UMS Concert Program, February 3: Sixty-sixth Annual Choral Union Concert Series -- Dorothy Maynor

Season: 1944-1945
Concert: Eighth
Complete Series: 2900
Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan

UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
CHARLES A. SINK, PRESIDENT THOR JOHNSON, CONDUCTOR
HAKDIN VAN DETJRSEN, ACTING CONDUCTOR
Eighth Concert 1944-1945 Complete Series 2900
Sixty-Sixth Annual
Choral Union Concert Series
DOROTHY MAYNOR, Soprano
ERNST VICTOR WOLFF at the piano
Saturday Evening, February 3, at 8:30 Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan
PROGRAM
Gismunda's aria from "Ottone"........Handel
Rodelinda's aria from "Rodelinda".......Handel
Chant de Forgeron..........Milhaud
Mandoline ]
Les Berceaux J. . ..........Faure
Fleur jetee J
Meine Liebe ist griin.......... Brahms
Feldeinsamkeit............ Brahms
Standchen............. Strauss
Winterliebe............ Strauss
Aria, "II est doux, il est bon" from "Herodiade" . . . Massenet
INTERMISSION
Songs my mother taught me......... Dvorak
The heights of Tatra.......... Dvorak
The traveler............ Heilner
Me company along.......... Hageman
Spirituals.......... Arranged by Wolff
Going to ride up in the chariot
Songs of death
I got shoes
Children you'll be called on
Note: Dorothy Maynor has been heard in the May Festival concerts on previous occasions as follows: May 9, 1940 and May 9, 1941.
The Steinway piano, furnished through the courtesy of Crinnell Brothers, is the
official concert piano of the University Musical Society In service.
ARS LONGA VITA BREVIS
PROGRAM NOTES
Gismunda's aria, from "Ottone"........Handel
Thanks be to you Matilda! From my heart you do lift the hardness of pretending. I would not have you witness Gismunda, a weeping mother. Ah! give me back my child, let me embrace her, do not take her from me! .... If I cannot hold her living, let her die here in my arms. If fate would grant this longing, then her end were not so lonely; I would follow in death!
Rodelinda's aria, from "Rodelinda".......Handel
You shall die! over your impious head I follow up the path to throne and glory. From my spouse no gift more welcome could I evermore desire.
Chant de Forgeron..........Milhaud
Near Jordan River there is the house of a blacksmith. A blacksmith, alert like a cavalier, attends there to his business .... by blowing rouses the flame, blows, blows; that keeps the flame going and the eternal fire which burns underneath. What are you doing, blacksmith .... I am about to prepare the iron for the horse of the Messiah.
Mandoline (Poem by Paul Verlaine).......Faure
Silken lovers murmur elegant nothings to their fair ones beneath the singing branches; now the serenaders fade into the soft blue of the shadows, and whirl away into a moonlit dream of misty rose .... While the mandolin tinkles amid the tremblings of the breeze.
Les Berceaux.............Faure
The big boats along the quai which the surf silently tilts, do not consider the cradles which women's hands rock. But the day of parting will come; for women's fate is to cry and that of curious men to try the luring horizon. And that day the big boats, fleeing the vanishing port, feel held back by the soul of the distant cradles.
Fleur jetee.............Faure
O! Flower, Scatter my folly to the winds!
Flower that I picked singing
And, dreaming, tossed away.
Alas! Love dies as a blossom
Dies when it is cut.
The hand that touched thee
Shall ne'er touch mine again.
Meine Liebe ist griin..........Brahms
In his choice of lyrics, Brahms reveals a sensitive appreciation of the best in poetry, while his musical settings proclaim his mastery of harmonic structure and contrapuntal development.
"My love is in flower like the lilac bush, and like the sun is my dear one, for it is she who has warmed my love into life."
Feldeinsamkeit............Brahms
"In summer fields I lie and watch the white clouds float thwart the boundless blue of heaven. And I feel as though I were borne on wings to Elysian fields."
Standchen..............Strauss
"Standchen," one of Strauss' earliest songs, ranks with his best, yet the composer himself does not hide his annoyance at its popularity. When he and his wife came to America in 1904 to take part in the Festival given in his honor, it is interesting to note that "Standchen" was not one of the fourteen songs selected by the composer as representative of his best. Nevertheless, it is a perfect musical setting for the exquisite poem by Herman von Gilm: "Awake, awake! and softly arise, lest others from slumber you waken."
Winterliebe............Strauss
I go toward the sun in the glow of love With frost all powdered glistens the forest. O'er icy pathways my footsteps go, But a fire is raging within my bosom, For a lover's passion consumes my heart.
"II est doux, il est bon," from "Herodiade" .... Massenet
Salome confides to Phanuel, the chief adviser of Herod, how she was saved in the desert by the Prophet John, and how she longs to tell him of her love for him.
"I was suffering, sad, and lonely, and my heart found peace in listening to his voice, so soft, so tender. O prophet, loved above all, I cannot live without thee!"
Songs my mother taught me.........Dvorak
Early in 1880 Dvorak wrote a cycle of "Gypsy Songs" on poems by Heyduk. Just as one of the later humoresques was destined to become known to tjie general public, one of the gypsy songs has eclipsed the others in popularity. It is the fourth song of the cycle--"Songs my mother taught me."
The heights of Tatra..........Dvorak
This, another of the cycle of "Gypsy Songs" by Dvorak, presents the typical love of freedom and nature inherent in that race .... Neither the falcon who soars ever-forward nor the wild colt would exchange his place .... No more than would the gypsy.
The traveler............Heilner
The beautiful poem by Longfellow has been set to music by this young New Yorkborn composer who received his musical education abroad and here under Nadje Boulanger, Roger Sessions, Rubin Goldmark, and Marion Miller. In addition to songs, he also has written several instrumental compositions.
Me company along..........Hageman
Coming to America in 1908 as one of the conductors of the Metropolitan Opera, Hageman has made a place for himself in the American field of music. His many songs have greatly enriched the concert repertoire of English songs.
MAY FESTIVAL
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, May 3, 4, 5, 6
PERFORMERS
PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA AT ALL CONCERTS
BIDU SAYAO, Metropolitan Opera . . . . Soprano
ELEANOR STEBER, Metropolitan Opera . . Soprano
BLANCHE THEBOM, Metropolitan Opera . Contralto
ROSALIND NADELL, Metropolitan
Auditions of the Air.......Contralto
FREDERICK JAGEL, Metropolitan Opera . . Tenor
EZIO PINZA, Metropolitan Opera.....Bass
NICOLA MOSCONA, Metropolitan Opera . . Bass PAUL LEYSSAC, Brilliant dramatist . . . Narrator RUDOLF SERKIN, Distinguished artist . . . Pianist OSCAR LEVANT, Versatile genius .... Pianist ZINO FRANCESCATTI, Renowned virtuoso . Violinist EUGENE ORMANDY .... Orchestra Conductor SAUL CASTON . . Associate Orchestra Conductor HARDIN VAN DEURSEN . . . Choral Conductor MARGUERITE HOOD . . Youth Chorus Conductor
HIGH SPOTS
Beethoven, Ninth Symphony; Bruckner, Te Deum Laudamus; Debussy, Blessed Damozel; Schuman, A Free Song; Rowley, Fun of the Fair (Youth Chorus); Prokofieff, Peter and the Wolf; Paganini, Violin Concerto; Brahms, Second Piano Concerto; Gershwin, Piano
Concerto and Rhapsody in Blue. Symphonies, other orchestral works, arias, and songs will be announced later.
TICKETS
(including tax)
Season Tickets: $9.60--$8.40--$7.20. For purchasers who present Festival Coupons from season Choral Union tickets, prices are reduced to $6.00, $4.80 and $3.60 each.
Address orders with remittances to cover: Charles A. Sink, President, University Musical Society, Burton Memorial Tower.