Date du récital/date of recital : March 27, 2017 Nom/Name: Lindsay Connolly Classe de/class of: Joanne Kolomyjec These program notes are written by

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1 Date du récital/date of recital : March 27, 2017 Nom/Name: Lindsay Connolly Classe de/class of: Joanne Kolomyjec These program notes are written by the student performing, and are presented by the student in partial fulfilment of the requirements of their course. Benjamin Britten ( ) Charm of Lullabies Op Nancy Evans, a celebrated British mezzosoprano, joined forces with Peter Pears, Eric Crozier and Benjamin Britten in the early days of planning for the Aldeburgh Festival, which was a success due to her early contributions. Britten composed this set as a thank you gift for Evans, which she loved, and performed it a year later in Netherlands with Felix de Nobel. This cycle features poetry by William Blake, Robert Burns, Robert Greene, Thomas Randolph, and John Philip and textually explores topics surrounding the trials and joys felt through motherhood. Musically, this cycle explores contrapuntal textures, specific rhythmic motives like the Scotch Snap prominent in the second piece, and varying tempi encompassing the full drama of the text (AllMusic, Joseph Stevenson). A charm of lullabies, is ironically titled because the charm of these lullabies are that they transform into lullabies for the mother as they deal with a level of anxiety and madness felt in motherhood. They begin with A Cradle Song, aptly named as the piano exudes a gentle rocking as certain notes clash within harmonies, but overall the mother wishes their child to gently sleep the night away. The second, Highland Balou, recognizes Scotland s lullabies by using Scottish poetry and rhythms, like the Scotch snap to calm the child and describe the mother s home. Sephestia s Lullaby brings about a side of madness, where the mother describes harrowing events of her child s monstrous ways and the father eventually leaving the family because of it. A Charm recognizes that sometimes the only way to lure a child to bed or to sleep is to use threatening tactics and eventually begging. The final piece, The Nurse s Song, is interesting because it addresses the narrator as the nurse, and not as the mother. This piece is filled with love and comfort, which reconciles all previous doubts of motherhood. Musically, Britten alternates between a cappella and illustrious accompaniments to show the difference between what the nurse hears as she sings, and what the child may hear. Robert Schumann ( ), Frauenliebe und leben, Op.42, 1840 Robert Schumann was only 20 years old when he met the love of his life, Clara Wieck. Clara and Robert had an exceptional love story involving an intense struggle to be together, due to Clara s father s refusal to give his permission for their marriage. The couple went to court with a petition to allow them to marry without the father s permission, but it took them three years of living apart to resolve the issue. Once their marriage was approved, Schumann set out to find the perfect wedding gift for his love. Adelbert von Chamisso, a poet known for writing poetry from a woman s point of view, wrote the Frauenliebe und- leben in 1930 to be a lyrisch epische Gedichte which means lyric narrative poems in English (Hallmark, Rufus. Chamisso s Poems about Women: A Literary Context for Frauenliebe Und Leben. ). This means that the character is fully responsible and capable to speak for herself in her own voice without the need for a narrator. Schumann found this set of poems and composed his songs of a woman s life and love in July of 1840 to describe

2 the sense of euphoria he felt when he was with Clara (Collins, Cynthia. Robert Schumann and Clara Wieck: Music, Muse and Marriage. ). The first song, Seit ich ihn gesehen, describes the protagonist s absolute uncertainty with the emotions she is feeling. She declares herself blind to anything but the image of her love, and turns her back on her sister s childlike games. The vocal line has soaring moments emulating the man s beautiful image, and the woman s heightening emotion for a feeling she cannot name. The second song, Er der Herrlichste von allen is one of the more excited pieces due to the passionate and excited dotted rhythms that alter each phrase. In this, the protagonist describes why this man is so wonderful, and describes how she wishes to be by his side. The description is innig lebhaft, which means heartfelt and lively and the piano plays an important role, continuing and connecting the protagonist s sentences, as if it is her thoughts regarding the man. The excitement continues into the third piece, Ich kanns nicht fassen, where the singer begins before the piano, expressing her disbelief in her beloved choosing her from all other girls, and insists she must be in a dream. The second part of the song settles into a quiet dynamic and held chords, rather than staccato as in the first part, as she recounts the story, and ends with a reiteration of the first phrase of disbelief. The piano stirs the piece along usually playing blocked chords on the first beat of every phrase, but then takes over the singer s imagination in the end as it plays a phrase filled with love, that fuels the singer to repeat her incredulity. The fourth, and most popular of the set, Du Ring an meinem Finger begins with the protagonist coming in on a pickup, starting off the song before the piano, but this time it is slower and filled with love. She speaks of how beautiful her wedding ring is and states her endless devotion for her soon- to- be husband. The fifth piece, Helft mir ihr Schwestern, describes the singer getting ready on her wedding day. She cries out to her sisters to help her prepare to accept her husband, but laments as she realizes how different her life is from her unmarried sisters. On this line, a wedding march begins and returns to the piece s opening melody. The sixth song addresses her husband as her Süßer Freund and closely resembles a type of recitative with a slow, suspended harmonic piano line as if to suggest a close and heartfelt conversation between her and her husband. In this, the woman reveals she is pregnant, and calls her unborn child her dream. Schumann chose not to set the third stanza of Chamisso s poetry, which spoke of the woman s mother warning her of the signs of pregnancy. There are many possibilities for why he chose not to, some that suggest the song would simply be too long with the extra verse, and some that suggest, Schumann did not want to portray such a level of naiveté in his protagonist. (Hallmark, Rufus. The Music. In Frauenliebe und Leben: Chamisso s Poems and Schumann's Songs) The seventh song, An meinem Herzen, is a piece full of the excitement of motherhood and pity for men who cannot access a mother s bliss. This piece moves quickly and serves as a happy moment before the final piece set in Schumann s cycle. The last song, Nun hast du mir, presents the woman as a widow who, after losing her husband, declares she has no purpose or happiness left in the world. The words are set simply on top of blocked chords in the piano, but the piano postlude, which is what makes this piece so emotional, inspires a memory of the protagonists first and only true love. The postlude offers a view

3 into the complicated love of Clara and Robert Schumann, and all that he wished to offer her. Richard Strauss ( ) Fünf Lieder Op years after Schumann s death, he still had a strong influence over flourishing young composers, such as Richard Strauss. Strauss was inspired by Schumann s intricate and virtuosic piano accompaniments, which is demonstrated throughout his Fünf Lieder. This is Strauss s first set specifically written for a middle voice, and are often overshadowed by his first set of lieder in Opus 10, and therefore are not performed as often. Strauss used one poem by Michelangelo to set the atmosphere for the cycle and continued with 4 poems from Adolph Friedrich von Schack s lyric poetry collection, which were written just a year before Strauss set them (Schmid, Mark- Daniel. The Richard Strauss Companion). The first piece, Madrigal, speaks to new love, and the hope of trusting without fear of being heartbroken. Strauss outlines the enjoyment of this experience by painting words like qual (torment) over full, rich chords. He outlines the confusion and inner turmoil of the narrator s questions by incorporating chromatic lines stretched over longer phrases. Strauss ends the piece by setting the opening stanza but resolves the opening statement of love, insinuating the narrator is ready to experience this love and take a chance. This takes us to Winternacht, which tells the beautiful story of appreciating winter storms because they hide the narrator s steps to his lovers house, where they can enjoy their love, which is as warm as Spring, amidst the quiet of the falling snow. This song describes the passion of love at its fullest, which changes for Lob des Leidens, a song for a praise of suffering, which begins with gentle rolled chords that dissipate to nothing as the narrator advises their audience not to scorn life s suffering. The piano joins in again in a falling motion, demonstrating the leaves gently falling from their tree as the narrator points out beauty in death. Strauss thickens the texture as the narrator continues to explain the reasons of love within pain, and beauty within tears and peace within death. This prepares the audience for Aus dem Liedern der Trauer, or from the songs of grief, where Strauss musicalizes the agitation of a mourner within the triplet rhythmic pattern in the piano, which plays underneath a rhythmically straight vocal line. This triplet rhythm lets up as the narrator describes the grief she feels for the love she lost, but returns as the passion accumulates in the text. Arthur Honegger ( ), Petite Cours de Morales 1941 Honegger was a member of Les Six, a group who reacted against the musical style of Wagner and impressionist music, however Honegger showed a strong influence from it. He searched for colouristic harmonies, driving rhythms, and orchestral sonorities giving his music a stronger impressionistic feeling than the others in the group. He also took major influence from Bach, and was one of the 20 th centuries greatest contrapuntists, as demonstrated throughout the first and fifth songs in this set. This set is dedicated to Elsa Scherz- Meister, a Swedish singer who was one of Honegger s greatest interpreters and friends. This set uses poetry from Jean Giradoux s first book called Suzanne et la Pacifique. Suzanne reminisces her past and the lessons of morals she was taught in school. Honegger created a mood and personality for each lesson, and collected these quirky characters for a five- minute performance. Each woman being

4 addressed has her own specifically described situation, in text and through the music. The narrator s own voice is clear as he calmly advises each woman of the warnings of loneliness, the dangers of being too leisurely in life, the easy addiction to opium, the devastation of true love, and finally he comments on seeing the world. The last piece, addressed to Rosemonde, describes the most intimate of the relationships because Honegger creates a difference in character between what Rosemonde says and what the narrator, her husband, replies. (Giraudoux, Jean. Suzanne et le Pacifique.) John Greer (b. 1944), Sarah Binks Songbook Opus 9, 1988 Sarah Binks is a character thought up by Paul Hiebert, who intended the character to be a parody of general Manitoba residents. Unfortunately, Manitobans thought a little too highly of themselves to laugh at this joke, so Hiebert named Sarah Binks the Sweet Songstress of Saskatchewan. Sarah Binks is a character full of life, poetry, and creativity and who loves music, translating German poetry, and the general struggles of life in rural Canada. John Greer continues my theme of celebrating life through love by setting seven Sarah Binks originals in 6 songs, and fully capturing the creativity seen through this character s eyes. His compositions are thoughtfully tied to Sarah Binks, and her imagination is expressed through the piano accompaniment. (Hiebert, Paul. Sarah Binks.) For instance, the first song, which is a fantasia on a theme by Robert Schumann, begins with a similar melody and accompaniment to the Schumann piece Du bist wie eine blume, but as Sarah slides into the continuation of her Genius poem, the piano incorporates more and more chromatics until it reaches the charming boldness Sarah requires. The second piece reaches show stopping quality, as Sarah describes her love for a farmer on top of quick paced waltz, adding a sense of classiness to her tales of hiding in the turnips to catch a view of her man. The third song, which Greer describes as an Arioso di camera, presents the thoughtfully mystical side of Sarah as she searches for a star while suffering from a nasty cold. The piano thrillingly plays the role of the star as it twinkles between lines, elusively hiding from Sarah in plain sight. Sarah recovers from her cold quickly, as any working farm girl must, and sings cheerfully her Song of the Chore, where she describes her everyday duties on the farm. Greer has set this to a catchy melody with a recurring motive alluding to the sixth piece of the set. This recurring motive allows Sarah to become overwhelmed with her daily duties as she lists each one after the other, but she admits to the glee she feels after a hard day s work through a perfect cadence at the end of the song. The fifth piece, Elegy for a Calf, is considered to be one of the first poems every written by Sarah, and is the most emotional of the set as a young Sarah says goodbye to her pet calf. Greer instructs the performer to sing this set wreathed in sobs, and leaves musical cues for whines, wails, sobs, and nose- blows. Greer ends the set with a raucous Hoe- down using Sarah s poem Square Dance. This song is clearly split into sections where the performer describes the dance, calls the dance to action and then begins dancing to the fiddle tune Whiskey Before Breakfast. Sarah Binks love for life is evident in this piece as the vocal line hurtles to the top of the register, loops down towards the bottom, and then back up to the top in an infectious glee that truly describes the need for a dance, even if just for the exercise!

5 Works Cited: Collins, Cynthia. Robert Schumann and Clara Wieck: Music, Muse and Marriage. CMUSE. Feb Accessed March schumann- and- clara- wieck- music- muse- and- marriage/ Giraudoux, Jean. Suzanne et le Pacifique. New York&London: G.P. Putnam s Sons, Hallmark, Rufus. Chamisso s Poems about Women: A Literary Context for Frauenliebe und Leben. In Frauenliebe und Leben: Chamisso s Poems and Schumann's Songs, by Rufus Hallmark. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014.Pg. 81 Hiebert, Paul. Sarah Binks. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, Schmid, Mark- Daniel. The Richard Strauss companion. Westport, Conn: Praeger, Stevenson, Joseph. Benjamin Britten s A Charm of Lullabies, song cycle for mezzo- soprano and piano,op.41. AllMusic. Accessed March charm- of- lullabies- song- cycle- for- mezzo- soprano- piano- op- 41- mc