SUMMER VOICE CONCERT

Transcription

1 SUMMER VOICE CONCERT Wendi Duong, her Colleagues and Friends cordially invite the DU Community, the Denver Community, and the Vietnamese American community in the Denver-Aurora area to an afternoon of literary reading and chamber music Concert Theme: A Celebration of Vietnamese Heritage, Diversity, and Tribute to America: Love, War, Separation, and Hope Literary reading from Baudelaire s Fleurs du Mal Vietnamese translation of Daughters of the River Huong and Love, Life and Exile for the Vietnamese American community July 30, 2006 Concert begins promptly at 2 p.m.-4:30 p.m. (reception area open for dialogues, art exhibition & book display at 1 p.m. and from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.) Hamilton Hall, 2344 Iliff Avenue University of Denver Southwest corner of Iliff Avenue and South University Denver, CO Special thanks to the DU Center for Multi-Cultural Excellence for its assistance in the sponsorship of this program; to composer/pianist Le Tuyen, Dr. Nguyen Duong, members of the Vietnamese American community in Denver-Aurora, Ryan Belinak and his pianist, DU Law Professor Robert Hardaway and his singers from the DU staff and student body for their generous participation in this program. 1

2 Program The theme of Love, War, Separation, and Hope is expressed in a combination of classical music, Vietnamese music, American ragtime, and the music of Broadway Greetings, Welcoming Remarks, and Introduction of Distinguished Guests Ms. Johanna Leyba, DU Director of Multicultural Excellence Dr. Nguyen Duong, member, Industrial Advisory Board of DU College of Engineering Part One Romantic Music & Classical Music Medley: Tien Em (Farewell) & If You Go Away Pham Duy & Jacques Brel Vietnamese, English, French Serenata -- Toselli -- French, Vietnamese Voi Que Sapete Mozart -- Italian Ave Maria Bach/Gounod -- Latin & Vietnamese Introducing Tieng Mua Ngau (Raindrops) original composition by Le Tuyen -- Vietnamese Part Two -- Literary Reading Classic: Charles Baudelaire s Fleurs du Mal -- poetry Ethnic fiction: Daughters of the River Huong historical novel & Vietnamese translation bilingual poetry: Vietnamese translation from Love, Life & Exile Part Three A Tribute to Vietnamese traditional- styled music from the Symphony of War by Le Thuong and 18 th century Vietnamese classic poetry: Chinh Phu Ngam (Laments of the Warrior s Wife) Hon Vong Phu I and II (Statue of the Awaiting Wife) Vietnamese & English [15 minutes] Intermission [10 minutes] 2

3 Part Four Guest Performers Contribution from the Vietnamese Community: Introducing voices from the Vietnamese American community in Denver-Aurora (Ms. Kim Mai, Ms. Thanh Binh, and Ms. Tuyet Nga) and the music of Le Tuyen: Tu Giong Hat Em (Your Singing Voice) -- Ngo Thuy Mien -- Vietnamese Anh Mat Nam Xua, a Rumba (Eyes of Yesterday) -- Le Tuyen Vietnamese A Vietnamese tango -- Vietnamese Contribution from DU: Special appearance from DU Law Faculty: Professor Robert Hardaway at the piano with a DU law graduate, and a surprise by Denise Jobin! Plus, possibly another surprise! (to be announced) A Medley of Ragtime Music and Broadway (On My Own, Les Miserables) Surprise performance from DU staff Voices from the Denver/Cherry Creek Community: Wendi (Uyen) Nicole Duong and Ryan Belinak Selection from Miss Saigon -- Claude Michel Schonberg, Richard Maltby & Alain Boublil The Movie in My Mind English & Vietnamese Sun and Moon English & Vietnamese Why God Why? -- English Introducing La Thu (Loving You in Falling Leaves) -- Le Tuyen English Finale: Ensemble Giac Mo Hoi Huong (Dream in Exile) by Vu Thanh & America the Beautiful Dialogues With Readers And Listeners And Exhibition Of L Ar t Brut Artwork 3

4 These songs are performed in five languages: Latin, English, Vietnamese, French, and Italian). Due to space limit, only selected English lyric written by Uyen Nicole Duong is included in this program booklet) Medley: Tien Em (Farewell) and If You Go Away ABOUT THE SELECTION FOR THIS VOICE CONCERT TIEN EM (FAREWELL) (Good bye, my young love This farewell for you Winter in Paris Sorrow in a kiss Gone is summertime Gone is our sunshine Where you ll g o, you ll find This homeland of mine Snow covers the train Snow falls on your face Keep with you my heart Take with you our pas t (English Lyric by Uyen Nicole Duong) From the 1930s to the 1970s, the City of Paris served as the embryo of Vietnamese intellectualism, political fervent and artistic creativity. Paris became the muse and training ground for several Vietnamese artists, among whom the poet Cung Tram Tuong (1932-). He was known among Vietnamese for a number of poems written about Paris, hinting at the despair of an interracial romance between a homesick Vietnamese man and his Parisian love. Vietnamese songwriter Pham Duy (1929-) put his musical talent to work and made one of Cung Tram Tuong s poems into music in the early 1960s. Tien Em, set in snow-filled Paris, spoke the soulful sentiment of a young Vietnamese man saying farewell to his love at the Gare de Lyons. The song mesmerized the whole generation of Vietnamese coming of age in the 1950s and 1960s, and continues to live on today in the exile community. Cung Tram Tuong is the pen name of poet Cung Thuc Can, a native of Hanoi. He moved to Saigon in 1949 and became an officer of South Vietnam s Air Force. After the fall of Saigon, he was imprisoned in a reeducation camp for 10 years. He currently lives in St. Paul, Minnessota. 4

5 Songwriter Pham Duy s name and tunes have become the trademark of Vietnamese contemporary music. His career and artistic life paralleled the Vietnamese revolution and traced Vietnam s history of decolonization. Many of his songs were idolized for the nationalistic, yet nostalgic sentiment that typified the Vietnamese resistance movement (Khang Chien, ), which ultimately became Ho Chi Minh s revolution. During the 1960s, he collaborated with American artists, whose joined efforts internationalized Pham Duy s ballads such as The Rain on the Leaves (Giot Mua Tren La). Pham Duy was also instrumental in systemizing, developing, and anthologizing Vietnamese folk songs, which, before Pham Duy s efforts, remained primarily oral. A Hanoian, Pham Duy taught himself music and studied in France during under Robert Lopez and as an unregistered student at the Institut de Musicologie in Paris. His major work is the choral masterpiece, Truong Ca Me Viet Nam (Mother Vietnam). It is said that Pham Duy has returned to Vietnam to live. IF YOU GO AWAY NE ME QUITTE PAS (Vietnamese lyric by Uyen Nicole Duong) Known in America as the hit song, If You Go Away, (lyric by Rod McKuen), this heartfelt melody was the original composition of the legendary Jacques Brel. In 1985, seven years after his death, the French monthly Lire asked their readers which personality they would prefer to have as a parent. The results: Jacques Brel 40%; Gerard Philippe 19%; Albert Camus 13%; Charles de Gaulle 11%. In 2000, the music magazine Mojo asked leading British and American songwriters to nominate the greatest songs of all time. Brel's Ne me quitte pas was the only non- English song on their list. Jacques Brel's songs were about real people and real situations, ranging from love songs to raunchy condemnations of hypocrisy, injustice and insensitivity. (Brel is often compared to Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Leonard Cohen). He achieved fame mostly because of his intense stage presence and the killing involvement it reflected. This is also the spirit of If You Go Away -- the killing involvement in unfulfilled love and separation. The song has achieved international status independent of the Jacques 5

6 Brel s persona and stage presence. The song is the signature of love, despair, and unfulfilled passion. Brel gave more than 200 concerts a year in Europe for 12 years; he toured the Soviet Union (18,000 kilometers from Siberia to the Black Sea in five weeks); he packed Carnegie Hall in New York; 5,000 Londoners cheered him at the Royal Albert Hall; he received a 20-minute standing ovation at the Olympia in Paris. Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, David Bowie and many others sang and recorded Brel's songs. Jacques Brel waged a battle with lung cancer while leading an unabashedly pleasurable life in French Polynesia, where Paul Gauguin was buried. Brel came back to Paris in 1977 to record what was to be his last album. He died in 1978 and was buried on Hiva-Oa in the same cemetery as Paul Gauguin. SERENATA This internationally acclaimed song needs no introduction. Serenata (Rimpianto) is the signature piece of Enrico Toselli ( ), whose own life reads like the plot of an operetta or movie. A Florentine, the Italian composer spent his early career as a concert pianist, performing as far a field as North America. Notoriety was added to his fame when in 1907 he married Archduchess Luise Antoinette-Marie of Austria- Tuscany, who had set scandal in motion a few years earlier by abandoning her first husband. She and Toselli separated in It was rumored that the Serenata depicted Toselli s unhappy love life, although there was no evidence to confirm such speculation. Among Toselli s songs, the Serenata earned popularity as an international 'hit', and has been transcribed for all manners of instruments. The composer himself made the transcription for violin and piano in response to many requests. The simple piano accompaniment adds much to the charm of the Serenata. The romanticism of the Seranata made it easy to understand the fame the composer enjoyed as a result of writing this splendid tune. In 2001, Serenata was sung by Jose Carreras at Carnegie Hall, to rounds and rounds of applause! Serenata became popular in Vietnam during the pre-war period thanks to the Vietnamese lyric composed by Pham Duy. 6

7 VOI QUE SAPETE Composed by the world s genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ( , born Salzburg, died Vienna), this aria from the four-act Opera "Le Nozze Di Figaro" (The Marriage of Figaro) was written for the tender and lyrical character Cherubino. The Cherobino character is considered the ''pants'' role (a woman singing the part of a young man) and is typically performed by a mezzo soprano. Cherobino is a young court page who is just budding into manhood and is in love with every woman he sees -- the Countess particularly, to whom he sings his heart out. So, in Voi Que Sapete, Cherobino asks the Countess passionately, soulfully, and pleadingly, Who has the answer, who holds the key? Love s tender secret, share it with me. The Italian libretto was the work of the Viennese court poet Lorenzo da Ponte. Cherubino's Voi Che Sapete was a model of lyrical shape expressed at a moving symmetrical tempo. For this amateur program, Uyen Nicole Duong sings Voi Che Sapete to demonstrate certain commonality between Mozart s techniques and Vietnamese folk music, reflected in Vietnamese composer Le Thuong s choral master piece, notwithstanding the difference between the Eastern pentatonic scale and Western musical traditions. For its time, ''The Marriage of Figaro'' was considered a new kind of opera, both humorous and serious. Taking the perspective of the lower class in Europe, Mozart and DaPonte developed the opera from a play by Beaumarchais that scandalized Europe and overtly challenged the ruling classes. ''The Marriage of Figaro'' gave Mozart-DaPonte what they had been looking for -- characters that loved, hurt, cried, laughed, schemed and forgave. Mozart knew the human condition and he painted musical portraits of the characters without making judgment. He depicted the upper and lower classes with the same beautiful music and the same intensity of emotion. 7

8 Vietnamese lyric by Uyen Nicole Duong The theme of Maria, the mother of Christ, has inspired almost every classical composer: Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, Mascagni, Puccini, Verdi, Bottazzo, Caccini, Arcadelt, Francisco, Landry, Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky, Donizetti, etc. But this eternally beautiful, ennobling hymn by Bach-Gounod has an unusual history. The composition was the work of two first-class composers living at different times. Johann Sebastian Bach ( ) wrote a beautiful prelude called the Well- Tempered Clavier. French composer Charles Gounod ( ) wrote the lovely melody using the universal Catholic prayer, which nowadays is often heard at Christmas. Gounod's 19th century adaptation of the first prelude from Bach's Well- Tempered Clavier has become his most popular song. The hymn and various variations of Ave Maria have been sung by world-renowned singers: Placido Domingo, Rosa Ponselle, John MacCormack, Mario Lanza, Carol Vaness, Leontyne Price, Jeanette MacDonald, Marian Anderson, etc. In particular, this universal and timeless hymn by Bach-Gounod has been sung in several languages: Latin, English, Spanish, Italian, German, French, Polish, Gaelic, Hungarian, Nigerian Yoruba, Tagalog (Filipino), Greek, Arabic, Aramaic, etc. Uyen Nicole Duong sings the Bach-Gounod hymn so that she can bring you the Vietnamese lyric she composed for Ave Maria, never before heard in public. The image of the Virgin Mary (as well as the compassionate Quan Yin of the East) has served as the single source of faith for several of Uyen s boat people friends during their journey in the 1980s. 8

9 Special Feature: Tieng Mua Ngau (Raindrops) This brand-new composition, never before performed in public, was inspired by Le Tuyen s remembrance of his young days as a Vietnamese student in the United States. During his study in the early 70s, Le Tuyen spent much time missing the rainy seasons of his homeland. In a Vietnamese myth, the persistent rain during the rainy season of Southeast Asia signifies the tears of lovers separated by circumstances beyond their control. Years later, Le Tuyen uses Chopin s Etude Raindrops as the prelude to his song, written for the soprano range. HON VONG PHU (Statue of The Awaiting Wife) and CHINH PHU NGAM (Song of the Warrior s Wife) The sacred words from the King As the blue birds sing In the time o f Spring: A thousand men will bring The Warrior s Sword To the King of Nam Man and Horse go North Into the twilight zone To defend the Thron e I, the young man from the Northern Side Bid farewell to my wife and my child Ready t o give up my life To the Sun, my sword will shin e I, the woman from the Northern Side On the cliff I am the waiting bride (English lyric by Uyen Nicole Duong) 9

10 I m waiting eternally My tears fill the Southern Sea A hundred years since then have passed A hundred sounds echoed memory The wind afar has cast Her soul into eternity So the legend goe s, the tale of her sorrow Her tears go on t o flow, into the sea below Not much has been written in the public domain about Vietnamese composer Le Thuong, although he has always been a household name in contemporary Vietnamese life, due largely to his choral masterpiece, Hon Vong Phu. Consisting of three parts, the choral symphony narrates the popular Vietnamese folklore about a Vietnamese wife holding her child, waiting for her warrior husband on top of a mountain in wartorn Vietnam. Composer Le Thuong brought into his choral work all characteristics of Vietnamese folk songs, making the symphony into the gem of traditionally styled Vietnamese music. The virtuous, plaintive, and sentimental melody brings to life the vivid images of wartime portrayed by the descriptive, classically styled lyric. With this choral symphony alone, Le Thuong has become the towering name of Vietnamese musical literature. Hon Vong Phu is known as the symphony of war, expressing the sufferings of Vietnamese women in wartime. The theme of the suffering warrior s wife was first expounded in a Vietnamese literary classic -- an epic poem called Chinh Phu Ngam (Laments of the Warrior s Wife), which, to Vietnamese, is the equivalent of Homer s Odyssey. Both the choral symphony and the classical epic poem express the Vietnamese soul -- its longing for peace, love for the homeland, and the melancholy of separation. The classic poem was first composed in Chinese by Dang Tran Con ( ), a Vietnamese mandarin and intellectual known for his mastery of Chinese literature. Dang Tran Con s Chinese text was then translated into Vietnamese by Doan Thi Diem, one of the very few women among the Vietnamese literati of her time. Vietnamese scholars consistently note that Doan Thi Diem's Vietnamese translation surpasses the original poem in imagery and poetic techniques. Doan Thi Diem resisted arranged marriage and devoted her life to the pursuit of literature. She was the first Vietnamese female to open a school. At the age of 40, she finally married a Vietnamese mandarin, allegedly to help take care of his household while he was sent as an envoy to China a diplomatic mission that took years to accomplish. It was believed that the translation of Chinh Phu Ngam was done during the years she was away from her husband. Tragically, Doan Thi Diem died shortly after her husband's return from China. Both the author and translator of Chinh Phu Ngam had the following in common: their literary work and their short lives! 10

11 About the English lyric: In the early 1990s, while being introduced to musical theater at Georgetown and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Uyen Nicole Duong began scripting a musical based on Le Thuong s three-part symphony, complete with dance numbers, staging, costumes, and music. The musical was narrated via Uyen s character a modern Vietnamese American woman in a stage monologue called Of East and West. It was in this context that Uyen wrote the English lyric for Le Thuong s Hon Vong Phu. Tu Giong Hat Em (Your Singing Voice) This song is typical of Vietnamese romantic melody composed in South Vietnam in the 1970s, before the fall of Saigon. The songwriter, Ngo Thuy Mien (the pseudonym of Ngo Quang Binh), was known as the slow-tempo love song writer adored by the young Vietnamese public during that period of time. His music continues to be popular in the Vietnamese exile community around the world. Ngo Thuy Mien was born in 1948 in Hai Phong, Vietnam. He studied the violin and music theory in South Vietnam in the 1960s and worked as an air traffic controller in Saigon in order to support his music. He became head of the musical group of the Vietnam Army Radio in the 1970s. During this period of time, his love songs became popular, not only for their melodious quality but also because the lyric was taken from famous love poems composed by the acclaimed Vietnamese romantic poet Nguyen Sa. In 1978, three years after the communist takeover, the songwriter escaped Vietnam and settled in Montreal, Canada. He later moved to Southern California and went back to school to study computer science. He continues composing new love songs, which have been performed in the exile community in the U.S. ragtime music A survey of the music of late nineteenth and early twentieth century America must include ragtime, the early type of jazz, particularly for solo performances and compositions rather than improvised. The most exponent and composer of ragtime was Texas-born Scott Joplin, a pianist who played in the brothels of St. Louis and Chicago before he settled in New York. Joplin also wrote the first ragtime opera, A Guest of Honor. 11

12 Ragtime was popular from 1895 to 1920, when other forms of jazz took over the American musical scene. Ragtime was revived in the 1970s by American pianist and musicologist Joshua Rifkin, when the music of Joplin, The Entertainer, was used for the film, Th e Sting. Ragtime thus helps bring to life the times, trials, tribulations, and triumphs of a young nation emerging from the shadows of Civil War and soaring with optimism. The music also reflects the fabric of a society struggling to come to terms with an increasingly multi-cultural heritage, its role as an emerging world power, and its vulnerability to erratic economic and political forces. A Rag is a ragtime composition, and to rag means to play in ragtime. Les Miserables To the French, Victor Hugo ( ) is a national treasure, and his epic novel, Les Miserables, is a national monument. The epic, idealistic, romantic and philosophical nature of Hugo s work made him the premier French writer of the 19 th century. His state funeral was attended by nearly two million people, and it took ten thousand French police to control the crowds. Hugo was laid to rest in the Pantheon alongside Rousseau and Voltaire. Les Miserables tells the life of the peasant Jean Valjean--unjustly imprisoned, baffled by destiny, and hounded by his nemesis, the magnificently realized, ambiguously malevolent police detective Javert. The novel depicts the disquiet of post-revolutionary France, raises issues of morality, ethics, social justice, class struggles, and the combat between good and evil. Characterstic of Hugo s work and philosophy, the novel endorses love and humanitarianism as triumphant universal values. The creative team of Alain Boublil and Claude Michel Schonberg, in collaboration with French poet Jean- Marc Natel, transformed the 1500-page novel into an opera libretto of three acts and seven tableaux. The musical first opened at the Palais des Sports de Paris in September, In 1982, producer Cameron Mackintosh heard the French album. Poets James Fenton and Herbert Kretzmer joined the creative team, and the English version of the opera was born. The musical debuted on Broadway in The worldwide success of Les Miserables, the musical, has popularized the universal themes of the novel beyond literary readers, and brought the name Victor Hugo closer to the American household. On my Own was an aria sung by the character Eponine. 12

13 Miss Saigon (Vietnamese lyric by Uyen Nicole Duong) This acclaimed Broadway musical, a remake of the Madam Butterfly theme using the context of the Vietnam War, was a source of controversies. While creating the career of Filipino singer Lea SaLonga, the musical enthused the Asian American public with mixed sentiments. First, notwithstanding the musical s thematic focus on the women of Vietnam, the cast of Miss Saigon had no Vietnamese singer (except for one understudy), a fact that Miss Saigon s producers attributed to the Vietnamese American community s shortage of singers who could handle the rigorous demand of Broadway. Second, ethnocentric Vietnamese Americans criticized the musical as stereotypically and negatively portraying Vietnamese women as bar girls exploited and cast aside by American GI s what appeared on stage was an ensemble of young Vietnamese girls scantily dressed, making love to American soldiers. The musical was a box office hit both in England and America, with its much-hyped real helicopter on stage depicting the fall of Saigon, its giant statute of Ho Chi Minh carried by singers/dancers masked in red, and the magnificent Cadillac gliding across the stage representing Broadway performer Jonathan Price s American Dream. Its stunning score Cameron MacKintosh s vision of a jazzier followup to Les Miserables, when sung by the soulful voice of Lea Salonga, drove a mesmerized American public to tears. The controversial politics set aside, the musical has been remembered for its grandiose staging, the beauty of its musical score and lyrics, and its heartbreaking plot the love story of the abandoned Vietnamese bar girl dying for her mixed-race child. What is less known to the viewing public is the fact that Composer Claude Michel Schonberg and librettist Alain Boublil were inspired by images of poverty-stricken Vietnamese women putting Vietnamese children on the plane to America in hopes of a better life. (In several productions, the musical commenced with a slide show of reallife images of Vietnamese children and boat people, before the curtain rose.) The composer-lyricist team related these images to the story of Madam Butterfly. The original lyric for Miss Saigon was written in French and adapted into English by Richard Maltby, Jr. as the MacKintosh team wanted to bring the music to the stages of London and Broadway after the immense success of Les Miserables. What appeared to be the negative and stereotypical portrayal of the Vietnamese bar girl- America GI saga could be construed as the lingering resentment by the French 13

14 mission civilisatrice, expressed against the failed U.S. involvement in Vietnam and what the French viewed as the American legacy in French Indochina. Among the best songs from the score of Miss Saigon were the female solo The Movie in My Mind, (sung with a chorus), portraying an innocent Kim crowned as the new Miss Saigon after being initiated into the bar scene; the duet, Sun and Moon, portraying the love Kim had for her GI, and the male solo Why God Why, portraying a bewildered Cris, the GI who fell in love. The musical commenced a new UK tour in (Since its London premiere in 1989, Miss Saigon has become the third most successful musical in the history of British theatre.) It has been performed in 18 countries in nine different languages, has won 30 awards and been seen by over 31 million people worldwide. INTRODUCING THE MUSIC OF VIETNAMESE SONGWRITER LE TUYEN LOVING YOU IN FALLING LEAVES Love is what sets me free Like those falling leaves When autumn is here Love is what makes me fly into Heaven s sky with you by my side Here s looking at you Seeing your face Holding you close The seasons go Autumn may pass Our love will last Love will bind me to you making dreams come true Oh those falling leaves Leaves dancing in the air celebrating you and me, forever I give you those falling leaves Hoping that autumn will tell the tale that my soul will spill the tune that my heart will play *English lyric by Uyen Nicole Duong 14

15 After a long career in hospital administration, accounting and technology, Le Tuyen began focusing exclusively on compositions, in addition to teaching piano to children and adults. Raised among siblings who were noted composers and instrumentalists in Vietnam, Le Tuyen has always kept his own style and uniqueness. In his younger days, he learnt the piano from missionary musicians and since then has undertaken a steady course of self-study to better his craft and his musical understanding. His work blends the characteristics of Vietnamese melody typical of Vietnam s pre-war period (pre-1954) with the universality of classical music and the popularity of contemporary tunes that transcend cultures. The diversity and versatility of Le Tuyen s music are typified by two of his compositions: Anh Mat Nam Xua (Eyes of Yesterday) has a Latin influence, and La Thu (Loving You in Falling Leaves)* is a flowing, melodious ballad. He is currently working on transforming some of his compositions to Bossa Nova (the Brazilian samba created in the late 1950s). Medley: Giac Mo Hoi Huong (Dream in Exile) and America the Beautiful To my city of birth This burdened heart of mine Is all I can send to you this time My beloved city of birth (English lyric by Uyen Nicole Duong) Vu Thanh was the premier chamber music composer of pre-war Vietnam. His name was associated with Vietnamese chamber music. Giac Mo Hoi Huong (Dream in Exile), written for North Vietnam s capital city, Hanoi, was his signature piece. The song is obviously a classically inclined piece, depicting the nostalgic homesickness of North Vietnamese immigrants as they traveled south. The nostalgic lyric clearly shows that the song was composed during the decolonization of Vietnam, after Vietnam was divided into two zones, North and South, causing the exodus of North Vietnamese who escaped the communist regime in Although departing, the immigrants always dreamt of their beautiful Hanoi. Twenty years later, Vietnamese immigrants made another exodus from Vietnam to America as the South surrendered to Communist North in The pairing of Dream in Exile with timeless America the Beautiful conveys well the dreams, hopes, and nostalgia of Vietnamese immigrants. 15

16 ABOUT THE PERFORMERS (in alphabetical order) Ryan Belinak is a classically trained tenor. He also plays the piano, and works in Cherry Creek. Ryan and his pianist have performed at various live performances in Denver and around the country. Thanh Binh won a singing competition in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, before she moved to the U.S. She sings at Vietnamese events in Denver. Uyen Nicole Duong is the penname and stage name of Wendi Nicole Duong (b. Duong Nhu Nguyen). Known in her ethnic community as the first Vietnamese American judge, Uyen is a lawyer, DU law professor, novelist, poet, and alumnus of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Robert Hardaway is a lawyer, DU law professor, law textbook writer, columnist/commentator, novelist, and piano player. Professor Hardaway has published several novels, including Ragtime Girl, a historical novel inspired by the ragtime music of the period. Denise Jobin studied music and theater at Northwestern University and Carnegie Mellon. She currently sings at Our Lady of Fatima Church in Lakewood, and serves as the Administrator of International Legal Studies at DU Sturm College of Law. Kim Mai is a realtor in Denver. She sings at Vietnamese events in Denver. Tuyet Nga, the spouse of Pianist Le Tuyen, teaches ballroom dancing to Vietnamese in the Denver metropolitan area. Le Tuyen is formerly a hospital administrator in Denver. He plays classical piano and composes music. He teaches piano to adults and children, and lives in Westminster, Colorado. 16

17 LITERARY READING The Classic: Charles Baudelaire s Fleurs du Mal Fleurs du Mal (literal trans. "The Flowers of Evil"), first published in 1857, was an important landmark in the symbolist and modernist movements. Once banned because of its themes relating to decadence and eroticism, Fleurs du Mal caused its author, publisher, and printer to be prosecuted as outrage aux bonnes mœurs (trans. "an insult to public decency"). All were found guilty of obscenity and blasphemy. As a consequence of this prosecution, the author, Charles Baudelaire, was fined 300 francs. Six poems from the work were suppressed and the ban on their publication was not lifted in France until Yet, upon reading Fleurs du Mal, Victor Hugo announced that Baudelaire had created "un nouveau frisson" (a new shudder, a new thrill) in literature. One of the greatest French poets of the 19th century, Baudelaire was called 'the father of modern criticism,' who shocked his contemporaries with his visions of lust and decay. Baudelaire, together with Stéphane Mallarmé and Paul Verlaine, formed the so-called Decadents. Baudelaire argued that vice is natural in that it is selfish, while virtue is artificial because we must restrain our natural impulses in order to be good. The hero of life, argued Baudelaire, is the extravaganza amoral who lives a purposeless existence. Charles Baudelaire was born in Paris, to a father who was an ex-priest and a mother who was an orphan. (They married when his father was 60 and his mother was 26.). The young Baudelaire, who adored his mother, was expelled from boarding school. Although set on a writing career at an early age, Baudelaire enrolled as a law student in 1840 at the École de Droit. It was said that he was addicted to opium and contracted syphilis. Naturally, he never finished his law studies. He lived his life burdened with despair and debts. Notwithstanding these difficulties, in 1841, Baudelaire went on a voyage to India (which perhaps accounted for the Eastern influence in Fleurs du Mal), and in the late 1840s, he became involved in politics. He fought during the revolution of 1848, cofounded the journal Le Salut Public, and opposed the coup d'état of Louis- Napoleon Bonaparte in December

18 Although Baudelaire is chiefly known from his poems, his critical essays on art and his aesthetic analysis have also gained attention of researchers. He also passionately translated the works of Edgar Allan Poe. In Poe, Baudelaire found a kindred spirit. Baudelaire saw himself as a fallen angel. Love meant the loss of innocence - "faire l'amou r, c'est fair e le mal," he wrote. Toward the end of his life, the poet was seriously ill and stayed in a sanatorium. He died in his mother s arms on August 31, 1867, in a Paris clinic. Baudelaire and Fleurs du Mal had a deep influence on a generation of poets in the late 19th century, coming into vogue at a time when "art for art's sake" (l art pou r l art) was a dogma. The religious T.S. Eliot sees Baudelaire s evil as the product of partial belief. "What is significant about Baudelaire is his theological innocence, wrote Eliot. New Ethnic Fiction and Poetry Daughters of the River Huong by Uyen Nicole Duong is a historical romantic novel about a Vietnamese royal concubine and her descendants, spanning four generations of Vietnamese women in one family tree ( ). Using Fleurs du Mal to preface the novel and staging Baudelaire s poetry as a motif, Uyen described the taboo obsession and love story between an older Frenchman and a young Vietnamese girl. Uyen also depicts the moral ambivalence of complex life decisions when her female characters had to fight for survival in the brutal backdrop of war. Published and released by Ravensyard Publishing Ltd in August 2005, the novel has been added to the curriculum for Vietnamese studies at Yale University and listed by the Forbes Book Club. A limited edition of the Vietnamese translation, released in September 2005, is currently out of print and the publisher has ceased production. The second edition of the Vietnamese translation (hard-back) is currently under negotiation. Love, Life & Exile: One Woman s World, the special bilingual edition, is to be published under the imprint of PenASia, currently under negotiation with an affiliate of Amazon.com. This collection covers Uyen Nicole Duong s 30+ years of poetry and poetic prose ( ), written in English and Vietnamese (with a few featured pieces in French). 18

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