UMS Concert Program, : University Musical Society - 2008misc --

UMS
presents
Chanticleer
Joseph H. Jennings, Artistic Advisor Matthew Oltman, Music Director
I
Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah -Traditional Appalachian Jefferson (Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken) -Traditional The Original Sacred Harp (excerpt) -William Billings Soar Away -A.M. Cagle
II
Circumdederunt me dolores mortis -Juan Gutierrez de Padilla
Circumdederunt me Dolores mortis, et pericula inferni invenerunt me, In tribulatione mea invocavi Dominum, et ad Deum meum clamavi.
Credidi -Juan de Lienas
Credidi propter quod locutus sum;
ego autem humiliatus sum nimis.
Ego dixi in excelsu meo:
Omnis homo mendax.
Quid retribuam Domino,
pro omnibus quae retribuit
Calicem salutaris accipiam:
et nomen Domini invocabo.
Vota mea Domino reddam coram
omni populo ejus:
Pretiosa in conspectu Domini
mors sanctorum ejus.
0 Domine quia ego servus tuus:
ego servus tuus,
et filius ancillae tuae.
Dirupisti vincula mea:
tibi sacrificabo hostiam laudis,
et nomen Domini invocabo.
Vota mea Domino reddam
in conspectu omnis
populi ejus: in atriis domus Domini,
medio tui Jerusalem.
Gloria Patri, et Filio,
et Spiritui Sancto.
Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper,
et in saecula saeculorum.
Amen.
The sorrows of death have surrounded me, and the perils of Hell have found me. In my affliction I have called upon the Lord, and to my God I cried.
I believed even when I said,
"I am greatly afflicted."
I said in my alarm,
"All men are deceitful"
What shall I render to the Lord,
for all the things he hath rendered unto me
The cup of salvation I will take up
and I will call upon the name of the Lord.
My vows to the Lord I will pay
in the presence of all his people.
Precious in the eyes of the Lord
is the death of his faithful ones.
0 Lord, I am your servant;
1 am your servant,
the son of your handmaid
You have loosed my bonds
To you I will offer sacrifice of thanksgiving
and I will call upon the name of the Lord.
The vows to the Lord I will pay
in the presence of all his people,
in the courts of the house of the Lord
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and shall be, forever.
Amen.
Please turn page quietly...
Ill
Two Madrigals, from The Triumphs of Thusnelda, S. 1601 -P.D.Q. Bach
IV
Reincarnations, Op. 16 -Samuel Barber
Mary Hynes
She is the sky of the sun!
She is the dart of love!
She is the love of my heart!
She is a rune!
She is above the women
of the race of Eve,
as the sun is above the moon!
Lovely and airy
the view from the hill
that looks down from Ballylea!
But no good sight is good,
until you see
the blossom of branches
walking towards you, airily.
Anthony O'Daly
Anthony!
Since your limbs were laid out
the stars do not shine!
The fish leap not out
in the waves!
On our meadows the dew
does not fall in the morn,
for 0 Daly is dead!
Not a flow'r can be born!
Not a word can be said!
Not a tree have a leaf!
On our meadows the dew
does not fall in the morn,
forO Daly is dead!
Anthony!
After you
there is nothing to do!
There is nothing but grief!
The Coolin' (The Fair Haired One)
Come with me, under my coat, and we will drink our fill of the milk of the white goat, or wine if it be thy will. And we will talk, until talk is a trouble, too, out on the side of the hill; And nothing is left to do, but an eye to look into an eye, and a hand in a hand to slip; and a sigh to answer a sigh; And a lip to find out a lip! What if the night be black! And the air on the mountain chill! Where all but the fern is still! Stay with me, under my coat! and we will drink our fill of the milk of the white goat, out on the side of the hill!
V
Night Chant -Brent Michael Davids
Ga tau ga quai a nen.
Ta poch go. Mao qua mo tok.
Non se he na. Non se he na
Na ne. Na ne. Na ne. Na ne.
A na che mu Nan ta.
A na che mu Nan ta.
I have something I want to say to you. It's night. Let's sleep together. We're beautiful. We're beautiful. It's right. It's right. It's right. It's right. My heart is at peace. My heart is at peace.
Please turn page quietly...
VI
The Homecoming -David Conte (Text: John Stirling Walker)
Color where in jail you're on fire
With the heart of thousands
With the heart of millions.
Color it with azure
for the skies of the heavens.
Make them ring
with the cries of the birds
who call them "home."
Color it with verdure
for the trees of the earth.
Make them sing
with the shrieks of the apes
who call them "home."
Color it with ardor
for the spirits of men.
Make them cower
with the wrath of their gods
who call them "home."
Color where in jail you're on fire
With the heart of the God they abandoned:
Color it with apocalyptic purity,
with white, for the wombs of the mothers;
Make them shine
with the salve of the babes
who called them "home"...
The babes from whose mouths
shall pour forth the words
that quench the fire
and set you free
and call you home.
--For Martin Luther King, Jr., May 1, 2003
Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings (excerpt) -Eric Whitacre
VII
Hard Times Come Again No More -Stephen Foster
Gentle Annie -Foster Nelly Bly -Foster
VIII
Folk and Popular Song
UMS
presents
Mark Morris Dance Group
Friday Evening, September 19, 2008 at 8:00
Artistic Director, Mark Morris Executive Director, Nancy Umanoff
New Love Song Waltzes
Music by Johannes Brahms,
Neue Liebeslieder Walzer, Op. 65 Text from Polydora by G.F. Daumer
I.
Verzicht, o Herz, auf Rettung, dich wagend in der Liebe Meer! Denri tausend Nachen schwimmen zertrummert am Gestad umher!
Finstere Schatten der Nacht, Wogen und Wirbelgefahr! Sind wohl, die da gelind rasten auf sicherem Lande, Euch zu begreifen im Stande Das ist der nur allein, welcher auf wilder See sturmischer Ode treibt, Meilen enrternt vom Strande.
An jeder Hand die Finger
hatt' ich bedeckt mit Ringen,
die mir geschenkt mein Bruder
in seinem Liebessinn.
Und einen nach dem andern
gab ich dem schonen.
aber unwurdigen Jungling hin.
IV.
Ihre schwarzen Augen,
ihr durft nur winken
Palasie fallen,
und Stadte sinken.
Wie sollte stehn in solchem Strauss, mein Herz, von Karten das schwache Haus
I.
Listen: nothing will save you if you go sailing on the sea of love. It's caulked with countless wrecks; their cargoes so much flotsam.
Dark shadows of the night surge and whirlwind resting on secure land, are those, who are content. It is the one, who is alone, and at wild sea, and far away from home.
On every hand
I was covered with rings,
and his love.
And one after another,
I gave each one
to the handsome but not deserving boy.
IV.
Ebony eyes,
you only have to glimmer
castles are falling
and cities wither.
Come the coup what will you do, heart of mine, how resist the unbeatable
V.
Wahre, wahre deinen Sohn,
Nachbrin, vor Wehe,
weil ich ihn mit schwarzem Aug'
zu bezaubern gehe.
0 wie brennt das Auge mir,
daszu ziinden fordert!
Flammet ihm die Seele nicht,
deine Hutte lodert.
VI.
Rosen steckt mir an die Mutter, weil ich gar so trube bin. Sie hat Recht, die Rose sinket, so wie ich entblattert hin.
VII.
Vom Gebirge Well' auf Well' kommen Regengiisse, und ich gabe dir so gern hunderttausend Kusse.
VIII.
Weiche Graser im Revier, schone stille Platzchen! 0 wie linde ruht es hier Sidi mit emem Schatzchen!
IX.
Nagen am Herzen
fiihl ich ein Gift mir;
kann sich ein Madchen
ohne zu frbhnen zartlichen Hang,
fassen ein ganzes
wonne beraubtes Lebenentlang
X.
Ich kose suss, mit der und der, und werde still und kranke; denn ewig, ewig kehrt zu dir, o Nonna, mein Gedanke!
XI.
Alles, alles in den Wind sagst du mir, du Schmeichler! Alle sammt verloren sing deine Muh'n, du Heuchler!
Einem andern fang' zu lieb stelle deine Falle! Denn du bist em loser Dieb, denn du buhlst um alle!
V.
Neighbor, protect your son
from a broken heart.
See me spin my magic
all night long.
If warm smiles and hot looks
don't ignite him.
Know I'm an expert at arson.
VI.
I'm white as a shroud, mother,
but I wear red roses;
because the rose, like me,
will bleed its leaves when it dies.
VII.
Water streams down the hills
and the rain doesn't stop;
I wish I could shower you
with a hundred thousand kisses.
VIII.
In our secret place in the shade, down among the rustling grass, we're out of this world and dreaming and times ticks away too fast.
IX.
A poisoned arrow
infects the target of my heart;
how can a beauty like her
turn down a chance like me,
pleasure spiced with pain
X.
I'll whisper like this
to lots of girls while I'm feeling bad;
all the better to let you know.
Nonna, it's you who's making me sad.
XI.
I won't hear another word about love;
you'll only let me down.
You'll never stop playing around.
Leave me alone, you sweettalking clown.
If you must set traps,
go hunt innocent prey.
A wounded bird's bound to beware
socalled trust, snares.
XII.
Schwarzer Wald,
dein Schatten ist so duster!
Armes Herz,
dein Leden ist so druckend!
Was dir einzig werth,
esstehtvor Augen
Ewig untersagt
ist Huldvereinung.
XIII.
Nein, Geliebter, setze dich
mir so nahe nicht!
Starre nicht so brunstiglich
mir in's Angesicht!
Wie es auch im Busen brennt, dampfe deinen Trieb, dass es nicht die Welt erkennt, wie wir uns so lieb.
XIV.
Flammernauge, dunkles Haar, Knabe wonnig und verwogen, Kummer ist durch dich hinein, in mein armes Herz gezogen!
Kann in Eis der Sonne Brand, sich in Nacht der Tag verkehren kann die heisse Menschenbrust atmen ohne Glutbegehren
Ist die Flur so voller Licht, dass die Blum' im Dunkel stehe Ist die Welt so voller Lust, dass das Herz in Qual vergehe
Zum Schiuss
Nun, ihr Musen, genug! Vergebens strebt ihr zu schildern, wie sich Jammer und Gluck wechseln in liebender Brust. Heilen kbnnet die Wunden ihr nicht, die Amor geschlagen; aber Linderung kommt einzig, ihr Guten, von euch.
XII.
So many trees,
pitchblack,
shadows playing tricks...
my heart is full of rocks.
Will we never be together
Must I always go about
sighing like this
XIII.
Sweetheart, don't sit quite so near to me. Don't gaze at me quite so wistfully.
Even though you're on fire, stay cool and keep your distance in case everyone finds out how much I love you, love.
XIV.
Sparkling eyes, glossy hair, tender words, true feeling enough to send me reeling, set on the one I love.
Can sunbeams splinter into snow
Can morning sleep under a canopy of stars
Can passion say no
to love sweet manacles
Do the fields bask in sunlight so that flowers might shrivel in darkness Do youth and love go hand in hand so that I end up alone and pining
Conclusion
Now listen to me, you Muses...
It doesn't really work,
does it You trying to summarize
the good and bad that comprise
a lover's smitten heart.
You can't heal the bloody holes
arrows leave. All you can do is soothe.
Be kind.
Translation by Linda France.
Love Song Waltzes
Music by Johannes Brahms,
Liebeslieder Walzer, Op. 52 Text from Polydora by G.F. Daumer
I.
Rede, Madchen, allzu liebes, das mir in die Brust, die Kflhle, hat geschleudert mit dem Blicke diese wilden Glutgefuhle!
Willst du nicht dein Herz erweichen Wills! du, eine Oberfromme, rasten ohne traute Wonne, oder willst du, dass ich komme
Rasten ohne traute Wonne nicht so bitter will ich bussen. Komme nur, du schwarzes Auge, komme wenn die Sterne griissen.
Am Gesteine rauscht die Flut, heftig angetrieben. Wer da nicht zu seufsen weiss, lernt es unter'm Lieben.
0 die Frauen, o die Frauen, wie sie Wonne thauen! Ware lang ein Monch geworden, waren nicht die Frauen!
IV.
Wie des Abends schbne RQthe mbcht' ich arme Dime gluh'n, Einem, Einem zu gefallen sonder Ende Wonne spriih'n.
V.
Die goine Hopfenranke
Sie schlangelt auf der Erde hin.
Die junge schone Dime,
so traurig ist ihr Sinn!
Du hore, grune Ranke!
Was hebst du dich nicht himmelwarts
Du hore, schone Dime!
Was ist so schwer dein Herz
Wie hobe sich die Ranke, der keine StCitze Kraft verleiht Wie ware die Dime frohlich, wenn ihr der Liebste weit
VI.
Ein kleiner, hiibscher Vogel nahm den Flug zum Garten hin, da gab es Obst geung. Wenn ich ein hiibscher, kleiner Vogel wSr', ich saumte nicht, ich tate so wie der.
I.
Speak to me, you with the beautiful smile that slices me in two. Tell me how you feel.
Will you lock yourself up and throw away the key How many times do I have to say when, when can we meet
Why sentence yourself to a life without love Why suffer You and me and your dark eyes, let's dance by the light of the stars.
Waves batter the rocks, spray the sky like madness. Love will teach you its secrets: how to sigh and drown in sadness.
III.
You're a goddess. You're divine.
I worship your every move.
I could live like a monk
if it weren't for women like you.
IV.
I could burn with the beauty
of a crimson sunset.
I would consider it my duty
if I just heard her say yes.
V.
Why does this evergreen ivy
always creep so dark and low
Why does such a gorgeous girl
look like she's got nowhere to go
Why doesn't ivy climb
right up to the skies
Why should a girl
like her be all tears and sighs
Ivy can't reach the heavens without some sturdy support. A girl can't enjoy herself when she and her beau are apart.
VI.
One day a pretty little bird flew
into a garden brimming with ripe fruit.
If I were a pretty little bird
I'd fly there too.
LeimrutenArglist laudert an dem Ort; der arme Vogel konnte nicht mehr fort. Wenn ich ein liiibscher, kleiner Vogel war', ich saumte doch, ich tate nicht wie der.
Der Vogel kam, in eine schone Hand, da tat es ihm, dem Gliicklichen, nicht an. Wenn ich ein hiibscher, kleiner Vogel war', ich saumte nicht, ich tate so wie der.
VII.
Wohl schon bewandt war es vorehe
mit meinem Leben, mit meiner Liebe.
Durch eine Wand, ja durch zehn Wande
erkannte mich des Freundes Sehe.
Doch jetso, wehe,
wenn ich dem Kalten auch noch so dicht
vor'm Auge stehe,
es merkt's sein Auge, sein Herze nicht!
VIII.
Wenn so lind dein Auge mir, und so lieblich schauet, jede letzte Triibe flieht, welche mich umgrauet.
Dieser Liebe schone Glut, lass sie nicht verstieben! Nimmer wird, wie ich, so treu, dich ein Andrer lieben!
IX.
Am Donaustrande, da steht ein Haus, da schaut ein rosiges Madchen aus.
Das Madchen es ist, wohl gut gehegt, zehn eiserne Riegel sind vor die TCre gelegt.
Zehn eiserne Riegel, das ist ein Spass, die spreng' ich als waren sie nurvon Glas!
X.
0 wie sanft, die Quelle sich
durch die Wiese windet!
0 wie schon, wenn Liebe sich
zu der Liebe findet!
XI.
Nein, es ist nicht auszukommen
mit den Leuten;
Alles wissen sie so giftig
auszudeutenl
It got tangled in a knot of branches and couldn't fly anywhere anymore. If I were a pretty little bird I'd stay home.
A beautiful lady cradled the bird in her hand and stroked it softly, softly. If I were a pretty little bird I'd fly there now.
VII.
Every day was wonderful when we were still in love. My door was always open and he made himself at home. Now it's a different story: when I look at him he tums away, his eyes as cold as his heart.
VIII.
When you look at me with your loving eyes, I forget all my worries. You're the sun in my sky.
Let it shine forever, this summer love of ours. I couldn't burn as hot in anyone else's eyes.
IX.
I know a rosycheeked girl who lives in a house deep in the woods.
She's locked away
behind a door
secured with ten iron bars.
Iron bars are nothing to me. I'll smash them one by one like glass.
X.
How clear the stream flows, winding its way through the meadow. How happy you feel, finding love, waiting where you left it.
XI.
I'm sorry, I've had enough
of the neighbors;
they go out of their way
to make up gossip.
Bin ich heiter, hegen soil ich lose Triebe;
bin ich still, so hesst's ich ware irr' aus Liebe.
XII.
Schlosser auf!
und mache Schlosser
ohne Zahl!
Oenn die bosen Mauler
will ich schliessen allzumal!
XIII.
Vogelein durchrauscht die Luft, sucht nach einem Ast. Und das Herz. ein Herz begehrt's Wo es selig raste.
XIV.
Sieh', wie ist die Welle klar, blickt der Mond hernieder! Die du meme Liebe bist, liebe du mich wieder!
XV.
Nachtigall, sie singt so schon, wenn die Sterne funkeln. Liebe mich, geliebtes Herz, kusse mtch im Dunkein!
XVI.
Ein dunkeler Schacht ist Liebe, ein gar zu gefahrlicher Bronnen: da fiel ich hinein. ich Amier, kann weder horen noch seh'n; nur denken an meine Wonnen. nur stohnen in meinen Weh'n.
XVI!.
Nkht wandle. mem Ucnt, dort aussen
im Fhirgeretch!
Die Fusse warden dir. die zarten,
zu nass. zu weich.
All uberstromt sind don die Wege,
oJeStegeda;
so ubenekhttch trante dort
;;; .ce mm.
KM.
Es bebet das Gestrauche. gestrein hat es im Huge esnVogeletn. tana eibefaei tse Seete mir. erschunert. von Uebe. lust und Letde.
If I'm happy, they say,
I'm terribly bad.
If I'm sad, they say
I'm in love, stark raving mad.
XII.
I will employ a locksmith to fit a hundred padlocks of every shape and size to shut those lips forever that open and spill lies.
XIII.
A bird will fly for miles
to find the right somewhere to nest.
We must do the same
to find the someone we love best.
xrv.
The moon shines full and bright on the clear blue sea. Tell me you love me tonight. You're the only one for me.
XV.
The nightingale sings so fine
when the stars start to shine.
Kiss me, sweetheart, while it's dark.
Tell me you'll always be mine.
XVI.
Love is a bottomless pit
of suffering. And I fell in.
I lost everything I was.
Although I dream of better times,
all I seem to do is whine.
XVII.
Darling, wait, don't go wandering in the countryside. It's far too wet underfoot.
I admit; I was there
this morning and the paths
are still damp from my tears.
XVIII.
I can see the branches trembling
in the wake of a bird
in flight.
That's how my heart feels--tight
and busy with beating, remembering
you--our love, our lust, and our loathing.
Translation by Linda France.
MMDG Music Ensemble Biographies
Leena Chopra (Soprano) is a recent graduate of The Juilliard School. She has appeared as a featured soloist at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Santa Fe Opera, Alice Tully Hall, Weill Recital Hall, and has sung with the Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, New Mexico, Juilliard, and Guanajuato Symphony Orchestras and the Orchestra of St. Luke's. Equally at home in opera, recital, and musical theater, Ms. Chopra made her criticallyacclaimed Broadway debut in Stephen Sondheim's Follies at New York City Center in February. She can be heard this season in concert with the New York Festival of Song and the Chappaqua Chamber Society, and recent engagements include the roles of AmourLa Clarine in Platee with Santa Fe Opera, and First Priestess in Iphigenie en Tauride with Seattle Opera.
Katherine Growdon {AltoMezzoSoprano) has been described as having a "buttermilk voice" (San Jose Mercury), "rich, sustained lines," "heartrending emotion, and excellent control" (San Francisco Classical Voice). Her operatic roles include Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Idamante in Idomeneo, Nicklausse in Les contes d'Hoffmann, Fragoletto in Les Brigands, Baba the Turk in Rake's Progress, Nefertiti in Akhnaten, Count Orsini in Lucrezia Borgia, Mercedes in Carmen, Meg Page in Falstaff, Third Lady in The Magic Flute, Hansel in Hansel and Cretel, Juno in Semele, and La Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi. In oratorio, she has performed as a featured soloist with the American Bach Soloists, the San Francisco Bach Choir, and the UC Berkeley Chorus. She recently made her Portland Opera mainstage debut as Mercedes. Ms. Growdon has participated as a fellow at the Carmel Bach Festival in 2007, and most recently at the Tanglewood Music Center.
Christopher Johnstone (Baritone) is a secondyear Artist Diploma student at CincinnatiCollege Conservatory of Music. He has performed the roles of Belcore in L'Elisir d'amore, Orestes in Iphigenie en Tauride, Guglielmo in Cos; fan tutte, Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus, Schaunard in La Boheme, Hanezo in L'Amico Fritz, Strephon in lolanthe, and Captain Walker in The Who's Tommy!. Mr. Johnstone earned his BM from Arizona State University and his MM from California State University, Long Beach. He has sung with Lyric Opera San Diego, Opera Pacific, Glimmerglass Opera, Tanglewood Music Center, the Modesto Symphony, and the Long Beach Symphony. Last summer he performed the role of the Royal Herald in Don Carlo with James Levine and began his collaboration with MMDG singing Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas at Tanglewood.
Glen Thomas Rideout (Baritone), a native of Baltimore, Maryland, is a graduate conducting fellow at the University of Michigan and Director of Music at the 700member First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor. He is an awardwinning baritone and graduate of the voice program at Vanderbilt University. Mr. Rideout has studied with conductors Philip Olsen and Robin Fountain and currently studies under Jerry Blackstone. He is an active music minister and conductor, having led the music ministries of congregations in Maryland, Tennessee, and Michigan. While serving as choral director of the Voices of Praise at Vanderbilt University, Mr. Rideout facilitated the choir's growth from 20 to 70 members in three years and became the choir's longestserving elected director. He has served as assistant conductor and resident composer for the McDonogh Concert Choir's tours of Poland, Prague, East Canada, and Croatia. In addition to conducting, he works in other capacities in the gospel, jazz, and classical music genres. As a singer, Mr. Rideout recently appeared with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra as guest soloist at the Ryman Auditorium. His compositions have been performed in the US and Europe and recorded by the Holiday Choir of Hemingway Temple A.M.E. Church in Baltimore, Maryland.
Joseph Roberts (Tenor) holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Baylor University and a Master of Music from the University of Michigan. While at Baylor, Mr. Roberts appeared onstage with the Baylor Opera Theater as Dr. Spinelloccio in Gianni Schicchi. Additionally, he appeared as a performer in the nationallytelevised PBS special, Christmas at Baylor. As a student at the University of Michigan, he has performed the roles of Krusina in Smetana's Prodana Nevesta, Schaunard in Puccini's La Boheme, and will be performing the roles of the Captain and Zaretsky in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. Mr. Roberts is currently pursuing a Specialist degree in Vocal Performance at the University of Michigan under the tutelage of Freda Herseth.
Georgy Valtchev (Violin) has been honored with a number of awards including the First Prize of the Ducrest International Competition in Lafayette, LA, and the Special Prize of the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition in Switzerland. Mr. Valtchev has appeared as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician throughout the US and Europe, and is a frequent soloist with the Lyric Orchestra in Hoboken, NJ and the Sofia Soloists in Bulgaria. Mr. Valtchev first performed with the Ensemble in 2006.
Zachary Wilder (Tenor) is an avid performer of both early and modern music. He has worked with a number of early music luminaries including Matthew Dirst, Ellen Hargis, Paul O'dette, Albert Ledoux, Antoine Plante, and Steven Stubbs, and has performed with the Houston Bach Society, Mercury Baroque and Ars Lyrica Houston, and Ossia New Music Ensemble. Mr. Wilder is also a founding member of the New York new music ensemble Mimesis. On stage, Mr. Wilder has been seen in Britten's The Turn of the Screw as Peter Quint, Bolcom's A Wedding as Donato, Corgliano's The Ghosts of Versailles as Leon, Haendel's Flavio as Ugone, Weill's Street Scene as Mr. Buchanan, Cimarosa's A Secret Marriage as Paolino, and Poulenc's Les Mamelles de Tiresias as Lacouf. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music in 2006, having studied with John Maloy and Robert Swensen, and received his Master of Music degree from the University of Houston in 2008, having studied with Katherine Ciesinski. Mr. Wilder is also a 2008 Tanglewood Vocal Fellow. Upcoming engagements include Telemaco and Pisandro in Monteverdi's Ritorno D'Ulisse in Seattle and San Francisco, as well as Petrus in Haendel's Brockes Passion in Houston.
UMS
presents
Lawrence Brownlee
Tenor
Martin Katz
Piano
I
Misero, o sogno o son desto, K. 431
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Misero! O sogno
0 son desto Chiuso e il varco all'uscita! lo dunque, oh stelle!
Solo in questo rinchiuso Abitato dall'ombre, Luogo tacito, e mesto, Ove non s'ode Nell'orror della notte Che de' notturni augelli La lamentabil voce,
1 giorni miei Dovro qui terminar Aprite, indegne, vile, Questa porta infernale, Spietate, aprite, aprite! Alcun non m'ode, e solo, Ne' cavi sassi ascoso,
Risponde a' mesti accenti eco pietoso.
E dovro qui morir
Ah! negli estremi amari sospiri almen
Potessi--oh Dio!
Dar al caro mio ben I'ultimo addio!
Aura che intorno spiri, Sull'ali a lei che adoro Deh! porta i miei sospiri, Di che per essa moro, Che piu non mi vedra! Ho mille larve intorno Di varie voci il suono; Che orribile soggiorno! Che nuova crudelta! Che barbara sorte! Chestato dolente! Mi lagno, sospiro, Nessuno mi sente, Nel grave periglio Nessun non miro, Non spero consiglio, Non trovo pieta!
Unhappy that I am! Am I dreaming
Or awake The way out is barred!
Here then, oh stars!
Alone in this enclosed,
Silent, gloomy place,
Haunted by shadows,
Where nothing is heard
In the horror of the night
Save the mournful voices
Of nocturnal birds,
Must I end my days
Open this infernal gate,
Pitiless creatures,
Open, open!
No one hears me, and,
Hidden in these rocky caves,
Only merciful echo
Answers my cries.
Must I then die here
Ah! If with my final bitter sighs
I could at least--oh God!
Bid my beloved a last farewell!
Breeze that blows around me,
On your wings carry my sighs
To her whom I adore;
Say that for her I die,
That she will never see me more!
Around me are a thousand phantoms,
The sound of many voices,
What a dreadful abode!
What new cruelty!
What barbarous fate!
What a pitiful state!
I lament, I sigh,
No one hears me,
In this dire peril
I see no one,
I have no help of help,
I find no pity!
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II
Chanson Triste
Henri Duparc
Dans ton coeur dort un clair de lune, Un doux clair de lune d'ete, Et pour fuir la vie importune, Je me noierai dans ta clarte.
J'oublierai les douleurs passees, Mon amour, quand tu berceras Mon triste coeur et mes pensees Dans le calme aimant de tes bras.
Tu prendras ma tete malade, Oh! quelquefois, sur tes genoux, Et lui diras une ballade Qui semblera parler de nous;
Et dans tes yeux pleins de tristesse, Dans tes yeux alors je boirai Tant de baisers et de tendresse Que peutetre je guerirai.
Extase
Sur un lys pale mon coeur dort, D'un sommeil doux comme la mort. Mort exquise, mort parfumee, Du souffle de la bien aimee. Sur ton sein pale mon coeur dort, D'un sommeil doux comme la mort.
Le manoir de Rosemonde
De sa dent soudaine et vorace, Comme un chien I'amour m'a mordu.. En suivant mon sang repandu, Va, tu pourras suivre ma trace...
Prends un cheval de bonne race, Pars, et suis mon chemin ardu, Fondriere ou sentier perdu, Si la course ne te harasse!
En passant par ou j'ai passe, Tu verras que seul et blesse J'ai parcouru ce triste monde.
Et qu'ainsi je m'en fus mourir Bien loin, bien loin, sans decouvrir Le bleu manoir de Rosamonde.
Moonlight slumbers in your heart, A gentle summer moonlight, And to escape the cares of life, I shall drown myself in your light.
I shall forget past sorrows. My sweet, when you cradle My sad heart and my thoughts In the loving calm of your arms.
You will rest my poor head, Ah! sometimes on your lap, And recite to it a ballad That will seem to speak of us;
And from your eyes full of sorrow, From your eyes I shall then drink So many kisses and so much love That perhaps I shall be healed.
On your pale breast my heart is sleeping,
A sleep as sweet as death.
Exquisite death, death perfumed,
By the breath of the beloved.
On your pale breast my heart is sleeping,
A sleep as sweet as death.
Love, like a dog, has bitten me With its sudden, voracious teeth... Come, the trail of spilt blood Will enable you to follow my tracks...
Take a horse of good pedigree And set off on the arduous route I took, Through swamps and overgrown paths, If that's not too exhausting a ride for you!
As you pass where I passed,
You will see that I traveled
Alone and wounded through this sad world.
And thus went off to my death Far, far away, without ever finding Rosemonde's blue manorhouse.
Soupir
Ne jamais la voir ni I'entendre, Ne jamais tout haut la nommer, Mais, fidele, toujours I'attendre, Toujours I'aimer!
Ouvrir les bras, et, las d'attendre, Sur la neant les refermer! Mais encor, toujours les lui tendre Toujours I'aimer.
Ah! ne pouvoir que les lui tendre Et dans les pleurs se consumer, Mais ces pleurs toujours les repandre, Toujours I'aimer...
Ne jamais la voir ni I'entendre, Ne jamais tout haut la nommer, Mais d'un amour toujours plus tendre Toujours I'aimer. Toujours!
Phidyle
L'herbe est molle au sommeil sous les
frais peupliers,
Aux pentes des sources moussues, Qui dans les pres en fleur germant par mille issues, Se perdent sous les noirs halliers.
Repose, 6 Phidyle! Midi sur
les feuillages
Rayonne et t'invite au sommeil. Par le trefle et le thym, seules,
en plein soleil, Chantent les abeilles volages.
Un chaud parfum circule au detour des sentiers, La rouge fleur des bles s'incline, Et les oiseaux, rasant de I'aile la colline, Cherchent I'ombre des eglantiers.
Les taillis sont muets; le daim, par les
clairieres,
Devant les meutes aux abois Ne bondit plus; Diane, assise au fond
des bois, Polit ses fleches meurtrieres.
Never to see or hear her, Never to name her aloud, But faithfully always to wait for her And love her!
To open my arms and, tired of waiting, To close them on nothing. But still always to stretch them out to her And to love her.
To only be able to stretch them out to her And then to be consumed in tears, But always to shed these tears, Always to love her...
Never to see or hear her,
Never to name her aloud.
But with a love that grows ever more tender
Always to love her. Always!
The grass is soft for slumber beneath the
fresh poplars,
On the slopes by the mossy springs, Which, in the meadows flowering With a thousand plants, Lose themselves under dark thickets.
Rest, o Phidyle! The midday sun shines
on the foliage And invites you to sleep! Among clover and thyme, alone,
in full sunlight Hum the fickle honeybees.
A warm fragrance circulates about
the turning paths, The red cornflower tilts,
And the birds, skimming the hill with their wings, Search for shade among the wild roses.
The coppices are mute; the deer in
the clearing, Cornered by the pack No longer leaps; Diana, seated in the depths
of the woods, Polishes her fatal arrows.
Please turn page quietly...
Dors en paix, belle enfant aux
rires ingenus,
Aux nymphes agrestes pareille! De ta bouche au miel pur j'ecarterai
I'abeille; Je garantirai tes pieds nus.
Laisse sur ton epaule et ses formes divines, Comme un or fluide et leger, Sous mon souffle amoureux courir
et voltiger L'epaisseur de tes tresses fines!
Sans troubler ton repos, sur ton front
transparent,
Libre des souples bandelettes, J'unirai I'hyacinthe aux pales violettes, Et la rose au myrte odorant.
Belle comme frycine aux jardins de Sidle, Et plus chere a mon coeur jaloux, Repose! Et j'emplirai du souffle
le plus doux La flute a mes levres docile.
Je charmerai les bois, 6 blanche Phidyle,
De ta louange familiere;
Et les nymphes, au seuil de leurs grottes
de lierre, En paliront, le coeur trouble.
Mais, quand I'Astre, incline sur sa
courbe eclatante, Verra ses ardeurs s'apaiser, Que ton plus beau sourire et ton
meilleur baiser Me recompensed de I'attente!
Sleep in peace, beautiful child with the
ingenuous smile, So similar to the rustic nymphs! From your honeytouched lips I will wave away
the bee; I will guard your bare feet.
On the divine form of your shoulder. Like gold both liquid and light, Let my loving breath run
and flutter The thickness of your fine hair!
Without disturbing your sleep, on your
clear brow,
Free of supple ribbons, I will chain hyacinth with pale violets. And the rose with scented myrtle.
As beautiful as Erycine in the gardens of Sicily, And more dear to my jealous heart, Sleep! And I shall fill with my
softest breath A flute of my flexible lips.
I shall charm the woods, o white Phidyle,
With your intimate praise;
And the nymphs, at the threshold of their
caves of ivy, Will blanch, hearts troubled.
But, when the sun, turning in its
resplendent orbit. Finds its heat abating, Let your loveliest smile and your
most ardent kiss Recompense me for waiting!
Ill
Languir per una bella
from L'ltaliana in Algeri Gioacchino Rossini
Languir per una bella E star lontan da quella, E il piu crudel tormento, Che provar possa un cor. Forse verra il momento; Ma non lo spero ancor. Contenta quest'alma In mezzo alle pene, Sol trova la calma Pensando al suo bene, Che sempre costante Si serba in amor.
IV
3 Sonnetti di Petrarca
Franz Liszt
Pace non trovo
Pace non trovo, e non ho da far guerra, E temo, e spero, ed ardo, e son un ghiaccio: E volo sopra 'I cielo, e giaccio in terra; E nulla stringo, e tutto 'I mondo abbraccio.
Tal m'ha in priggion, che non
m'apre, ne serra, Ne per suo mi ritien, ne scioglie
il laccio,
E non m'uccide Amor, e non mi sferra; Ne mi vuol vivo, ne mi trahe
d'impaccio.
Veggio senz'occhi; e non ho lingua e grido;
E bramo di perir, e cheggio aita;
Ed ho in odio me stesso, ed amo altrui.
Pascomi di dolor; piangendo rido; Egualmente mi spiace morte e vita. In questo stato son. Donna, per Voi.
To languish for a beauty And be far away from her Is the cruelest torment, That a heart can undergo. Perhaps the moment will come; But I cannot hope for it yet. My soul, content Amidst its woes, Finds peace only In thinking of my dear one, Who remains Ever faithful in love.
I find no peace, but for war am not inclined; I fear, yet hope; I burn, yet am turned to ice; I soar in the heavens, but lie upon the ground; I hold nothing, though I embrace the whole world.
Love has me in a prison which he
neither opens nor shuts fast; He neither claims me for his own nor
loosens my halter; He neither slays nor unshackles me; He would not have me live, yet leaves
me with my torment.
Eyeless I gaze, and tongueless I cry out; I long to perish, yet plead for succour; I hate myself, but love another.
I feed on grief, yet weeping, laugh; Death and life alike repel me; And to this state I am come, my lady, because of you.
Please turn page quietly...
VI Cantata
John Carter
Prelude
Rondo
Peter go ring dem bells;
Wonder where my mother has gone.
Heard from heaven today;
Peter ring dem bells.
Recitative
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child,
A long way from home.
Sometimes I feel like I'm almost gone,
A long way from home.
True believer,
A long way from home.
Air
Let us break bread together on our knees.
When I fall on my knees with my face to the rising sun,
Oh Lord, have mercy on me.
Let us drink wine together on our knees.
When I fall on my knees with my face to the rising sun,
Oh Lord, have mercy on me.
Amen.
Toccata
Ride on King Jesus,
No man can a hinder me.
He is King of Kings, he is Lord of Lords;
Jesus Christ, first and last, no man works like him.
King Jesus rides a milk white horse; No man works like him. The river of Jordan he did cross; No man works like him.
Ride on King Jesus,
No man can a hinder me.
Please Note
ums
Mezzosoprano Freda Herseth will be performing in place of Carmen Pelton in Schoenberg's Pierrot lunaire on the first half of tonight's program.
Freda Herseth (Mezzosoprano) has performed with orchestras and chamber ensembles throughout Europe, Russia, and Israel. Well known for her work in contemporary music, Ms. Herseth has premiered many new works including the world premiere of Richard Wernick's ...and a Time for Peace with La Scala Opera Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Muti and William Bolcom's Songs of Innocence and of Experience. She has performed at the Vienna Festival, Warsaw Autumn Festival, and with the American Music Theater Festival of Philadelphia. Ms. Herseth has been the recipient of numerous awards, including a stipend from the Richard Wagner Society in Bayreuth and the Van Lawrence Fellowship for research and excellence in the field of vocal pedagogy. Ms. Herseth performed Le marteau sans maitre by Boulez last winter with Orchestra 2001 in Philadelphia, which was reviewed in the Philadelphia Inquirer: "In both performances, mezzosoprano Freda Herseth was a bit of a miracle, lyrically navigating the jagged Boulez vocal lines and coloring the surreal text with a vocal richness I've heard in no other Boulez interpreter."
This evening's performance marks Ms. Herseth's sixth appearance under UMS auspices.
Please Note
ums
Mezzosoprano Freda Herseth will be performing in place of Carmen Pelton in Schoenberg's Pierrot lunaire on the first half of tonight's program.
Freda Herseth (Mezzosoprano) has performed with orchestras and chamber ensembles throughout Europe, Russia, and Israel. Well known for her work in contemporary music, Ms. Herseth has premiered many new works including the world premiere of Richard Wernick's ...and a Time for Peace with La Scala Opera Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Muti and William Bolcom's Songs of Innocence and of Experience. She has performed at the Vienna Festival, Warsaw Autumn Festival, and with the American Music Theater Festival of Philadelphia. Ms. Herseth has been the recipient of numerous awards, including a stipend from the Richard Wagner Society in Bayreuth and the Van Lawrence Fellowship for research and excellence in the field of vocal pedagogy. Ms. Herseth performed Le marteau sans maitre by Boulez last winter with Orchestra 2001 in Philadelphia, which was reviewed in the Philadelphia Inquirer. "In both performances, mezzosoprano Freda Herseth was a bit of a miracle, lyrically navigating the jagged Boulez vocal lines and coloring the surreal text with a vocal richness I've heard in no other Boulez interpreter."
This evening's performance marks Ms. Herseth's sixth appearance under UMS auspices.
Please Note
Nina Lee. cellist of the Brentano String Quartet, withdrew from tonight's concert due to appendicitis. She is on the mend and recovering quickly. She is replaced by Michael Kannen, the founding cellist of the Brentano String Quartet. Due to this sudden occurrence, tonight's concert repertoire has been adjusted as detailed below.
UMS
presents
Brentano String Quartet
Mark Steinberg, Violin Misha Amory, Viola Serena Canin, Violin Michael Kannen, Cello
with
Peter Serkin,
and
Thomas Meglioranza, a?
Program
Josquin des Prez, Remade for piano by Charles Wuorinen
John Bull
John Dowland, Set by William Byrd
William Byrd
Arnold Schoenberg
Wednesday Evening, March 11, 2009 at 8:00 Rackham Auditorium Ann Arbor
Ave Christe
Ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la
Pavana Lachrymae
La Volta
Mr. Serkin
Ode to Napoleon, Op. 41
Brentano String Quartet, Mr. Serkin, Mr. Meglioranza
NTERMISSION
Franz Josef Haydn
Ludwig van Beethoven
String Quartet in D Major, Op. 76, No. 5
Allegretto
Largo. Cantabile e mesto Menuetto. Allegro Finale. Presto
Brentano String Quartet
Grosse Fuge for String Quartet in Bflat Major, Op. 133
Brentano String Quartet
Cellist Michael Kannen was a founding member of the Brentano String Quartet and for seven years performed with the group on concert stages around the world, on radio and television, and on recordings. During those first seven years, the Quartet was awarded the first Cleveland Quartet Award, the Naumburg Chamber Music Award, the Martin E. Segal Award from Lincoln Center, and the Royal Philharmonic Society's award for "Best Debut Recital" in England for the 19971998 season. With the Brentano String Quartet, Mr. Kannen appeared regularly in such venues as Alice Tully Hall in New York, the Library of Congress in Washington, Wigmore Hall in London, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, and the Sydney Opera House.
In addition to his work with the Brentano Quartet, Mr. Kannen has been a member of the Meliora String Quartet and the Figaro Trio. He is currently a member of the Apollo Trio. Mr. Kannen has been heard with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Berkshire Bach Society, and has appeared at numerous major summer music festivals.
Mr. Kannen is currently the Director of Chamber Music at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, where he holds the Sidney Friedberg Chair in Chamber Music. He lives in Baltimore with his wife, violist Maria Lambros, and their son, Daniel.
Ode to Napoleon, Op. 41
Arnold Schoenberg (George Gordon, Lord Byron)
I
'Tis done--but yesterday a King!
And arm'd with Kings to strive--
And now thou art a nameless thing:
So abject--yet alive!
Is this the man of thousand thrones.
Who strew'd our earth with hostile bones,
And can he thus survive
Since he, miscall'd the Morning Star,
Nor man nor fiend hath fallen so far.
Illminded man! why scourge thy kind
Who bow'd so low the knee
By gazing on thyself grown blind,
Thou taught'st the rest to see.
With might unquestion'd,--power to save,
Thine only gift hath been the grave
To those that worshipp'd thee;
Nor till thy fall could mortals guess
Ambition's less than littleness!
Thanks for that lesson--It will teach
To afterwarriors more
Than high Philosophy can preach.
And vainly preach'd before.
That spell upon the minds of men
Breaks never to unite again,
That led them to adore
Those Pagod things of sabre sway
With fronts of brass, and feet of clay.
IV
The triumph and the vanity,
The rapture of the strife--
The earthquake voice of Victory,
To thee the breath of life;
The sword, the sceptre, and that sway
Which man seem'd made but to obey,
Wherewith renown was rife--
All quell'd!--Dark Spirit! what must be
The madness of thy memory!
V
The Desolator desolate! The Victor overthrown! The Arbiter of others' fate A Suppliant for his own! Is it some yet imperial hope
That with such change can calmly cope Or dread of death alone To die a prince--or live a slave-Thy choice is most ignobly brave!
VI
He who of old would rend the oak, Dream'd not of the rebound: Chain'd by the trunk he vainly broke-Alone--how look'd he round Thou, in the sternness of thy strength. An equal deed halt done at length, And darker fate hast found: He fell, the forest prowlers' prey; But thou must eat thy heart away!
VII
The Roman, when his burning heart
Was slaked with blood of Rome,
Threw down the dagger--dared depart,
In savage grandeur, home--
He dared depart in utter scorn
Of men that such a yoke had borne,
Yet left him such a doom!
His only glory was that hour
Of selfupheld abandon'd power.
VIII
The Spaniard, when the lust of sway
Had lost its quickening spell,
Cast crowns for rosaries away,
An empire for a cell;
A strict accountant of his beads,
A subtle disputant on creeds,
His dotage trifled well:
Yet better had he neither known
A bigot's shrine, nor despot's throne.
IX
But thou--from thy reluctant hand
The thunderbolt is wrung--
Too late thou leav'st the high command
To which thy weakness clung;
All Evil Spirit as thou art,
It is enough to grieve the heart
To see thine own unstrung;
To think that God's fair world hath been
The footstool of a thing so mean;
Please turn page quietly...
X
And Earth hath spilt her blood for him.
Who thus can hoard his own!
And Monarchs bow'd the trembling limb.
And thank'd him for a throne!
Fair Freedom! we may hold thee dear.
When thus thy mightiest foes their fear
In humblest guise have shown.
Oh! ne'er may tyrant leave behind
A brighter name to lure mankind!
XI
Thine evil deeds are writ in gore.
Nor written thus in vain--
Thy triumphs tell of fame no more,
Or deepen every stain:
If thou hadst died as honour dies.
Some new Napoleon might arise.
To shame the world again--
But who would soar the solar height.
To set in such a starless night
XII
Weigh'd in the balance, hero dust
Is vile as vulgar clay;
Thy scales. Mortality! are just
To all that pass away:
But yet methought the living great
Some higher sparks should animate.
To dazzle and dismay:
Nor deem'd Contempt could thus make mirth
Of these, the Conquerors of the earth.
XIII
And she, proud Austria's mournful flower,
Thy still imperial bride;
How bears her breast the torturing hour
Still clings she to thy side
Must she too bend, must she too share
Thy late repentance, long despair,
Thou throneless Homicide
If still she loves thee, hoard that gem,--
'Tis worth thy vanish'd diadem!
XIV
Then haste thee to thy sullen Isle,
And gaze upon the sea;
That element may meet thy smile--
It ne'er was ruled by thee!
Or trace with thine all idle hand
In loitering mood upon the sand
That Earth is now as free!
That Corinth's pedagogue hath now
Transferr'd his byword to thy brow.
XV
Thou Timour! in his captive's cage
What thought will there be thine,
While brooding in thy prison'd rage
But one--"The world was mine!"
Unless, like he of Babylon,
All sense is with thy sceptre gone,
Life will not long confine
That spirit pour'd so widely forth--
So long obey'd--so little worth!
XVI
Or, like the thief of fire from heaven, Wilt thou withstand the shock And share with him, the unforgiven, His vulture and his rock! Foredoom'd by God--by man accurst, And that last act, though not thy worst. The very Fiend's arch mock; He in his fall preserved his pride, And, if a mortal, had as proudly died!
XVII
There was a day--there was an hour.
While earth was Gaul's--Gaul thine--
When that immeasurable power
Unsated to resign
Had been an act of purer fame
Than gathers round Marengo's name,
And gilded thy decline.
Through the long twilight of all time,
Despite some passing clouds of crime.
XVIII
But thou forsooth must be a king,
And don the purple vest.
As if that foolish robe could wring
Remembrance from thy breast.
Where is that faded garment where
The gewgaws thou wert fond to wear,
The star, the string, the crest
Vain froward child of empire! say,
Are all thy playthings snatched away
XIX
Where may the wearied eye repose
When gazing on the Great;
Where neither guilty glory glows,
Nor despicable state
Yes--one--the first--the last--the best
The Cincinnatus of the West,
Whom envy dared not hate,
Bequeath'd the name of Washington,
To make man blush there was but one!
UMS presents Andras Schiff, Piano
Beethoven Piano ?onatas
Journey Towards the Unknown
Beethoven's Sonatas Opp. 90, 101, and 106 Andras Schiff in conversation with Martin Meyer
Concert VII
Martin Meyer: The generally accepted view is that Beethoven's late piano sonatas begin with the eminor Sonata Op. 90. It's a work in which the composer creates a turning point, out of which a progression towards increasingly bold forms' and thoughts gives rise to what could be called an experimental style. Do you go along with this evaluation
Andras Schiff: By and large, yes. Op. 90 marks a threshold or dividingline, and the music's effect and sound are now much more radical: on the one hand more economical, and on the other hand more revolutionary from the point of view of its construction. We may also note that the virtuoso element, that was still given free reign in the finale of the "Les Adieux" Sonata Op. 81a, for instance, is progressively sublimated. But, as always with Beethoven, it's dangerous to generalize. Each work has to be understood in its own right. That doesn't, of course, apply only to the piano sonatas.
Are you thinking about the chamber music
Certainly. Or about the wonderful song cycle An die feme Geliebte. The years after 1814 present us with a composer whose output proceeds in less linear fashion, but for that reason, digs all the more deeply. The notion of confessional music may sound altogether too exalted, but it's not wrong nevertheless. Processes of fermentation take place, out of which magnificently rich and varied structures arise. Around the period of the Sonata Op. 90 one could mention, for instance, the fminor String Quartet Op. 95, with its extremely concentrated gestures; or the socalled "Archduke" Trio Op. 97, and the wonderfully lyrical Sonata for Violin in G Major Op. 96, which show Beethoven's invention at its most expansive. And with the last six piano sonatas in particular, we have to be careful to allow the character of the instrument to play its part, so that the piano definitely functions as a means of expression, or a medium--a "bearer" of Beethoven's innermost thoughts.
That of course doesn't mean that it applies only to his introverted side: a work such as the "Hammerklavier" Sonata Op. 106 is in many ways "externally" written throughout.
What's striking is the way the thematic economy and motivic compression increases. In comparison with the middle period, the coherence of the functional elements has noticeably increased.
Beethoven does indeed work more and more with small cells and motifs which become very strongly interwoven, without of course giving any impression of being forced. On the contrary, we hear a splendid combination of order and freedom. But the structure binds all the gestures and cumulative energy together, while in the background the intensive preoccupation with Bach and with contrapuntal techniques makes itself felt. Largescale fugatos occur, and in the case of the "Hammerklavier" Sonata almost the entire finale is in the form of a fugue.
What skills does the performer who involves himself with the complex, multilayered world of the late sonatas have to demonstrate
First of all, the pianist has to know what's involved from the point of view of content, structure, and development. He also has to be aware of the unity of the genre since its beginnings with the triptych of Op. 2 sonatas. A chronological performance of the entire cycle, moreover, has the advantage that both the performer and the audience experience how Beethoven makes new discoveries and transformations right up to the end. In that respect, he's kind of a late developer. After all, let's not forget the metaphysical side, which plays a prominent part in the late works up to the Missa solemnis and the last string quartets. It's true that profundity was there from the beginning, and that the melancholy grandeur of a movement such as the "Largo e mesto" from the Sonata Op. 10, No. 3 is unsurpassable;
but of course the late works are imbued with an enormously bold spirit, which is why the performer probably has to draw on a certain maturity of his own. As far as I myself am concerned, I had more reservations in my earlier years about the "heroic" middle period, but I've long since overcome them.
Too much respect and reverence towards the last sonatas can no doubt also lead to inhibitions. In his isolation, the great composer acquired qualities that are inherent in the works, too, such as humor, wit, surprise, and deliberate provocation.
You're absolutely right. And although I believe too much respect is better than too little, the performer should not only seek out "last thoughts." In all six sonatas of the last period, there are moments, and sometimes even whole movements, that subvert the music's seriousness, and show us what you could call the composer's humorously angry or playfully improvisatory side.
Some pianists, such as Vladimir Horowitz, thought--or think--that at least the works from Op. 101 to Op. Ill are not really suitable for performance in the concerthall, because they are too intimate and too "personally" conceived.
I'm not at all in agreement with that--on the contrary, these works are such deeply human documents that it would be an absolute sin to keep them secret. And to be provocative for a moment, what right has someone who so passionately loved Rachmaninoff's Sonata No. 2, for instance, to make a judgment of that kind What's true is that the spiritual and philosophical sides play a significant role in these works. And it's also the case that at the time Beethoven composed his late works he had long ceased to be concerned with his own abilities as a pianist and selfpromoter of his music: he wrote them out of his inner hearing and thoughts, and would hardly have had public performance in mind in the first instance. The intimacy I mentioned would apply, then, to a dialectic between heaven and earth, between the spheres of spiritual and material manifestations, between spontaneity and artistic deliberation. But to conclude from that that these pieces aren't to be performed in front of a larger audience is something I would say was misguided. Shakespeare also creates profoundly metaphysical arguments with reference to the peaks and troughs of human nature, without any ban on stage performance
being imposed as a result. So if we take the "Hammerklavier" Sonata, for instance, its orchestral writing demands a corresponding breadth, and the same would hold true for example with the second movement of the Sonata Op. 101, or the opening movement of Op. 111. Of course, it's important, too, to find the right sonority and atmosphere so that the most delicate excursions into subdued and melancholy moments work adequately in the hall. For the rest, the last sonatas have an aura of secrecy. On the one hand, we can explore them almost ad infinitum using the tools of musicological analysis, but on the other hand, beyond any such analysis we feel the inspiration and the presence of the musical material, with the result that their greatness and profundity are in no way hidden to the layman.
The Sonata No. 27 in e minor, Op. 90, of 1814, is restricted to two movements. For the last time Beethoven tums to this rather unusual dramaturgy--to convey a specific dialectic of emotional expression
Let's not forget that Op. 111 also unfolds in two movements. But it's true that there we're much less conscious of the twomovement design. As far as Op. 90 is concerned, an anecdote was recorded by Anton Felix Schindler: Beethoven apparently wanted to depict the courtship of the sonata's dedicatee, Moritz von Lichnowsky, with the first movement being perceived as the "struggle between the head and the heart," and the second as a "conversation with the loved one." Well, even if this were not to be true, it would be a good invention, because in many respects there's a dualism that's clearly audible. The first movement--with its unusually emphatic heading, in German, of "Mit Lebhaftigkeit und durchaus mit Empfindung undAusdruck" (With liveliness, and with feeling and expression throughout)--wavers between an assertive idea in decisive chords, and a more pleading and entreating gesture. The second movement, on the other hand, with its broad lyrical breath and the manifold repetitions of its main theme, has the effect of a Song Without Words in its predominantly gentle register.
7b put it another way, what we hear are opposing forces at work: on the one hand, in the duality of the opening movement itself; and on the other hand, in the relationship between this movement, which is on the whole energetically composed, and the concluding second movement.
Exactly. To that extent, the first movement is reminiscent of the opening movement of the
Sonata Op. 54, which similarly has only two movements. But--and this is characteristic of the later Beethoven--the thematic and rhythmic progress is much more terse in Op. 90. Because the initial gesture, played forte--the "head" motif, if you like--extends over no more than two bars, and the answer--the "heart" motif, played piano--follows immediately, again in two short bars. The drama changes in the most confined of spaces: the angular, and even gruff cheek by jowl with soothing moments of calm, and with corresponding variation. And in addition, while the first eight bars unfold with absolute clarity, from bar nine onwards a complex legato line develops, polyphonically scored as though for a string ensemble. Bars 1724 then provide a third eightbar stage within the framework of the beginning, with a striking twofold descending leap from the treble to the middle register forming a spatial "sigh."
The piano as a theatrical stage of opposing "interests" and types of movement--is this the underlying signature of the work's progress
You could generalize it in that way. But the collective details of such conflicts are certainly important. If we look at the dynamics, the first movement oscillates between pianissimo and absolutely orchestral fullblooded fortissimo chords. If we examine the intervals, we find huge leaps. If we study the rhythm, the opening sounds almost like a siciliano, while the subsidiary theme unfolds in a flowing semiquaver motion. And finally, if we start from the point of view of the mood we find paleness--for instance, in the rising bare octaves--juxtaposed with lyrical calm, or the flow of melodic events side by side with the uneasy hesitations of pauses and fermatas. This is the late style, inasmuch as the individual "events" are very compactly organized, and although with the dialectic between "head" and "heart," Beethoven establishes narrative events. The theatrical stage you mentioned is narrowly laid out as far as both time and space are concerned.
That's also evident from the fact that the exposition is not repeated, and instead dissolves out of an almost eerie stillness into the development, in which sudden modulatory expanses prevail.
That, in the strictest sense, is economy allied with poetry. For example, in many places the main theme is condensed into increasingly short sequences, and the motifs run together mainly
vertically. Only in the wonderfully ornamental semiquaver passages which shape the development section and shift the voiceleading from the treble to the tenor in the left hand is there a kind of broadening of the sonority. Yet if we consider the canonic leadin to the recapitulation, a truly amazing concentration occurs: the main theme is reduced to three notes, in diminution and augmentation, and it's subjected to deconstruction, so to speak, with the two voices converging and overlapping in an altogether abstract manner. Here, we cross the threshold to the late works, which manipulate similar foreshortenings of material with increasing rigor.
A word or two about the coda of this first movement, which--unlike in the opening movements of the majority of the earlier sonatas--doesn't provide a firmly delineated "ending."
The f unaion of the coda is to leave what has gone before deliberately open. In a long ritardando that fades away to pianissimo the sighing phrase intensifies into a kind of helplessness. So the coda doesn't mark an ending, but provides a transition: it builds, or rather delineates a bridge to the concluding movement, with the ritardando followed by an a tempo in which the main theme's third, "feminine" phrase hovers like a wary expectation of what is to come.
Beethoven headed the finale, too, with an indication of its tempo and character in German: "Nicht zu geschwind und sehr singbar vorzutragen" (To be played not too fast, and in a very singing manner). The opposing forces of the first movement seem to have given way to broadly lyrical calm and appeasement. Schubert "avant la lettre"
Schubert of course knew the sonata, and it's true that his own, unfinished, eminor Sonata D. 566 has a second movement, also in E Major, that carries out a similarly lyrical "horizontal" structure of theme and sonority. The figuration of Beethoven's semiquaver accompaniment might also remind us of Dieschone Mullerin, and associations with Mendelssohn and his Songs Without Words aren't inadmissible, either. The rondo theme, which is always reprised in the home key of E Major, has something of a folk song about it: the German movementheading provides an indication as to its gentleness and charm. Long paragraphs predominate, and the rondo has certain elements of a sonata design. The dynamic markings, and broader expressive indications, are important: subito piano, for
instance, or dolce or teneramente. They indicate that what's needed is a poetic sonority. But for all the freedom in phrasing and agogics, the basic pulse has to be maintained throughout: the more effusively the repetitions of the main theme unfold, the more steady the underlying tempo has to make itself felt as such.
Arthur Rubinstein once complained that those repetitions were too much of a good thing...
That's an opinion I can't share. Beethoven is a master of variation technique, and of the sometimes subtlest transformations. That's the case here. We have to consider the function of the repetitions within the structure of the piece: they are answers arising out of the requirements of the music's progress. To take just one example: when the rondo theme retums at bar 140, it resolves a passage that has been marked by significant harmonic and "pianistic" events--almost in the nature of a development section. Later, the theme is shortened from its initial complete form, and has the effect of a farewell--at bar 230, for instance. The shifting of the voices creates additional tension within the lyrical dialogue. Or if we finally examine the coda, Beethoven "deconstructs" his material and at the same time disperses it into the polyphony of a string quartet. The guiding principle here is once again openness--right up to the groping rising and falling figuration of the very last bars, which indicate an improvisatory accelerando in order to end a tempo--as though the "endless melody" of the Romantic period had already arrived: a path leading beyond any fixed goal. This questioning ending, which is so terribly hard for the performer to manage, already points the way towards Schumann. If we think back from the point of view of the finale to the sonata's forceful chordal beginning, we can feel the full dialectical weight of a work whose opposing characters exert a magic beyond any convention. So perhaps Schindler's anecdote finds its confirmation in a sublimation through the music itself.
The next Sonata No. 28 in A Major, Op. 101, has a similarly contrasting content, though its four movements offer additional possibilities for exploring formal and psychological structures.
The breadth in expression and form is astonishing. Beethoven pushes forward into the realm of experimental composition which already bears witness to a kind of music of the future. We meet with a remarkably lyrical and extraordinarily heartfelt introduction, in the shape of the opening movement in 68 time,
which at the same time absolutely adheres to the strict logic of a sonata form, with exposition, development, and recapitulation. After that, we come to a march of a defiantly highspirited, partly angry, partly humorous nature, which demands considerable pianistic energy. Then comes a very contemplative "Adagio," almost in baroque melancholy style, which has a transitional function, and which culminates in a quotation of the main theme from the opening movement. And finally the finale storms forth, "geschwinde" (swiftly) and "mit Entschlossenheit" (resolutely), with its development section setting off as a genuine and technically rather awkward fugue.
Beethoven also molds similar elements--for instance, the backwardglancing quotation, or the slow transition--in his CMajor Sonata for Piano and Cello Op. 102, No. 1, and just as in the Sonata Op. 101 the progressive succession of events is very compactly organized.
The fortunate thing is that at no stage do we get the impression that the material has been artificially compressed. On the one hand Beethoven concentrates his style of writing, and on the other hand he creates themes and sonorities that continually evince a positively unreal atmosphere, or at any rate a feeling of the beyond. Beethoven probably never wrote anything for piano that's more heartfelt and poetic than the opening movement of Op. 101. Its effect arises out of both the undulating 68 rhythm, and the music's harmonic shape. The beginning doesn't define the tonic, but the dominant; and with its prominent shifts in voiceleading, the second theme, which unfolds as though made up of cadences, also has a floating and even "romantic" style.
It's known that Wagner was particularly taken with the work.
That's hardly surprising. What Wagner admired in this opening movement was naturally the changing of the various registers, plus the lyrical tension which increases in the pauses, and also no doubt also the shifts in position and bold harmonies in the development section, where the main theme appears only in abbreviated form. In addition, what's fascinating here is the fluctuation between major and minor, the entries of the syncopations and the disguising of the barline. The meter becomes floating, everything is a question and a search, including the chromatic inflections and the dissonant interjections in the chordal passages. The last word is left to the subsidiary theme, in the now
familiar form of fragments, which evaporate with the aid of a long drawnout ritardando in the middle register, and a final fermata.
Beethoven heads the second movement "Lebhaft, Marschmassig" (Lively, in marchstyle), this time with an additional Italian inscription: "Vivace alia Marcia." Vef this march has nothing in common with the composer's other, and more famous, marches, such as the one in the Sonata Op. 26. It's fiery and extroverted in character, and full of strong accents.
As in the opening movement the notational markings are very elaborate, which tells us among other things that the composer had long since had other performers than himself in mind. As far as its mood is concerned, an astringent and strongly rhythmic energy predominates, in which the 44 bar is not to be reduced to an alia breve. A certain spatial breadth has to persist--not least for precision in the dynamics and the trills. But in no way should the piece be governed by "military" uniformity. The dotted rhythm is strongly differentiated, and a few piano oases--the most striking of them being the Dflat Major of bars 30 onwards--or a deliberately absent first beat in bar 26, indicate that there are both pensive and humorous elements. Contrapuntal sequences show the influence of Bach--whose shadow is significant, of course, in the dolce trio section, which is introduced with a distant horn call before the music proceeds in canonic dialogue. And the leadback to the reprise is a masterly stroke, with its pedalpoint in the bass and a mysterious chain of chords slowly descending in the right hand, before the pedalpoint dissolves into the "rocking" sextuplets from the march and a preecho of the march theme itself is heard. In short, it's true that the piece is for the most part extroverted, and that it demands stamina on the part of the performer, as well as the ability to shade and shape the difficult leaps; but the "other" side is there, too, as the quiet exception that establishes the piece in its dialectic. Pianists who merely go after speed and technique absolutely miss the point.
After this comes the "Adagio," marked by Beethoven "ma non troppo, con affetto," and with the additional German heading of "Langsam und sehnsuchtsvoll" (slow and full of longing). Admittedly no more than a short pause of the kind we have already encountered in the "Waldstein" Sonata Op. 53, or the "Les Adieux" Op. 81a.
Events here are carried by ornamentation of an almost baroque rhetoric with arioso interjections, of the kind that can also be found in the contemporaneous DMajor Sonata for Piano and Cello Op. 102, No. 2, whose transition to its fugal finale is closely related in character. It's strongly reminiscent, by the way, of the fantasy from Bach's Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue--a work that Beethoven must surely have known. The chromatic modulator sequences create a vast horizon out of which, after an extended cadenza, the mam theme of the opening movement arises. But the device of the quotation, familiar from other works of Beethoven's late period, undergoes a transformation here, with the theme being altered through significant changes of nuance. Two portentous fermatas interrupt the melodic flow--composed silence, as it were. A chain of trills, at first also unfolding as fermatas, then prepares the ground for the finale. This is at once extremely ingenious construction, and unselfconscious intuition: to have the finale emerging, as it were, out of a superbly complex overture.
The rhythm of its theme is reminiscent of the opening of the early AMajor Sonata Op. 2, No. 2.
Yes, but there a charming lyricism predominates, while here one might think much more readily of an energetic wakeup call. The music is altogether combative, aggressive in the Dionysian sense, lifeaffirming. It even contains "yodeling" bars (4952). The theme itself is quite deliberately conceived in concise terms. This has a further function: it is also eminently suitable as a fugue subject in the development section. However, the development begins rather surprisingly, and in contrast to the mood of the movement's opening, pianissimo and in a minor. Now we are confronted with a complex and technically very demanding passage with contrapuntal offshoots, lyrical intensifications, and sudden thunderous outbreaks--a passage that is additionally laden with long stretches unfolding in thirds and sixths. A few staccato moments show a laconic sense of humor, while parentheses played dolce stem the momentum. Finally, what happens in the coda is interesting. After two hammerblows in double octaves, separated by pauses, it seems as though--if only in pianissimo--another fugato were about to get under way. But far from it! The movement in fact runs its course with the "yodeling" interjections, "wakeup" calls, and lively semiquaver scales, delves briefly into bass trills above which the melody quietly rises and
falls, and finally ends with a tutti of powerful fortissimo chords. The Dionysian festival has the last word, and as though having been wittily effaced, everything that has gone before seems to have been speculative, constructively complex, and the tenderly poetic inception of an "unending" melody.
The Sonata Op. 101 ends fortissimo. The next, Sonata No. 28 in Bflat Major, Op. 106--the soolled "Hammerklavier"--which, like the "Les Adieux" Sonata is dedicated to Archduke Rudolph of Austria, is the only work of its kind for piano that begins with a fortissimo...
Which first of all shows that the cliche of the composer as a wild revolutionary shaking his fist in anger is completely misguided. But the "Hammerklavier" Sonata is of course a major monument, a structure of orchestral breadth, and this has to be made unmistakably clear from the outset. As far as that chordal fanfare is concerned, the quaver upbeat on the low 'Bflat' must for goodness' sake be played by the left hand, as Beethoven notates it, and so too must the following bass chord. Anything that makes this beginning technically easier will fail to do justice to its overwhelming expressive strength.
Greatly admired, and feared by many performers, yet often correspondingly less loved, Op. 106 is a work whose reception betrays at the very least mixed feelings on both sides of the podium.
That's probably so, and there may be reasons for it: while pianists take fright at its technical and mental hurdles, to the listener less familiar with it the piece seems like a monument of impenetrability. Already the opening movement, with its mandatory exposition repeat, is an absolutely draining piece. It's true that the short "Scherzo" offers a certain breathingspace, but the vast "Adagio" draws us into unfathomable depths of tragedy and loss, after which comes the equally colossal fugue which might altogether perplex the listener who knows nothing of counterpoint. And even there, unworldly rapture is coupled with a modern aesthetic of dissonance that puts paid to any mere beauty of sound. As far as the reception of Op. 106 is concerned, you are right: the "Hammerklavier" is acknowledged as a peak, yet it hasn't been greeted with a great deal of affection.
For yourself, that's obviously not the case. You've had the work in your repertoire for a long time.
I don't mind admitting that I love it very much indeed--for its contrapuntal structure, for its virtuoso and conceptual difficulties, and also in particular for its humorous traits, and needless to say its poetic depth. A piece such as the fsharpminor "Adagio" is not just one of the peaks of Western musical history--it affects me, or rather us, in the depths of our mind and spirit.
Could it be that onedimensional performances which stress the sonata's monumental aspect have distorted its true nature
Yes. Anyone who merely brings out its colossal side, in the manner of Michelangelo in music, diminishes its perspectives. As an antidote, let's just refer to the tempo, which Beethoven pinpointed with a metronome marking. Op. 106, incidentally, is the only sonata Beethoven provided with his own metronome markings, so to ignore them completely, as many performers do, seems to me inexcusable. Now then; anyone who takes the half note at 138, as Beethoven marks it, offers both himself and his audience the opportunity to explore the opening movement's dancelike, rhythmicallycharged presence. The same goes for the slow movement if you play it at quaver=92 you have enough in reserve to shape its events freely--that's to say to take the passages of heightened expressiveness correspondingly slower. And the fugue is in any case headed "Allegro risoluto," so that should define its character unambiguously. It has to be admitted that the tempi Beethoven stipulates demand unprecedented level of skill on the part of the pianist. To put it another way, to me the "Hammerklavier" Sonata is probably the hardest work in the whole repertoire of the piano--technically, structurally, atmospherically, metaphysically. I don't even want to mention the effort involved in memorizing it, though that presents a particular challenge, because as was already the case with the Sonata Op. 101 Beethoven is a composer of extremely precise notational markings, and all of that side obviously has to be observed.
His own comment on the sonata has come down to us, that it would keep performers-and, we should add, listeners--busy and challenged in 50 years' time.
That, as we can see nearly 200 years later, was an understatement. The modernity of the "Hammerklavier" Sonata doesn't need any long explanations--its structural and harmonicrhythmic boldness are clearly evident.
What do you see as the work's main ideas and structural landmarks
A decisive role throughout the sonata is played by the interval of the third, whether in its straightforward form, or as a 10th. Right from the very beginning, with the introductory chordal fanfare and the filigree quavermovement that follows it, a great many of the motivic and harmonic events and developments are derived from the third. In addition, mention should be made of the tension between the main key of Bflat Major and its opposite number, b minor. Then attention should be drawn to the dialectic between a strongly energetic interplay of forces and an almost transcendental increase in sublimated expression. The colossal fugue looks back to Bach, while, as already mentioned, its noticeably dissonant frictions suggest the music of the future. Lastly, we shouldn't forget that the sonata is also distinguished by wit, humor, and playfulness, and a pertinent amount of "improvisational" gestures, as it were--all working against the illusion of a monumental work set in stone and of immovable solemnity.
The first movement is a piece of absolutely symphonic proportions. Is it piano music at all-or rather imaginary music of the spheres forced into the makeshift confines of the instrument
I wouldn't go that far. Many passages are pianistically conceived throughout, while--as always with Beethoven--others have more the feel of chamber or orchestral music. But an orchestration of the work, such as Felix Weingartner carried out, for instance, only serves to prove how clearly it was composed for the piano. Let's not forget, too, that for some years Beethoven had owned an instrument made by the firm of Broadwood, which had an extended bassrange. He had used those low notes enthusiastically and to great effect since the Sonata Op. 101. And although in Op. 106 the latter half of the opening movement's second subject, for instance, is scored very much in string quartet style, there are other elements which produce a most beautiful sonority on the piano--both the "Vivat Rudolphus" motif of the beginning, which goes back to a sketch containing ideas for a cantata in honor of Archduke Rudolph of Austria, and the broad legato lines in the later course of the piece.
Beethoven still works in the traditional framework of first subject, second subject, and closing subject, but within these terms of reference, new motivic cells appear which enrich the material.
That's an important observation for performers too. The pianist has to pay attention not only to motivic details of that kind, but must also articulate in larger blocks in order to convey the necessary overview. In addition, it's of central importance for the harmonic milestones to be adequately represented--the main subject's surprising turn onto a radiant DMajor chord (bar 38) already paves the way for the GMajor regions of the second subject with its strongly contrasting legato sonority. No less splendid is the way the composer creates a transition from the end of the exposition into the central development, using various harmonic registers.
At that point, out of the fermatas and pauses there arises--again not entirely expectedly-a canonic f ugato: counterpoint plus rhythm.
Here on one side floats the spirit of Bach, and on the other side Beethoven allows himself a striking anticipation of the concluding fugue. This fugal stage of the development obviously mustn't sound pompous--what's needed is much more of a dancelike motion. And equally, in the coda any hint of cliches has to be avoided. The extreme dynamic contrasts between pianissimo and fortissimo, for instance, together with the dissonant growling deep in the bass have humorous traits.
77ie second movement is similarly organized along the lines of contrast: a "Scherzo" of small dimensions which is disrupted just before the reprise with a rushing prestissimo scale from the bass up to the treble.
Late Beethoven is full of disruptions of that kind, bringing an explosion of revolutionary accents into play. This scherzo goes by swiftly. The trio section in bflat minor, with its semplice triplet motion containing a hidden version of the "Eroica" Symphony's opening theme, presents eerie opposing forces to the strongly rhythmical material of the movement's beginning. And just as we do in the symphony, we find the interval of the third at work again. The fact that the trio section doesn't immediately lead back into the scherzo is certainly unorthodox: instead there's an idiosyncratic, erratically moving presto in 24 time. When I was once playing the sonata to my teacher Gyorgy Kurtag, he commented that Beethoven had composed a czardas at this point--a telling observation! The way the piece evaporates so "innocently" at the end in a weightless pianissimo is very witty, too.
The following "Adagio sostenuto" in fsharp minor is serious, and indeed deeply tragic-a
mass of spoken and sung gestures of despair of a kind that has no equal in Beethoven's output of sonatas.
You could describe it as music of inner sorrow, despite the fact that the scene gradually opens up and lightens. One could speculate endlessly about this movement. A few central points will have to suffice for our discussion. The first is that this "Appassionato e con molto sentimento" unfolds in a state of meditation. By the way, it was only at the last moment before the piece was engraved that Beethoven added the first bar, which, with its slowly rising third in octaves, contributes an intake of breath laden with philosophical gloom. On the other hand, from bar 27 onwards, where "con grand espressione" is explicitly marked, we hear lyrical, perhaps even operatic passion in the treble and its ornamentation. New sonorities and spaces open up. That affects the voiceleading, which now becomes increasingly rich, and also the layout of the variations that unfold.
But the movement as a whole presents a sonata form of admittedly unusual dimensions-that's to say, exposition, development, recapitulation, and coda.
What's notable nevertheless is that while it's true that this structure is easy to make out in the score, in playing or listening to the piece it's much less obvious, because it's the poetic side that dominates as an expressive force with its slow iambuses and intricate whispered figuration. Beethoven produces absolutely astonishing effects of sonority, which make the "deconstruction" of the main theme in the final part of the coda all the more haunting. Following a wideranging journey of the passions the movement ends at once laconically and full of expectation on a pianissimo held chord of Fsharp Major.
A catharsis or another transition At any rate, Beethoven does without the dramaturgically important tensioncreating device of the fermata.
I would say it's without doubt a transition. Because the question is this: how do we get from Fsharp Major back to the home key of Bflat Major The interlude that follows, going from largo to the frenzied prestissimo AMajor chords hammered out fortissimo fulfill this function. But as the first bars rise upwards out of the bass in F Major, they create the character of a genesis and rebirth. After that, the individual episodes exhibit a downright joy
in improvisational playing--they even have very precise associations with certain preludes from both books of Bach's WellTempered Clavier.
The fugue itself formally pays homage to Bach--even though Beethoven doesn't adhere strictly to the textbook throughout, claiming instead "alcune licenze."
On the one hand, this threepart fugue is of course an homage; but on the other hand, in its thematic working, its expression and the wealth of its variations, it leaves any imaginable Baroque model far behind. The theme, which incidentally begins with a leap of a 10th, is extremely broadly conceived, so that it engenders ipso facto a certain complexity. It's important here, too, to think in broad brushstrokes and to bring out the landmarks. Otherwise the technical finesse--inversion, diminution, augmentation, retrograde motion, stretto, etcetera-disappears in a diffuse mire of greyness. Much of the music, particularly in its dissonant friction and its rhythmic explosiveness, puts paid to any aesthetic of the "beautiful." Another moment, such as the otherworldly central episode in D Major (bar 250 onwards), which admittedly isn't maintained for long, soothes us again, and reminds us in its transcendental claims of, for instance, the "Benedictus" from the Missa solemnis. Humorous elements return, too: for example, the unison bars at the end--because, if I may put it this way, what have unisons got to do with a fugue In short, the last movement of this monumental work couples a "modern" restlessness arising out of experimentation and constructive energy, with moments of reverie. Just think of the flickering doubletrills in the coda, before the main fugue subject starts up again with the "Tempo I". Here we have a presentiment, however distant of the future out of which the "Arietta" of Op. 111 will be formed.
Translation by Misha Donat.
UMS presents Andras Schiff, Piano
Beethoven Piano ?onatas
Reaching for the Stars
Beethoven's Piano Sonatas Opp. 109, 110, and 111 Andras Schiff in conversation with Martin Meyer
Concert VIII
Martin Meyer: Beethoven's last three piano sonatas, composed between 1820 and 1822, stand as a kind of testament or legacy for posterity, and right up to our time their reception has been correspondingly respectful. Why this deep--and, it would seem, occasionally almost mystical--admiration
Andras Schiff: Because both on the analytical and the emotional plane we can hear that the composer once again conceived of creating something extraordinary, and did indeed create it. Beethoven's drafts and sketches show us that he didn't just proceed chronologically. Some of the ideas for the individual sonatas overlap, which strengthens the significance of the triptych. Once again in three works of very different, and yet also occasionally analogous content, problems of the genre are examined and surmounted with revolutionary solutions.
All the same, some of the Bagatelles Op. 119 and the set Op. 126 came after them--as did above all the monumental Diabelli Variations, whose humorous and dancelike structure undermines the notion of the farewell to the piano, as presented in the second movement of Op. 111, in cryptic fashion.
That's true. And yet, on the one hand the Diabelli Variations are as much an expression of speculative profundity as they are of wittily virtuosic explorations of a theme that is in itself harmonically naive; and on the other hand we can ascertain many connections between individual forms and genres within the late works--the six late string quartets, for instance, could be mentioned, but especially the Missa solemnis whose metaphysical shadow also falls across certain moments in the last three sonatas. In short, Beethoven's late years show us that thought and feeling create a unity that far transcends specific details.
Vet at the same time the works in question display a greatly heightened individuality of events. The Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109 ends with a largescale variation movement forming the main weight of the work; Sonata No. 31 in Aflat Major, Op. 110 concludes with a fugue; and in the Sonata No. 32 in c minor, Op. 111, the composer makes an unexpected return to a twomovement form.
The twomovement form of the cminor Sonata is absolutely intentional. Any supposition that it could have anything to do with a torso lacking a conclusion is absurd. That's something that Thomas Mann, in his novel Doktor Faustus, recognized better than certain academics, when he expressly philosophized about the second movement's air of leavetaking. As is well known, Beethoven had already written twomovement sonatas, and he was familiar with the similar designs by Haydn, which could have served as his model. As a general point about the individualization you mentioned, it needs to be seen against the background of an extremely polyphonic late style. In addition, in contrast to the Classical sonatamovement scheme, it is the throughcomposed whole, taken as a synthesis of individual fragments and variations, that dominates. But that's something we can already hear to a certain extent in Mozart, if we think, for instance, of the unorthodox design of the AMajor Sonata K. 331.
Beethoven had presented groups of three works ever since the beginning of his sonata output. He was always concerned with drawing out a full spectrum of the most varied characters. But in the case of the last three sonatas, the framework isn't only ruptured because the works carry individual opus numbers. It becomes much more difficult to assign a specific profile to Op. 109111.
There is indeed a difficulty here--not only for the listener, but also--and particularly--for the performer. Whereas the character of the socalled "Tempest" Sonata Op. 31, No. 2 or its neighbor the GMajor Sonata Op. 31, No. 1 can be described with relative ease--dramatic and elegiac, or witty, ironic, and scherzolike, respectively--the last three sonatas resist a generalized description of that kind. It's true that like all the previous sonata triptychs they consist of two sonatas in the major and one in the minor, but that's the limit of what they have in common.
It seems that contrasts in internal structure are taken to an extreme: Beethoven shows himself asa dramatist of the unexpected. You could even say that everything obeys an uncompromising aesthetic--one that is no longer primarily concerned with piano sonority.
Certainly. If you think of the Sonata Op. 109, its floatingly lyrical beginning would never lead you to suspect that it would be shattered by the following prestissimo, with its absolutely demonic outbursts. The Aflat Sonata Op. 110 starts out with astonishing simplicity, both in its melodic phrases and their accompaniment. On the other hand the scherzo, with its references to two popular tunes, bursts out wild und lustig (wildly and merrily), as Schumann's Davidsbundlertanze has it, and the slow movement's arioso song of mourning embraces worlds of indescribable grief. Or Op. 111: the opening movement reminds us of Dante's Inferno, while the Arietta's variations strive ever higher towards paradise. But such literary descriptions in themselves simplify the very complex harmonic and rhythmic interrelationships.
In addition the time spans of the three works are extremely concentrated. As a rule, the total time of their performance comes to less than 90 minutes.
That makes their interpretative unfolding all the more demanding! Each one of the sonatas is far shorter than the average act of a Wagner opera; but if I may say so, there is in my opinion far more in this music... It's true, though, that Wagner valued the sonatas highly, and may well have learned a thing or two from them.
Let's go into details. What are the challenges that have to be met in the EMajor Sonata Op. 109 Where are the work's crucial moments and turning points
On the one hand, a great deal--and especially the wonderfully songlike opening--sounds as though it's being improvised. On the other hand, the material is worked out down to the smallest detail, as can already be gleaned from the many performance indications and directions in the piece. To translate all this into the reality of sound and time spans is almost impossible. All the same, any impression of pedantry must be avoided: the text should unfold of itself, as though spontaneously. The main theme breaks off after only eight bars, and the pulse is taken over by the second theme--"Adagio espressivo"--which, with its bold harmonic developments venturing as far afield as Dsharp Major, shows quite a different face. What's needed, then, is a "synthetic" manner of thought and hearing that embraces both aspects of the material at once.
The opening movement's main theme is related to the finale of the GMajor Sonatina Op. 79, with the same ascending and descending series of intervals featuring in both works. Is the composer quoting himself
We can't be that sure about his intentions, but the harmonic sequence is indeed exactly the same, and Beethoven was of course fully aware of it. Yet the effect of the theme in Op. 109 is much more floating and poetic, and furthermore we hear a subtle kind of polyphony. On both the contrapuntal and the modulatory level this evolves in the development section, without using the second theme altogether, into something more dramatic, although the music (and the pianist needs to take note of it!) unfolds largely in piano. Only from bar 42, following the sforzatopiano accents, does Beethoven indicate a crescendo. Eventually the reprise flows into a truly radiant forte, and the intervals between treble and bass expand to enormous proportions. This is the pure late style.
Motivically, as a "general denominator" we hear the interval of the third, which had already characterized fundamental aspects of the
material and structure in the "Hammerklavier" Sonata Op. 106.
In Op. 109 the third fulfills a much less commanding or "proclamatory" role, although it is almost omnipresent. It provides for various ambiguities, particularly in the play of light and shade between major and minor, as we hear above all in the coda. Moreover, the fact that the chorale implicit in the main theme is only expressed in static chords in the coda strengthens the music's emotion. It finally ends without a firm conclusion, with the last fermata anticipating the storm of the prestissimo to come. It's precisely this sense of pushing forward in the domain of time that signals cyclical composition of a kind we can already experience in Mozart's cminor Fantasy K. 475, for example.
This second movement rushes by in utmost haste and agitation, as though everything that has preceded it has to be thrown into great turmoil.
The dramaturgy certainly alters the landscape to an extreme degree, and we can understand why audiences of the day must have found it disturbing. The cut goes very deep, as we can already infer from the dynamic markings: while the first movement dies away piano, the prestissimo immediately begins with a fortissimo blow. Even the later tums to piano show a restless motion, in which it's nevertheless important for the 68 bar to remain perceptible as such. To play it as a sort of "devil's ride" could obscure the subtle variations Beethoven creates within the overall sonority. For example, when he prescribes a legato in bar 19, it implies that what comes before it should be played nonlegato. And the same principle of a reading based on the overall context governs the tempi, too.
In other words, concerning the markings, the performer constantly has to have their opposite in mind, and to think of their earlier and later significance during the course of the piece
Exactly. That's what makes an interpretative reading of Beethoven's piano sonatas so fascinating, as well as so difficult. As far as the psychology of the movement is concerned, it's
dominated by a profound despair that makes itself felt, for instance, in the passages where the bass line descends chromatically (bars 43 ff.). The very short development section allows the music's energetic forces to revolve mysteriously around themselves, with a pedalpoint tremolo on the note 'Bnatural' for nine bars, and then another on 'C for four bars. The polyphonic sequences that follow break the motivic material down into increasingly smaller sections--and here Beethoven reveals himself as a master of abstraction, in a manner that later composers could not match. The movement ends abruptly with three chords in crotchets (quarternotes) that are to be played in a dry staccato, which I interpret with the strong downbow of a stringed instrument in mind.
The variation movement brings the sonata to a close in a completely different mood: partly lyrical and cantabile, partly hymnlike--like a process of purification that is reluctant to come to an end.
If I had to name my favorite movement in all 32 sonatas, it would be this one, and it has been that way since my childhood. Beethoven probably never composed anything for piano more heartfelt and full of feeling. And yet once again we can admire the craftsmanship on a structural level, from the thirdmotifs, through the rhythmic transitions, to the trills of the last variation which elevate the sonority into the realm of the unreal. The theme itself has the aspect of a sarabande, or a solemn dance-which doesn't mean that the tempo should be overly slow. And the fact that the theme retums with full expressive weight at the end, albeit in a slightly altered form, reminds us of the Goldberg Variations, so we may wonder if Beethoven actually knew Bach's work.
How would you describe the individual variations in a nutshell
The first one has operatic traits, particularly in the way the upper line is increasingly separated from the accompaniment in the bass. Beethoven's Broadwood piano probably couldn't convey any more than a faint idea of what he had in mind. The second variation, on the other hand, sounds like a mosaic, with fragments of the theme emerging in a pointillistic fashion
designed, of course, to remind us of the work's beginning. Variation three, which unfolds in an "Allegro vivace," departs still further from its thematic model, and actually introduces new material in the nature of a character variation. On top of that, it assumes the function of a scherzo, so to speak. And the fourth variation introduces a fourpart counterpoint, but it's done with unusual tenderness and warmth, even where Beethoven ventures a fortissimo.
The fifth variation, on the other hand, transforms the sonority into something more muscular, and resumes the style of the fugal sections from the finale of the Sonata Op. 101.
It's a specific homage to Bach. Its alia breve time signature indicates decisiveness and the fugal technique is as though chiseled out of granite, producing a marked contrast both to the fourth variation and to the penultimate one that follows. The latter diminishes the notevalues into increasingly shorter units, yielding the impression of a dissolution of time and melody, in a manner that we hear again in the "Arietta" of Op. 111. The trills mark the culmination of this process: they are deeply expressive, while the figuration in 32ndnotes delineates the harmonic spectrum. When the theme retums, it dearly forms an ending, yet at the same time the simple triad in the right hand suggests openendedness. After a conclusion of that kind, applause should really not be allowed.
The opening of the next Sonata No. 31 in Af lat Major, Op. 110 is similarly imbued with feelings of warmth and lyricism. But that feeling of restfulness doesn 'f last for long: once again the mood is broken by a quick second movement which introduces an element of danger.
The first movement--a "Moderato cantabile molto espressivo," for the opening of which the composer even adds the rather rare marking of con amabilita--breathes an atmosphere of calm and relaxation, even in the development section (once again it is kept short), where the modulations roam in the minor. The poetic key of Aflat Major, which we are familiar with from Op. 26, yields a correspondingly soft sonority. After the fourvoiced opening,
Beethoven develops a wonderful aria over the simplest imaginable accompaniment. Then comes a series of cascading 32ndnotes (demisemiquavers) descending and rising far up into the treble, in which the dots placed above every fourth note don't really indicate a staccato, but a slight stress. Later (from bar 32 onwards), an element of improvisation should make itself felt.
The development section introduces contrapuntal leanings, emphasized by the music's spaciousness. A remarkable feature in the recapitulation is the way in which the key of E Major emerges, and is led back into the home key after a few bars by a chromatic descent in bare octaves. The coda allows the piece to end very gently and delicately--though three bars before the end the rising fourths of the finale's fugue theme are hidden in the righthand part.
Beethoven's tempo for the impetuous second movement is "Allegro molto," introducing--as in the Sonata Op. 109--a strong contrast.
Absolutely. And yet what we have here is not so much demonically agitated energy as boisterous anger, humorously underlined by the popular tunes. This isn't tragic music, and only a ritardando extending over three bars in the second half of the main section sounds like a hesitant, and perhaps even plaintive plea, before two fortissimo hammerblows return us to the music's original character.
The trio section, with its syncopated rhythm and its eighthnote (quaver) figuration tumbling repeatedly down, is pianistically notoriously tricky.
It most certainly is. And if the performer has to work hard on them, he might find consolation in the fact that the composer himself labored on them for a long time before he knocked them into shape, as his many sketches show. However, the coda leaves us in limbo: the FMajor chord held by the pedal forms a mysterious question mark and increases the tension of the transition to the "Adagio ma non troppo."
This Adagio is one of the greatest confessional moments in all Beethoven. Of its biographical
background we know that only shortly before, the composer had recovered from a serious illness.
That may help explain the incredibly subjective role of events in it. But much more important is what Beethoven assimilates at the same time into the objective form of a sonata movement that ventures into absolutely new territory. The introductory bars are followed by a free recitative, whose rhetorical quality is not bound either to a meter or a barline. Furthermore, the tempo changes here more or less the whole time, until we reach the threshold where the famous Klagende Gesang, or Song of Mourning, begins. This sounds like a quotation from Bach's St. John Passion, that's to say like the aria "Es ist vollbracht."
Which can then no longer conceal the sufferings of soul, spirit and body--a moving De profundis
On the one hand, yes. On the other hand, the Klagende Gesang or "Arioso dolente," with its 1216 bar--which, incidentally, shouldn't be taken too slowly--leads with curious steadfastness to its resolution. It dissolves into bare octaves, in order to stride out after the fermata into the 68 meter of the first part of the fugue. Aflat minor lightens into Aflat Major, and time is transformed wholly organically into brightness and light, in an aspect of convalescence, if you like. The threepart fugue already attests to this through its texture, which is both transparent and contrapuntally strictly maintained. The rising fourth governs the process, which leads through various modulations...
...and which is nevertheless interrupted! Beethoven goes back to the "Arioso" once more, this time even with the psychological marking of "Ermattet, klagend" (weary, lamenting)--as though the fugue hadn't yet gathered sufficient strength.
This is another of the bold innovations that characterize the sonata. The reprise of the arioso is of course more intense, with the despair raised to a higher level, and full of hopelessness. As far as the agogics of its performance are concerned, as occasionally
in Mozart and later often in Chopin, the two hands should hardly ever go down together in strict time. The chord struck 10 times deep in the bass, like beils or the chiming of a dock, gradually creates new light--a G Major that paves the way for the inversion of the fugue theme, at first like a hardwon plateau. The contrapuntal events are expanded by augmentations and diminutions, in which it should be noted that the quicker note values, progressively increasing from dottedquarter notes, to eighth notes, 16th notes, and 32nd notes, are not intended to convey a quicker tempo.
From bar 168, where the 16th notes are "drawn out" by 32nd notes, most pianists play noticeably faster.
Wrongly so! Charles Rosen, in opposition to Alfred Brendel, correctly demonstrated that the tempo direction of "Meno Allegro" in the passage in question compensates for the more flowing notation. Throughout the six fold diminution with regard to the "tempo primo" the argument still runs on familiar tracks, until the appearance of the original fugue subject in octaves in the bass confirms the whole process. After that, everything strives heavenwards, and we seem to be hearing a whole orchestra with the fugue acquiring the force of a celestial chorale in which, as Alfred Brendel this time aptly says, the music breaks out of the chains of its tribulations thus far. And in contrast to Op. 109 and Op. 111, this penultimate sonata finally ends with an uplifting and radiant fortissimo.
We come to the definitive end of Beethoven's sonata output. With its two strongly contrasted movements. Op. 111 sets a monumental seal on the series. But in what way
If we think of the sonata from the viewpoint of the "Arietta," as its form would demand, then it has to be preceded by a movement that conjures up the power of fate once again. And the introductory "Maestoso," with its diminishedseventh gestures, already seems to lift heavy weights. Like the angry bass entries in Mozart's cminor Fantasy, for instance, the music here demands a sense of outcry and drama. And the trill eruptions on the 'G' deep
in the bass, forming a pedalpoint transition to the "Allegro con brio ed appassionato," are like an earthquake.
The Allegro is peppered with unison passages, though the dramatic structure is enhanced though contrapuntal episodes. In addition there are the many "obstinate" sforzati--the aggressive mood is unmistakable.
We could also mention the wide intervals between the highest treble register and the deep bass, or the fact that the consolatory second subject in Aflat Major is allowed so little time to unfold. Because shortly after it another fortissimo unison passage puts paid to the momentary calm. This, incidentally, is homage to Mozart's Sonata in a minor K. 310, where the same figuration appears in the closing stages of the opening movement. Quite unusually, Mozart gave the piece the heading of "Allegro maestoso". The death of his mother was the motivating force behind the outburst of suffering. In the development section, Beethoven treats the main theme fugally, while the second subject plays no part, and the coda echoes the preceding atmosphere of shock in the manner of an "after the storm," quite similarly to the coda in the first movement of the "Tempest" Sonata Op. 31, No. 2, which likewise disappears quietly.
The "Arietta" is headed "Adagio molto semplice e cantabile," and it resolves all the preceding conflicts in a variation movement of transcendent resonance.
The theme is, in a manner of speaking, not unique: it surfaces again with the same melodic intervals in the Diabelli Variations. But of course the mood of the two is worlds apart. As far as the tempo is concerned, we have to "parse" the heading, that's to say, not "Adagio molto," but "Adagio" plus "molto semplice e cantabile." A good many performers play it almost unbearably slowly, as if that in itself were a guarantee of profundity. The following variations inhabit a soundworld of very subtly organized polyphony. Like, for example, in the slow movement of the "Appassionata," Beethoven writes progressively smaller note values, but it's important for the 916 bar to be audible as such, as it provides the basic pulse for all the later accelerations.
Can one divide the variation movement into individual stages
The first three variations, with their increase in movement I've already mentioned, certainly belong together. Whereas the first sounds like a lullaby, and the second broadens the polyphonic space, the third shows the strongest rhythmic energy. It's true that there's no break after that, but through a gradual increase in fluidity the music acquires a murmuring quality, with the chords on the second beat seeming like sighs. The leggiermente rising scales then reach up into the metaphysics of the otherworldly, so to speak; and at the end, before the appearance of the trills and doubletrills, the variation form appears to dissolve. And of course since it leaves the home tonality for the region of Eflat Major, this great moment forms one of the landmarks of the whole piece. Here, in the enormous intervals between treble and bass of bars 118119, time really stands still. What comes afterwards is a swansong, a farewell, and at the same time an ascent to the stars, as Thomas Mann so memorably described it. The long trills of the ending are to be understood as expressive and motivic, and when fragments of the theme's beginning are finally heard we have experienced a sort of cosmic world journey. The last righthand chord, a simple CMajor triad, floats away--but where to
Translation by Misha Donat.
UMS
presents
UMS Choral Union
Jerry Blackstone, Music Director and Conductor
Scott Van Ornum, Organ and Piano
Jason Harris, Assistant Conductor
Joel Hastings, Piano
Dane Crazier, Dave Alcorn, Neil Sisauyhoat, and Scott Verduin, Percussion
Three Sacred Pieces
Felix Mendelssohn
Heilig
Heilig, Heilig, Heilig ist Gott der Herr Zebaoth! Alle Lande sind seiner Ehre voll. Hosianna in der Hoh! Gelobt sei der da kommt im Namen des Herrn!
Veni Domine
Veni, Domine, et noli tardare! Relaxa fadnora plebi tuae, et revoca dispersos in terram tuam. Excita, Domine, potentia tuam et veni, ut salvos nos facias.
Frohlocket, ihr Volker auf Erden
Frohlocket, ihr Volker auf Erden
und preiset Gott!
Der Heiland ist erschienen,
den der Herr verheissen.
Er hat seine Gerechtigkeit
der Welt offenbaret.
Halleluja!
Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God of hosts! All lands are full of his Glory Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
Come, Lord, and do not tarry! Forgive the transgressions of Thy people, and return the dispersed to your land. Exert Thyself, Lord, exert Thy power to come and bring our salvation.
Rejoice, you people of Earth
and praise God!
The savior has appeared
as the Lord has promised.
He has to his righteous
of the world revealed Himself.
Alleluia!
AllNight Vigil, Op. 37 (excerpts) Sergei Rachmaninoff
No. 1: Priidite, poklonimsia Based on Psalm 95:6
Priidite, poklonimsia
Tsarevi nashemu Bogu.
Priidite, poklonimsia i pripadem
Hristu Tsarevi nashemu Bogu.
Priidite, poklonimsia i pripadem
samomu Hristu Tsarevi i
Bogu nashemu.
Priidite, poklonimsia i pripadem Yemu.
No. 2: Blagoslovi, dushe moya, Ghospoda Psalm 104:1,6, and 24
Blagoslovi, dushe moya, Ghospoda, blagosloven yesi, Ghospodi. Ghospodi Bozhe moy, vozvelichilia yesi zelo. Blagosloven yesi, Ghospodi. Vo ispovedaniye i v velelepotu obieklsia yesi.
Blagosloven yesi, Ghospodi. Na gorah stanut vodi. Divna dela Tvoya, Ghospodi. Posrede gor proydut vodT. Divna dela Tvoya, Ghospodi. Fsia premudrostiyu sotvoril yesi. Slava Ti, Ghospodi, sotvorivshemu fsia.
No. 3: Blazhen muzh
From Psalms 7, 2, and 3
Blazhen muzh, izhe ne ide
na sovet nechestivih.
Alliluya. alliluya, alliluya.
Yako vest Ghospod put pravednih,
i put nechestivih pogibnet,
Alliluya...
Rabotayte Ghosopdevi so strahom,
i raduytesia Yemu s trepetom,
Alliluya...
Blazheni fsi nadeyushchiisia nan,
Alliluya...
Vbskresni. Ghospodi, spasi mia,
Bozhe moy. Alliluya...
Ghospodne yest spaseniye.
i na liudeh Tvoih Wagostovenrye Tvoye,
Alliluya...
Slava Ottsu. i STnu.
i Sviatomu Duhu.
i nine i prison iv o veki vekov. Amin.
Come, let us worship
God, our King
Come, let us worship and fall down
before Christ, our King and our God.
Come, let us worship and fall down
before the very Christ, our King
and our God.
Come, let us worship and fall down before Him
Bless the Lord, 0 my soul,
blessed art Thou, 0 Lord.
0 Lord my God,
Thou art very great.
Blessed art Thou, 0 Lord.
Thou art clothed with honor
and majesty.
Blessed art Thou, 0 Lord.
The waters stand upon the mountains.
Marvelous are Thy works, 0 Lord.
The waters flow between the hills.
Marvelous are Thy works, O Lord.
In wisdom hast Thou made all things.
Glory to Thee, 0 Lord,
who hast created all!
Blessed is the man, who walks not
in the counsel of the wicked.
Alleluia...
For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
Alleluia...
Serve the Lord with fear,
and rejoice in Him with trembling.
Alleluia...
Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.
Alleluia...
Arise, 0 Lord! Save me,
0 my God! Alleluia...
Salvation is of the Lord;
and Thy blessing is upon thy people.
Alleluia...
Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit, both now and forever
and unto ages of ages. Amen.
Alliluya, alliluya, alliluya, slava Tebe,
Bozhe.
Alliluya, alliluya, alliluya, slava Tebe,
Bozhe.
Alliluya, alliluya, alliluya, slava Tebe,
Bozhe.
No. 5: Nine otpushchayeshi
Luke 2:2932
Mine otpushchayeshi raba
Tvoyego, Vladiko,
po glagolu Tvoyemu s mirom,
yako videsta ochi moi spaseniye Tvoye,
yezhe yesi ugotoval
pred litsem vseh liudey,
svet vo otkroveniye yazikov,
i slavu liudey Tvoih Izrailia.
No. 6: Bogoroditse Devo
Bogoroditse Devo, raduysia, Blagodatnaya Mariye, Ghospod s Toboyu. Blagosloven Plod chreva Tvoyego, yako Spasa rodila yesi dush nashTh
No. 13: Tropar "Dries spaseniye"
Dnes spaseniye miru bist, poyem Voskresshemu iz groba i Nachalniku zhizni nasheya; razrushiv bo smertiyu smert, pobedu dade nam i veliyu milost.
No. 14: Tropar "Voskfes iz groba"
Voskres iz groba i uzT
rasterzal yesi ada,
razrushTI yesi osuzhdeniye
smert, Ghospodi,
fsia ot setey vraga izbaviviy,
yaviviy zhe Sebe apostolom Tvoim,
poslal yesi ya na propoved,
i temi mir Tvoy podal
yesi fselenney,
yedine Mnogomilostive
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, glory to Thee,
OGod!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, glory to Thee,
OGod!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, glory to Thee,
OGod!
Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant
depart in peace
according to Thy word,
for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation,
which Thou hast prepared before
the face of all people--
a light to enlighten the Gentiles,
and the glory of thy people Israel.
Rejoice, o Virgin Theotokos,
Mary full of grace, the Lord is with Thee.
Blessed art Thou among women,
and blessed is the Fruit of Thy womb,
for Thou hast borne the Savior of our souls.
Today Salvation has come to the world.
Let us sing to Him who rose from the dead,
the Author of our life.
Having destroyed death by death,
He has given us the victory and great mercy.
Thou didst rise from the tomb and
burst the bonds of Hades!
Thou didst destroy the condemnation
of death, 0 Lord,
releasing all mankind from the snares of the enerrr
Thou didst show Thyself to thine apostles,
and didst send them forth to proclaim Thee;
and through them Thou hast granted
Thy peace to the world,
O Thou who art plenteous in mercy!
Please turn page quietly...
No. 15: Vzbrannoy voyevode
Vzbrannoy voyevode pobeditelnaya,
yako izbavlshesia ot zli'h,
blagodarstvennaya vospisuyem
Ti Rabi Tvoi,
Bogoroditse:
no yako imushschaya
derzhavu nepobedimuyu,
ot fsiakih nad bed svobodi,
da zovem Ti:
raduysia, Nevesto Nenevestnaya.
The Passing of the Year
Jonathan Dove
Invocation
Text by William Blake
0 Earth, 0 Earth, return!
The narrow bud opens her beauties to the sun
7exf by William Blake
The narrow bud opens her beauty to
The sun, and love runs in her thrilling veins;
Blossoms hand round the brows
of morning, and Flourish down the bright cheek
of modest eve, Till clust'ring Summer breaks forth
into singing. And feather'd clouds strew flowers
round her head.
The spirits of the air live on the smells Of fruit; and joy, with pinions light,
roves round The gardens, or sits singing in the trees.
Summer is icumen in Lhude sing cuccu
To Thee, he victorious Leader
of triumphant hosts, we Thy servants,
delivered from evil,
offer hymns of thanksgiving,
0 Theotokos!
Since Thou dost possess
invincible might,
set us free from all calamities,
so that we may cry to Thee:
"Rejoice, 0 unwedded Bride!"
Answer July
Text by Emily Dickinson
Answer July-Where is the Bee-Where is the Blush-Where is the Hay
Ah, said July-Where is the Seed-Where is the Bud-Where is the May-Answer Thee--Me--
Nay--said the May-Show me the Snow-Show me the Bells-Show me the Jay!
Quibbled the Jay-Where be the Maize-Where be the Haze-Where be the Bur Here--said the Year-
Hot sun, cool fire
Text by George Peele
Hot sun, cool fire, temper'd with sweet air, Black shade, fair nurse, shadow my
white hair: Shine, sun; burn, fire; breathe, air,
and ease me; Black shade, fair nurse, shroud me
and please me: Shadow, my sweet nurse, keep me
from burning, Make not my glad cause, cause of (my)
mourning.
Let not my beauty's fire
Enflame unstaid desire,
Nor pierce any bright eye
That wand'reth lightly.
Ah, Sunflower!
Text by William Blake
Ah, Sunflower! weary of time, Who countest the steps of the Sun, Seeking after that sweet golden clime Where the traveler's journey is done:
Where the Youth pined away with desire, And the pale virgin shrouded in snow Arise from their graves and aspire Where my Sunflower wishes to go.
Adieu! Farewell earth's bliss!
Text by Thomas Nashe
Adieu! farewell earth's bliss! This world uncertain is: Fond are life's lustful joys, Death proves them all but toys. None from his darts can fly: I am sick, I must die-Lord, have mercy on us!
Rich men, trust not in wealth, Gold cannot buy you health; Physic himself must fade; All things to end are made; The plague full swift goes by: I am sick, I must die-Lord, have mercy on us!
Beauty is but a flower Which wrinkles will devour: Brightness falls from the air; Queens have died young and fair Dust hath closed Helen's eye: I am sick, I must die-Lord, have mercy on us!
Ring out, wild bells
Text by Alfred Lord Tennyson
Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, The flying cloud, the frosty light: The year is dying in the night; Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.
Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true.
Ring out the grief that saps the mind, For those that here we see no more; Ring out the feud of rich and poor, Ring in redress to all mankind.
Ring out the want, the care, the sin, The faithless coldness of the times; Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes, But ring the fuller minstrel in.
Ring out old shapes of foul disease; Ring out the narrowing lust of gold; Ring out the thousand wars of old, Ring in the thousand years of peace.
Carmina Burana (excerpt)
Carl Orff
Text from Carmina Burana (ca. 11th13th centuries)
0 Fortuna, velut luna
statu vanabilis,
semper crescis aut decrescis;
vita detestabilis nunc obdurate
et tune curat ludo mentis aciem,
egestatem, potestatem
dissolvit ut glaciem.
Sors immanis et inanis,
rota tu volubilis,
status malus,
vana salus
semper dissolubilis,
obumbrata et velata
michi quoque niteris;
nunc per ludum
dorsum nudum
fero tui sceleris.
Sors salutis
et virtutis
michi nunc contraria,
est affectus
et defectus
semper in angaria.
Hac in hora
sine mora
corde pulsum tangite;
quod per sortem
sternit fortem,
mecum omnes plangite!
0 Fortune, like the moon you are changeable, ever waxing and waning; hateful life first oppresses
and then soothes as fancy takes it;
poverty and power
it melts them like ice.
Fate--monstrous and empty,
you whirling wheel,
you are malevolent,
wellbeing is vain
and always fades to nothing,
shadowed and veiled
you plague me too;
now through the game
1 bring my bare back to your villainy. Fate is against me
in health
and virtue,
driven on
and weighted down,
always enslaved.
So at this hour
without delay
pluck the vibrating strings;
since Fate
strikes down the string man,
everyone weep with me!