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A riose
Poetry
in
Song
Drew Lewis, Director
Featuring Irene Herrmann, piano
April 18 and 19, 2015
O Ariose Singers O
Drew Lewis, Director
Jaeleen Bennis
Deanna Dawson
Cora Frantz
Nicolas Gerst
Steven Guire Knight
Dan Landry
Paul Machlis
Burr Nissen
John Seales
Anika Kuesters Smith
Erin Sauve
Michael Vojvoda
Nancy Voogd
Susana Wessling
Mary Ann Wieland
Darlene Aimee Wilcox
Thanks!
Thank you to Printsmith, Resurrection Church,
Irene Herrmann, and Kirby School and staff for
your support.
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Cantiamo!
Israel in Egypt - Handel
7:00 PM May 3, 2015
Peace United Church of Christ, Santa Cruz
Westside Community Folk Song & Gospel Choir
8:00 PM May 18, 2015
Samper Recital Hall, Cabrillo College
Santa Cruz Chorale
Viva Vivaldi
Saturday, April 25, 2015 - 8:00pm
Sunday, April 26, 2015 - 4:00pm
Holy Cross Church, Santa Cruz
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Saturday, May 16
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2
Monday, May 18
6:10–7:00 PM
7:00 PM
Pre-Concert Reception
Concert (Free Admission)
Appetizers and wine — $20
Appetizers only — $10
Peace United Church
900 High Street Santa Cruz, CA 95060
I. Selections by the Kirby School Choir
H Program H
II. Madrigals Old and New
April Is In My Mistress’ Face
Thomas Morley (1558-1603)
Vita de la mia Vita
William Hawley (b. 1950)
Laughing Song
Kirke Mechem (b. 1925)
III. Two Rossetti Settings
Come To Me, My Love
Norman Dello Joio (1913-2008)
Rest
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
IV. Poems of Love and Loss
Jenny Kiss’d Me
Eric William Barnum (b. 1979)
Pleasures
Hyo-shin Na (b. 1958)
Sydämeni Laulu
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
i carry your heart with me
Cora Frantz, Soprano
Deanna Dawson, Violin
Z. Randall Stroope (b.1953)
V. Trois Chansons de Charles d’Orleans
Trios Chansons
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
1. Dieu! qu’il la fait bon regarder
2. Quant j’ai ouy le tabourin
Anika Kuesters Smith, Mezzo Soprano
3. Yver, vous n’estes qu’un villain
Deanna Dawson, Soprano, Susana Wessling, Alto
Nicolas Gerst, Tenor, Michael Vojvoda, Bass
H Intermission H
VI. Poetry of the German Romantics
Vier Quartette, Op. 92
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
1. O schöne Nacht (Georg Friedrich Daumer)
2. Spätherbst (Hermann Allmers)
3. Abendlied (Friedrich Hebbel)
4. Warum (Goethe)
VII. Poetry of Frederico Garcia Lorca
Selections from “Suite” de Lorca, Op. 72
1. Canción de jinete
2. La luna asoma
Einojuhani Rautavaara (b. 1928)
Steven Knight, Tenor, John Seales, Bass
Cora Frantz, Soprano
3. Malagueña
VIII. Songs of Shakespeare
Four Ballads Of Shakespeare
Juhani Komulainen (b. 1953)
1. To be, or not to be (Hamlet)
2. O weary night (A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
3. Three words (Romeo and Juliet)
4. Tomorrow and tomorrow (Macbeth)
It was a lover and his lass
John Rutter (b.1945)
3
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V
H Program Notes H
ocal composers throughout history have been
intrigued by the way poetic texts and melodies relate
to create a deep musical expression. Tonight’s concert
opens with the spring themed, “April is in my mistress’ face” by Thomas Morely, one of the most prominent composers of the English madrigal. This setting
is based on an Italian poem and was first published
in Morley’s collection, Madrigalls to Foure Voyces in
1594. “Vita de la mia Vita” by the American composer William Hawley is a modern madrigal based
on a sixteenth century Italian poem by Torquato
Tasso. Another modern madrigal by Kirke Mechem,
the “dean of American music,” closes out the opening statement. This madrigal is a setting of William
Blake’s “Laughing Song” from Songs of Innocence and
Experience and employs Renaissance vocal writing
with harmonies and rhythms more in line with the
avant garde style of the 1960s.
The poet Christina Rossetti has inspired many composers. Norman Dello Joio’s jazz-influenced writing
aptly sets the text of Rossetti’s poem “Echo” in the
piece “Come To Me, My Love.” Ralph Vaughan Williams set many Rossetti poems to music, and the part
song “Rest” is a classic example of his writing for a
cappella choir.
Love and loss are explored in the poetry of James
Leigh Hunt, Bertolt Brecht, Aleksis Kivi, and E. E.
Cummings. Eric William Barnum’s, “Jenny Kiss’d
Me” refers to a moment in James Hunt’s life where
Jenny leaped up and kissed him after learning about
his recovery from a long illness. Whatever else might
have occurred in his life, the poet insists that he mattered when Jenny kissed him. Hyo-shin Na’s setting
of Brecht’s poem was written for Ariose Singers
and shows a fond recollection for all of life’s simple
Pleasures. The Finnish composer, Jean Sibelius, took a
poem from Aleksis Kivi’s ground breaking novel, The
Seven Brothers (the first novel written in the Finnish
language) and set it in a simple part song for mixed
choir. “Sydämeni Laulu” is a lullaby to a dead child
who has gone to the underworld of Finnish mythology. The composer even played this song on the piano
for his two year old daughter, Kristi when she died in
1900.
E.E. Cummings’ poem, “i carry your heart with
me,” is written in the American poet’s tradition
style of “enjambment” with run-on sentences and
no punctuation. The poem voices the deep love that
fears no fate and illuminates the meaning of the sun
and moon..
The first act of the concert then closes with Claude
Debussy’s settings of poems written by Charles,
Duke of Orleans during his 25-year imprisonment by
the English in 1415. Trois Chansons de Charles d’Orleans is a virtuosic masterpiece by the impressionist
composer and employs Debussy’s complex harmonic
and fluid rhythmic language while using older music
forms fitting of these fifteenth century texts.
T
he second act of tonight’s concert opens with Vier
Quartette, Op. 92 (Four Quartets) which was originally written for solo quartet by the German Romantic
composer, Johannes Brahms. The interplay of the piano with the voices evokes different images relating
to these four poems by different Romantic poets. This
song cycle covers a variety of subjects which include
a nighttime rendezvous of young lovers, late autumn
and grief, and the power of music to bring the divine
closer to the human.
The themes of light, darkness, and death are explored in the poetry of the Spanish poet, playwright,
and theater director, Federico García Lorca. The
Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara composed
the “Suite” de Lorca in 1973 and while it won 3rd place
in a composition contest at the time, it remains one
of his most well-known pieces around the world.
These short movements employ ostinati, complex
harmonies, and a variety of speech and vocal effects
to convey the emotion of this dark poetry.
No exploration of poetic themes and writing would
be complete without looking at the works of William
Shakespeare. The concert ends with two settings of
Shakespeare. First is Four Ballads of Shakespeare by the
Finnish composer Juhani Komulainen, which takes
elements from scenes of different Shakespeare plays.
The concert ends with springtime once again in John
Rutter’s setting of “It Was A Lover and His Lass”
from Shakespeare’s As You Like It.
5
H Texts & Translations H
April Is In My Mistress’ Face
Thomas Morley (1558-1603)
April is in my mistress’ face,
And July in her eyes hath place;
Within her bosom is September,
But in her heart a cold December.
Torquato Tasso (1544–1595)
Vita de la mia Vita
William Hawley (b. 1950)
Vita de la mia vita,
Tu mi somigli pallidetta oliva
O rosa scolorita;
Nè di beltà sei priva,
Ma in ogni aspetto tu mi sei gradita,
O lusinghiera o schiva;
E se mi segui o fuggi
Soavemente mi consumi e struggi.
Torquato Tasso
Laughing Song
Life of my life
you are to me like a pallid olive
or a fading rose;
nor are you deprived of beauty,
but in every way you please me,
whether you flatter or shun
and whether you follow me or flee
softly you consume and melt me
English translation by William Hawley
Kirke Mechem (b. 1925)
When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy,
And the dimpling stream runs laughing by;
When the air does laugh with our merry wit,
And the green hill laughs with the noise of it;
When the meadows laugh with lively green,
And the grasshopper laughs in the merry scene;
When Mary and Susan and Emily
With their sweet round mouths sing “Ha ha he!”
When the painted birds laugh in the shade,
Where our table with cherries and nuts is spread:
Come live, and be merry, and join with me,
To sing the sweet chorus of “Ha ha he!”
William Blake (1757-1827)
Come To Me, My Love
Norman Dello Joio (1913-2008)
Come to me in the silence of the night;
Come in the speaking silence of a dream;
Come with soft rounded cheeks and eyes as bright
As sunlight on a stream;
Come back in tears,
O memory, hope, love of finished years.
Oh dream how sweet, too sweet, too bitter sweet,
Whose [wakening] should have been in Paradise,
Where souls brimfull of love abide and meet;
Where [thirsting] longing eyes
Watch the slow door
That opening, letting in, lets out no more.
Yet come to me in dreams, that I may live
My very life again though cold in death:
Come back to me in dreams, that I may give
Pulse for pulse, breath for breath:
Speak low, lean low,
As long ago, my love, how long ago!
Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1894)
6
Rest
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
O Earth, lie heavily upon her eyes;
Seal her sweet eyes weary of watching, Earth; Lie close around her; leave no room for mirth
With its harsh laughter, nor for sound of sighs. She hath no questions, she hath no replies,
Hushed-in and curtained with a blessed dearth Of all that irk’d her from her hour of birth;
With stillness that is almost Paradise.
Darkness more clear than noon-day holdeth her, Silence more musical than any song;
Even her very heart hath ceased to stir:
Until the morning of Eternity
Her rest shall not begin nor end, but be;
And when she wakes she will not think it long.
Christina Georgina Rossetti
Jenny Kiss’d Me
Eric William Barnum (b. 1979)
Jenny kiss’d me when we met,
Jumping from the chair she sat in;
Time, you thief, who love to get
Sweets into your list, put that in!
Say I’m weary, say I’m sad,
Say that health and wealth have miss’d me,
Say I’m growing old, but add,
Jenny kiss’d me.
(James) Leigh Hunt (1784-1859)
Pleasures
Hyo-shin Na (b. 1958)
Old music
Comfortable shoes
Taking things in
New music
Writing, planting
Traveling
Singing
Being friendly
The first look out of the window in the morning
The old book found again
Enthusiastic faces
Snow, the change of the seasons
The newspaper
The dog
Dialectics
Taking showers, swimming
Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956)
Sydämeni Laulu
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
Tuonen lehto, öinen lehto
Siell’ in hieno hietakehto
sinnepä lapseni saatan
Siell’ on lapsen lysti olla
Tuonen herran vainiolla
kaitsia Tuonelan karjaa
Siell’ on lapsen lysti olla
illan tullen tuuditella
helmassa Tuonelan immem
Onpa kullan lysti olla
kultakehdoss’ kellahdella
kuullella kehräjälintuu
Tuonen viita, rauhan viita
kaukana on vaino, riita
kaukana kavala maailma.
Grove of Tuoni, grave nocturnal!
Finest sand for sleep eternal
safe for my baby to slumber.
May my child have pleasant hours
in the Dark Lord’s fields and bowers
tending the cattle of Tuoni.
May my child have pleasant hours,
falling fast asleep ‘midst flowers,
rocked by the gentle Dark Lady.
Happy darling in safekeeping,
in a golden cradle sleeping,
hearing the song of the nightjar.
Grove of Tuoni, grove of calmness!
Far away from worldly madness,
far from all strife and beguiling.
Aleksis Kivi (I834-I872), English translation by Jaakko Mäntyjärvi
7
i carry your heart with me
Z. Randall Stroope (b.1953)
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)
e.e.cummings (1894-1962)
“The duty of the words is to say just as much as the music has left unsaid and no more.”
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Trois Chansons de Charles d’Orléans
1.
Dieu qu’l la fait bon regarder! La gracieuse bon et belle!
Pour les grands bien que sont en elle. Chacun est pres de la loüer.
Qui se pourroit d’elle lasser? Tousjours sa beauté renouvelle.
Dieu qu’l la bon regarder. La gracieuse bonne et belle!
Par de ca, ne de là, lamer. Ne scay dame ne damoiselle
Qui soit en tous bien parfais telle. C’est ung songe que d’i penser:
Dieu qu’il la fait bon regarder!
God, how good it is to look upon her, so graceful, good, and beautiful!
For the great goodness that is hers, everyone is ready to praise her.
Who could grow tired of her? Her beauty constantly renews itself.
God, how good it is to look upon her, so graceful, good, and beautiful!
On neither side of the ocean do I know any woman or girl
who is in all virtues so perfect; it is a dream just to think of her.
God, how good it is to look upon her!
8
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
2.
Quant j’ai ouy le tabourin Sonner, pour s’en aller au may
En mon lit n’en ay fait affray Ne levé mon chief du coissin
En disant: il est trop matin Ung peu je me rendormirai:
Quant j’ai ouy le tabourin Sonner pour s’en aller au may.
Jeunes gens partent leur butin: De non cha loir m’accointeray
A lui je m’a butineray Trouvé l’ay plus prouchain voisin;
Quant j’ai ouy le tabourin Sonner pour s’en aller au may.
En mon lit n’en ay fait affray Ne levé mon chief du coissin.
When I hear the tambourine sound to call us to May,
in my bed I am not frightened, nor do I lift my head from the pillow.
Saying: “it’s too early in the morning, I’ll go back to sleep for a little while,”
When I hear the tambourine sound to call us to May
Young folk divide their spoils: I will make a friend of lethargy,
I will plunder it; I have found it to be my closest neighbor…
3.
Yver, vous n’estes qu’un villain; Esté est plaisant et gentil
Esté est plaisant en gentil Esté est plaisant et gentil.
En témoing de may et dávril Qui l’accompaignent soir et main.
Esté revet champs, bois et fleurs De sa livrée de verdure
Et de maintes autres couleurs Par l’ordonnance de nature.
Mais vous Yver, mais vous, mais vous Yver, trop estes plein
De nège, de nège, vert, pluye et grézil. On vous deust banir en évil.
Sans point flater je parle plein, Yver, vous n’estes qu’un villain
Yver, Yver, Yver, Yver, vous n’estes qu’un villain ,
Yver, Yver, Yver, Yver, Yver, vous n’estes qu’un villain ,
Yver, vous n’estes qu’un villain.
Winter, you’re nothing but a villain!
Summer is pleasant and amiable, bearing witness to May and April
which are its morning and evening companions
Summer dresses the fields, woods, and flowers in her clothing of green
and the many other colors at nature’s command
But you, winter, are too full of snow, wind, rain, and hail:
you should be banished to exile,
Without exaggerating, I say plainly:
Winter, you’re nothing but a villain!
Charles d’Orléans (1394-1465)
English translations from the octavo. ©2003 Durand S.A., Paris
“Music is the silence between the notes.”
Claude Debussy
9
Vier Quartette, Op. 92
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
O schöne Nacht
Oh lovely night!
O schöne Nacht
am Himmel märchenhaft erglänzt der Mond
in seiner ganzen Pracht;
Um ihn der kleinen Sterne liebliche Genossenschaft.
O schöne Nacht
Es schimmert hell der Tau am grünen Halm;
Mit Macht im Fliederbusche schlägt die Nachtigall.
Der Knabe schleicht zu seiner Liebsten sacht.
O schöne Nacht!
In the sky, magically,
the moon shines in all its splendor;
around it is the pleasant company of little stars
Dew glistens brightly on green stems;
in the lilac bush, the nightingale sings lustily.
The youth steals away quietly to his love.
Oh lovely night!
Georg Friedrich Daumer (1800-1875)
Spätherbst
Late Autumn
Der graue Nebel tropft so still herab
auf Feld und Wald und Heide,
als ob der Himmel weinen will
in übergroßem Leide.
The gray mist drips so silently
down on field and forest and heath
as if the heavens wished to weep
in overwhelming grief.
Die Blumen wollen nicht mehr blühn,
die Vöglein schweigen in den Hainen,
es starb sogar das letzte Grün,
da mag er auch wohl weinen.
The flowers will bloom no more;
the little birds are slient in the groves.
Even the last green is dead—
thus the heavens may well weep.
Hermann Allmers (1821-1902)
Evening Song
Abendlied
Friedlich bekämpfen Nacht sich und Tag;
wie das zu dämpfen, wie das zu lösen vermag.
Der mich bedrückte, schläfst du schon, Schmerz?
Was mich beglückte, was war’s doch, mein Herz?
Freude wie Kummer, fühl ich, zerran,
aber den Schlummer führten sie leise heran.
Und im Entschweben, immer empor,
kommt mir das Leben ganz wie ein Schlummerlied vor.
In peaceful opposition night struggles with the day.
What ability it has to soften,
what ability it has to relieve!
Sorrow that oppresses me, are you already asleep?
That which made me happy – say, my heart,
what was it then?
Joy, like grief, I feel, melts away;
but they bring me slumber as they fade away.
And in the vanishing, ever upwards,
my entire life passes before me, like a lullaby.
Friedrich Hebbel (1813-1863)
Warum
Why
Warum doch erschallen
himmelwärts die Lieder?
Zögen gerne nieder Sterne,
die droben blinken und wallen,
zögen sich Lunas lieblich Umarmen,
zögen die warmen, wonnigen Tage
seliger Götter gern uns herab!
Why then do song
resound heavenwards?
They would fain draw down the stars
that twinkle and sparkle above;
they would draw to themselves the moon’s
lovely embrace;
they would fain draw upon the warm, blissful days
of the blessed gods down upon us.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)
English translations by Gordon Paine and Ron Jeffers in Translations and
Annotations of choral Repertoire: Volume 2 German Texts. Earthsongs publishing (2000)
10
“Suite” de Lorca, Op. 72
Canción de jinete
Córdoba.
Lejana y sola.
Jaca negra, luna grande,
y aceitunas en mi alforja.
Aunque sepa los caminos
yo nunca llegaré a Córdoba.
Por el llano, por el viento,
jaca negra, luna roja.
La muerte me está mirando
desde las torres de Córdoba.
¡Ay qué camino tan largo!
¡Ay mi jaca valerosa!
¡Ay, que la muerte me espera,
antes de llegar a Córdoba!
Córdoba. / Lejana y sola.
La luna asoma
Cuando sale la luna
se pierden las campanas
y aparecen las sendas
impenetrables.
Cuando sale la luna,
el mar cubre la tierra
y el corazón se siente
isla en el infinito.
Nadie come naranjas
bajo la luna llena.
Es preciso comer
fruta verde y helada.
Cuando sale la luna
de cien rostros iguales,
la moneda de plata
solloza en el bolsillo.
Malagueña
La muerte / entra y sale
de la taberna.
Pasan caballos negros
y gente siniestra
por los hondos caminos
de la guitarra.
Y hay un olor a sal
y a sangre de hembra,
en los nardos febriles
de la marina.
La muerte / entra y sale
y sale y entra
la muerte / de la taberna.
Einojuhani Rautavaara (b. 1928)
Song of the Horseman
Cordoba.
Distant and alone.
Black mare, big moon
And olives in my saddle bag.
Although I know the road
I shall never reach Cordoba.
Over the plain, through the wind
Black mare, red moon.
Death is watching me
From the towers of Cordoba.
Oh, how long the road!
Oh, how courageous my steed!
Oh, for death awaits me
before I reach Cordoba!
Cordoba. / Distant and alone.
The Moon Peeps Out
When the moon goes out
bells are lost
and paths appear
impenetrable.
When the moon goes out
the sea covers the earth
and the heart feels itself
an island in infinity.
Nobody eats oranges
under the full moon.
It is necessary to eat
green and frosty fruit,
When the moon goes out
with a hundred equal faces
the silver coin
sobs in the pocket.
Malagueña
Death / goes in and out
of the tavern.
Black horses
and sinister people
pass through the
deep paths of the guitar.
And there is an odor of salt
and woman’s blood
in the feverish spikenards
of the seashore.
Death / goes in and out
and out and in
death / of the tavern.
Federico García Lorca (1898-1936)
English translations by Joshua Cramer Habermann, Finnish music
and the a cappella choral works of Einojuhani Rautavaara. Doctoral Dissertation, 1997.
11
Four Ballads Of Shakespeare
To be, or not to be (Hamlet, act 3, scene 1)
To be, or not to be? That is the question—
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And, by opposing, end them?
O weary night
(A Midsummer Night’s Dream, act 3, scene 2)
O weary night, O long and tedious night,
Abate thy hours. Shine comforts from the east,
That I may back to Athens by daylight
From these that my poor company detest.
And sleep, that sometimes shuts up sorrow’s eye,
Steal me awhile from mine own company.
Juhani Komulainen (b. 1953)
Three words (Romeo and Juliet, act 2, scene 2)
Three words, dear Romeo, and good night indeed.
If that thy bent of love be honorable,
Thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow
By one that I’ll procure to come to thee
Where and what time thou wilt perform the rite,
And all my fortunes at thy foot I’ll lay
And follow thee my lord throughout the world.
Tomorrow and tomorrow (Macbeth, act 5, scene 5)
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
It was a lover and his lass
John Rutter (b.1945)
It was a lover and his lass,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey-nonny-no,
That o’er the green cornfield did pass
In springtime, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, Hey ding a ding, ding.
Sweet lovers love the spring.
Between the acres of the rye,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey-nonny-no,
These pretty country folks would lie
In springtime, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, Hey ding a ding, ding.
Sweet lovers love the spring.
This carol they began that hour,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey hey-nonny-no,
How that a life was but a flower
In springtime, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, Hey ding a ding, ding.
Sweet lovers love the spring.
And therefore take the present time,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey hey-nonny-no,
For love is crowned with the prime
In springtime, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, Hey ding a ding, ding.
Sweet lovers love the spring.
William Shakespeare
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