Miranda Levin & Kelby Roth

Transcription

1 Friday, May 4, :00 p.m Miranda Levin & Kelby Roth Junior Recital DePaul Recital Hall 804 West Belden Avenue Chicago

2 Friday, May 4, :00 p.m. DePaul Recital Hall PROGRAM Johannes Brahms ( ) Die Schwestern, Op. 61 (1874) Miranda Levin, soprano Kelby Roth, mezzo-soprano Junior Recital Michael McElvain, piano Saori Chiba, piano Miranda Levin, soprano Kelby Roth, mezzo-soprano Michael McElvain, piano Gabriel Fauré ( ) Selections from Op. 58 (1891) I. Mandoline II. En Sourdine Miranda Levin, soprano Saori Chiba, piano Franz Schubert ( ) Ganymed, Op. 19 No. 3, D. 544 (1817) Daß sie hier gewesen, D. 775 (1823) Wehmut, Op. 22 No. 2, D. 772 (1822) Kelby Roth, mezzo-soprano Michael McElvain, piano

3 Program Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ( ) Vorrei spiegarvi, oh Dio! K. 418 (1783) Miranda Levin, soprano Saori Chiba, piano Maurice Ravel ( ) Cinq Mélodies Populaires Grecques (1906) Le réveil de la mariée La-bàs, vers l église Quel galant m est comparable Chanson des cueilleuses de lentisques Tout gai! Kelby Roth, mezzo-soprano Michael McElvain, piano Roger Quilter ( ) Opus 3 (1904) Love s Philosophy Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal Fill a Glass with Golden Wine Miranda Levin, soprano Saori Chiba, piano

4 Program William Bolcom (b. 1938) Selections from Cabaret Songs, Volumes I and II I. Song of Black Max (As Told by the de Kooning Boys) (1979) II. Toothbrush Time (1985) III. George (1985) Miranda Levin is from the studio of Christopher Magiera. Kelby Roth is from the studio of Jeff Ray. This recital is presented in partial fulfillment of the degree Bachelor of Music. As a courtesy to those around you, please silence all cell phones and other electronic devices. Flash photography is not permitted. Thank you.

5 PROGRAM NOTES Johannes Brahms ( ) Die Schwestern, Op. 61 (1874) Duration: 3 minutes Johannes Brahms was a prolific German Romantic composer who composed over 190 lieder in his lifetime. His contrapuntal composition and musical settings are stunning; However, Brahms was criticized by his contemporaries for setting low-quality poetry. Brahms retorted that perfect poetry need not be set to music, as it is perfect as is. Die Schwestern is a strophic setting of Eduard Mörike s lyrical poetry. It is an silly tune about two sisters who spend every moment together, and who brag about being exactly the same. They sing the exact same words for every verse until the last, which switches to third person voice. The duet comes to an abrupt end when it is discovered that the reason they stopped singing is that the sisters have fallen in love with the same man. Note by Kelby Ro th. Gabriel Fauré ( ) Selections from Op. 58 (1891) I. Mandoline II. En Sourdine Duration: 6 minutes Gabriel Faure was one of the most influential composers of his generation. Throughout his educational career, Faure studied the organ, piano, harmony and composition. He was a pupil of Camille Saint-Saens. Faure was well-known for many of his works, specifically his Requiem, Cantique du Jean Racine, and this particular collection of songs, Cinq Melodies de Venise. His poetry is from F êtes galantes and Romances sans paroles by Paul Verlaine. It was typical for musical themes to occur in each song. Mandoline was written first during May 1891, in Venice, Italy. Part of En Sourdine was written in Venice as well, but the rest of the cycle was completed in September Faure believed he had made a new form, due to the recurring themes throughout the piece. He considered Cinq Melodies to be more of a suite than a song cycle. Mandoline was premiered June

6 Program Notes 21, 1981, the day after Faure returned from Italy to Paris. The song talks about the serenaders and the women who listen to them, evoking beautiful imagery of the nature that surrounds them. En Sourdine depicts two lovers basking in the silence of the atmosphere around them. Verlaine uses nature again to help emphasize the abandonment of the lovers senses among the vague langours of the pines and the bushes or to the breeze, rocking and soft. Faure himself suggested that the performer interpret these pieces as a story, rather than get carried away by the vagueness of the images in the text. Note by Miranda Levin. Franz Schubert ( ) Ganymed, Op. 19 No. 3, D. 544 (1817) Daß sie hier gewesen, D. 775 (1823) Wehmut, Op. 22 No. 2, D. 772 (1822) Duration: 10 minutes Franz Schubert is considered the greatest lieder composer of all time. According to bibliographer John Reed, Schubert s compositional output includes 631 lieder, making up one third of his works. Characterized by his use of daring harmony and seamless integration of melody and accompaniment, Schubert is able to perfectly communicate the meaning of the poetry through song. Schubert composed during the age of Romanticism, an artistic movement defined by self-reflection, the privileging of emotion over reason, and most obviously in these three songs: the idolization of nature. Schubert set more of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe s poetry than any other composer. Along with Friedrich Schiller, Goethe pioneered the Weimar Classicism movement, which established a new idea of humanism, fusing the Romantic age with the age of Enlightenment. This ushered in a flourishing time for German literature. Ganymed perfectly characterizes the Romantic idea of the love of nature. In this lied, Ganymed experiences transcendence and pure ecstasy through nature. He uses his experience of spring to reach the divine. The music gradually builds through dramatic key changes and harmonic ambiguity as Ganymed s experience intensifies until his transcendence is complete.

7 Program Notes Nature is the catalyst for the reminder of a lost love in Schubert s Daß sie hier gewesen. Friedrich Rückert, a poet who conveys loss so poignantly, uses the imagery of wind carrying the fragrance of a lover, delivering a sense of nostalgia and loss to the subject. Wehmut illustrates the darker side of nature. Matthäus von Collin s poem beautifully surmises the temporal nature of life. Schubert begins the song with dramatic block chords in the accompaniment, opening the scene of the song s subject walking through the woods, unable to escape the conflicting feelings of happiness and sadness. The intensifying feeling of melancholy is illustrated through a tremolo, producing a feeling of uneasiness in the listener. It builds until the subject is reminded that everything in nature will one day perish. Note by Kelby Roth. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ( ) Vorrei spiegarvi, oh Dio! K. 418 (1783) Duration: 7 minutes Among Mozart s more than 600 works, including chamber music, operas, songs, and orchestral works, Vorrei Spiegarvi, Oh Dio was arguable the most popular and well known among classical composers. Vorrei Spiegarvi, Oh Dio was inserted into Act 1, Scene 6 of Pasquale Anfossi s opera, Il Curioso Indiscreto, with an expansive range of 2 octaves plus a fourth. Within the opera, character Marchese Calando was to make sure his bride Clorinda is faithful. Calando asks his friend, Count di Ripaverde, to try and court her. After hesitating towards his pursuit, Clorinda finally confesses that she loves the Count. Due to this confession and her jealousy of the Count s bride, Emilia, Clorinda is appalled by her own realization, and sends the Count away. Note by Miranda Levin.

8 Program Notes Maurice Ravel ( ) Cinq Mélodies Populaires Grecques (1906) Le réveil de la mariée La-bàs, vers l église Quel galant m est comparable Chanson des cueilleuses de lentisques Tout gai! Duration: 8 minutes Described by Stravinsky as a Swiss watch-maker, Maurice Ravel was an absolute perfectionist in his compositional style and is considered one of the most significant French composers of the twentieth century. He studied composition under Gabriel Fauré, who is considered the greatest composer of mélodie. Though Ravel s song output is limited to approximately thirty mélodie, he is most well-known for his orchestral arrangements. Though at first hearing, his music might sound Impressionist due to its modal French qualities, Ravel s music is much more Classical in nature, as he was very particular in his writing. Ravel s Cinq Mélodies Populaires Grecques is a stunning example of this perfection in song. The cycle begins with a lovely mattinata, a morning serenade, of a soon-to-be bride by her lover. The piano tremolo creates a glistening sound, matching the excited, yet soft tone of the singer. La-bàs, vers l église takes a serious turn, honoring those who died as martyrs for their religion, referring to the Christian Saint Constantine. The third movement, Quel galant m est comparable is a cheeky quip in which the boastful subject attempts to flirt with the presumably older, more experienced Dame Vasiliki. Chanson des cueilleuses de lentisques is a flowing song in which Graham Johnson describes that the heavy swaying of the women s bodies, as they work in the (lentisk) fields, is built into the music Though the song sounds free and unrestrained, Ravel is very specific in his notation. Finally, Tout gai! is a song of pure celebration, evoking images of dancing and drunken merriment. Note by Kelby Roth.

9 Program Notes Roger Quilter ( ) Opus 3 (1904) I. Love s Philosophy II. Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal III. Fill a Glass with Golden Wine Duration: 7 minutes Roger Quilter attended the Hoch Conservatory, located in Frankfurt. He belonged to the Frankfurt Group, which consisted of composers who studied at the Conservatory. Quilter was very influential to composers who came after him, most notably Peter Warlock. His songs, which total more than a hundred, are still widely performed and are considered treasures in the English song canon. Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal is the sonnet written by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The poetry was first published in 1847 in The Princess: A Medley. Quilter published it in 1904, and since then, many composers such as Britten and Mealor have set music to this text. The text uses the images of day turning into night as a way to personify the yearning to rest with a loved one. The theme of the poem is about the unification of things in nature, and how this mirrors the connection of human relationships. Fill A Glass with Golden Wine was written by William Ernest Henley. The narrator of this text is speaking to their lover. Although he knows life is short, the narrator tells his beloved that they want to enjoy their time together and forget that eventually his love will end with the coming of death. Note by Miranda Levin. William Bolcom (b. 1938) Selections from Cabaret Songs, Volumes I and II I. Song of Black Max (As Told by the de Kooning Boys) (1979) II. Toothbrush Time (1985) III. George (1985) Duration: 10 minutes In a preface to the Cabaret Songs, poet and playwright Arnold Weinstein wrote that it is in Germany that the rhinestone mantle of cabaret is worn most comfortably. Building off the distinct German cabaret style made famous by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, and the performance art of the

10 Program Notes post-modernist Dada movement, Weinstein and Bolcom wrote four volumes of cabaret songs. Their partnership began when French modernist composer Darius Milhaud dismissed Weinstein s libretto as too American, thus introducing him to Bolcom. It was a perfect match; along with cabaret songs, they produced hits for Broadway as well as full-length operas. Weinstein describes the cabaret song as an elusive form of theater-poetry-lieder-pop-taverner prayer. Many songs were inspired by their own amusing life experiences, as well as stories told to them by their close friends. On a trip to visit abstract expressionist artist and friend, Willem de Kooning, Weinstein was inspired by the infamous night life of Rotterdam, and thus Song of Black Max (As Told by the de Kooning Boys) was born. It is a tale about a street character known by the name Black Max, with a musical setting akin to Weill s Mack the Knife. Bolcom and Weinstein wrote the jazzy Toothbrush Time to poke fun at a friend s passionate affair with George Gershwin, in which her romantic rendezvous would never make it to the morning. The dark ragtime and Puccini inspired tune, George, was written to not only celebrate the clever and outrageous character of the piece s namesake, George, but to bring light to the senseless murders of people within the queer community in 1960s New York City. Bolcom uniquely merges two distinct genres in this piece, quoting Irving Berlin as well as the famous aria, Un Bel di Vedremo from Puccini s Madame Butterfly. By quoting Berlin s A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody, he highlights the dramatic pageant-like attitudes of drag queens. In quoting Puccini, Bolcom satirizes the opera diva s desire for attention. Both highlight George s distinct, bold personality, and make for a kitschy tune. Note by Kelby Roth.

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