs after Rodolfo sings “Che gelida manina” to Mimì as an introduction, and Mimì is immediately attracted to him. Mimì, a seamstress, responds and sings of her own dreams to Rodolfo. She is lively, but mature and a little bit shy, and has suffered troubles in her life. Even so, she still has a desire for a better future. The end of this aria uses recitative style to enhance Puccini’s verismo style. Although composed in D major, Puccini composed many notes out of D major (B flat, G sharp,), which moved the tonal center to the dominant tonality (A major), using harmonic instability to portray Mimì’s varying emotions and her psychological characteristics. “Un Bel Di Vedremo”, is from Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, is based in part on the short story Madame Butterfly (1898) by John Luther Long. One important feature of this opera is that Puccini set the opera in Nagasaki, Japan, but the opera is sung in Italian, which was quite unusual for that time. Madama Butterfly is a story about a young geisha named Cio- Cio-San, or Madame Butterfly, from Nagasaki, who gives up her work and religion to marry an American naval officer named Pinkerton, but Pinkerton decides to return to America. Several years later, he comes back to Japan with his new American wife, and he discovers that Butterfly has given birth to his son. He asks to take his son back to America, and Butterfly agrees to it, but then, tragically commits suicide at the end of the opera.