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City Savings Bank 19 8 4 Tanglewnpd BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Seiji Ozawa, Music Director Sir Colin Davis, Principal Guest Conductor Joseph Silverstein, Assistant Conductor Saturday, 4 August at 8:30 SEIJI OZAWA conducting Hector Berlioz BEATRICE ET BENEDICT Comic Opera in Two Acts After Shakespeare. Words by Berlioz. The cast: Beatrice, niece of Leonato Frederica von Stade, mezzo-soprano Benedict, an officer, friend to Claudio Jon Garrison, tenor Hero, daughter of Leonato Sylvia McNair, soprano Ursule, friend to Hero Janice Taylor, mezzo-soprano Claudio, aide to Don Pedro David Parsons, baritone Don Pedro, a general John Ostendorf, bass-baritone Somarone, a musician and composer Italo Tajo, bass Leonato, the governor William Young Soldiers, townspeople, musicians, and choristers Tanglewood Festival Chorus and Tanglewood Choir, John Oliver, conductor Please do not take pictures during the performance. Flashbulbs, in particular, distract the artists and other members of the audience. Please be sure the electronic signal on your watch or pager is switched off during the performance. Philips, Telarc, CBS, Deutsche Grammophon, Angel/EMI, Hyperion, and RCA records Baldwin piano *u Production conceived and directed by David Kneuss Designed by John Michael Deegan and Sarah G. Conly Susan Murray, assistant lighting designer James Brega, assistant costume designer Principal artists' costumes executed by John Reid Costumes, Inc. Chorus costumes furnished by Eaves-Brooks Costume Company, Inc. Scenery constructed by Acadia Scenic, Inc. Lighting equipment from Limelight Productions, Inc. Dennis Helmrich, musical preparation Steven Lipsitt, Jun Andreas Markl, and Stephen Somary, conducting assistants Hector Berlioz in 1867 Week VI "CAROUSEL"—"little battle"— 1. initially conceived for jousting prac- tice in the military: the soldier was instructed on catching the brass ring to practice balance and movement; 2. a tournament or battle in which knights or horsemen engaged in various exercises and races; 3. a merry-go-round. TIME: After the war There will be one intermission. SYNOPSIS Act I: In a park, townspeople await the return of the victorious general Don Pedro; there is a chorus of rejoicing. Leonato enters with his daughter Hero and his niece Beatrice, learning that Don Pedro is about to arrive with his retinue, which includes Claudio and Benedick. Hero joyfully learns that Claudio, whom she loves, has returned unwounded and with honor. Beatrice inquires sarcasti- cally about Benedick; there is between the two "a kind of merry war . they never meet, but there's a skirmish of wits." The chorus celebrates Don Pedro's victory, and Hero is left alone to reflect on her reunion with Claudio (Aria: "Je vais levoir" . "II me revient fidele" ) . Don Pedro arrives and settles Claudio's betrothal to Hero. Beatrice and Benedick mock each other in a duet ("Comment le dedain pourrait-il mourir?"). Don Pedro and Claudio ask Benedick if he is tempted by the idea of marriage. In a trio with them ("Me marier? Dieu me pardonne!"), Benedick scoffs at the idea: "better to rot in a cloister!" Should he marry, he declares, let a sign be set on his house: "lei Von voit Benedict, I'homme marie!" ("Here can be seen Benedick, the married man!"). Don Pedro and Claudio decide to trick Beatrice and Benedick into falling in love with each other. Musicians arrive with the com- poser Somarone, who has written music for Claudio and Hero's wedding; the music is rehearsed, at first unsatisfactorily ("Grotesque Epithalamium"). Benedick, in hiding, overhears Leonato tell Don Pedro that Beatrice has fallen in love with him (Benedick), but that he should not be told for fear that he will mock her. Benedick praises Beatrice's charms, and he resolves to love her (Rondo: "Ah! Je vais "). Vaimer . Hero and her friend Ursula meanwhile have led Beatrice to believe that Benedick loves her. Hero and Ursula praise the beauty of the night as they look forward to Hero's wedding (Duo [Nocturne]: "Vous soupirez, madame?" . "Nuit paisible et sereine!"). Entr'acte: Sicilienne Act II: The wedding preparations meanwhile underway, Somarone improvises a drinking song. Beatrice enters in agitation, having heard that Benedick loves her, recalling her wartime fears for him, and determining that she will love him in turn (Aria: "Non! Que viens-je d'entendre?" . "II m'en souvient"). Hero and Ursula join her in a trio about love, teasing her about her apparent change of attitude and riling her with their talk of matrimony's pitfalls (Trio: "Je vais/Hero d'un coeur aimant . "). Hero and Ursula leave to prepare for the wedding. A distant chorus with guitar accompaniment summons the bride to the ceremony. Benedick enters; his verbal skirmish with Beatrice is cut short by the arrival of the " wedding party (Wedding March). The wedding contract between Claudio and Hero is signed. A second contract is produced—for Beatrice and Benedick! They protest: Benedick: Do you not love me? Beatrice: No, no more than I have reason. Benedick: Then your uncle, the general, and Claudio have been deceived, for they swore you did. Beatrice: Do you not love me? Benedick: No, no more than I have reason. Beatrice: Well, then my cousin and Ursula are strangely ** deceived, for they swore that you did. Benedick: There's nothing to that. Then you do not love me? Beatrice: No more, truly, than as a friend. Benedick: Well, I will have you as my wife; but I swear to you that if I take you, it is out of pity. Beatrice: I would not refuse you; but I swear to you that it is in spite of myself. I do this only to save your life, for I have been told that you are nearly dead from your yearnings. Benedick: Silence, now! I'll stop your chatter! He kisses her. THE SIGN: ICI L'ONVOIT BENEDICT L'HOMME MARIE Beatrice and Benedick muse on the nature of love (Scherzo duettino: "L'amour est une flambeau . "), and "for today a truce is signed. We'll become enemies again tomorrow. < D %^: dL* 0^.' < £ Z Ov U ^® oo ^Ji-PiZ 1?, « « r *- -a u. C .£> O ° k 3 5 ja a P > Si O IB (J -^ « . « c z •3 E | (2^0 "Merry-Go-Round," a 1943 engraving by Reginald Marsh Week VI m You can travel the world over in search of what you need and return home again to find it. Welcome home to... WMHT 89.1 f Stereo Classical Music 24 Hours A Day NOTES Hector Berlioz Beatrice et Benedict Hector-Louis Berlioz was born at La Cote-Saint-Andre, Department oflsere, France, on 11 December 1803 and died in Paris on 8 March 1869. He completed Beatrice et Benedict in 1862 and conducted the premiere at Baden-Baden on 9 August 1862, making a few revisions in the score soon after. Thomas Scherman and the Little Orchestra Society gave the first American concert performance in Carnegie Hall in I960; the first staged perform- ance in America was given in 1965 by the Manhattan School of Music. The Boston Sym- B phony Orchestra gave subscription performances of Beatrice et Benedict in Boston and New York in October 1977, at which time a spoken text in English took the place of dialogue in French. Frederica von Stade and Gwendolyn Killebrew sang Beatrice, Stuart Burrows sang Benedict; Rohan McCullough and Raul Julia took the speaking parts of Beatrice and Benedick. The present performance is entirely in French. The words to be spoken and sung are by Berlioz, who based his opera on Shakespeare's play "Much Ado About Nothing," written about 1598. The spoken text for this performance has been drawn from Berlioz's own. The music is used by arrangement with Oxford University Press, New York, New York. The orchestra includes two flutes (second doubling piccolo), two oboes (second dou- bling English horn), two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, two cornets, three trombones, two harps, timpani, and strings. Additional instruments—some of them offstage—include two oboes and two bassoons, two guitars, tambourines, two trumpets, one cornet, bass drum, and cymbals, as well as "glasses struck on tables." Beatrice et Benedict (Beatrice and Benedick) was Berlioz's first and only Shakespear- ean opera, but it was the final testimonial of a lifetime of devotion to the poet.