UMS Concert Program, : University Musical University - 2010misc --

UMS presents
Stile Antico
Why Fum'th in Fight
Thomas Tallis Psalm 2
Why fum'th in fight, the Gentiles spite,
In fury raging stout
Why tak'th in hand, the people fond,
Vain things to bring about
The Kings arise, the Lords devise,
In counsels met thereto;
Against the Lord, with false accord,
Against his Christ they go.
Vigilate
William Byrd Mark 13:3537
Vigilate, nescitis enim quando dominus domus veniat, sero, an media nocte, an gallicantu, an mane.
Vigilate ergo, ne cum venerit repente, inveniat vos dormientes.
Quod autem dico vobis, omnibus dico: vigilate.
Come Holy Ghost
Tallis
Come Holy Ghost eternal God, Which dost from God proceed. The Father first, and eke the Son, One God as we do read.
Watch ye therefore for you know not when the
lord of the house cometh,
at even, or at midnight, or at the cock crowing,
or in the morning: Watch therefore, lest coming on a sudden,
he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all:
Watch.
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Propers for Pentecost
Byrd
Spiritus Domini
Wisdom 1:7
Spiritus Domini replevit orbem terrarum.
Alleluia. Et hoc, quod continet omnia, scientiam
habet vocis. Alleluia.
Exsurgat Deus, et dissipentur inimici ejus, et fugiant qui oderunt eum a facie ejus.
Gloria Patri et Filio,
et Spiritui sancto. Sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper, et
in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
Confirma hoc
Psalm 67:2930
Confirma hoc Deus, quod operatus es in
nobis. A templo tuo, quod est in Jerusalem, tibi
offerent reges munera. Alleluia.
Factus est repente
Acts 2:2,4
Factus est repente de coelo sonus, tanquam
advenientis spiritus vehementis, ubi erant
sedentes. Alleluia. Et repleti sunt omnes spiritu sancto,
loquentes magnalia Dei.
Alleluia.
Expend, O Lord, My Plaint
Tallis Psalm 5
Expend, 0 Lord, my plaint of word
In grief that I do make.
My musing mind recount most kind;
Give ear for thine own sake.
0 hark my groan, my crying moan,
My King, my God thou art.
Let me not stray, from thee away,
To thee I pray in heart.
The Spirit of the Lord has filled the world.
Alleluia. And that which holds all things together
knows what is said. Alleluia.
Let God arise and scatter his enemies, and let those who hate him flee from his face.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever
shall be world without end. Amen.
Confirm, 0 God, what thou hast wrought
in us. From thy temple in Jerusalem, kings shall offer
presents to thee. Alleluia.
Suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as
of a mighty wind coming where they were
sitting. Alleluia. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,
speaking the wonderful works of God.
Alleluia.
Infelix ego
Byrd
The beginning of Savnoarola's meditation on Psalm 51
Infelix ego, omnium auxilio destitutus, qui coelum terramque offendi. Quo ibo Quo me vertam Ad quern confugiam Quis mei miserebitur Ad coelum levare oculos non audeo, quia ei graviter peccavi. In terra refugium non invenio, quia ei scandalum fui.
Quid igitur faciam Desperabo Absit. Misericors est Deus, pius est salvator meus. Solus igitur Deus refugium meum: ipse non despiciet opus suum, non repellet imaginem suam.
Ad te igitur, piissime Deus, tristis ac moerens venio, quoniam tu solus spes mea, tu solus refugium meum. Quid autem dicam tibi Cum oculos levare non audeo, verba doloris effundam, misericordiam tuam implorabo, et dicam: Miserere mei, Deus, secundum magnam misericordiam tuam.
Man Blest No Doubt Tallis
Psalm 1
Man blest no doubt, who walk'th not out,
in wicked men's affairs;
And stand'th no day, in sinners' way,
Nor sitt'th in scorners' chairs;
But hath his will in God's law still,
This law to love aright;
And will him use, on it to muse,
To keep it day and night.
Unhappy am I, bereft of help on every side; I have offended against heaven and earth. Where shall I go Where shall I turn To whom shall I flee Who will take pity on me I dare not lift up mine eyes to heaven, for against heaven have I sinned greatly. I find no refuge on earth, for there I have become a stumblingblock.
What then shall I do Shall I despair No! God is merciful, my Savior is holy. Therefore God alone is my refuge: he will not despise his own work, nor reject his own image.
To thee, therefore, most holy God, do I come sad and sorrowing, since thou alone art my hope, thou alone my refuge. What then shall I say to thee Since I dare not lift up mine eyes, I will pour forth words of grief, I will invoke thy mercy and say: "Have pity on my, 0 God, in thy great compassion!"
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Quis est homo
Byrd
Psalm 33:1317
Quis est homo qui vult vitam, diligit dies
videre bonos Prohibe linguam tuam a malo, et labia tua
ne loquantur dolutn.
Diverte a malo, et fac bonum: inquire pacem, et persequere earn. Oculi Domini super justos, et aures ejus ad preces eorum. Vultus autem Domini super facientes mala, ut perdat de terra memoriam eorum.
Let God Arise in Majesty Tallis
Psalm 68
Let God arise, in majesty,
And scatt'red be his foes;
Yea flee they all, his sight in face,
To him which hateful goes;
As smoke is driv'n, and comes to nought,
Repulse their tyranny;
At face of fire, as wax doth melt,
God's face the bad might fly.
Exurge Domine
Byrd
Psalm 43:2324
Exsurge Domine, quare obdormis Exsurge, et ne repellas me in finem. Quare faciem tuam avertis Oblivisceris inopiae nostrae et tribulationis nostrae Exsurge, Domine.
God Grant with Grace
Tallis Psalm 67
God grant with grace, he us embrace, In gentle part, bless he our heart; With loving face, thine be his place, His mercies all, on us to fall; That we thy way, may know all day, While we do sail, this world so frail; Thy health's reward, is nigh declared. As plain as eye, all Gentiles spy.
Who is the man that desires life, and prizes length of days that he may see good things
Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.
Turn aside from evil, and do good: seek peace, and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears incline to their prayers. But the face of the Lord is set against evildoers, to blot out all record of them from the earth.
Arise, why sleepest thou, 0 Lord Arise and cast me not off to the end. Why turnest thou thy face away and forgettest our want and our trouble Arise, 0 Lord.
Laetentur Caeli
Byrd Isaiah 49:13
Laetentur coeli, et exultet terra, jubilate montes laudem: quia Dominus noster veniet, et pauperum suorum miserebitur.
Orietur in diebus tuis justitia et abundantia pacis.
E'en Like the Hunted Hind
Tallis Psalm 42
E'en like the hunted hind, the waterbrooks
desire; E'en thus my soul, that fainting is,
to thee would fain aspire; My soul did thirst to God, to God of life
and grace; It said e'en thus, when shall I come, to see
God's lively face
Ne irascaris
Byrd
Isaiah 64:910
Ne irascaris Domine satis,
Et ne ultra memineris iniquitatis nostrae.
Ecce respice populus tuus omnes nos.
Civitas sancti tui facta est deserta. Sion deserta facta est, Jerusalem desolata est.
O Come in One to Praise the Lord
Tallis Psalm 95
0 come in one to praise the Lord
And him recount our stay and health.
All hearty joys let us record
To his strong rock, our Lord of health.
His face with praise, let us present,
His works in sight, let us announce.
Join we I say in glad ascent.
Our psalms and hymns let us pronounce.
Give praise, 0 ye heavens, and rejoice, 0 earth, ye mountains, give praise with jubilation: because our Lord will come, and will have mercy on his poor ones.
In your days shall justice spring up, and an abundance of peace.
Be not very angry, O Lord,
And remember no longer our iniquity:
Behold, see we are all thy people.
The city of thy sanctuary is become a desert, Sion is made desert, Jerusalem is desolate.
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Laudibus in Sanctis
Byrd
Psalm 150, paraphrased in Latin elegiac verse
Laudibus in sanctis Dominum
celebrate supremum: Firmamenta sonent
indita facta Dei. Inclita facta Dei cantate,
sacraque potentis Voce potestatem saepe sonate manus.
Magnificum Domini cantet tuba
martia nomen:
Pieria Domino concelebrate lira. Laude Dei resonent resonantia
tympana summi, Alta sacri resonent organa laude Dei.
Hunc arguta canant tenui psalteria corda, Hunc agili laudet laeta chorea pede. Concava divinas effundant cymbala laudes, Cymbala dulcisona laude
repleta Dei. Omne quod aethereis in mundo
vescitur auris Halleluya canat tempus in omne Deo.
Celebrate the Lord most high
in holy praises: Let the firmament echo
the glorious deeds of God. Sing ye the glorious deeds of God,
and with a holy voice sound forth oft the power of his mighty hand.
Let the warlike trumpet sing the great name
of the Lord:
Celebrate the Lord with Pierian lyre. Let resounding timbrels ring to the praise of
the mosthigh God, Lofty organs peal to his praise.
Him let melodious psalteries sing with fine string, Him let joyful dance praise with nimble foot. Let hollow cymbals pour forth divine praises. Sweetsounding cymbals filled with
the praise of God. Let everything in the world that feeds upon the
air of heaven Sing Halleluia to God for evermore.
Please Note...
Pianist Warren Jones replaces Craig Rutenberg for this afternoon's recital. UMS welcomes Mr. Jones back to Ann Arbor for his sixth UMS appearance. Mr. Jones made his UMS debut in recital with baritone Samuel Ramey in November 1989, and most recently appeared in January 2005 in recital with Stephanie Blythe at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre.
Warren Jones frequently performs with many of today's bestknown artists and is Principal Pianist for the Californiabased chamber music group Camerata Pacifica. He has often been a guest artist at Carnegie Hall and in Lincoln Center's Great Performers Series, as well as the festivals of Tanglewood, Ravinia, and Caramoor. Mr. Jones has been invited three times to the White House by American presidents to perform at concerts honoring the President of Russia and Prime Ministers of Italy and Canada, and he has appeared three times at the US Supreme Court as a specially invited performer for the Justices and their guests. Mr. Jones is a member of the faculty at the Manhattan School of Music in New York, where highly gifted young artists work with him in a unique graduate degree program in collaborative piano. For 10 years he was Assistant Conductor at the Metropolitan Opera and for three seasons served in the same capacity at San Francisco Opera. Born in Washington DC, Mr. Jones grew up in North Carolina and graduated with honors from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.
UMS and the Gardner and Bonnie Ackley Endowment Fund present
Christine Brewer Craig Rutenberg Piano
I
Divinites du Styx from Alceste
Christoph Willibald Gluck (Ranieri de Calzabigi, translation by Kenneth Richardson)
Divinites du Styx! Ministres de la mort! Je n'invoquerai point votre pitie cruelle. J'enleve un tendre epoux a son funeste sort. Mais jc vous abandonne une (Spouse fidele.
Divinit6s du Styx! Ministres de la mort! Mourir pour ce qu'on aime est un
trop doux effort, Une vertu si naturelle. Mon cceur est anime du plus noble transport!
Je sens une force nouvelle.
Je vais ou mon amour m'appelle.
Mon cceur est anime du plus noble transport!
Divinites du Styx! Ministres de la mort! Je n'invoquerai point votre pitie cruelle.
Ye gods of endless night
Almighty gods of death! Immortal fiends of hell! In your cruel embrace, I'll die forever grateful. To save my husband's life, mine is bid farewell: My duty as a wife who is ever faithful.
Almighty gods of death! Immortal fiends of hell! To die for my beloved, is such a
sweet farewell:
A loving gift so true and blissful. My heart is filled with joy as love casts a magic spell.
I fear not death however painful.
To save my husband from a fate so shameful.
My heart is filled with joy as love cats a magic spell.
Almighty gods of death! Immortal fiends of hell! In your cruel embrace, I'll die forever grateful.
II
Wesendonck Lieder, Op. 91 Richard Wagner (Mathilde Wesendonck)
Der Engel
In der Kindheit fruhen Tagen Hdrt ich oft von Engeln sagen, Die des Himmels hehre Wonne Tauschen mit der Erdensonne,
DaB. wo bang ein Herz in Sorgen Schmachtet vor der Welt verborgen, DaS, wo still es will verbluten. Und vcrgehn in Trancnfluten,
DaB, wo brunstig sein Gebet Einzig urn Erlosung fleht, Da der Engel niederschwebt, Und es sanft gen Himmel hebt.
Ja. es stieg auch mir ein Engel nieder, Und auf leuchtendem Gefieder Fuhrt er, fernejedem Schmerz, Meinen Geist nun himmelwarts!
Stehe still!
Sausendes, brausendes Rad der Zeit, Messer du der Ewigkeit; Leuchtende Spharen im weiten All, Die ihr umringt den Weltenball; Urewige Schopfung, halte doch ein, Genug des Werdens, laB mich sein!
Halte an dich. zeugende Kraft. Urgedanke, der ewig schafft! Hemmet den Atem. stillet den Drang, Schweiget nur eine Sekunde lang! Schwellende Pulse, fesselt den Schlag; Ende, des Wollens ew'ger Tag! DaB in selig suBem Vergessen Ich mog alle Wonnen ermessen!
Wenn Aug' in Auge wonnig trinken, Seele ganz in Seele versinken; Wesen in Wesen sich wiederfindet, Und alles Hoffens Ende sich kundet. Die Lippe verstummt in
staunendem Schweigen, Keinen Wunsch mehr will das Innre zeugen: Erkennt der Mensch des Ew'gen Spur, Und lost dein Ratsel, heil'ge Natur!
The Angel
In childhood's early days,
I often heard them speak of angels.
Who would exchange Heaven's sublime bliss
For the Earth's sun.
So that, when an anxious heart in dread Is full of longing, hidden from the world; So that, when it wishes silently to bleed And melt away in a trickle of tears,
So that, when its prayer ardently Pleads only for release, Then the angel floats down And gently lifts it to Heaven.
Yes. an angel has come down to me. And on glittering wings It leads, far away from every pain, My soul now heavenwards!
Be quiet!
Roaring and rushing wheel of time, You are the measurer of Eternity; Shining spheres in the wide universe, You who surround the world globe. Eternal creation, halt! Enough development, let me be!
Cease, generative powers.
The primal thoughts which you are ever creating!
Slow your breathing, still your urge
Silently, only for a second long!
Swelling pulses, fetter your beating.
End, o eternal day of willing!
That in blessed, sweet forgetfulness,
I may measure all my bliss!
When one eye another drinks in bliss, And one soul into another sinks. One nature in another finds itself again. And when each hope's fulfillment is finished. When the lips are mute in
astounded silence,
And no wish more does the heart create, Then man recognizes the sign of Eternity, And solves your riddle, holy Nature!
Im Treibhaus
Hochgewolbte Blatterkronen, Baldachine von Smaragd. Kinder ihr aus fernen Zonen, Saget mir. warum ihr klagt
Schweigend neiget ihr die Zweige. Malet Zeichen in die Luft, Und der Leiden stummer Zeuge Steiget aufwaYts, su6er Duft.
Weit in sehnendem Verlangen Breitet ihr die Arme aus, Und umschlinget wahnbefangen Oder Leere nicht'gen Graus.
Wohl, ich weiB es. arme Pflanze; Ein Geschicke teilen wir. Ob umstrahit von Licht und Glanze. Unsre Heimat ist nicht hier!
Und wie froh die Sonne scheidet Von des Tages leerem Schein. Hullet der, der wahrhaft leidet, Sich in Schweigens Dunkel ein.
Stille wirds. ein sauselnd Weben Fullet bang den dunklen Raum: Schwere Tropfen seh ich schweben An der Blatter grunem Saum.
Schmerzen
Sonne. weinestjeden Abend Dir die schonen Augen rot. Wenn im Meeresspiegel badend Dich erreicht der fruhe Tod;
Doch erstehst in alter Pracht, Glorie der dustren Welt. Du am Morgen neu erwacht, Wie ein stolzer Siegesheld!
Ach, wie sollte ich da klagen, Wie, mein Herz, so schwer dich sehn, MuB die Sonne selbst verzagen, MuB die Sonne untergehn
Und gebieret Tod nur Leben, Geben Schmerzen Wonne nur: 0 wie dank ich, daS gegeben Solche Schmerzen mir Natur!
In the Hothouse
Highvaulted crowns of leaves. Canopies of emerald, You children of distant zones. Tell me, why do you lament
Silently you bend your branches. Draw signs in the air. And the mute witness to your anguish-A sweet fragrance--rises.
In desirous longing, wide
You open your arms.
And embrace through insane predilection
The desolate, empty, horrible void.
I know well, poor plants,
A fate that we share.
Though we bathe in light and radiance,
Our homeland is not here!
And how gladly the sun departs From the empty gleam of the day, He veils himself, he who suffers truly, In the darkness of silence.
It becomes quiet, a whispered stirring Fills uneasily the dark room: Heavy drops I see hovering On the green edge of the leaves.
Anguish
Sun. each evening you weep
Your pretty eyes red.
When, bathing in the mirror of the sea
You are seized by early death.
Yet you rise in all your splendor, Glory of the gloomy world, Newly awakening in the morning Like a proud, victorious hero!
Ah, why should I then lament. Why, my heart, are you so heavy, If the sun itself must despair. If the sun must set
And if Death gives rise only to Life, And pain gives way only to bliss. 0 how thankful I am. that Nature gives me such anguish!
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Traume
Sag. welch wunderbare Traume Halten meinen Sinn umfangen, DaB sie nicht wie leere Schaume Sind in Odes Nichts vergangen
Traume. die in jeder Stunde, Jedem Tage schoner bluhn, Und mit ihrer Himmelskunde Selig durchs Gernute ziehnl
Traume. die wie hehre Strahlen In die Seele sich versenken, Dort ein ewig Bild zu malen: Allvergessen. Eingedenken!
Traume, wie wenn Fruhlingssonne Aus dem Schnee die Bluten ktlBt. DaB zu nie geahnter Wonne Sie der neue Tag begruBt,
DaB sie wachsen. daB sie bluhen, Traumed spenden ihren Duft, Sanft an deiner Brust vergluhen, Und dann sinken in die Gruft.
Ill
Ich liebe dich, Op. 37, No. 2
Richard Strauss (Detlev von Liliencron)
Vier adlige Rosse voran unserm Wagen. wir wohnen im Schlosse in stolzem Behagen.
Die Fruhlichterwellen und nachtens der Blitz, was all sie erhellen, ist unser Besitz.
Und irrst du verlassen. verbannt durch die Lande; mit dir durch die Gassen in Armut und Schande!
Es bluten die Hande. die FuBe sind wund. vier trostlose Wande, es kennt uns kein Hund.
Dreams
Tell me, what kind of wondrous dreams
are embracing my senses,
that have not, like foam,
vanished into desolate nothingness
Dreams, that with each passing hour, each passing day, bloom fairer, and with their heavenly tidings roam blissfully through my heart!
Dreams which, like holy rays of light sink into the soul, there to paint an eternal image: forgiving all, thinking of only one.
Dreams which, when the spring sun kisses the blossoms from the snow, so that into unsuspected bliss they greet the new day,
so that they grow, so that they bloom,
and dreaming, bestow their fragrance.
these dreams gently glow and fade on your breast,
and then sink into the grave.
I love you
Four noble horses in front of our carriage, we live in the castle in proud comfort.
The early brightness and the lightning at night-everything that they shed light upon belongs to us.
Although you wander forsaken, an exile, through the world, I am with you in the streets in poverty and shame!
Our hands will bleed,
our feet will ache,
the four walls will be without comfort,
and no dog will know us.
Steht silberbeschlagen dein Sarg am Altar, sie sollen mich tragen zu dir auf die Bahr',
Und fern auf der Heide und stirbst du in Not, den Dolch aus der Scheide, dir nach in den Tod!
Breit Liber mein Haupt dein schwarzes
Haar, Op. 19, No. 2 Strauss (Adolf Friedrich von Schack)
Breit' uber mein Haupt dein schwarzes Haar. Neig' zu mir dein Angesicht! Da stromt in die Seele so hell und War Mir deiner Augen Licht.
Ich will nicht droben der Sonne Pracht, Noch der Sterne leuchtenden Kranz, Ich will nur deiner Locken Nacht Und deiner Blicke Glanz.
Befreit, Op. 39, No. 4
Strauss
(Richard Fedor Leopold Dehmel)
Du wirst nich weinen. Leise, leise wirst du lacheln; und wie zur Reise geb ich dir Blick und KuB zuruck. Unsre lieben vier Wande!
Du hast sie bereitet, ich habe sie dir zu Welt geweitet--o Gluck!
Dann wirst du heiB meine Hande fassen und wirst mir deine Seele lassen, laBt unsern Kindern mich zuruck.
Du schenktest mir dein ganzes Leben, ich will es ihnen wiedergeben--o Gluck!
Es wird sehr bald sein, wir wissen's Beide. wir haben einander befreit vom Leide. so geb' ich dich der Welt zuruck. Dann wirst du mir nur noch im
Traum erscheinen und mich segnen und mit mir weinen--
o Gluck!
If. fitted with silver, your coffin will stand at the altar, they shall bear me as well on the bier to you.
And if, far away on the heath, you die in anguish,
I shall draw my dagger from its sheath and follow you in death!
Spread over my head your black hair
Spread over my head your raven hair, And bend your face to me! Bright and clear into my soul Pours the light of your eyes!
I do not seek the sun's splendor on high Nor the radiant garland of the stars, I only seek the night of your hair And the radiance of your eyes.
Relieved
You will not cry. You will smile
very gently; and as if you were departing
I return your glance and kiss.
Our dear four walls!
You furnished and decorated them, I turned them into your world--oh. happiness!
Then you will ardently grasp my hands, and will leave me your soul, leaving me behind with our children.
You gave me all your life, I want to give it back to them--oh, happiness!
It will happen very soon, we both know; We have relieved each other from the pain, so I'll give you back to the world. Then you will appear to me
only in my dreams, and bless me and weep with me--
oh, happiness!
IV
Selige Nacht
Joseph Marx
(Otto Erich Hartleben)
Im Arm der Liebe schliefen wir selig ein, Am offnen Fenster Lauschte der Sommerwind. Und uns'rer Atemzuge Trug er hinaus In die helle Mondnacht.
Und aus dem Garten tastete
Zagend sich ein Rosenduft
An uns'rer Liebe Bett
Und gab uns wundervolle Traume.
Traume des Rausches
So reich an Sehnsucht.
Hat dich die Liebe beriihrt
Marx (Paul Heyse)
Hat dich die Liebe beruhrt, Still unter larmenden Volke, Gehst du in goldner Wolke, Sicher von Gott gefuhrt.
Nur wie verloren, umher Lassest die Blicke du wandern, Gonnt ihre Freuden den Andern, Tragst nur nach einem Begehr:
Scheu in dich selber verzuckt. MOchtest du leugnen vergebens, Da(3 nun die Krone des Lebens, Strahlend die Stirn dir schmuckt.
Blissful Night
In the arms of love
we slumbered blissfully.
At the open window
the summer wind listened;
and carried away the peacefulness
of our breathing
into the moonlight.
And from the garden
the fragrance of roses cautiously
swept over our bed of love
and gave us wonderful dreams.
Dreams of desire,
so full of longing.
If Love Has Touched You
If love has touched you softly, among the noisy folk, amid a cloud of gold, you're led by God safely.
Only as one thus bemused, you let your gaze depart, you do not envy the joy of others, only one desire is yours.
Shyly delighted with yourself, though you would deny it, now adorns your brow the gleaming crown of life.
V
Cabaret Songs
Benjamin Britten (W.H. Auden)
Calypso
Driver, drive faster and make a good run Down the Springfield Line under the
shining sun.
Fly like an aeroplane, don't pull up short Till you brake for the Grand Central Station,
New York.
For there in the middle of that waiting hall Should standing the one that I love best of all. If he's not there to meet me when I get
to town, I'll stand on the pavement with tears
rolling down.
Driver, drive faster, Driver, drive faster.
For he is the one that I love to look on, The acme of kindness and perfection. He presses my hand and he says he loves me Which I find an admirable peculiarity.
Driver, drive faster. Driver, drive faster Driver, drive faster, drive faster.
The woods are bright green on both sides
of the line The trees have their loves thought they're
different from mine. But the poor fat old banker in the
sunparlour car
Has no one to love him except his cigar. Driver, drive faster, drive faster, drive faster,
drive faster, faster, faster, faster, faster.
If I were the head of the Church or the State I'd powder my nose and just tell them to
wait. Drive faster, faster, faster, faster, faster,
faster, faster, faster, faster.
For love's more important and powerful than Even a priest or a politician, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster
Ah la. la, la, la, la, la, la, la. la, la.
la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
Faster, drive faster, drive faster, drive faster,
Drive faster, faster, faster, faster.
Please turn page quietly...
Tell Me the Truth About Love
Liebe. I'amour. amor amoris Some say that Love's a little boy,
And some say it's a bird, Some say it makes the world go round,
And some say that's absurd. But when I asked the man nextdoor,
Who looked as if he knew, His wife was very cross indeed,
And said it wouldn't do.
Does it look like a pair of pajamas.
Or the ham in a temp'rance hotel
0 tell me the truth about love Does its odor remind one of llamas,
Or has it a comforting smell
0 tell me the truth about love Is it prickly to touch as a hedge is,
Or soft as eiderdown fluff Is it sharp or quite smooth at the edges
0 tell me the truth about love.
I looked inside the summerhouse;
It wasn't ever there: I tried the Thames at Maidenhead,
And Brighton's bracing air. I don't know what the blackbird sang.
Or what the roses said; But it wasn't in the chickenrun,
Or underneath the bed.
Can it pull extraordinary faces
Is it usually sick on a swing
0 tell me the truth about love. Does it spend all its time at the races,
Or fiddling with pieces of string
0 tell me the truth about love. Has it views of its own about money
Does it think Patriotism enough Are its stories vulgar but funny
0 tell me the truth about love.
Your feelings when you meet it,
1 am told you can't forget. I've sought it since I was a child
But haven't found it yet I'm getting on for thirtyfive,
And still I do not know What kind of creature it can be
That bothers people so.
When it comes, will it come without warning
Just as I'm picking my nose
0 tell me the truth about love. Will it knock on my door in the morning,
Or tread in the bus on my toes
0 tell me the truth about love. Will it come like a change in the weather
Will its greeting be courteous or rough Will it alter my life altogether
0 tell me the truth about love.
Johnny
0 the valley in the summer where I and my
John
Beside the deep river walk on and on While the grass at our feet and the birds up
above
Whispered so soft in reciprocal love. And I leaned on his shoulder; "0 Johnny, let's
play": But he frowned like thunder and he went
away.
0 the evening near Christmas as I well recall When we went to the Charity Matinee Ball, The floor was so smooth and the band was so
loud
And Johnny so handsome I felt so proud; "Squeeze me tighter, dear Johnny, let's dance
till day": But he frowned like thunder and went away.
Shall I ever forget at the Grand Opera When music poured out of each wonderful
star
Diamonds and pearls hung like ivy down Over each gold and silver silk gown: "0 Johnny I'm in heaven," I whispered to say: But he frowned like thunder and went away. 0 but he was as fair as a garden in flower. As slender and tall as the great Eiffel Tower, When the waltz throbbed out down the long
promenade 0 his eyes and his smile they went straight to
my heart;
"0 marry me, Johnny, I'll love and obey": But he frowned like thunder and he went
away.
0 last night I dreamed of you, Johnny, my
lover, You'd the sun on one arm and the moon on
the other,
The sea it was blue and the grass it was green, Every star rattled a round tambourine; Ten thousand miles deep in a pit there I lay: But you went away.
Funeral Blues
Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy
bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.
Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead Scribing on the sky the message He is Dead. Tie crepe bows round the white necks of the
public doves, Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton
gloves.
He was my North, my South, my East and
West.
My working week and my Sunday rest, My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song; I thought that love could last forever: I was
wrong.
The stars are not wanted now; put out every
one.
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun. Pour away ocean and sweep up the woods: For nothing now can ever come to any good.
VI
Ye Banks and Braes
Arr. Roger Quilter (Robert Bums)
Ye banks and braes o'bonnie Doon, How can ye bloom sae fresh and fair How can ye chant, ye little birds. And I sae weary fu' o' care Thou'lt break my heart, thou warbling bird, That wontons thro' the flowering thorn: Thou minds me o'departed joys. Departed never to return.
Aft hae I rov'd by bonnie Doon, To see the rose and woodbine twine; And ilka bird sang o' its love, And fondly sae did I o' mine. WT lightsome heart I pu'd a rose, Fu' sweet upon its thorny tree; And my fause lover stole my rose, But ah! he left the thorn wi'me.
The Salley Gardens
Arr. Britten (William Butler Yeats)
Down by the salley gardens my love and I
did meet: She passed the salley gardens with little
snowwhite feet. She bid me take love easy, as the leaves
grow on the tree: But I, being young and foolish, with her
would not agree. In the field by the river my love and I did
stand, And on my leaning shoulder she laid her
snowwhite hand. She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows
on the weirs: But I was young and foolish, and now am
full of tears.
Please turn page quietly...
The Leprechaun
Arr. Herbert Hughes (P. W. Joyce)
In a shady nook one moonlight night.
a leprechaun I spied:
With scarlet cap and coat of green,
A cruiskeen by his side.
'Twas tick tack tick, his hammer went,
Upon a weeny shoe;
And I laughed to think of a purse of gold;
but the fairy was laughing too!
With tiptoe step and beating heart.
Quite softly I drew nigh:
There was mischief in his merry face;
A twinkle in his eye.
He hammered and sang with tiny voice.
And drank his mountain dew,
And I laughed to think he was caught at
last; But the fairy was laughing too!
As quick as thought I seized the elf:
"Your fairy purse" I cried.
"The purse," he said, " 'tis in her hand,
That lady at your side."
I turned to look: the elf was off!
Then what was I to do
0,1 laughed to think what a fool I'd been: And the fairy was laughing too!
VII
Sing to me, Sing, and Sing Again
Sidney Homer (William Ernest Henley)
Sing to me, sing, and sing again, My glad, greatthroated nightingale: Sing, as the good sun through the rain-Sing, as the homewind in the sail!
Sing to me life, and toil, and time. 0 bugle of dawn, 0 flute of rest! Sing, and once more, as in the prime, There shall be naught but seems the best.
And sing me at the last of love:
Sing that old magic of the May,
That makes the great world laugh and move
As lightly as our dream today!
Night
Edwin MacArthur (Charles Hanson Towne)
Wherefore should darkness
Terrify my soul
Night is the hope of day.
The scabbard deep.
Where in the sword of sunlight
Fain would creep
After the warring shouts
That 'round us roll.
Dawn hath its glamour Like pearls upon a shoal: Noon hath its wonder When it climbs the steep Blue hills of light; And yet we fall asleep, afraid, Sometimes with fears Beyond control.
0 let the shadows fold us in our wings.
And when one long
Unstarlit night shall come,
Let us not go like poor sheep, driv'n and dumb,
But with a spirit that exultant sings:
For where the darkness trails the desolate sod.
He walks before.
Night, night is the shadow of God.
Hickory Hill
Paul Sargent (Robert Hillye)
The moon is aloft, the wind lies still. Voices come soft from Hickory Hill But there's nobody there to whisper a word. No one to hear or be overheard.
I only remember the moon all white on the clear November hill at night.
But the words we left that other year Surely drift from the hillside there. And no one would dare clear nights in the fall To stand listening there, I least of all.
Love went a'Riding
Frank Bridge (Mary Coleridge)
Love went ariding.
Love went ariding over the earth,
On Pegasus he rode...
The flowers before him sprang to birth. And the frozen rivers flowed. Than all the youths and the maidens cried, " Stay here with us." " King of Kings." But Love said, "No! for the horse I ride. For the horse I ride has wings."
Love went ariding...
If I Could Tell You
Idabelle Firestone (Madeleine Marshall)
If I could tell you
The thoughts I cherish
And all the ways you are dear to me.
A tender feeling Of love revealing When e're your smiling face I see.
If I could capture The blue of heaven That wondrous rapture Within your eyes.
If I could tell you
Of my devotion
If I could pledge all my love so true.
Then my confession
Would find expression
In all the music my heart sings to you!
Hills
Frank LaForge (Arthur Guiterman)
I want my hills! Hills!
The trail that scorns the hollows
So let me hold my way by nothing halted
Until at close of day I stand exalted!
High on my hills to dream
Dear hills that know me.
And then how fair will seem the lands below me.
How pure at vesper time the far bells chiming
God! Give me hills to climb! Hills! Hills! And strength for climbing.
ums
DIRECTOR'S NOTE
Lincoln's "Ghost Train"--the spectral procession of folk legend said to be departing Washington every April to follow the route of the funeral train, yet never arriving in Springfield--was a piquant, bizarre and moving image that was important at the beginning of my investigation, but somehow got lost. It was only within days of the work's premiere that it was remembered as I heard a train passing by the Ravinia Festival grounds.
It affected the sound design, and after two years of research and development of the piece, the idea returned now less as an esoteric absurdity than as a metaphor for what I believe is Lincoln's true legacy: A commitment to the democratic process, our "government of the people, by the people, for the people..."
In the work, this hairraising social experiment is represented by that mysterious and elusive sound of the train that Lincoln boarded in 1809, left in 1865, and that we ride today, teetering on the brink of panic and desperation. Lincoln's legacy encourages us to stay committed to this harrowing journey, unsure if this train ever arrives at its destination.
Bill T.Jones
LYRICS
Wcevily Wheat
(American Folk Song. Additional lyrics from The Last Leaf by Oliver Wendell Holmes)
I don't want none of your weevily wheat I don't want none of your barley I want some flour and half an hour to bake a cake for Charlie.
I saw him once before
As he passed by the door,
The pavement stones crack like bones
As he totters o'er the ground
They say that in his prime, ray friends Knife of time cut him down, No better man found, on the Crier round Through the town
Since I Laid My Burden Down
(American Spiritual. Additional lyrics from The Last Leaf hy Oliver Wendell Holmes)
Glory Glory Hallelujah Since I laid my burden down Glory Glory Hallelujah Since I laid my burden down
The mossy marbles rest
On the lips that he has pressed
In their bloom (2z)
And the names he loved 10 hear
Have been carved for many a year
On the tomb (2x)
Burden down, Lord (2x) Since I laid my burden down
Annie Laurie
(Scottish Traditional. Additional lyrics from The Last Leaf by Oliver Wendell Holmes)
Maxwelhon's braes are bonnie, Where early fa's the dew And it's there that Annie Laurie Gave me her answer true Gave me her promise true, That ne'er forgot shall be, And for bonny Annie Laurie, 1 would lay me doon an' dee
I know it is a sin
For me to sit and grin
At him here
But the old threecornered hat.
And the breeches, and all that.
Are so queer!
And if I should live to be
The last leaf upon the tree
In the spring,
Let them smile, as I do now.
At the old forsaken bough
Where I cling (2x)
And Again
With his cane
Gut him down
Through the town
Sad and Wan
They are gone
In their bloom
On the tomb
Long ago
In the snow
Ukeasuff
In his laugh
At him here
Are so queer
In the spring
Where I cling
Mary Ann
(Music and lyrics by George Lewis, Jr.)
Watch her weeping Mary Ann, our tears are forever, in portrait and fold
Restless weeping Mary Ann, we wait for her another, to curl up and come home
Echo forever Mary's man, through heart and through body, in void of the mind
Enter screaming hapless world, the loss of our hero, the loss of his girl
Lady Liberty
(Music and lyrics by Jerome Begin, Christopher Lancaster,
George Lew is, Jr.)
She is dangerous She is dangerous See it in her gaze She's walkin' both ways Always changing sides See it in her eyes
Shepherd keeps his sheep Shepherd keeps his babes Wolf looks for his prey And when the sheeps do play Wolf will show his teeth On the crimson heath
Chorus:
Right hand holds a sword Left hand a laurel wreath With ihee crown of stars Lady Liberty
The sheep does pay his due The shepherd's guarded view Keeps the shepherd warm The wolf's intended harm The wolf is looking ihin Empty is his skin
Chorus: I know...
I am Faithful
(Music by Felix Mendelssohn, Jerome Begin, Chris
Lancaster, George Lewis, Jr. Lyrics from Lincoln's Second
Inaugural Address, Book of Revelation, and Whitman's The
WoundDresser)
Priceless blood reddens the grass
Every drop of blood drawn
The crushed head, glazed already the eye
Every drop of blood drawn
The neck with the bullet through
May this mighty scourge
His eyes are closed, his face is pale
Priceless blood reddens the grass, I am faithful I do not give
out
The stump of the arm the amputated hand
By the lash
The fractured thigh
By the sword
The wound in the abdomen
Every drop of blood
Every drop
I dress the perforated shoulder the foot with the bullet
wound
Every drop shall be paid
Chorus:
Every drop, every drop of blood I am faithful, I am faithful I am faithful, I am faithful I do not give out
May this scourge, may this scourge.
May this mighty scourge pass away, pass away
Priceless blood reddens the grass, I am faithful, I do not give out His eyes are closed, his face is pale
And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo,
there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as
sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth
And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich
men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every
bondman, and even. free man, hid themselves in the dens
and in the rocks of the mountains;
And said to the mountains and rocks. Fall on us, and hide us
His eyes are dosed, his face pale Chorus x2
Song of Solomon
(Music by Jerome Begin and Christopher Lancaster. Lyrics from King James Bible)
Arise my love, my fair one and come away. Stay me, comfort me. For I am sick of love. Stay me, comfort me. For I am sick of love. Set me as a seal upon your heart. For love is strong as death.
EXCERPTS OF TEXT
Crossing Brooklyn Ferry (excerpt) by Will Whitman:
I am with you, you men and women of a generation, or ever
so many generations hence;
I project myself--also I return--I am with you, and know
how it is.
just as you feel when you look on the river and sky, so I felt;
Just as any of you is one of a living crowd, I was one of a
crowd;
What is it, then, between us
What is the count of the scores or hundreds of years
between us
I too lived--
It is not upon you alone the dark patches fall,
The dark threw patches down upon me also;
The best I had done seem'd to me blank and suspicious;
My great thoughts, as I supposed them, were they not in
reality meagre
would not people laugh at me
It is not you alone who know what it is to be evil;
I am he who knew what it was to be evil;
I too Blabb'd, blush'd, resented, lied, stole, grudg'd.
Had guile, anger, lust, hot wishes I dared not speak,
Was wayward, vain, greedy, shallow, sly, cowardly,
malignant;
The snake not wanting in me.
I lived the same life with the rest, the same old laughing,
gnawing, sleeping,
Play'd the part that still looks back on the actor or actress,
The same old role, the role that is what we make it, as great
as we like,
Or as small as we like, or both great and small.
Closer yet I approach you;
What thought you have of me, I had as much of you--
I consider'd long and seriously of you before you were born.
Who knows but I am as good as looking at you now, for all you cannot see me
Excerpt from Address at Sanitary Fair, Abraham Lincoln, Baltimore, MD April 18, 1864:
The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as a liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty, especially as the sheep was a black one. Plainly the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of the word liberty.
Excerpt from First Inaugural Address, Abraham Lincoln, Washington D.C. March 4, 1861:
My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon this whole subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. In your hands and not in mine is the momentous issue. The government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. We are not enemies but friends. We must not be enemies.
"AFLOAT ON THE SAME STREAM"
By Suzanne Carbonneau
In his first monumental work of dance theater. Bill T. Jones addressed the infernal contradictions at the heart of America. His Last Supper at Uncle Tom's CabinThe Promised Land revisited the torturous history of a revered cultural icon thai had grown gangrenous over time. Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel had argued the immorality of slavery and was instrumental in turning Northern sentiment towards abolition, but the novel's postCivil War cooptation by Confederate apologists resulted in Uncle Tom becoming a synonym for "race traitor." With characteristic fearlessness, however, Jones waded into this untouchable material, employing Siowe's novel as a springboard for meditations on identity, hatred, sex, death, and religion. Jones's work was simultaneously personal and political, and ultimately nothing less than a moral history of America.
Nearly twenty years later, Jones revisits that decisive moment in American history. In his newest work of dance theater, Fondly Do We Hope...Fervently Do We Pray, Abraham Lincoln is the catalyst for a rumination on the American conscience that embraces past, present, and future. With this commission by the Ravinia Festival to mark the Lincoln bicentennial, Jones once again looks into the heart of American darkness through a figure who has been both canonized and tarnished. And once again, Jones has something larger in mind than either hagiography or condemnation, employing the Lincoln myth to create a dream analysis of America itself.
The title, of course, comes from Lincoln's magisterial second inaugural address, words carved into the Lincoln Memorial, where 21"century visitors still burst into tears at the sight of Daniel Chester French's statue of a careworn Lincoln. He is our peerless, timeless national hero, enshrined in American myth as the man who redeemed us from our foundational sin of racial slavery. Unlike George Washington, who has been lost in historical distance as an Olympian figure, Lincoln appeals to our vision of the quintessential American as a common man of noble action. He is, as Jones points out, our Great Man and our Everyman. How then to reconcile the complexities of ihe historical record with this indelible myth
But as in Last Supper, Jones is not out to present a straightforward version of history. Nor is this biopictorial theater. Fondly Do We Hope is something else entirely: a consideration of how the great questions of an age sunder the body politic; on how history repeats itself; and on how we experience history not only as fact but also as feeling. Jones employs all the elements of theater to assemble a reverie about Lincoln that is also a contemplation about each one of us.
In recognition of Jones's ambition to span historical divides, Fondly Do We Hope is a dance with history. Its conversation toggles between past and present, between present and the future. Appropriately for a work about mongrel America, the languages of Fondly Do We Hope are polyglot--kinetic, visual, aural, textual. As he did in the Promised Land apotheosis of LastSupper, Jones looks to the experience of the body as our
shared human condition across culture, across race, across time. "At the heart of the piece," says Jones, "are muscles, blood and flesh."
The lodestone text of Fondly Do We Hope, repeated three times to suggest its perennial relevance, is Walt Whitman's paean to human anatomy, "Poem of the Body." Jones employs his dancers' bodies--so lovingly catalogued by Whitman in their particulars ("Leg fibers, knee, kneepan, upperleg, underleg")-as the engine of the work. The performers dance on a luxuriantly figured carpet of words by Lincoln and his compatriots. The movement is not intended to depict psychological situations nor to illustrate this text. Rather, it exists as evocative counterweight to the specificity of the narration. This movement niiterial-what Jones describes as "the DNA" of this work--is laid out at the opening by a single performer, dancing to Whitman's delirious celebration of our physical matter. Over the course of Fondly De We Hope, Jones harvests this thematic inventory for boundless variations. Always, Jones says, the movement is in "the service of feelings and ideas." Together, words and movement alchemize into something greater than the sum of these individual elements.
Music, too, is a central device that bridges Lincoln's day with our own. Contemporary compositions are interspersed with 19thcentury music drawn from every level of society, suggesting the complexity of Lincoln's experience as frontiersman and person of hardwon cultivation. Traditional tunes, including "Annie Laurie" and the Lincoln favorite "Weevily Wheat," along with the American spiritual "Since I Laid My Burden Down," nuzzle against European classical compositions. Befitting Lincoln's personality and the tragedy of the war he oversaw, this score is largely melancholic. The cemetery looms over a musical setting of a verse Lincoln particularly admired, Oliver Wendell Holmes's The Last Leaf. Death even seeps into Mendelssohn. Passages from Whitman's searing The WoundDresser are heard as oratorio within Mendelssohn's score, reminding us thai Lincoln's assassination followed upon mass slaughter. A companion oratorio from Lincoln's Second Inaugural is similarly deathsoaked ("every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword").
The mix of voices in Fondly Do We Hope reflects the breadth of Lincoln's influence and influences: in addition to Lincoln's own words, we hear Thomas Jeff erson, the King James Bible,
Frederick Douglass. But it is Whitman who speaks for Lincoln from somewhere deep within his psyche. Jones names Whitman as Lincoln's "proxy" with good reason. Whitman himself declared a profound identification with the President: "Lincoln is particularly my man -particularly belongs to me; yes, and by the same token, I am Lincoln's man: I guess I particularly belong to him; we are afloat on the same stream -we are rooted in the same ground." And it is through Whitman, who famously proclaimed his communion with all living things in "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry," that Lincoln travels through time to speak directly to us. We belong to Lincoln, as he belongs to us.
In acknowledgment that Lincoln is "a story that we tell ourselves, and more importantly, a story that we tell our children," Jones presents us with fauxnaif schoolbook biographies of Lincoln and Mary Todd. Jones believes that we cling to this Great Man version of Lincoln as a model for how we might "make our peace with an insane and oftentimes unfair world." But Jones believes that in perpetuating these simplistic biographies, we are obscuring the true nature of our relationship with the past. We have only to look to the character of Mary Todd, for example, to recognize the value in a more considered analysis. As she did in Lincoln's life, Todd holds a central place in Fondly Do We Hope. Jones points to Todd's obsessive acquisitiveness as a profound metaphor for our own unhinged age. He cites her heartbreaking madness and grief as another. Jones links the story of Todd and her inability to cope upon the death of her husband, with the national disarray experienced ai the loss of that same person. In this analogy, the Song of Solomon speaks for both personal and communal sorrow ("Set me as a seal upon thine heart. For love is strong as death").
Traveling again to the present, Jones stages diagrammatic histories of four of our contemporaries as companion biographies to those of Lincoln and Mar) Todd. Taken together, these fellow citizens suggest the diversity of the American public. The biography of one of them corresponds with the outlines of Jones's own life ("born in 1952"; "a family of fieldworkers"; "seven brothers and four sisters"; "a life in the theater"; "his great grandmother, he thinks, was born a slave"). Ultimately, just as we did with Lincoln and Mary Todd, we come to understand the poverty of the schematic biography, which focuses on the "facts" of a life but ignores its resonances, contradictions, reverberations. We begin to see that this approach does injustice to all its subjects--Great Man or the least among us. But still, Jones has made us consider how our own stories intersect with history. He asks: Do we face great questions in our day equivalent to the conflagration over slavery What is the work still to be done Who will do that work
And just as importantly, what are the issues that shaped Lincoln's thinking and that forge our own Jones looks to the LincolnDouglas Debates for the marrow of those ideas that
divided Americans in the raidnineteenth century. Slavery, the boil that would shortly burst into the Civil War, was the inescapable subject of those arguments. With precise calibration, Jones distills the LincolnDouglas positions to their essences, while introducing a more raucous discourse touching on the issues of our own day. In pairs, the dancers engage these debates with richly abstracted and virtuosic movement that Jones describes as "pitched and performed in such a way that it's as if the dancers were orators." That is, the dancers do not act out the text, but they do move to its cadences, pauses and emphases.
The simple visual design of the work, conceived by Bjora Araelan, embodies a complex metaphor. An imposing cylindrical volume echoes a central movement image in which the dancers circle the stage in a cloudlike formation. Jones calls this "The Maelstrom,' a reference to a fabled oceanic whirlpool that terrorized the l'ceniury imagination. The Maelstrom is, of course, a visual metaphor for the great tumult of the Civil War, just as it is, Jones says, an apt symbol for our contemporary "undeclared cultural war." Amelan's spare set also features columns that simultaneously suggest the White House, grand antebellum plantations, and the birthplace of democracy in ancient Greece. This decor creates a continually evolving arena for the projection of spectral images that link past and present. In her video of phantom figures from the 19"1 century, Janet Wong conjures a ghostworld whose inhabitants shadow the contemporary ensemble, just as Whitman had projected himself into the future.
In the end, Jones insists that Fondly Do We Hope is not intended as a history lesson. On the contrary, he cites its claims on history as "glancing and ambivalent." Jones understands that his own relationship with history is too fraught, too labyrinthine to allow himself to offer us pieties or platitudes in place of the frustrating!} imperfea and genuinely great Lincoln. Recognizing that Lincoln was a man of his time--some of Lincoln's earlier declarations about gradual abolition or racial inferiority can be shocking--Jones admires Lincoln all the more for his ability to grow and change, to become a great nun. The choreographer declares that at the end of his journey in making this work, he finds himself genuinely moved by Lincoln. "In some ways," says Jones, "I think I love him more than I ever did."
At the conclusion of Fondly Do We Hope...Fervently Do We Pray, we are accorded what Jones calls "cautious hopefulness" about Lincoln's legacy. Adapting Whitman's example of imagining ourselves into the future, Jones leaves us with the biography of a person just coming into life. We hear from this descendant a hundred years hence, as he nears the end of his days--as far from us in time as is Lincoln. And in 2109, this speaker is left with the same questions about us that we have of Lincoln, experiencing an identical desire "to believe in great men and great women." What will this citizen of the future see in us when he looks back What will we have done in answering the great challenges of our day Will he find us--as Lincoln grew to be--led by the "better angels of our nature"
--Essay Suzanne Carbonneau 2009
Photo credits
Cover Paul B. Goode
All other images Russell JenkinsRavinia Festival
UMS
and
CFI Group
present
Swedish Radio Choir
Ragnar Bohlin, Guest Conductor
Aftonen
Hugo Alfven
(Herman Satherberg, translation by Nathan Leaf)
Skogen staY tyst, himlen ar klar. Hor, hum tjusande vallhornet
lullar.
Kvallsolens bloss, sanker sig, Sanker sig ner uti den lugna, klara v3g. Ibland dalder, grona kullar, eko kring nejden far...
In Time of Pestilence
Ned Rorem (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!
The forest is still, the sky is clear. Hear how enchanting shepherd's horns
sing lullabies.
The evening sun's blush silently sinks. Sinks down into the calm, clear waves. Among the valleys and green hills the echo resounds near and far...
Strength stoops unto the grave, Worms feed on Hector brave; Swords may not fight with fate; Earth still holds open her gate; Come, come! The bells do cry; I am sick, I must die-Lord, have mercy on us!
Wit with his wantonness Tasteth death's bitterness; Hell's executioner Hath no ears for to hear What vain art can reply; I am sick, I must die-Lord, have mercy on us!
Haste therefore each degree To welcome destiny; Heaven is our heritage, Earth but a player's stage. Mount we unto the sky; I am sick, I must die-Lord, have mercy on us!
Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen
Gustav Mahler
(Friedrich Ruckert, translation by Emily Ezust)
Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen. Mit der ich sonst viele Zeit verdorben, Sie hat so lange nichts von mir vernommen, Sie mag wohl glauben, ich sei gestorben!
Es ist mir auch gar nichts daran gelegen, Ob sie mich fur gestorben halt; Ich kann auch gar nichts sagen dagegen, Denn wirklich bin ich gestorben der Welt.
Ich bin gestorben dem Weltgetummel, Und ruh' in einem stillen Gebiet! Ich leb' allein in meinem Himmel, In meinem Lieben, in meinem Lied!
Lobet den Herrn
Sven David Sandstrom
Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden, und preiset ihn, alle Volker!
Denn seine Gnade und Wahrheit waltet uber uns in Ewigkeit.
Alleluja.
I am lost to the world, with which I used to waste so much time, It has heard nothing from me for so long, that it may very well believe that I am dead!
It is of no consequence to me, Whether it thinks me dead; I cannot deny it, for I really am dead to the world.
I am dead to the world's tumult, And I rest in a quiet realm! I live alone in my heaven, In my love and in my song!
Praise ye the Lord, all ye nations, and honor him, all ye peoples!
For that his grace and his truth have power over us for evermore.
Alleluia.
Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV 225
Johann Sebastian Bach
(Psalm 194, 13)
Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied!
Die Gemeine der Heiligen sollen ihn loben.
Israel freue sich des, der ihn gemacht hat.
Die Kinder Zion sei'n Frohlich uber ihrem
Konige.
Sie sollen loben seinen Namen im Reigen: mit Pauken und Hargen sollen
sie ihm spielen.
(Anonymous)
Gott, nimm dich ferner unser an!
Denn ohne dich ist nichts getan
mit alien unsern Sachen.
Drum sie du unser Schirm und Licht,
und triigt uns unsre Hoffnung nicht,
so wirst du's ferner machen.
Wohl dem, der sich nur steif und fest
Auf dich und deine Huld verlasst.
Sing unto the Lord a new song! The congregation of saints shall praise Him. Let Israel rejoice in Him that made him. Let the children of Zion be joyful in
their King.
Let them praise His name in the dance: Let them sing praises unto Him with the
timbre and harp.
God, continue to take care of us! For without you all our efforts lead to nothing.
Therefore you are our shield and light, and do not disappoint our hope. So will you continue. Blessed is he who steadfastly relies on you and your grace.
(Johann Gramann) Wie sich ein Vater erbarmet Uber seine junge Kinderlein, so tut der Herr uns alien, so wir inn kindlich furchten rein. Er kennt das arm Gemachte, Gott weiss, wir sind nur Staub, gleich wie das Gras vom Rechen, Ein Blum und fallend Laub. Der Wind nur druber wehet. So ist es nicht mehr da. Also der Mensch vergehet, sein End, das ist ihm nah.
(Psalm 150,2,6)
Lobet den Herrn in seinen Taten,
lobet ihn in seiner grossen Herrlichkeit.
Alles, was Odem hat, lobe den Herrn.
Hallelujal
Mouyayoum Anders Hillborg
Mass for Double Chorus
Frank Martin
Kyrie
Kyrie, eleison. Christe, eleison. Kyrie, eleison.
Gloria
Gloria in excelsis Deo,
et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.
Laudamus te. Benedicimus te.
Adoramus te. Glorificamus te.
Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam
gloriam tuam. Domine Deus, Rex coelestis, Deus Pater omnipotens, Domine Fili unigenite, Jesu Christe; Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius Patris, qui tollis peccata mundi; miserere nobis; qui tollis peccata mundi; suscipe deprecationem nostram; qui sedes ad dexteram Patris; miserere nobis. Quoniam tu solus Sanctus, tu colus Dominus, tu solus Altissimus, Jesu Christe, Cum Sancto Spiritu in gloria
Dei Patris. Amen.
Just as a father pities
his own young children,
so does the Lord towards us all,
so, like children, we meekly fear him.
He knows our poor handiwork,
God knows we are but dust,
like grass at reaping,
like a flower and falling leaf.
The wind blows over it,
and it is no longer there.
Thus man passes away,
his end is near.
Praise the Lord for his mighty acts,
praise Him according to His Excellent greatness.
Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.
Alleluja!
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace to men of goodwill.
We praise You. We bless You.
We adore You. We glorify You.
We give You thanks for Your
great glory.
Lord God, Heavenly King, Almighty God the Father, Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father; Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, You take away the sins of the world; have mercy on us;
You take away the sins of the world; receive our prayer;
You sit at the right hand of the Father; have mercy on us. For You alone are holy, You alone are the Lord, You alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of
God the Father.
Amen.
Please turn page quietly...
Credo
Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem,
factorem coeli et terrae, visibilium omnium,
et invisibilium. Et in unum Dominum Jesum Christum Filium
Dei unigenitum,
et ex Patre natum ante omnia saecula. Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine,
Deum verum de Deo vero; Genitum, non factum; consubstantialem
Patri; per quern onmia facta sunt. Qui propter nos homines et propter nostram
salutem descendit de coelis; et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto
ex Maria Virgine
et homo factus est. Crucifixus etiam pro nobis: sub Pontio
Pilato passus, et sepultus est. Et resurrexit tertia die,
secundum Scripturas; Et ascendit in coelum: sedet
ad dexteram Patris. Et iterum venturus est cum gloria judicare
vivos et mortuos,
cujus regni non erit finis. Et in Spiritum Sanctum, Dominum
et vivificantem; qui ex Patre Filioque procedit; qui cum Patre et Filio simul adoratur
et conglorificatur; qui locutus est per Prophetas. Et unam sanctam catholicam et apostlicam
Ecclesiam. Confiteor unum baptisma in remissionem
peccatorum,
et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum; et vitam venturi saeculi. Amen.
Sanctus
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dominus Deus
Sabaoth;
Pleni sunt caeli et terra gloria tua. Hosanna in excelsis.
Benedictus quit venit in nomine Domini. Hosanna in excelsis.
Agnus Dei
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi;
miserere nobis. Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi;
dona nobis pacem.
I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth, of all that is
seen and unseen. I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son
of God,
eternally begotten of the Father. God from God, Light from Light,
True God from true God; Begotten, not made; of one being with the
Father; through Him all things were made. For us men, and for our salvation, He came
down from heaven; by the power of the Holy Spirit He became
incarnate from the Virgin Mary
and was made man. For our sake He was crucified under Pontius
Pilate, He suffered death and was buried. On the third day He rose again in accordance
with the Scriptures; He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the
right hand of the Father. He shall come again in glory to judge both the
living and dead,
and His kingdom shall have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver
of life.
Who proceeds from the Father and the Son; with the Father and the Son He is worshipped
and glorified;
He has spoken through the prophets. I believe in one holy, catholic, and apostolic
Church, I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness
of sins,
and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power
and might;
Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the
world; have mercy on us. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the
world; grant us peace.
UMS
and
Edward Surovell
Realtors
presents
Please Note: Karoly Schranz, the second violinist of the Takics Quartet, has had to undergo rotator cuff surgery and will not be performing on this concert. As a result, the Takacs Quartet has changed their program to include other chamber works for violin, viola, and cello. We regret this change, but wish Mr. Schranz a speedy recovery and look forward to welcoming the entire quartet back in the 1011 season.
Members of the
Takacs Quartet
Edward Dusinberre, Violin Geraldine Walther, Viola Andres Fej?r, Cello
Program
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Zoltan Kodaly
Ludwig van Beethoven
Monday Evening, March 15, 2010 at 8:00 Rackham Auditorium Ann Arbor
Duo for Violin and Viola No. 2 in Bf lat Major, K. 424
Adagio--Allegro
Andante cantabile
Thema con variazioni: Andante grazioso
Duo for Violin and Cello, Op. 7
Allegro serioso, non troppo
Adagio
Maestoso e largamente, ma non troppo lento--Presto
INTERMISSION
String Trio in G Major, Op. 9, No. 1
Adagio--Allegro con brio Adagio, ma non tanto, e cantabile Scherzo: Allegro Presto
46th Performance of the 131st Annual Season
47th Annual Chamber Arts Series
The photographing or sound and video recording of this concert or possession of any device for such recording is prohibited.
This evening's performance is sponsored by Edward Surovell Realtors. Media partnership is provided by WGTE 91.3 FM.
Special thanks to Steven Ball for coordinating the preconcert music on the Charles Baird Carillon.
Takacs Quartet appears by arrangement with Seldy Cramer Artists, and records for Hyperion and DeccaLondon Records.
Takics Quartet is QuartetinResidence at the University of Colorado in Boulder and are Associate Artists at the South Bank Centre, London.
Please visit www.takacsquartet.com for further information on the Takacs Quartet.
Large print programs are available upon request.
Now that you're in your seat...
Our revised program features two of the great string duos. Mozart's violinviola duos are still extraordinary in their rich use of the instruments and are an insight into Mozart's early thinking about this combination, which led eventually to the Sinfonia Concertante in Eflat Major, K. 364. The Kodaly violincello duo is a more pow?erful statement than his string quartets, and a very good piece for us; our interpretation is influenced greatly by our work with Muzsikas. The Beethoven Op. 9 String Trios, writ?ten before any of his quartets, are masterpieces. His String Trio in G Major, Op. 9, No. 1 is full of virtuosic writing for the instruments, but particularly in the transitions you see Beethoven's daring and ingenuity. The GMajor Trio features a barnstorming finale. --Edward Dusinberre, Violinist
Duo for Violin and Viola No. 2 in
Bflat Major, K. 424(1783) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Born January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Germany Died December 5, 1791 in Vienna
Duo for Violin and Cello, Op. 7 (1914)
Zoltan Kodaly
Born December 16, 1882 in Kecskemet,
Hungary Died March 6, 1967 in Budapest, Hungary
String Trio in G Major, Op. 9, No. 1
(1798)
Ludwig van Beethoven Born December 15 or 16, 1770 in Bonn,
Germany Died March 26, 1827 in Vienna
One of Beethoven's very earliest attempts in the field of chamber music for string ensembles was String Trio No. 1 in Eflat Major, Op. 3 (1793), modeled upon Mozart's great Divertimento for Strings in Eflat, K. 563, of 1788. The Op. 3 Trio, which Beethoven perhaps composed in Bonn, was later revised in Vienna, his experience at the revision benefitting the Op. 9 to follow.
Beethoven applied much care to his work on the three trios of Op. 9, and the eminent Beethoven authority Donald Francis Tovey would later call them "among the very great?est works of (Beethoven's) first period." Exact information of the time of composition of these trios is lacking. The Op. 9 Trios, whose crafts?manship foreshadows that of the Op. 18 String Quartets (1800), were dedicated to Count Johann Georg von Browne, a patron whom Beethoven described in the dedication as that "first Maecenas of his Muse."
Please refer to your program book for a complete biography of the Takacs Quartet.
UMS
presents
Please Note: Pieter Wispelwey is replacing Julia Fischer, who canceled her US tour because of family concerns.
Pieter Wispelwey
Program
Johann Sebastian Bach
Benjamin Britten
Bach
Britten
Wednesday Evening, March 24, 2010 at 8:00 Rackham Auditorium Ann Arbor
Suite No. 1 in G Major for Solo Cello, BWV 1007
Praeludium Menuet I
Allemande Menuet II
Courante Gigue
Sarabande
Suite No. 1 for Solo Cello, Op. 72
Canto primo: Sostenuto e largamente
I. Fuga: Andante moderato
II. Lamento: Lento rubato Canto secondo: Sostenuto
III. Serenata: Allegretto (pizzicato)
IV. Marcia: Alia Marcia moderato Canto terzo: Sostenuto
V. Bordone: Moderato quasi recitative Moto perpetuo e Canto quarto: Presto
INTERMISSION
Suite No. 2 in d minor for Solo Cello, BWV 1008
Praeludium Menuet I Allemande Menuet II
Courante Gigue
Sarabande
Suite No. 3 for Solo Cello, Op. 87
Introduzione: Lento Marcia: Allegro Canto: Con moto Barcarolla: Lento Dialogo: Allegretto Fuga: Andante espressivo Recitativo: Fantastico Moto perpetuo: Presto Passacaglia: Lento solenne
50th Performance of the 131st Annual Season 47th Annual Chamber Arts Series
The photographing or sound and video recording of this recital or possession of any device for such recording is prohibited.
Media partnership for this performance is provided by WGTE 913 FM and WRCJ9O.9FM.
Mr. Wispelwey records for Channel Classics and appears by arrangement with Arts Management Group, Inc., New York, NY.
Suites for Unaccompanied Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major for Solo Cello,
BWV 1007 (17171723) Suite No. 2 in d minor for Solo Cello,
BWV 1008 (17171723) J. S. Bach
Born March 21, 1685 in Eisenach, Germany Died July 28, 1750 in Leipzig
In 1717, Bach was appointed composer and music director to Prince Leopold, ruler of the tiny state of AnhaltCbthen. The Prince was an accomplished musician with a great appetite for instrumental music, and it was at his court that Bach wrote most of his chamber music. We know that Bach was the greatest keyboard player of his time and that he liked to play the viola in ensembles, but he did not play the cello. Being Bach, however, he was the complete master of any musical medium for which he chose to compose. In 1774, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach wrote to J.N. Forkel, the scholar who was collecting material for the first booklength study of his father, "He understood the capabilities of all the string instruments perfectly. This is shown by his solos for the violin and cello without bass [accompaniment]." These "Solos," six for violin and six for cello, are among the most extraordinary inventions of Bach's incomparable creative powers.
They are full of mysterious musical and mechanical problems. There is more music in them than can be played, more than is apparent on a simple reading of the notes. Bach was a supremely practical man, and what he put down on paper only told the performer where to put his fingers. Much of the rest of the music is really in the minds of the listener and of the player. It is implicit or only suggested in what is written; to apprehend it requires acts of memory over a short period of time, measured, in place in tiny fragments, a mental process like "seeing" in a painting details that are only hinted at by the artist. Forkel said in his book: "Bach went so far in his understanding of melody and harmony that he could exhaust their possibilities. He combines in a single line all the notes needed to make the harmony and counterpoint complete, so that another note is neither necessary nor possible [Adapted]." Prince Leopold, who gave Bach a high position at his little court and paid him
generously, must have been a man of elevated taste, for all this remarkable music was written for his pleasure.
A suite, in Bach's time, consisted essentially of a formal opening movement that was a kind of musical calltoattention, and then a series of stylized adaptations of 16thcentury dances that had moved from the ballroom to the concertroom in the 17th century. In Bach's six cello suites, the preludes vary considerably in character, but they are all designed to fix the home key firmly in mind. With few exceptions, all the movements of each suite are in the same key, and Bach uses the same sequence of dances in all the suites, except for the nexttolast movements. These "galanteries" were then stillpopular social dances: minuets, bourrees, and gavottes.
Suite No. 1 in G Major for Solo Cello, BWV 1007
The character of the first cello suite's "Prelude" is derived from the kind of improvisation that was once expected of instrumentalists when they first sat down to play, sometimes calling it "precluding." The dance movements are a contemplative "Allemande"; a "Courante," which was a running or jumping dance; a slow "Sarabande"; a contrasting pair of graceful "Minuets"; and a lively closing "Gigue" or jig.
Suite No. 2 in d minor for Solo Cello. BWV 1008
The second suite's "Prelude" is more ruminative that declamatory, and its distant wanderings from the home key give both freshness and emphasis to the return of d minor. The dances begin with a fresh and relaxed "Allemande," a nimble "Courante," and a poetic "Sarabande." A pair of graceful "Minuets" follows, the first repeated after the second has been played, and a "Gigue" closes the suite.
Program notes by Leonard Burkat.
Suite No. 1 for Solo Cello, Op. 72 (1964)
Benjamin Britten Born November 22, 1913 in Lowestoft, Suffolk,
England Died December A, 1976 in Aldeburgh
Since Bach's magnificent examples, the literature of the unaccompanied string sonata and suite has been extended chiefly by composers of pronouncedly neoBachian tendencies, such as Max Reger and Paul Hindemith. But Bartbk's solo Violin Sonata, for example, showed that the influence of Bach, though in these media impossible to shake off, could be assimilated into much wider terms of stylistic reference.
It is certain that Britten's three suites for cello solo declare a debt to Bach's textural methods, and in more than their fugal movements. Since a string player cannot sustain more than two notes at once, the convention, supremely exemplified in Bach, has been to change pitch register so as to sketch in now this part, now that, of a "texture" that can exist as connected threads only in the mind's ear; the process is closely comparable to the style brise of the lutenists. To what purpose Britten has studied the convention may be seen in almost all the movements of these suites, yet only in a few is relevant to consider Baroque models. For the rest, a succession of contrasted character pieces, nimbly exploiting different technical possibilities of the cello, suggests comparison rather with Britten's own early instrumental writing. Not surprisingly, a dominating influence has been the dedicatee, Mstislav Rostropovich, a great Bach player and an executant with a variety of special techniques effortlessly at his command. But Rostropovich was also a great ambassador for Soviet music and, as with certain movements of the Britten cello sonata, it is possible to hear links in his music with the world of Prokofiev and Shostakovich.
The first suite, in G Major, was composed in November and December 1964, and was first performed by Rostropovich at the 1965 Aldeburgh Festival. It is framed and punctuated by a "Canto." Memorable though the effect of this "song" is, one scarcely recalls it simply as a tune: certain basic melodic shapes emerge from the peak notes on the opening presentation, but they are just as likely to reappear in the middle or at the bottom of the texture in later statements. As the parts alternate swiftly between melodic and harmonic functions, a very rich sonority
is suggested, even though no more than two notes are heard at once. The sound of these diatonic sevenths and ninths recalls the transfigured world on to which Act III of Britten's A MidsummerNight's Dream opens, and the "Canto's" ritornello function is made as evocative as are the recurrent images which articulate that opera.
Program note by Peter Evans.
Suite No. 3 for Solo Cello, Op. 87 (1971) Britten
If Britten's great inspiration for his vocal music was his friendship with the tenor Peter Pears, a major portion of his instrumental music owes its existence to Britten's friendship-dating from the 1960s--with cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. It was for this inspiring and energetic Russian that he composed the Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 65, the Symphony for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 68, and the three suites for cello solo, Opp. 72, 80, and 87.
Rostropovich gave the premieres of all of these works during Britten's own Aldeburgh Festival.
The two friends were introduced to each other by none other than Dmitri Shostakovich in 1960, at the time that Rostropovich gave the premiere of Shostakovich's Cello Concerto, No. 1 in England. From that time onward, Rostropovich and his wife, the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, were guests at the Aldeburgh Festival.
Britten addressed a distant salute to his Russian colleague in the 1971 5ufe Wo. 3 for Solo Cello. In this work, he included Shostakovich's motto "DSCH"; not only his initials, but also the notes in the most frequently occurring motive in his music. It is a musical greeting between two friends, two soul mates who feel the approach of death (Shostakovich would die four years later in August 1975) and fill their notes with that awareness.
Program note by Clemens Romijn; translation by David Shapero.
Pieter Wispel wey is among the first of a generation of performers who are equally at ease on the modern or the period cello. His acute stylistic awareness, combined with a truly original interpretation and a phenomenal technical mastery, has won the hearts of critics and the public alike in repertoire ranging from J. S. Bach to Elliott Carter.
Born in Haarlem, Netherlands, Mr. Wispelwey's sophisticated musical personality is rooted in the training he received: from early years with Dicky Boeke and Anner Bylsma in Amsterdam to Paul Katz in the US and William Pleeth in Great Britain. In 1992 he became the first cellist ever to receive the Netherlands Music Prize, which is awarded to the most promising young musician in the Netherlands.
Highlights among future concerto performances include return engagements with the Kontzerhaus Orchester Berlin, RTE National Symphony Orchestra Dublin, Liege Philharmonic, Yiomiuri Nippon Symphony, and Kollegium Musikum Winterthur; debuts with the Edmonton Symphony, Tokyo Symphony, Osaka Philharmonic; as well as extensive European touring with Emmanuel Krivine's Chambre Philharmonique, the Wurttembergisches Kammerorchester, the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, the Kammerorchester Basel, and the Academy of Ancient Music.
Forthcoming recital appearances include New York's Lincoln Center, Montecarlo Printemps des Arts, Bath International Festival, Flanders Festival, Amsterdam's Robeco Series, and Prinsengracht Festival. In the 0910 season he will also be touring in a trio with Viktoria Mullova and Kristian Bezuidenhout, with performances at Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, Rotterdam's De Doelen Hall, Vienna's Konzerhaus, and at London's Wigmore Hall.
Mr. Wispelwey's career spans five continents and he has appeared as soloist with many of the world's leading orchestras, including Sydney Symphony, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Gewandhaus Orchester Leipzig, Budapest Festival Orchestra, and Camerata Salzburg, collaborating with conductors including Ivan Fischer, EsaPekka Salonen, Herbert
Blomstedt, Yannick N?zetS?guin, Jeffrey Tate, Kent Nagano, Sir Neville Marriner, Philippe Herreweghe, Marc Minkowski, Ton Koopman, and Sir Roger Norrington.
With regular recital appearances in London (Wigmore Hall), Paris (ChStelet, Louvre), Amsterdam (Concertgebouw, Muziekgebouw), Brussels (Bozar), Berlin (Konzerthaus), Milan (Societta del Quartetto), Buenos Aires (Teatro Colon), Sydney (Utson Hall), Los Angeles (Disney Hall), and New York (Lincoln Center), Mr. Wispelwey has established a reputation as one of the most charismatic recitalists on tour.
Pieter Wispelwey's discography, available on Channel Classics, displays an impressive catalogue of over 20 recordings, six of which attracted major international awards. His most recent release is a disc feauring Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 2. Future releases include the Walton Concerto (Sydney SymphonyJeffrey Tate) and Prokofiev's Symphonie Concertante, Op. 125 (Rotterdam PhilharmonicAassily Sinaiski).
Pieter Wispelwey plays on a 1760 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini cello and a 1710Rombouts baroque cello.
This evening's recital marks Pieter Wispelwey's UMS debut.
Pieter Wispelwey
UMS
presents
Please Note: Jennifer Koh is replacing Julia Fischer, who canceled her US tour because of family concerns.
Jennifer Koh
Violin
Program
Johann Sebastian Bach
Eugene Ysaye
Kaija Saariaho Elliott Carter EsaPekka Salonen
Bach
Thursday Evening, March 25, 2010 at 8:00 Rackham Auditorium Ann Arbor
Partita No. 3 in E Major for Solo Violin, BWV 1006
Preludio
Loure
Gavotte en Rondeau
Menuet I
Menuet II
Bourree
Gigue
Sonata in a minor for Unaccompanied Violin, Op. 27, No. 2
Obsession: Poco vivace Malinconia: Poco lento Dance des ombres: Sarabande (Lento) Les furies: Allegro furioso
Nocturne, In Memory of Witold Lutoslawski Fantasy: Remembering Roger
Lachen verlernt
A film by Tal Rosner, with music by Mr. Salonen Commissioned by Jennifer Kofi, Cedille Records, and Oberlin Conservatory, UKUSA, 2009
INTERMISSION
Partita No. 2 in d minor for Solo Violin, BWV 1004
Allemande
Courante
Sarabande
Gigue
Chaconne
51st Performance of the 131st Annual Season
47th Annual Chamber Arts Series
The photographing or sound and video recording of this recital or possession of any device for such recording is prohibited.
Media partnership for this performance is provided by WGTE 91.3 FM and WRCJ 90.9 FM.
Ms. Koh appears by arrangement with Opus 3 Artists, New York, NY.
Partita No. 3 in E Major for
Solo Violin, BWV 1006 (1720) J. 5. Bach
Born March 21, 1685 in Eisenach, Germany Died July 28, 1750 in Leipzig
Bach's six sonatas and partitas for unac?companied violin date from about 1720, when Bach was music director at the court of AnhaltCothen. The three sonatas are in sonata di chiesa form, employing a slowfastslowfast sequence of movements, but the structure of the three partitas is more complex. The term partita--which suggests a collection of parts--refers to a suite of dances, and Bach wrote his three partitas for unaccompanied violin as sets of dance movements. While each of the sonatas has four movements, of which the second is al?ways a fugue, the partitas have more move?ments (five to seven) and are somewhat freer in form, as Bach adapted a number of old dance forms to the capabilities of the solo violin. In his final partita for unaccompanied violin, Bach virtually dispenses with the stan?dard allemandecourantesarabandegigue sequence of the partita and instead creates an entirely original structure consisting of a stunning opening movement, a varied series of dances, and a concluding gigue (the only survivor from the traditional sequence).
The title "Preludio" suggests music that is merely an introduction to something else, but this "Preludio" is a magnificent work in its own right, in some ways the most striking of the seven movements of this partita. Built on the jagged, athletic opening theme, this movement is a brilliant flurry of steady 16thnotes, featuring complicated stringcrossings and racing along its blistering course to an exciting conclusion. Among the many plea?sures of this music is Bach's use of a tech?nique known as bariolage, the rapid alter?nation between the same note played on stopped and open strings, which gives this music some of its characteristic glinting bril?liance. It is no surprise that this "Preludio" is among the most popular pieces Bach ever wrote, and those purists ready to sneer at Leopold Stokowski's arrangement for full or?chestra should know that Bach beat him to it: in 1731, 10 years after writing the violin partita, Bach arranged this "Preludio" as the
opening orchestral movement of his Cantata No. 29, "Wir danken dir, Gott."
Bach follows this striking beginning with a sequence of varied dances. The term loure originally referred to a form of French bagpipe music and later came to mean a type of slow dance accompanied by the bagpipe. Bach dispenses with the bagpipe accompaniment, and in this elegant move?ment the violin dances gracefully by itself. Bach was scrupulously accurate in his titles, and the "Gavotte en Rondeau" (gavotte in the form of a rondo) conforms to both these forms: a gavotte is an old French dance in common time that begins on the third beat, while rondo form asks that one section recur throughout. This vigorous and poised move?ment features some wonderful writing for the violin as the original dance theme repeats in many guises. The two minuet movements are sharply contrasted: "Menuet I" takes its char?acter from the powerful chordal beginning, while "Menuet II," dancing gracefully, is more subdued. The "Bourree" drives along its lively course, energized by a powerful upbeat, and the "Gigue" (an old English dance related to the jig) brings the work to a lively close.
Sonata in a minor for Unaccompanied Violin, Op. 27, No. 2 ("Obsession") (1924)
Eugene Ysaye
Bom July 76, 1858 in Liege, Belgium
Died May 12, 1931 in Brussels
Eugene Ysaye was one of the finest violinists of all time, famed for his musical intelligence, consummate technique, and rich sound. A student of Vieuxtemps and Wieniawski, Ysaye was a true champion of new music: he gave the premieres of the Franck and Debussy sonatas and the Chausson Poeme (all of which were dedicated to him), and his string quartet gave the first performance of the Debussy Quartet. So greatly admired was Ysaye as man and artist that his funeral in 1931 became the occasion for national mourning in Belgium.
Ysaye's set of six sonatas for unaccom?panied violin dates from 1924. The com?poser had become interested in the styles
of particular contemporary violinists, and he dedicated each sonata to a different violin virtuoso, trying to capture something of that performer's style in "his" sonata. The list of dedicatees includes some very distinguished names: Szigeti, Kreisler, Enesco, and Thibaud. So fascinated was Ysaye by the idea of adapt?ing these pieces to individual performers that he composed this music almost overnight: he went up to his room with instructions that he was not be disturbed (meals were sent up to him), and when he came down 24 hours later he had sketched all six sonatas.
Ysaye dedicated his Sonata No. 2 to the French violinist Jacques Thibaud, who made a career as a touring soloist in the first decade of the 20th century but who seemed to pre?fer chamber music: Thibaud was a member of one of the greatest piano trios in history (its other members were pianist Alfred Cortot and cellist Pablo Casals), and he often played string quartets informally with Ysaye. He was killed in a plane crash in the French Alps in 1953.
Thibaud was one of the violinists who played Bach's works for unaccompanied vio?lin at a time when this music was not widely performed, and in fact he would practice sec?tions of these works every day as a form of selfdiscipline. Ysaye knew this and incorpo?rated bits of the "Preludio" from the Partita in E Major into the first movement of the sonata he wrote for Thibaud. The "obses?sion" that runs through this work, however, is not Bach, but the ancient Dies Irae plainsong tune, used by Berlioz (in the Symphonie fantastique), Rachmaninoff (virtually every?where), and many others. This grim old tune permeates the Sonata No. 2, appearing in different forms in all four movements.
Ysaye simply "lifts" the beginning of the "Preludio" for the beginning of his own so?nata, and bits of Bach's passagework drift in and out of the texture of his first movement. That texture is extremely interesting. This is a very busy movement, built, like the Bach, on a steady pulse of 16thnotes, and as it pro?ceeds we begin to hear the Dies Irae tune ris?ing from those rushing textures. Sometimes its appearance is subtle, and sometimes it is shouted out as the top and bottom notes of swirling arpeggios that punch that ancient melody into our consciousness. As in the
Bach "Preludio," Ysaye makes use of bariolage as the rapidfire rush of 16ths glints and flashes off closed and open 'E's.' Both Bach and Ysaye's first movements end with a great upward rush.
The first movement is titled "Obses?sion," and its obsessive Dies Irae motif will recur in the other three movements; each of these has a title as well. The second move?ment, "Malinconia," is indeed melancholy; muted throughout, it dances gravely along its heavily doublestopped lines, and the Dies Irae arrives only in the final seconds. That mo?tif, however, dominates the third movement, "Dance des ombres" (Dance of the Shad?ows). Though nominally a "Sarabande," and so a movement right out of the Bach partitas, this is in fact a series of variations on the ob?sessiontune. That motif is buried within the bold pizzicato beginning, and when Ysaye has the violinist take up the bow the varia?tions--six of them--begin in earnest, finally driving to a grand close. The second variation is a musette, an old dance accompanied by bagpipe, and Ysaye has the violin's open 'G'string play the bagpipe drone here. The finale retums to the brilliant manner of the open?ing movement. Titled "Les furies" and aptly marked "Allegro furioso," this is a showpiece for virtuoso violinist, who takes the Dies Irae through a series of wild extensions, marked by some eerie sounds--ponticello passages, harmonics, and violent stringcrossings help drive this sonata to its haunted close.
Nocturne, In Memory of
Witold Lutoslawski (1994) Kaija Saariaho Born October 14, 1952 in Helsinki, Finland
Fantasy: Remembering Roger (1999)
Elliott Carter
December 11, 1908 in New York City
The next two pieces on tonight's program share some remarkable similarities: both were written by major composers, both honor a deceased composer, both are scored for solo violin, and both are about four minutes long. Polish composer Witold Lutoslawski, born 1913, was loved and respected by the
international community of musicians. He died on February 7, 1994, and in the days immediately after his death Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho quickly sketched a violin piece in his memory. She faxed her manuscript to violinist John StorgSrds, who gave the first performance in Helsinki on February 16, only nine days after Lutoslawski's death. This brief piece, titled Nocturne, proved fertile for its composer: it became the basis for Saariaho's violin concerto, titled Qraal Theatre, which was premiered in London in 1995. Nocturne begins with a solitary 'A,' the violin's tuning note, and the music expands outward from that single note. This brief elegy pays care?ful attention to sound, with entirely differ?ent sounds sometimes produced at the same time. Along the way, Saariaho explores such string techniques as doublestopping, pizzi?cato, ponticello bowing, and extended use of harmonics.
American Elliott Carter composed Fanta?sy: Remembering Roger in April 1999, and it subsequently became the final movement of his Four Lauds for Solo Violin, a sequence of four short pieces written, as Carter said, "to express gratitude to some of the musicians whose friendship has meant so much to me." Remembering Roger was composed in mem?ory of American composer Roger Sessions (18961985), who taught for many years at Princeton and Berkeley and who composed a formidable body of music that includes nine symphonies, two operas, concertos, chamber music, and vocal works. Violinist Rolf Schulte gave the first performance of Remember?ing Roger in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on October 12, 1999. Where Saariaho cast her memorial piece in the form of a nocturne, Carter specifies that Remembering Roger is a fantasy, which suggests complete freedom of form. In contrast to Saariaho's oftensubdued Nocturne, Carter's Remembering Roger is hy?peractive, dramatic, and hardedged. This is a consciously virtuosic piece, with the musical line swirling across the violin's four strings, rapid alternation of bowed and pizzicato notes, complex chording, and sustained spiccato passages.
These two pieces make clear that there are many ways to write memorial music.
Lachen verlernt (2009)
EsaPekka Salonen
Born June 30, 1958 in Helsinki, Finland
This piece is a visual interpretation of EsaPekka Salonen's solo violin concerto, performed by Jennifer Koh.
Comments visual artist Tal Rosner, who di?rected the film that accompanies Salonen's music:
When approaching Lachen verlernt I was struck by its depth and visual perspective. Laughter forgotten and then relearnt, like a voice echoing in the distance, getting closer and louder, demanding its place in our perception. The more we learn it, the more we see, discovering the detailed in?formation imprinted in its circuit.
Using images of power cables, remi?niscent of the violin's strings, 1 play with compositions, stretching and expanding, together with the instrument. But inside, a different world--turbulent and chaotic-electric currents are making their way to our homes, secretly carrying charged magnetic energy. This leads to images of a cityscape at night, all blurred and shaken. The lines become alive, trembling in the dark, pulsating to the rhythm and the speed.
Examining the space between the two, the distant and the closeup, the struc?tured and the wild, is at the core of this video piece.
Partita No. 2 in d minor for
Solo Violin, BWV 1004(1720) Bach
The Partita No. 2 in d minor has become the most famous of Bach's six unaccompanied works, for it concludes with the "Chaconne," one of the pinnacles of the violin literature. Before this overpowering conclusion, Bach offers the four basic movements of partita form, all in binary form. The opening "Allemande" is marked by a steady flow of 16thnotes occasionally broken by dotted rhythms, triplets, and the sudden inclusion of 32ndnotes. The "Courante" alternates a steady
flow of triplets within dotted duple meters. The "Sarabande" proceeds along doubleand triplestops and a florid embellishment of the melodic line, while the "Gigue" races along cascades of 16thnotes in 128 time; the theme of the second part is a variation of the opening section.
While the first four movements present the expected partita sequence, Bach then springs a surprise by closing with a chaconne longer that the first four movements com?bined. The "Chaconne" offers some of the most intense music Bach ever wrote, and it has worked its spell on musicians everywhere for the last twoandahalf centuries: beyond the countless recordings for violin, it is cur?rently available in performances by guitar, cello, lute, and viola, as well as in piano tran?scriptions by Brahms, Busoni, and Raff.
A chaconne is one of the most disci?plined forms in music: it is built on a ground bass in triple meter over which a melodic line is repeated and varied. It demands great skill from a performer under any circumstances, but it becomes unbelievably complex on the unaccompanied violin, which must simulta?neously suggest the ground bass and project the melodic variations above it. Even with the flatter bridge and more flexible bow of Bach's day, some of this music borders on the unplayable, and it is more difficult still on the modern violin, with its more rounded bridge and concave bow.
This makes Bach's "Chaconne" sound like supremely cerebral music--and it is--but the wonder is that this music manages to be so expressive at the same time. The fourbar ground bass repeats 64 times during the quarterhour span of the "Chaconne," and over it Bach spins out gloriously varied music, all the while keeping these variations firmly anchored on the ground bass. At the center section, Bach moves into D Major, and here the music relaxes a little, content to sing hap?pily for awhile; after the calm nobility of this interlude, the quiet return to d minor sounds almost disconsolate. Bach drives the "Cha?conne" to a great climax and a restatement of the ground melody at the close.
Program notes by Eric Bromberger, O2010.
Violinist Jennifer Koh mesmerizes au?diences with the sheer intensity of her playing. As a virtuoso whose natural flair is matched with a probing intellect, she is committed to exploring connections between the pieces she plays, searching for similarities of voice between among composers, as well as within the works of a single composer.
Highlights of Ms. Koh's current season include return guest appearances with the New Jersey Symphony, National Symphony of Washington DC, and the New World Sym?phony. Abroad, she makes her Proms debut with the BBC Symphony in the UK premiere of Augusta Read Thomas's violin concerto. Juggler in Paradise, and is also heard with the BBC Scottish Orchestra. A new concerto writ?ten and commissioned for Ms. Koh by Klas Torstensson will be premiered in Amsterdam with the Nieuw Ensemble this May.
To commemorate the 325th anniversary of J. S. Bach's birth in September 2009, Ms. Koh performed the first three concerts of a sixrecital noontime series devoted to the complete Bach violin partitas, presented by Columbia University.
In October 2009, Ms. Koh performed in recital at Oberlin College's Finney Chapel in works ranging from EsaPekka Salonen's Lachen verlemt to Bach's Partita No. 3 in E Major. Other recitals this season include allMozart and Schubert programs with pianist Shai Wosner, and a duo program with
Jennifer Koh
Photo Ptan Kaulman
cellist Anssi Kartunnen with performances in Philadelphia, Washington DC, New York, San Francisco, Houston, and Minneapolis.
In November 2008, Ms. Koh made her debut with the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra performing the Russian premiere of Ligeti's Violin Concerto under Maestro Valery Gergiev in St. Petersburg. Other engagements that season included solo appearances with the orchestras of Atlanta, Philadelphia, Min?nesota, Houston, and the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington DC. She was heard in recital in Vancouver, Los Angeles, and Phil?adelphia; and in chamber music in New York at the 92nd Street Y.
Since the 199495 season, when she won the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the Concert Artists Guild Competi?tion, and the Avery Fisher Career Grant, Ms. Koh has been heard with leading orchestras and conductors around the world, including the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Phil?harmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the Cin?cinnati Symphony, the National Symphony Orchestra, the New World Symphony, and Montreal Symphony. Abroad, she has ap?peared with the Czech Philharmonic, the BBC London Symphony, Moscow Radio Sym?phony, the Brandenburg Ensemble, and the Singapore Symphony.
Jennifer Koh records regularly for the Chicagobased Cedille label, and, in addition to Rhapsodic Musings, recently released the Grammynominated recording String Poetic. Other recordings include an acclaimed CD devoted to the complete Schumann violin sonatas, plus earlier recordings of music by such varied composers as Bach, Schubert, Szymanowski, Schoenberg, and jazz great Ornette Coleman.
A committed educator, Ms. Koh has also won high praise for her performances in classrooms around the country under her innovative Music Messenger outreach pro?gram, now in its seventh year.
Ms. Koh's outreach efforts have taken her to classrooms all over the country to perform challenging music--whether it be Bach, Paganini, or Bartbk--for thousands of students who have little opportunity to hear classical music in their daily lives. She is also a Board member of the National Foundation for the
Advancement for the Arts, a scholarship pro?gram for high school students in the arts.
Born in Chicago of Korean parents, Jenni?fer Koh currently resides in New York City. A graduate of Oberlin College and an alumna of the Curtis Institute, where she worked extensively with Jaime Laredo and Felix Galimir, she is grateful to her private sponsor for the generous loan of the 1727 Ex Grumiaux Ex General DuPont Stradivari she uses in performance.
777s evening's recital marks Jennifer Koh's UMS debut.
Awardwinning artist and filmmaker Tal Rosner's work has been screened world?wide and won him a BAFTA award for his title sequence for Channel 4's series Skins (2008). He made his name with radical in?terpretations of musical compositions and his work has been described as "hypnotic" and "strikingly different," earning him the label "choreographer of the moving image."
Since 2005 he has been collaborating with musicians, combining multiple layers of sound and visuals to create a new language of classicalcontemporary music videos. His video for EsaPekka Salonen's Lachen verlernt (2009) with violinist Jennifer Koh, premiered in Oberlin last October.
Mr. Rosner's independent experimental films Doppelganger (2005) and Without You (2008) have been screened at prestigious film festivals and venues, including ClermontFerrand, Rotterdam, Tribeca, and Tate Modern in London. A retrospective was dedicated to his work at the Forum des Images in Paris, as part of the Nemo Festival in April 2009.
UMS
and
Miller, Canfield, Paddock
and Stone, P.LC.
present
The Rest Is Mse in Performance
Alex Ross
Ethan Iverson
Piano
Milton Babbitt Bela Bartok George Gershwin
Charles Ives
Gyorgy Ligeti Jelly Roll Morton Charlie Parker Arnold Schoenberg
Dmitri Shostakovich Jean Sibelius
Igor Stravinsky Anton Webern
Please Note:
The following pieces have been prepared for this afternoon's
performance and are listed alphabetically by composer:
SemiSimple Variations (1956)
Allegro Barbaro for Piano, Sz. 49, BB 63 (1911)
Three Preludes for Piano (excerpt) (1926) Prelude No. 1
Piano Sonata No. 2 "Concord, Mass., 18401860"
(excerpt) (191619, revised later) The Alcotts
Fern (1988)
New Orleans Blues (c. 1910)
Moose the Mooche (recorded 1946)
Three Piano Pieces, Op. 11. No. 3 (1909) Bewegte Achtel
Preludes and Fugues for Piano, Op. 87 (excerpt) (195051) Prelude No. 4 in e minor
Sonatinas for Piano, Op. 67: Sonatina No. 1 in fsharp minor (excerpt) (1912) Largo
Serenade for Piano in A Major (excerpt) (1925) Hymne
Piano Variations, Op. 27 (excerpt) (1936) Sehr massig
Maly Drama Theater of St. Petersburg
Residency and Production of Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya
The University of Michigan Ann Arbor
March 2228,2010
PUBLIC EVENTS
LectureDemonstration
"Who is Chekhov" Katherine Mendeloff, lecturer in drama, UM Residential College; and Michael Makin, associate pro?fessor of Slavic languages and literatures, UM. Community reception to follow. Ann Arbor District Library Downtown Branch, 343 S. Fifth. Mon, March 22, 78:30 pm
Russian Language Tea
Informal gathering for the Maly Drama Theater, Ann Arbor's Russianspeaking community, and UM students of Russian. Green Room, Power Center, 121 Fletcher. Tues, March 23,35 pm
Performance
u Maly Drama Theater of St. Petersburg performs Chekhov's
s Ums Uncle Vanya. Lev Dodin, artistic director. Performed in Russian
'Voc. with projected English translations. March 24 performance for
students only. For ticket information, call 734.764.2538 or visit
www.ums.org. Power Center, 121 Fletcher.
Wed, March 24, 8 pm, Special Performance for Students
ThursSat, Mar 2527, 8 pm
Sun, Mar 28, 2 pm
CREES Colloquium
An interview with Lev Dodin, director of the Maly Drama Theater of St. Petersburg. Founders Room, Alumni Center, 200 Fletcher. Fri, Mar 26, 6:307:30 pm
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN COURSES ON CHEKHOV
WINTER 2010
Play Production Seminar: "Acting Chekhov"
(Humanities 481) Kate Mendeloff
Drama Topics: Contemporary Russian Plays
(Humanities 485) Kate Mendeloff
Russian Drama in Context
(Russian 357) Olga Maiorova
Chekhov
(Russian 463855) Michael Makin
History of Theatre II
(Theater 322English 444) Leigh Woods & Mbala Nkanga
Survey of Russian Literature from 1870 to 1900
(Russian 348Humanities 348) Olga Maiorova
Summary of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya:
Anton Chekhov's tragicomic masterpiece of dashed dreams, thwarted love, and eternal longing begins as Professor Serebryakov and his young wife, Elena, arrive at the family's remote country estate that has been looked after by Sonya (the Professor's daughter from his first marriage) and her Uncle Vanya, the Professor's brotherinlaw. Vanya has sacrificed his life managing the estate for the Professor, whom he once revered, but is now filled with regret for lost time, a pain made worse by the arousing presence of Elena. An acutely observed study of humanity, Chekhov's Uncle Vanya remains a classic of Russian theater, a story of tangled love combining comic scenes of the everyday with a scathing attack on the idle provincial life of the upper classes.
For more information about the Maly Drama Theater and this performance, visit: www.ums.org.
Programs cosponsored by:
Weiser Center for Europe & Eurasia; Center for Russian, East European, & Eurasian Studies;
Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures; Residential College; and University Musical Society.
Photo by: Viktor Vassiliev