UMS Concert Program, March 12, 1965: Robert Merrill -- Eugene Bossart

Season: Eighty-sixth
Concert: Ninth
Complete Series: 3466
Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan

1964 Eighty-sixth Season 196S
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Charles A. Sink, President Gail W. Rector, Executive Director Lester McCoy, Conductor
Ninth Program Eighty-sixth Annual Choral Union Series Complete Series 3466
ROBERT MERRILL
Baritone EUGENE BOSSART at the Piano
Friday Evening, March 12, 1965, at 8:30 Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan
PROGRAM
Thanks Be to Thee (Dank sei dir, Herr).....Handel
Nina..............Pergolesi
Caro mio ben............Giordani
Se nel ben............Stradella
Phidyle..............Duparc
Nicolette.............Ravel
D'une prison.............Hahn
La belle jeunesse...........Poulenc
"Nemico della patria" from Andrea Chenier .... Giordano
INTERMISSION
By special request:
"Deh vieni alia finestra" from Don Giovanni .... Mozart
The Toreador Song from Carmen........ Bizet
"Di Provenza il mar" from La Traviata...... Verdi
"Credo in un Dio crudel" from Otello....... Verdi
A Little Song of Life..........Malotte
E'en as a Lovely Flower..........Bridge
To My Mother........Robert MacGimsey
Sweet Little Jesus Boy.......Robert MacGimsey
Courtship...........Hall Johnson
Witness (Spiritual)........Arr. H. Johnson
RCA Victor, London, and Columbia Masterworks Records ARS LONGA VITA BREVIS
PROGRAM NOTES Thanks Be to Thee (Dank sei dir, Herr).......Handel
Nina...............Pergolesi
"For three long days, my Nina upon her bed has lain.
Louder and louder, you players! Awaken my Ninetta, that she may sleep no more. 'Tis now three days since Nina in slumber deep has lain.
Cymbals and trumpets and flutes resound ! Awaken my Ninetta, that she may sleep no more."
Caro mio ben.............Giordani
"Dearest, believe, whene'er we part; Lonely I grieve, in my sad heart! Thy faithful slave languishing sighs; Haste then and save him e'er he dies ..."
Se nel ben..............Stradella
If in good fortune, she's always inconstant Or when it varies--uncertain she's found, Changeable she'll surely be, when things go wrong!
Phidyle...............Duparc
The stillness of mid-day invites us to rest. Slumber, O Phidyle! When the sun goes down, your radiant smile and your tender kiss Will be my reward for waiting so patiently.
Nicolette...............Ravel
Nicolette went walking over the meadow at vesper-time to pick flowers, skipping about
gaily and glancing here, there and everywhere. Suddenly she met a gruff old wolf, with bristling
hair and gleaming eye, who greeted her thus:
"Hey there, my Nicolette, won't you come along with me to Grandmother's house" Breathless with fright, she ran away so fast that she left her bonnet and her little white
wooden shoes behind .. .
Next she met a handsome young page-boy, dressed in blue hose and grey doublet, who said: "Hey there, my Nicolette, wouldn't you like a sweet young lover" ... But being very
prudent, Nicolette turned reluctantly away, with a heavy heart . .. Last, she met a rich old lord, twisted, ugly, foul and fat: "Hey there, my Nicolette, wouldn't you like all these money-bags" Quickly into his arms ran little Nicolette ... but alas, she never came back again to the
green meadow ...
D'une prison..............Hahn
A prisoner looks up through the narrow window of his cell at the sky--so blue, so still. A green branch sways in the breeze. From somewhere a church bell sounds. He hears the distant murmur of the city ... A sudden cry of despair: Alas, what have I done with my soul, I, who weep here in the silence! Without, the sky is so blue, so calm and serene ...
La belle jeunesse............Poulenc
Why get married, when one is young and gay ... and other men's wives do not wait to be implored for their favors
"Nemico della patria," from Andrea Chdnier.....Giordano
With the production of Andrea Chenier at La Scala in Milan in 1892, Umberto Giordano enjoyed his first success. The libretto deals with an episode of the French Revolution. Gerard, a revolutionary leader, while presiding over a tribunal, is asked to sign the death warrant of a young poet, Andrea Chenier, on the grounds that he is an enemy of his country. Gerard doubts the truth of the charge, but sees in it an opportunity to rid himself of a successful rival for the young and beautiful aristocrat, Madeleine. There is a struggle between his personal desires and his sense of justice . .. but eventually he signs, knowing himself for a coward and a traitor.
"Deh vieni alia finestra," from Don Giovanni......Mozart
Don Giovanni, the eternal philanderer, the irresistible conqueror of women's hearts, is now laying siege to the maid of Donna Elvira. He has come to serenade her beneath the window of her mistress: "Open your window, dearest ... can you my ceaseless sighing with cold indiffer?ence greet"
The Toreador Song, from Carmen.........Bizet
The swaggering and conceited Escamillo, leading matador of his day and popular idol of Seville, sings this description of his prowess in the bull ring when he enters an inn in the city and first meets Carmen, the fiery gypsy girl. After meeting the bull-fighter, she eventually leaves her soldier-lover to go with Escamillo, a decision which maddens Don Jose with jealousy and causes him to kill the fickle Carmen.
"Di Provenza il mar," from La Traviata.......Verdi
Di Provenza il mar (Thy Home in Fair Provence) from the second act of Verdi's free operatic version of the plot originated in Dumas' story of Camille, is one of the most familiar and popular arias in this beloved opera. Alfredo, the operatic equivalent of Armand, comes home and finds Violetta busily packing for departure in obedience to her promise to his father to leave him forever. Alfredo is hurt and mystified, but when his father arrives with Violetta's letter bidding him final farewell, he is in deep despair. His father, Germont, tries to stir his memories of his happy childhood in his old home in Provence in a futile attempt to assuage his anguish in this aria.
"Credo in un Dio crudel," from Otello........Verdi
"Cruel is he, this God who in anger hath fashioned me, and whom in wrath I worship!"
In his Credo, the wily Iago affirms his belief in a God who has created him for evil. The
text is a free adaptation of Shakespeare's text. It comes at the end of Iago's last speech with
Cassio. The music is a remarkably skillful reflection of the vain and cynical character of Iago.
MAY FESTIVAL
6, 7, 8, 9, 1965
THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA AT ALL CONCERTS PROGRAMS
THURSDAY, MAY 6, 8:30 P.M.
EUGENE ORMANDY, Conductor LEONTYNE PRICE, Soprano
PROGRAM Overture to Dcr Frehchutz.....Webeb
Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major,
Op. 60.........Beethoven
Concert aria, "Bella mia namma . . . Mozart "Emani involami" from Ernani .... Verdi
Leontyne Price Suite from "The Firebird" .... Stravinsky
FRIDAY, MAY 7, 8:30 P.M.
THOR JOHNSON, Conductor THE UNIVERSITY CHORAL UNION
YOUTH CHORUS
JANICE HARSANYI, Soprano
MAUREEN FORRESTER, Contralto
MURRAY DICKIE, Tenor
ANSHEL BRUSILOW, Violin
JOSEPH do PASOUALE, Viola
PROGRAM Overture to Seraglio......Mozart
Spring Symphony--for Chorus, Soprano,
Contralto, Tenor, and Youth Chorus . Britten University Choral Union, Youth Chorus,
and Soloists Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat major for
Violin and Viola, K. 364.....Mozart
SATURDAY, MAY 8, 2:30 P.M.
WILLIAM SMITH, Conductor SAMUEL MAYES, Violoncello
PROGRAM Suite from the opera Alcina .... Handel
"Schelomo"--Hebrew Rhapsody for
Violoncello and Orchestra.....Bloch
Samuel Mayes
Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88 . Dvorak
SATURDAY, MAY 8, 8:30 P.M.
EUGENE ORMANDY, Conductor CESARE SIEPI, Bass-Baritone
PROGRAM Symphony No. 30 in D major, K. 202 . Mozakt
Concert aria, "Per questa bella mano" . Mozart
Es ist genug.......Mendelssohn
La Procession.........Franck
Three Don Quichotte Songs.....Ravel
Cesare Siepi
Pastorale .........Stravinjky
Pictures at an Exhibition . Moussorosky-Ravzl
SUNDAY, MAY 9, 2:30 P.M.
THOR JOHNSON, Conductor THE UNIVERSITY CHORAL UNION
YOUTH CHORUS
MAUREEN FORRESTER, Contralto
MURRAY DICKIE, Tenor
PROGRAM Les Amants magninques......Jolivet
Poeme de l'amour et de la mer . . Chausson Maureen Forrester
Te Deum...........Berlioz
University Choral Union, Youth Chorus,
Murray Dickie, and Mary McCall Stubbins,
Organist
SUNDAY, MAY 9, 8:30 P.M.
EUGENE ORMANDY, Conductor SVIATOSLAV RICHTER, Pianist
PROGRAM Overture to Egmont......Beethoven
Concerto in A minor, Op. 16, for Piano and Orchestra.........Grieg
SVIATOSLAV RlCHTER
Symphony No. 5, Op. 47 ... Shostakovich
Tickets: $5.00 (sold out)--$4.50--$4.00--$3.50--$3.00--$2.50--$1.50
HILL AUDITORIUM
National Ballet of Canada.......Saturday, April 3
Program: Serenade........Tchaikovsky
Dances from "The Nutcracker," Act II . Tchaikovsky Orpheus in the Underworld .... Offenbach
Marian Anderson, Contralto......Wednesday, April 14
Tickets: $4.50--$4.00--$3.50--$3.00--$2.25--$1.50
For tickets and information, address UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY, Burton Tower