Verdi prati( from "Alcina")
Ombra mai fù ( from "Serse")
George Frederic Handel (1685-1759)Affetti, non turbate
Vincenzo Righini (1756-1812)Würd’ ich auch wie manche Buhlerinnen ( from "Bastien und Bastienne")
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)Qui sedes ad dextram Patris (from "Mass in B minor")
J.S. Bach (1685-1750)Les Berceaux
En prière
Le Papillon et la Fleur
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)Frühlingsmorgen
Errinerung
Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht?
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)Suite O Bairnsangs
The Man-in-the-Mune
Daffins
Wille Wabster
A Bairn's Prayer at Nicht
The Gean
Thea Musgrave (1928)Biblical songs for voice & piano
God is my shepherd
I will sing new songs
Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904)
Notes &
Translations
George Frederic Handel (1685-1759)
Verdi prati ( from "Alcina") Listen
Ombra mai fù ( from "Serse") Listen
Overcoming childhood circumstances pitted against his developing musicianship by sneaking into the attic to practice and literally fighting for his musical principles, George Frederic Handel became a master of operatic innovation.
In composing Alcina, Handel transformed the traditional fairy-tale heroine into a siren who disposes of her ex-lovers by turning them into all kinds of objects. Verdi prati foreshadows her coming defeat and eventual vengeance. Although evil, her downfall is her love for Rogero, her broken spirit, and her broken heart. The ending is bitter-sweet, with Rogero and his love, Bradamante, returning to one another and Alcina left broken.
Serse is a comic opera containing elements of buffo within the plot, musical style and character development. Composed in 1738 for the London stage, it is based on a classic story of love, miscommunication, and jealousy all resulting in comic complications. The beautiful love lyric Ombra mai fù later became renowned as an instrumental piece. A sweetly reminiscent recitative is followed by a luscious aria. The lover is the focus of this text, though in metaphor only. Seen as a strong tree with slender branches, the gentle lover is able to weather the storm undisturbed.
| Verdi prati,
selve amene,
Perderete la beltà. Vaghi fior, correnti rivi, La vaghezza, la bellezza Presto in voi si cangerà. E cangiato il vago oggetto All’orror del primo aspetto Tutto in voi ritornerà. |
Green meadows, lovely woods,
You will lose your beauty, Pretty flowers, rapid brooks, Your charm and beauty Will soon change. The beautiful object has changed, To the dismay of the first glance, Then everything will return in you. |
Ombra mai fù (Never was there a shadow)
| Frondi tenere e belle
Del mio platano amato, Per voi resplenda il fato. Tuoni, lampi e procelle Non v’oltraggino mai la cara pace. Nè giunga a profanarvi austro rapace! Ombra mai fù
|
Tender and beautiful branches
Of my beloved plain tree, For you fate brightly shines. Thunder, lightning and storms Never disturb your majestic peace. Ravenous winds do not reach out to defile you. Never was there a shadow
|
Vincenzo Righini (1756-1812)
Affetti, non turbate Listen
As a singing teacher and conductor Righini excelled. His compositions demonstrate a keen awareness of the capacity and limitations of the human voice. During his life Righini composed sixteen operas, that included dramatic ballets; he wrote music with profound feeling for both the voice and orchestra combining Italian emotion, color and authenticity with German method and technique. Other compositions by Righini include sacred songs, cantatas, songs and piano music.
| Affetti, non turbate la pace
all’alma mia,
Sia vostra scelta, o sia l’oprar necessità. Perchè rei vi credete se liberi non siete? Perchè non vi cangiate se avete libertà? |
Affections, not disturbing the
peace to my loving,
Both your choices, or both possibilities are necessity. Why do you believe you are guilty if you are not free? Why are you not innocent if you have freedom? |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Würd’ ich auch wie manche Buhlerinnen ( from "Bastien und Bastienne") Listen
Mozart's remarkable talents, his rich musical legacy, and his dramatic life and death have made him one of music's truly mythic figures. A child prodigy who toured Europe wowing the upper class, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote the opera Bastien und Bastienne at age twelve.
A pastoral opera, Bastien und Bastienne is about a shepherdess and her shepherd love. Most likely, this short comic piece was used as an intermission diversion within a more prominent work, as was common practice. Bastien is a "pants role", meaning his part is played by a female, in this case a mezzo-soprano. The lighter, more feminine characteristics of Bastienne are carried out in the soprano voice.
| Würd’ ich auch wie manche
Buhlerinnen
Fremder Schmeiche leien niemals satt, Wollt’ ich mir ganz leicht das Herz gewinnen Von den schönsten Herren aus der Stadt; Doch nur Bastien reizt meine Triebe, Und mit Liebe wird ein Andrer nie belohnt. Geht, geht, geht! sag ich, Geht und lernt von meiner Jugend, Dass die Tugend auch in Schäferhütten wohnt. |
Were I, too, like many other
maidens,
Craving pretty gifts and silken gowns, I could quite easily win the hearts of the most handsome fellows in the city; But only Bastien stirs my emotions, And our love leaves room for no other. Go, go, go! I say, Go and learn from my youth, That true virtue may in shepherd’s cottage bloom. |
J.S. Bach (1685-1750)
Qui sedes ad dextram Patris(from "Mass in B minor") Listen
Johann Sebastian Bach composed his Mass in B minor over the course of 15 years. He based it on the Roman Catholic mass texts, but followed his Protestant tradition in the organization of the 27 movements. He was clearly deeply affected by the mystic grandeur of the Latin text and, as a devout Christian, to the underlying religious message. Bach's art reveals a profound human understanding that lies beyond expression in language.
In hopes of being appointed court composer in Dresden in 1733, Bach presented the first two section of what would become the Mass in B minor as a sort of portfolio. Contained in this first section is Qui sedes ad dextram Patris. This aria is scored in B minor with oboe d’amore obbligato. The solo voice and solo oboe alternate with the melody, accompanied by strings. The rich tone of the oboe is intended to give this piece a sad mood.
| Qui sedes ad dextram Patris,
miserere nobis. |
Thou that sittest at the right
hand of the Father,
have mercy upon us. |
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
Les Berceaux Listen
En prière Listen
Le Papillon et la Fleur Listen
Gabriel Fauré is known for a master of the relationship between music and poetry. His works push the boundaries of tradition; many of them displaying a seriousness and depth of emotion which challenged the gaiety of late nineteenth-century "salon" society. Fauré paved the way through World War I for many of his aspiring composition students like Maurice Ravel and Nadia Boulanger. Fauré's songs have become his best-loved compositions. Numbering over one hundred, they are of consistently high quality.
A late seventeenth century poem by Sully Prudhomme, set with a flowing melodic line and arpeggiated accompaniment, Les Berceaux evokes the movements of ships and of cradles, the two linked together in motion and emotion. Its ships carry men away from their cradles. The ships are momentarily held back by the soul of the cradles, perhaps a longing for home and simpler times. The song opens with the lulling movement of the arpeggios in the piano bass line, and a soothing vocal line, sung piano, resembling the rocking hand of a mother crooning a lullaby to her child.
Much music originally intended for church performance has made its way into the performance hall. Included among such works is En prière, which has become a staple of French song recitals. En prière is a prayerful plea for the Lord’s will. The accompaniment consists almost entirely of arpeggios. The vocal lines, by contrast, are far subtler and do not always follow predictable paths. Such treatment allows the focus to remain on textual meaning, as is seen in the way the voice is exposed and the texture thin at "on Calvary."
Les papillon et la fleur is a character piece in which the flight of the butterfly is characterized in the running piano accompaniment. The flower, on the other hand, while speaking to the butterfly, is accompanied by stationary chords. It is Fauré's very first piece, numbered Op.1 No.1.
Les Berceaux (The
Cradles)
| Le long du Quai, les grands
vaisseaux,
Que la houle incline en silence, Ne prennent pas garde aux berceaux, Que la main des femmes balance. Mais viendra le jour des adieux,
Et ce jour là les grands
vaisseaux,
|
Along the wharf, the great vessels,
Which the surf silently inclines, Take no notice of the cradles That women’s hands rock. But the day of farewells will
come,
And on that day the great vessels,
|
En prière (In prayer)
| Si la voix d’un enfant
Peut monter jusqu’à Vous, Ô mon Père, Ecoutez de Jèsus, Devant Vous à genoux, La prière! Si Vous m’avez choisi
Sur me lèvres, Seigneur,
Ne m’abandonnez pas,
Révèlez Vous
à moi,
|
If a child’s voice
can rise up to You, my Father, Listen to the prayer of Jesus, kneeling before You! If You have chosen me
On my lips, Lord,
Do no abandon me,
Reveal Yourself to me,
|
Le Papillon et la Fleur (The Butterfly and the Flower)
| La pauvre fleur disait au
papillon céleste:Ne fuis pas!
Vois comme nos destins sont différents, je reste, Tu t’en vas! Pourtant nous nous ai mons, nous vi vous sans les hommes, Et loin d’eux! Et nous nous ressemblons et l’on du que nous sommes, Fleurs tous deux! Mais hélas l’air t’emporte,
et la terre m’enchaine--
Tu fuis, puis tu reviens,
puis tu t’en vas encore
|
The poor flower said to the
celestial butterfly: "Don’t fly away!
See how different our destinies are; I remain here, you are free to go! And yet we love each other, we live without human beings and far from them! And we resemble each other and they say we are both flowers! But, alas, the air carries you
away, and the earth keeps me chained cruel fate!
You fly away, then you return,
and you go still again to gleam elsewhere!
|
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Frühlingsmorgen Listen
Errinerung Listen
Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht? Listen
Born in Bohemia, Gustav Mahler entered the Vienna Conservatory in 1875, studying harmony with Robert Fuchs. Most of the public failed to understand his music. In the end, he took his lack of apparent success as a composer calmly, accurately predicting, "My time will yet come."
Frühlingsmorgen, with its flowing accompaniment and beautifully rocking melody is much like Schumann. The birdcall trills are the one unique touch in an otherwise derivative song. The sprightly melodic line denotes a bright spring morning and the chipper disposition of the singer.
Lieder und Gesänge aus der Jugendzeit is a cycle of songs with folk themes. The texts are drawn from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, a two-volume anthology of German folk-poetry. Within this cycle, Erinnerung is an example of "progressive" tonality in Mahler's work. Erinnerung is introspective sounding, with the chromatic melody moving above the plaintive triplets of the piano.
With text also drawn from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Wer hat dies liedlein erdacht? is characteristic of Mahler’s thematic usage of peasant life and love. The undulating accompaniment is like to the motion of the spinning wheel often used by peasant women.
| Es klopft an das Fenster
der Lindenbaum
Mit Zweigen, blüthenbehangen: Steh’ auf! Steh’ auf! Was liegst du im Traum? Die Sonn’ ist aufgegangen! Steh’ auf! Steh’ auf! Die Lerche is wach, die Büsche weh’n! Die Bienen summen und Käfer! Steh’ auf! Steh’ auf! Und dein munteres Lieb’ hab’ ich auch schon geseh’n. Steh’ auf, Langschläfer! Langschläfer, steh’ auf! Steh’ auf! Steh’ auf! |
There taps at the window the
lime tree
With branches blossomladen: Arise! Arise! Why do you lie dreaming? The sun has come up! Arise! Arise! The lark is awake, the bushes rustle! The bees are humming and the beetles! Arise! Arise! And your merry sweetheart , I have already seen. Arise, sleepyhead! Sleepyhead, arise! Arise, arise! |
Erinnerung (Memory)
| Es wecket meine Liebe die
Lieder immer wieder!
Es wecket meine Lieder die Liebe immer wieder! Die Lippen, die da träumen von deinen heissen Küssen, In Sang und Liedesweisen von dir sie tönon müssen! Und wollen die Gedanken der Liebe sich entschlagen, So kommen meine Lieder zu mir mit Liebesklagen! So halten mich in Banden die Beiden immer wieder! Es weckt das Lied die Liebe! Die Liebe weckt die Lieder! |
My love wakes the songs ever
anew!
My songs wake my love ever anew! My lips that dream of your fervent kisses, In song and melody they must sing of you! And if my thoughts of love want to dismiss themselves, Then my songs come to me with love’s lament! Thus I am held a captive by these two forever! The song will waken love! And love wakens the song |
Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht? (Who devised this little song?)
| Dort oben am Berg
In dem hohen Haus! In dem Haus! Da gukket ein fein’s lieb’s Mädel heraus! Es ist nicht dort daheime! Es ist des Wirts sein Töchterlein! Es wohnet auf grüner Heide! Mein Herzle is wund! Komm, Schätzle, mach’s g’sund! Dein’ schwarzbraune Aüglein Die hab’n mich verwund’t Dein rosiger Mund macht Herzen gesund. Macht Jugend verständig Macht Tote lebendig, Macht Kranke gesund, macht Kranke gesund, Ja gesund. Wer hat denn das schön schöne Liedlein erdacht? Es haben’s drei Gäns’ übers Wasser gebracht. Zwei graue und eine weisse! Und wer das Liedlein nicht singen kann, Dem wollen sie es pfeifen! Ja! |
Up there on the mountain
In the high house! In the house! There looks out a fine dear little maiden! She is not at home there! She is the innkeeper’s little daughter! She lives on a green heath! My heart is wounded! Come, sweetheart, make it well! Your dark brown eyes Have wounded me Your rosy mouth makes my heart ache. Makes the young wise Makes the dead come alive, Makes the sick well, makes the sick well, Yes well. Who then has devised this fine, fine little song? Three geese brought it over the water. Two gray and a white! And whoever can’t sing the little song, They should whistle it for me! Ja! |
Thea Musgrave (1928)
Suite O BairnsangsBorn in the Midlothian region of Scotland, Thea Musgrave is a contemporary composer, conductor, and lecturer. She studied at the University of Edinburgh and later at the Paris Conservatory with Nadia Boulanger. She also studied composition with Aaron Copland. From her very earliest days her music was recognized in Scotland, and it was from Scotland that she received her earliest commissions.The Man-in-the-Mune Listen Daffins Listen Wille Wabster Listen A Bairn's Prayer at Nicht Listen The Gean Listen
One of her early commissioned pieces is Suite O Bairnsangs, set in an ancient Scottish dialect known as Scots. While the text is old, the melodies are aleatoric and experimental, characteristic of twentieth-century composition. It is the combining of old with new which creates the real mystery of this piece.
| The man-in-the-mune’s got
cleik-i-the-back
An he wullna come oot tae play. He sits by himsel on a shimmer o heaven, An hears whit the starnies say, But his cheeks gae black, He purls his broo, And his auld heid shaks wi’ rage, Thru the reengan clouds that jostle the yirth, Whan God’s on the rampage. The man-in-the-mune’s got cleik-i-the-back An he wullna come oot tae play. |
The man in the moon’s got a
crick in his back
So he will not come out to play. He sits by himself on a shimmer of heaven And hears what the stars say But his cheeks go black He furls his brow And his old head shakes with rage, Through the bustling clouds that jostle the earth, When God’s on the rampage. The man in the moon’s got a crick in his back So he will not come out to play. |
Daffins (Daffodils)
| The wind that blew yestreen,
Gar’t trees aa rear their heids, An warssle I the dark as gin It socht tae steal their cleeds. It maun hae shogged the sun Birlan abune the warld, For off his flaman fiery baa, A few bricht gairs it harled Syne drapt them roun’ the ruits O ilk forfochen tree. Cool lauchan pools o yalla licht Daffins, maist blyth tae see. |
The wind that blew last night,
Made trees rear up their heads, And wrestle as it tried To steal the clothes from off their beds. It must have shaken the sun Whirling around the world For off his flaming fiery ball A few bright sparks it hurled And dropped them round the roots Of every breathless tree. Cool laughing pools of yellow light Daffodils, most fair to see. |
Willie Wabster (Willie Webster)
| Hae ye seen Willie Wabster?
He’s weilkennt frae Scrabster Tae yont the siller Tweed. He scarts his fingers owre the lift, An sets the starns a shoggin: When thunndercloods’ll haurdly drift, He gies ilf yin ajoggin. An when the mune offends his sicht, He coosts it owre his shouther; An while’s tae snuff the sun’s gowd light His winds begin tae fluther. Hae ye seen Willie Wabster? He’s weilkennt frae Scrabster Tae yont the siller Tweed. He gars come dingan on the toun, The raindrops oot o heaven, Draps frae his pooch an dangles doun in bauns, The colours seven. Sma wunner that I’m aften scard, For I’m no certain whether He’s God himsel, the warld’s ae laird Or jist his clerk-o-wether. |
Have you seen Willie Webster?
He’s well known from Scrabster South to the silver Tweed. He runs his fingers through the sky To keep the stars a moving: When thunder clouds go slowly by, He gives them each a shoving. And when the moon offends his sight, He casts it o’er his shoulder; So as to snuff the sun’s bright light His winds go swaggering bolder. Have you seen Willie Webster? He’s well known from Scrabster South to the silver Tweed. He makes the raindrops out of heav’n Come driving on the town In ribbons all the colours seven, He drops and dangles down. Small wonder that I’m often scared, For I’m not certain whether He’s God himself, the Lord of the world Or just his clerk of weather. |
A Bairn’s Prayer at Nicht (A child’s prayer at night)
| The starns crack the lift
tae let licht in.
Sae please may the holes let oot my sin. |
The stars crack the sky to let
light in.
So please may the holes let out my sin. |
The Gean (The cherry tree)
| Aa the trees are dansan wi
the winds of Spring
Ilka green leaf glancan in a hielan fling. Abie thonder geantree sae leddylik and prood Tosht up for aa the lave tae see wi tossils o a clood. |
All the trees are dancing with
the winds of spring
Every green leaf glancing in a highland fling. Except for yonder cherry tree so ladylike and proud Dressed up for all the rest to see with tassels of a cloud. |
Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904)
Biblical songs for voice & pianoDvorak’s Biblical Songs is one of the several compositions he wrote in America during his three-year stay as Director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York City. A cycle of ten songs to texts take from the Book of Psalms mirrors Dvorak’s profound religious feelings. While in the U.S. he made the acquaintance of the pioneering African-American baritone H.T. Burleigh, who may have influenced the seemingly spiritual-like melodies.God is my shepherd Listen I will sing new songs Listen
God is my shepherd is probably the most well-known of this set. Based on Psalm 23, it is peaceful and serene, both in the vocal part and minimalistic accompaniment. I will sing new songs, though slightly less well-known, is also a favorite from the cycle. It is based loosely on Psalms 144 and 145. With a more upbeat rhythmic base and a major key setting, it is joyful and praising.
God is my shepherd,
I want for nothing.
My rest is in the pleasant meadows
He leadeth me where quiet waters
flow.
My fainting soul doth He restore,
And guideth me in the way of
peace
To glorify His name.
And though in death’s dark valley
My steps must wander
My spirit shall not fear
For Thou art by me still.
Thy rod and staff are with me,
And they shall comfort me.
I will sing new songs
I will sing new songs of gladness,
I will sing Jehovah’s praises
upon a ten-stringed psaltery.
Every day will I extol Thee
and will bless Thy Holy Name,
I will bless Thy Holy Name.
Great is God and great His mercy.
Who shall tell of all His greatness?
Who shall His pow’r declare?
My song shall be of praise and
honor,
And of Thy glorious acts.
Thy works are wonderful,
Past our knowing.
Yea, men shall tell of Thy great
kindness
and of Thy wond’rous might,
And my voice shall proclaim
aloud Thy glory.
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