2011-03-21 Nono [recital program]

              Luigi Nono,
The Italian Serialists, and
Musical Modernism
Monday, March 21, 2011
7:30 pm
Recital Hall, Music Building
Program
Fünfzehn Gedichte aus Stefan Georges Arnold Schoenberg
Das Buch der hängenden Gärten, op. 15 (1909) (1874-1951)
(Stefan George)
I. Unterm schutz von dichten blättergründen
II. Hain in diesen paradiesen
III. Als neuling trat ich ein in dein gehege
IV. Da meine lippen reglos sind und brennen
V. Saget mir auf welchem pfade
VI. Jedem werke bin ich fürder tot
VII. Angst und hoffen wechselnd mich beklemmen
VIII. Wenn ich heut nicht deinen leib berühre
IX. Streng ist uns das glück und spröde
X. Das schöne beet betracht ich mir im harren
XI. Als wir hinter dem beblümten tore
XII. Wenn sich bei heiliger ruh in tiefen matten
XIII. Du lehnest wider eine silberweide
XIV. Sprich nicht immer
XV. Wir bevölkerten die abend-düstern
Clara OʼBrien, mezzo-soprano
James Douglass, piano
Sequenza IXb for alto saxophone (1981) Luciano Berio
(1925-2003)
Steven Stusek, alto saxophone
Liriche su Verlaine (1946) Bruno Madema
(Paul Verlaine) (1920-1973)
Aquarelles
Sérénade
Sagasse
Stacey Mastrian, soprano
James Douglass, piano
Sequenze II for female voice (1966) Luciano Berio
(Markus Kutter)
Stacey Mastrian, soprano
La fabbrica illuminata for soprano and 4-channel tape (1964) Luigi Nono
(Texts by workers from Italsider in Genoa) (1924-1990)
Trade union contracts (elaborated by Giuliano Scabia)
Giuliano Scabia
Cesare Pavese (finale – fragment from “Two poems for T.”)
Stacey Mastrian, soprano
Texts and Translations
Fünfzehn Gedichte aus Stefan Georges Das
Buch der hängenden Gärten
(Stefan George)
I. Unterm schutz von dichten blättergründen,
Wo von sternen feine flocken schneien,
Sachte stimmen ihre leiden künden,
Fabeltiere aus den braunen schünden
Strahlen in die marmorebecken speien,
Draus die kleinen bäche klagend eilen:
Kaman kerzen das gesträch entzünden,
Weisse formen das gewässer teilen
II. Hain in diesen paradiesen
Wechselt ab mit blütenwiesen,
Hallen, buntbemalten fliesen.
Schlanker störche schnäbel kräuseln
Teiche, die von fischen schillern,
Vögel-reihen matten scheines
Auf den schiefen firsten trillern
Und die goldnen sinsen säuseln—
Doch mein traum verfolgt nur eines.
III. Als neuling trat ich ein in dein gehege;
Kein staunen war vorher in meinen mienen,
Kein wunsch in mir, eh ich dich blickte, rege.
Der jungen hände faltung sieh mit huld,
Erwähle mich zu denen, die dir dienen
Und schone mit erbarmender geduld
Den, der noch strauchelt auf so fremdem
stege.
IV. Da meine lippen reglos sind und brennen,
Beacht ich erst, wohin mein fuss geriet:
In andrer herren prächtiges gebiet.
Noch war vielleicht mir möglich, mich zu
trennen,
Da schien es, dass durch hohe gitterstäbe
Der blick, vor dem ich ohne lass gekniet,
Mich fragend suchte oder zeichen gäbe.
V. Saget mir, auf welchem pfade
Heute sie vorüberschreite—
Dass ich aus der reichsten lade
Zarte seidenweben hole,
Rose pflücke und viole,
Dass ich meine wange breite,
Schemel unter ihrer sohle.
VI. Jedem werke bin ich fürder tot.
Dich mir nahzurufen mit den sinnen,
Neue redden mit dir auszuspinnen,
Dienst und lohn, gewährung und verbot,
Von allen dingen ist nur dieses not
Und weinen, dass die bilder immer fliehen,
Die in schöner finsternis gediehen—
Wann der kalte klare morgen droht.
Fifteen Poems from Stefan George's The
Book of the Hanging Gardens
Protected by leafy thickets
Where stars shed fine flakes,
Where gentle voices lament,
Where fabulous beasts spit rays of water
From brown gullets into marble basins,
From which, lamenting, little brooks hasten –
Candles came to illuminate the bushes,
White forms divided the waters.
Woods in these Gardens of Eden
Alternate with flowery meadows,
Porticos, colorfully painted tiles.
The beaks of slender storks ruffle
Ponds that glisten with fish.
Rows of softly gleaming birds
Trill on the sloping gables
And the golden reeds sough—
But my dream followed only one.
As a novice I entered your domain;
My face showed no wonder before,
No wish stirred in me before I saw you.
Look with favor on these folded hands,
Take me among those who serve you
And indulge with patience and pity
One who yet stumbles on unfamiliar paths.
Only now that my lips burn without moving
I notice where my foot has strayed:
In the splendid domain of other masters.
Yet I might perhaps still have torn myself away
–
But I seemed to see through tall trellises
That glance, before which I knelt unceasingly,
Sought me, questioning, or gave me a sign.
Tell me on which path
She will pass today –
That I may fetch, from the richest shrine,
A delicate silken web,
That I may gather roses and violets,
That I may make of my cheek
A stool beneath her feet.
Now I am lost to all other labor.
To call you to me with all my senses,
To think of new things to say to you,
Service and reward, license and forbidding,
Of all things is only this need
And weeping because images that flourished
In beautiful darkness always take flight
When the cold, clear morning threatens.
VII. Angst und hoffen wechselnd mich
beklemmen,
Meine worte sich in seufzer dehnen,
Mich bedrängt so ungestümes sehnen,
Dass ich mich an rast und schlaf nicht kehre,
Dass mein lager tränen schwemmen,
Dass ich jede freude von mir wehre,
Dass ich keines freundes trost begehre.
VIII. Wenn ich heut nicht deinen leib berühre,
Wird der faden meiner seele reissen
Wie zu sehr gespannte sehne.
Liebe zeichen seien trauerflöre
Mir, der leidet, seit ich dir gehöre.
Richte, ob mir solche qual gebühre,
Kühlung sprenge mir, dem fieberheissen,
Der ich wankend draussen lehne.
IX. Streng ist uns das glück und spröde,
Was vermocht ein kurzer kuss?
Eines regentropfens guss
Auf gesengter bleicher öde,
Die ihn ungenossen schlingt,
Neue labung missen muss
Und vor neuen gluten springt.
X. Das schöne beet betracht ich mir im harren,
Es ist umzäunt mit purpurn-schwarzem dorne,
Drin ragen kelche mit geflecktem sporne
Und sammtgefiederte, geneige farren
Und flockenbüschel, wassergrün und rund
Und in der mitte glocken, weiss und mild—
Von einem ode mist ihr feucher mund
Wie süsse frucht von himmlishen gefild.
XI. Als wir hinter dem beblümten tore
Endlich nur das eigne hauchen spürten,
Warden uns erdachte seligkeiten?
Ich erinnere, dass wie schwache rohre
Beide stumm zu beben wir begannen
Wenn wir leis nur an uns rührten
Und dass unsre augen rannen—
So verbliebest du mir lang zu seiten.
XII. Wenn sich bei heiliger ruh in tiefen matten
Um unsre schläfen unsre hände schmiegen,
Verehrung lindert unsrer glieder brand:
So denke nicht der ungestalten schatten,
Die an der wand sich auf und unter wiegen,
Der wächter nicht, die rasch uns scheiden
dürfen
Und nicht, dass vor der stadt der weisse sand
Bereit is, unser warmes blut zu schlürfen.
Fear and hope oppress me in turn,
My words are lengthened into sighs.
Such violent longing besets me
That I turn to neither rest nor sleep,
That tears drench my bed,
That I defend myself from every joy,
That I want no friend to console me.
If I do not touch your body today
The thread of my soul will break
Like a bow-string drawn too tight.
Let signs of love be veils of sorrow
For me, who suffers since I belong to you.
Judge if I deserve such anguish,
Coolness break my fever heat,
As faltering, I rest outside.
Strict is our fortune and severe.
What good is one brief kiss?
It is like a raindrop, falling
On to a parched, pale desert
That swallows it un-refreshed
And, missing new sustenance,
Cracks with renewed heat.
As I wait, I look at the lovely flower bed,
It is hedged with purple-black thorns,
Through which thrust flowers with dappled
spurs
And feathery, drooping ferns,
And fluffy flower clusters, water green and
round
And in the middle bell-flowers, white and mild –
Their dewy mouth breathing fragrance
Like sweet fruit from the fields of Heaven.
As we behind the flower-covered gate
At last sense only our breathing
Did our bliss turn out as we imagined?
I remember that, like tender reeds
Silently we both began to tremble
When we only lightly touched each other
And that our eyes brimmed over—
Thus you stayed for a long time by my side.
When we take sacred rest in the deep
meadows
And our hands nestle against our temples,
When our bodiesʼ ardor is assuaged by
adoration:
Do not then think of the shapeless shadows
That sway up and down the wall,
Nor of the guards that may quickly part us,
Nor of the white sand before the town,
Which is ready to drink our warm blood.
XIII. Du lehnest wider eine silberweide
Am ufer, mit des fächers starren spitzen
Umshirmest du das haupt dir wie mit blitzen
Und rollst, als ob due spieltest dein
geschmeide.
Ich bin im boot, das laubgewölbe wahren,
In das ich dich vergeblich lud zu steigen…
Die weiden seh ich, die sich tiefer neigen
Und blumen, die verstreut im wasser fahren.
XIV. Sprich nicht immer
Von dem laub,
Windes raub,
Vom zerschellen
Reifer quitten,
Von den tritten
Der vernichter
Spät im jahr.
Von dem zittern
Der libelien
In gewittern
Und der lichter,
Deren flimmer
Wandelbar.
XV. Wir bevölkerten die abend-düstern
Lauben, lichten temple, pfad und beet
Freuding—sie mit lächeln, ich mit flüstern—
Nun ist wahr, dass sie für immer geht.
Hohe blumen blassen oder brechen,
Es erblasst und bricht der weiher glas
Und ich trete fehl im morschen gras,
Palmen mit den spitzen fingern strechen.
Mürber blätter zischendes gewühl
Jagen ruckweis unsichtbare hände
Draussen um des edens fahle wände.
Die nacht is überwölkt und schwül.
You lean against a white willow
On the bank, with your fanʼs pointed rays
You shield your head as if with lightning,
And you turn as if showing your jewels.
Among the arching branches, I am in the boat
Into which I vainly invite you…
I see the willows bending lower
And scattered flowers floating on the water.
Do not always speak
Of the leaves,
The windʼs prey,
Of the breaking
Of ripe quinces,
Of the steps
Of destroyers
Late in the year;
Of the trembling
Of the dragonflies
In the storm,
And of the lights
Whose flickering
Changes.
We peopled the dusky
arbors, the bright temples, paths, and flower-beds,
joyfully—she with laughter, I with whispers—
Now it is true, she is leaving forever.
Tall flowers grow pale or break,
Glassy ponds grow pale and break,
And I stumble in the decaying grass;
Palms stab with pointed fingers.
Brittle leaves tumble, hissing
Jerking, chased by invisible hands
Outside the pale walls of our paradise.
The night is cloudy and oppressive.
--S. S. Prawer, Robert E. Wolf, E.L. Keathley
Liriche su Verlaine (Paul Verlaine)
Aquarelles
Voici des fruits, des fleurs, des feuilles et des
branches,
Et puis voici mon coeur, qui ne bat que pour
vous;
Ne le déchirez pas avec vos deux mains
blanches,
Et quʼà vos yeux si beaux lʼhumble présent soit
doux.
Jʼarrive tout couvert encore de rosée
Que le vent du matin vient glacer à mon front.
Souffrez que ma fatigue à vos pieds reposée
Rêve des chers instants qui la délasseront.
Songs on Poems by Verlaine
Watercolors
Here are fruits, flowers, leaves, and branches,
And here, too, is my heart, which beats only for
you;
Do not tear it to pieces with your two white
hands,
And may the humble present be sweet to your
so-beautiful eyes.
I arrive still completely covered with dew
That the morning wind comes to freeze on my
forehead.
Suffer that my fatigue, at your feet rested,
Sur votre jeune sein, laisser roulez ma tête
Toute sonore encore de vos derniers baisers;
Laissez-la sʼapaiser de la bonne tempête,
Et que je dorme un peu puisque vous reposez.
Sérénade
Comme la voix dʼun mort qui chanterait
Du fond de sa fosse,
Maîtresse, entends monter vers ton retrait
Ma voix aigre e fausse.
Ouvre ton âme et ton oreille au son
De ma mandoline:
Pour toi jʼai fait, pour toi, cette chanson
Cruelle et câline.
Je chanterai tes yeux dʼor et dʼonyx
Purs de toutes ombres,
Puis le Léthé de ton sein, puis le Styx
De tes cheveux sombres.
Comme la voix dʼun mort qui chanterait
Du fond de sa fosse,
Maîtresse, entends monter vers ton retrait
Ma voix aigre e fausse.
Puis je louerai beaucoup, comme il convient,
Cette chair bénie
Dont le parfum opulent me revient
Les nuits dʼinsomnie.
Et pour finir je dirai le baiser
De ta lèvre rouge,
Et ta douceur à me martyriser,
—Mon Ange!—ma Gouge!
Ouvre ton âme et ton oreille au son
De ma mandoline:
Pour toi jʼai fait, pour toi, cette chanson
Cruelle et câline.
Sagesse
O mon Dieu, vous mʼavez blessé dʼamour
Et la blessure est encore vibrante,
O mon Dieu, vous mʼavez blessé dʼamour.
O mon Dieu, votre crainte mʼa frappé
Et la brûlure est encore là qui tonne,
O mon Dieu, votre crainte mʼa frappé.
O mon Dieu, jʼai connu que tout est vil
Et votre gloire en moi sʼest installée,
O mon Dieu, jʼai connu que tout est vil.
Dreams of dear moments that will refresh it.
On your young breast, let my head rest
Still all ringing with your last kisses;
Let it calm down after the pleasant tempest,
And may I sleep a little while you rest.
Serenade
Like the voice of one dead who would sing
From the bottom of his grave,
Mistress, listen to my sharp and out-of-tune
voice
Climb up toward you as you withdraw.
Open your soul and your ears to the sound
Of my mandolin:
For you I did it, for you, this song
Cruel and cajoling.
I will sing of your golden and onyx eyes
Pure from all shadows,
Then the Lethe of your breast, then the Styx
Of your somber hair.
Like the voice of one dead who would sing
From the bottom of his grave,
Mistress, listen to my sharp and out-of-tune
voice
Climb up toward you as you withdraw.
Then I will praise very much, as is appropriate,
This blessed flesh
Whose opulent perfume takes me back to
Sleepless nights.
And to finish, I will tell of the kiss
Of your red lips,
And your gentle way to martyr me,
— My Angel! My Whore!
Open your soul and your ears to the sound
Of my mandolin:
For you I did it, for you, this song
Cruel and cajoling.
Wisdom
Oh, my God, you wounded me with love,
And that wound is still vibrant,
Oh my God, you wounded me with love.
Oh my God, your fear struck me
And the burn is still there that thunders,
Oh my God, your fear struck me.
Oh my God, I learned that everything is vile
And your glory settled in me,
Oh my God, I learned that everything is vile.
Noyez mon âme aux flots de votre Vin.
Fondez la vie au Pain de votre table,
Noyez mon âme aux flots de votre Vin.
Voici mon sang que je nʼai pas versé,
Voici ma chair indigne de souffrance,
Voici mon sang que je nʼai pas versé.
Voici mon front qui nʼa pu que rougir,
Pour lʼescabeau de vos pieds adorables,
Voici mon front qui nʼa pu que rougir.
Voici mes mains qui nʼont pas travaillé,
Pour les charbons ardents et lʼencens rare,
Voici mes mains qui nʼont pas travaillé.
Voici mon coeur qui nʼa battu quʼen vain,
Pour palpiter aux ronces du Calvaire,
Voici mon coeur qui nʼa battu quʼen vain.
Voici mes pieds, frivoles voyageurs,
Pour accourir au cri de votre grâce,
Voici mes pieds, frivoles voyageurs.
Voici ma voix, bruit maussade et menteur,
Pour les reproches de la Pénitence,
Voici ma voix, bruit maussade et menteur.
Voici mes yeux, luminaires dʼerreur,
Pour être éteints aux pleurs de la prière,
Voici mes yeux, luminaires dʼerreur.
Hélas! Vous, Dieu dʼoffrande et de pardon,
Quel est le puits de mon ingratitude,
Hélas! Vous, Dieu dʼoffrande et de pardon,
Dieu de terreur et Dieu de sainteté,
Hélas! ce noir abîme de mon crime,
Dieu de terreur et Dieu de sainteté,
Vous, Dieu de paix, de joie et de bonheur,
Toutes mes peurs, toutes mes ignorances,
Vous, Dieu de paix, de joie et de bonheur,
Vous connaissez tout cela, tout cela,
Et que je suis plus pauvre que personne,
Vous connaissez tout cela, tout cela,
Mais ce que jʼai, mon Dieu, je vous le donne.
Drown my soul in the flows of your Wine.
Feed my life on the Bread of your table,
Drown my soul in the flows of your Wine.
Here is my blood that I did not shed,
Here is my flesh unworthy of suffering,
Here is my blood that I did not shed.
Here is my face, which could only redden,
For the drum of your adorable feet,
Here is my face, which could only redden.
Here are my hands that did not work,
For live coals and the rare incense,
Here are my hands that did not work.
Here is my heart, which beat only in vain,
To palpitate at the brambles of Calvary,
Here is my heart, which beat only in vain.
Here are my feet, futile travelers,
To hasten to the cry of your grace,
Here are my feet, futile travelers.
Here is my voice, sulky and deceitful noise,
For the reproaches of Penitence,
Here is my voice, sulky and deceitful noise.
Here are my eyes, luminaries of error,
To be extinguished by the tears of prayer,
Here are my eyes, luminaries of error.
Alas! You, God of offering and forgiveness,
How deep is the well of my ingratitude,
Alas! You, God of offering and forgiveness,
God of terror and God of holiness,
Alas! this black abyss of my crime,
God of terror and God of holiness,
You, God of peace, of joy and of happiness,
All of my fears, all of my ignorance and
mistakes,
You, God of peace, of joy and of happiness,
You know all that, all that,
And that I am poorer than anyone,
You know all that, all that,
But what I have, my God, I give it to you.
-- © 2005 Stacey Mastrian,
assisted by François Loup
give me
to sing
to build a house
Sequenza III
(Markus Kutter)
a few words
a truth
without worrying
for a woman
allowing us
before night comes
La fabbrica illuminata (workers from the
Italsider factory in Genoa, trade union
contracts, Giuliano Scabia, Cesare Pavese)
1
fabbrica dei morti la chiamavano
esposizione operaia
a ustioni
a esalazioni nocive
a gran masse di acciaio fuso
esposizione operaia
a elevatissime temperature
su otto ore solo due ne intasca l'operaio
esposizione operaia
a materiali proiettati
relazioni umane per accelerare i tempi
esposizione operaia
a cadute
a luci abbaglianti
a corrente ad alta tensione
quanti MINUTI-UOMO per morire?
2
e non si fermano MANI di aggredire,
ININTERROTTI che vuota le ore
al CORPO nuda afferrano
quadranti, visi: e non si fermano
guardano GUARDANO occhi fissi: occhi mani
sera giro del letto
tutte le mie notti ma aridi orgasmi
TUTTA la città dai morti VIVI
noi continuamente PROTESTE
la folla cresce parla del MORTO
la cabina detta TOMBA
tagliano i tempi
fabbrica come lager
UCCISI
3
passeranno i mattini
passeranno le angosce
non sarà così sempre
ritroverai qualcosa
The Illuminated Factory
1
factory of the dead they call it
workerʼs exposure
to burns
to noxious fumes
to large quantities of molten steel
workerʼs exposure
to extremely elevated temperatures
out of eight hours the worker pockets only two
workerʼs exposure
to projectile materials
human relations in order to speed up the time
workerʼs exposure
to falls
to blinding lights
to high voltage
how many MAN-HOURS in order to die?
2
and they do not stop HANDS attacking,
UNINTERRUPTED that empty the hours
on the BODY nude they grasp
clock faces, faces: and they do not stop
they look THEY LOOK eyes staring: eyes hands
night turn of the bed
all of my nights but arid orgasms
ALL of the city of the dead LIVING
we continually PROTESTS
the crowd grows talks of the DEAD
the cabin known as TOMB
they cut time
factory like concentration camp
KILLED
3
mornings will pass
anguish will pass
it will not always be like this
you will find something
© 2007 Stacey Mastrian
Program Notes
Composed between March 1908 and 1909, Fünfzehn Gedichte aus Stefan Georges Das Buch
der hängenden Gärten [Fifteen Poems from Stefan George's Book of the Hanging Gardens] was
a key work in the development of Schoenberg's post-tonal, "expressionist" style, along with his
op. 10 string quartet (also with texts by George), and op. 11 piano pieces, all composed during
the same period. The cycle of poems suggests the origins, consummation, and dénouement of
an intensely felt but highly restrained love affair in a garden whose valences shift from the
innocence of Eden to the decadence of Babylon.
George, a German, spent several years in Paris in the company of symbolist poets
Stephane Mallarmé and Paul Verlaine, and he developed a distinctive poetic style that influenced
a number of younger poets, including Hugo von Hofmannsthal. George's poetry shares the
symbolistsʼ emphasis on the musical sounds of words—rhythm and meter; consonance and
assonance—and on evocative images; these images often dominate the poems' semantic and
syntactic meanings because George omitted most punctuation and did not capitalize nouns,
which creates a certain vagueness. The formal perfection of the poems renders them slightly
archaic, yet strikingly beautiful.
With their air of mystery, networks of related sounds, and inexact meanings, the poems
seem perfectly suited for Schoenberg's experiments beyond the predictability of tonality and into
a musical style that coheres by virtue of intervallic relationships and musical gestures pregnant
with quiet intensity. Schoenberg believed at this time that he should eschew musical architecture
and development to compose intuitively, that his works should be brief, "not constructed, but
expressed!" He also sought to "emancipate the dissonance" from the need to resolve, because
resolution implies tonal hierarchy. As these songs demonstrate, "expressionism" does not
deserve its reputation as an ugly aesthetic, but rather makes possible music of deeply affecting
beauty.
--Elizabeth L. Keathley
Bruno Madernaʼs three Liriche su Verlaine [Songs on Poems of Verlaine] for soprano and piano
(1946-1947) are relatively early works, yet they reflect a deep understanding of the texts and the
complex emotions associated with intimacy, rejection, and religion. His musical settings of these
renowned poems are sublime, aligning themselves perfectly with the mood of each. The poems
come from three different phases in the life of Paul Verlaine (1844-1896): “Green” from
Romances sans paroles, in Aquarelles, no. 1 (1872), which Verlaine wrote while imprisoned;
“Sérénade” comes from Poèmes saturniens (1866), his first published collection; and “Sagesse”
comes from Sagesse (1881), written after his conversion to Catholicism. There currently is no
evidence that Madernaʼs Liriche su Verlaine were performed before 1984 nor published before
1985 (as a reproduction of the one existing manuscript); a recent critical re-edition makes these
exquisite and challenging liriche more readily available for performance.
--Stacey Mastrian
Luciano Berioʼs series of fourteen Sequenzas [Sequences], composed from 1958-2002, each for
a different instrument, push the boundaries of virtuosity. Berio married the American mezzo-soprano
Cathy Berberian while she was studying in Italy, and it was for her that Berio wrote his
“Sequenza III” (1966) for female voice, as well as numerous other works. The Sequenza for
voice rapidly shifts from one mood and mode of expression to the next, indicated in the score with
explicit expressive markings and experimental notation regarding the type of vocal effects to be
used. Pitch and rhythm are specified with values ranging from precise to relative. The piece is
theatrical, although not overtly acted out, and some performers think of it as having a plot that
unfolds, whereas others take the moments in time as they come—glimpses of a personʼs ever-changing
thoughts.
--Stacey Mastrian
Nono said that his compositions were “always born from a human stimulus: a happening, an
experience, a text of our life strikes my instinct and my conscience and demands that I, as a
musician and as a man, give it testimony.” His monumental protest work, La fabbrica
illuminata, is significant for its stance against the low wages, dangerous environment, and
physical and mental anguish caused by the conditions in the workplace of an increasingly
industrialized Italy: the postwar “economic miracle” came at human cost. La fabbrica illuminata
was dedicated to the workers at the Italsider factory in Genoa, where Luigi Nono went with the
poet Giuliano Scabia to record and take notes on the sounds and words they heard.
Emerging out of plans for an opera at La Scala, entitled Diario italiano, this piece is a
milestone in the history of electronic music. The material for the tape part of La fabbrica
illuminata came from several sources: the factory Italsider in Genoa-Cornigliano—noises of the
factory itself, of the entire 1½ km of steel production, and of the workersʼ voices; other voices—
the German mezzo-soprano Carla Henius and a chorus; and electronic sounds produced at the
Studio di Fonologia of RAI in Milan. These elements are interwoven with each other as well as
with the voice of the live soprano. The work is not merely collage—the piece is carefully crafted
so as to filter, transform, and fuse the electronic and natural material, with a trajectory and a
progression in mind. There is also dialogue with the soprano and with the present: even though
the tape part is fixed, Nono said that its relationship with the live performer was what united the
past with the present, and he wanted the piece to change according to the situation of each
performance—he himself altered the volume levels, speaker placement, and other elements in
response to the space in which the work was performed, the individual performer and what she
was doing at each moment, and what he felt he wanted to emphasize on a given occasion. For
Nono, music was a means of communication, and he performed La fabbrica illuminata in
countless factories, not merely in concert halls.
Nonoʼs works present a challenge for subsequent generations, since precisely what makes
them dynamic also makes them evanescent. The issues illuminated by his works, however, are
universal. We are invited to continued examination both within and without, in order to strive to
do justice to Nono's music and to his vision of a more humane future.
--Stacey Mastrian, © 2007, rev. 2011
Biographies
Composers
Luigi Nono (1924-1990)
Born into a family of visual artists and amateur musicians, Nono took an early interest in
cultural history, art, music, and philosophy. At the Venice Conservatory Nono studied vocal
polyphony in the renaissance tradition, as well as the music of Schoenberg, Stravinsky, and
Bartók, in his composition lessons with Malipiero. But perhaps more crucially, Nono's association
with Bruno Maderna proved musically fruitful years for both of them. Both undertook a conducting
course with Scherchen in 1948, which in turn led to the conductor's recommendation of Nono for
the famous Darmstadt summer course in 1950. The premier of Nono's Variazioni canoniche sulla
serie dellʼ op.41 di Schönberg [Canonic Variations on a Series from Schoenberg's op. 41] at
Darmstadt that year proved to be a watershed: Nono became a key figure at Darmstadt through
the remainder of the decade, as well a conspicuous representative of the European avant-garde.
Nono's sense of what comprised "avant-garde music" differed from that of some of his
Darmstadt colleagues primarily in his commitment to uniting progressive musical practices with
progressive politics. His law degree from the University of Padua, experiences in the Italian
Resistance through the fascist period and World War II, his membership in the Communist Party,
reading of the philosophers Walter Benjamin and Antonio Gramsci, and his high personal
standard of ethics coalesced in an uncompromising music that sought not only to represent
themes of liberation from fascism and intolerance, but also to challenge the presuppositions of
avant-garde music. This allegiance of his aesthetic and political outlooks is evident even in his
Darmstadt debut: the Schoenberg row he chose to vary is from the Ode to Napoleon. Nono's
political commitments are clear in the texts and images he selected for composition: poems of
García Lorca, Picasso's Güerica, letters of Resistance fighters, texts by Karl Marx, Bertolt Brecht,
Rosa Luxemburg, Che Guevara, Fidel Castro and Malcolm X. The themes of his operas concern
such crucial social matters as ethnic intolerance and oppression of the working class (Intolleranza
1960) and the struggles of revolutionary women in different nations (Al gran sole carico d'amore,
1974): truly he sought to "give testimony to [his] own times."
But perhaps his more remarkable achievement is the consistency with which Nono applied
the lessons of philosophy and history to his own musical practice; this is where he parted
company with Stockhausen and Boulez. Nono called into the question the autonomous artwork
and turned to collaborative compositional processes and performance practices to emulate the
humane, egalitarian society for which his ideals called. Enlisting technology, the use of space,
and techniques of fragmentation and collage, Nono created music that called forth new types of
sound perception among both performers and listeners. See www.luiginono.it
--Elizabeth L. Keathley
Luciano Berio (1925-2003)
Berioʼs early musical studies were initially limited by the post-war environment in Italy. His
introduction to the music of the twentieth century came in 1946, when he first heard Schoenbergʼs
Pierrot Lunaire. Independently, he investigated other works of the Second Viennese School but
from 1950 it was the influence of the teaching and the music of Luigi Dallapiccola (1904–75) that
shaped his early compositional language. Although Berio was not exclusively committed to one
technique over another, serialism was the central organizational principle of his works in his early
days.
Another important aspect of Berioʼs formative years was his involvement with the Darmstadt
School. His first trip to the annual summer school at Darmstadt took place in 1954 and the second
in 1956, where he presented his Cinque Variazioni (1953) and Nones (1953–4). There he met
several important composers, including his contemporaries, Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz
Stockhausen. This generation of young composers was particularly interested in total serialism –
the application of the twelve-tone system to all aspects of the work.
Berio was also fascinated with literature, particularly twentieth century modernism and
postmodernism, including Italo Calvino, Umberto Eco, James Joyce and Samuel Beckett. He co-founded
with Bruno Maderna the Studio di Fonologia Musicale for electronic music at RAI in Milan
in 1953 and served as its director from 1953–61. He also co-founded with Bruno Maderna the
avant-garde journal Incontri Musicali in 1956 and served as both its editor and the organizer of its
same-named concert series from 1956–60. He served as director of the electroacoustic
department at IRCAM from 1974–80 and founded the center for live electronics Centro Tempo
Reale in Florence in 1987 and served as its artistic director from 1987–2003. Moreover, he
served as artistic director of the festival Musik im 21. Jahrhundert organized by Saarländischer
Rundfunk in 2000 and of the L'arte della Fuga project in Den Haag, London, Lyon, and Spoleto in
2001.
He taught at Tanglewood in 1960, at Dartington in 1961–62, at Mills College in 1962 and in
1963–64, and at the Juilliard School of Music from 1965–71. He later lectured as Charles Eliot
Norton Professor at Harvard University in 1993–94. He served as interim director of the
Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome in 1999–2000 and as its president and artistic director from
2000–03.
--Irna Priore
Bruno Maderna (1920-1973)
Like Nono, Maderna was born in Venice and studied composition with Malipiero, eventually
becoming one of the pre-eminent figures in mid-twentieth-century European music. Maderna had
early encounters with the fascist regime, as they sought to use his status as a violin prodigy to
advertise the benefits of their political system. Rescued by the fashion designer Irma Manfredi,
Maderna was able to continue his music education in Rome, then Venice, until he was
conscripted into the Italian army, from which he eventually deserted to join the resistance
movement.
Through Hermann Scherchen, Maderna met Wolfgang Steinecke, the founder of the
Darmstadt Festival, who engaged Maderna as a conductor, making him a celebrity among the
postwar European avant-garde. Maderna also co-founded with Berio in 1955 the important
electronic music studio of the RAI, Studio Fonologia Musicale, and extended his technical
expertise into the production of contemporary music recording. By the 1960s, conducting had
become his chief preoccupation: Maderna made frequent appearances as guest conductor in the
U.S. and directed the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood. This constant contact with
orchestral music seems to have made its impress on his later works: his orchestral piece
Quadrivium (1969) and operas Satyricon (1973) and Hyperion (1964-73) bespeak a musical
aesthetic quite different from the serial compositions of his Darmstadt days. Maderna remains a
key figure of mid-twentieth century modernism.
Performers
Clara OʼBrienʼs international career began when she was awarded the Sonderpreis des
Badischen Staatstheaters; a prize created specially for her at the 1st International Coloratura
Competition, Sylvia Geszty in Stuttgart, Germany. She has appeared on such international stages
as Chicago, Dallas, Berlin, Luxembourg, Strasbourg, Dresden, Leipzig and Frankfurt. For many
years, she was engaged as soloist at the State Theater of Baden and based her career from
Germany. Her operatic performances received Opernwelt's Best Performance citations in both
the Emerging and Established Artist categories. Other awards include 1st Prize, Erika Köth
Meisterkurs and Finalist in the International Belvedere Competition. She won Grand Prix Paul
Derenne, International Concours de chant de Paris for her interpretation of Impressionist and
post-Impressionist French mélodie. She is also a noted interpreter of late-Romantic and
Modernist German Lieder. Her recital repertoire ranges from medieval chanson to premieres from
living composers. Recordings include releases on the Bella Musica and Albany Records labels
and she has been broadcast on Southwest German Radio and Television and NPR radio in the
U.S. Professor O'Brien holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music (M.M., Performance
Certificate) and the Dana School of Music (B.M., Summa cum laude) and completed her stage
training at the Curtis Institute of Music. She was a Fulbright Scholar and was awarded a
fellowship to the Münchener Singschulʼ. She has also taught at the American Institute for Musical
Studies in Graz, Austria and gives masterclasses throughout the United States. Ms. OʼBrien is
currently Assistant Professor of Voice at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro
As a collaborative pianist, James Douglass has been involved in such diverse genres as
chamber music, vocal arts, opera, choral arts, symphonic repertoire, jazz, cabaret, and musical
theater. He received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in piano performance
from the University of Alabama. Later he earned the Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in keyboard
collaborative arts at the University of Southern California. Dr. Douglass has been on the faculties
of Mississippi College, Occidental College (Los Angeles), and the University of Southern
California as a collaborative pianist, coach, and instructor and the assistant professor of
collaborative piano and director of the collaborative piano degree program at Middle Tennessee
State University. In 2004 he began teaching in the summer study program AIMS in Graz, Austria
(American Institute of Musical Studies) as the instructor of collaborative piano and a vocal coach
in the Lieder Studio. Dr. Douglass joined the faculty of the University of North Carolina at
Greensboro as an assistant professor of collaborative piano in 2005 in the School of Music,
Theater, and Dance. As a collaborative pianist, he is active as a teacher, clinician, recording
artist, and recitalist with performances and television/radio broadcasts across the United States
and Europe (France, Germany, Austria, Hungary).
Steven Stusek is Associate Professor of Music at the University of North Carolina Greensboro,
where he is a member of the Eastwind Quintette dʼAnches and the Red Clay Saxophone Quartet.
Originally from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, he received his Bachelorʼs from Indiana University. Before
beginning a Masterʼs at Arizona State University, he spent a year in Paris studying at the
Conservatoire Nationale Superior de Musique de Paris and the Conservatoire de le Région de
Paris, where he was awarded the Prix d'Or à l'Unanimité. After living in the Netherlands for
almost eight years he returned to Indiana University and was awarded a DMA in 2001. He has
served on the faculties of Ball State University, Middlebury College, the Cincinnati Conservatory
of Music, and he was an Associate Instructor at both Arizona State and Indiana University. He
has been on the UNCG faculty since 1999. As a soloist, Steve has appeared with the Eastern
Music Festival and more recently with the University of South Carolina Wind Ensemble as part of
the North American Saxophone Alliance biennial conference. He has been the principle
saxophonist for the Eastern Music Festival and the Greensboro Symphony for the past ten years.
In 2000, Stusek won the prestigious Dutch Chamber Music Competition as part of the saxophone-accordion
duo 2Track with accordion virtuoso Otine van Erp. Subsequently they were given
management for two years, performing widely throughout the Netherlands and on Dutch radio.
His teachers have included Eugene Rousseau, Joseph Wytko, David Baker, Larry Teal, Daniel
Deffayet, Jean-Yves Formeau, and Leroy Wolter. Steve Stusek is the Past-President of the North
American Saxophone Alliance.
Stacey Mastrian, a “sweet, shimmering soprano” (Washington Post), who is “versatile and
passionate” (Der Tagesspiegel), has recently returned from Teatro La Fenice in Venice, where
she sang the Soprano Solo and covered the role of La Compagna in Luigi Nonoʼs Intolleranza
1960, for the 50th anniversary of the workʼs premiere. Dr. Mastrian specializes in works of the
20th and 21st centuries, particularly Italian vocal music. As a Fulbright Grantee and Beebe
Fellow, she studied in Italy and returns regularly for continued research. She holds a doctorate in
voice from the University of Maryland, where she was a full fellow; her dissertation project was
entitled Selected Vocal Works by Progressive Italian Composers of the Twentieth Century: The
Confluence of Nationalism & Internationalism from the Eve of World War I through Post-World
War II Reconstruction, and she is a frequent lecturer and recitalist on this topic as well as related
areas. Dr. Mastrian has sung with the Konzerthaus Orchestra (Berlin); the Berliner Zeitung hailed
her 2007 performances of Luigi Nonoʼs Canti di vita edʼamore: sul ponte di Hiroshima, under the
baton of Lothar Zagrosek, as “very impressive,” and Neues Deutschland cited the captivating
nature of her “effortless mastery” and “ravishingly tender and flowing soprano voice.” Equally
lauded for traditional works, in 2005 she was named a Richard F. Gold Career Grant recipient
and delivered an “exquisitely etched performance, unveiling delicate, silvery tones and pinpoint
accuracy” (Washington Times) as Gilda in Rigoletto with the Summer Opera Theatre Company.
She has also sung with the Nova Amadeus Orchestra (Rome), Experimentalstudio Freiburg at the
Fondazione Cini (Venice), at the Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur (Montréal), the
Conservatory “Respighi” (Latina), St. Peterʼs (Vatican City), and from coast to coast in the U.S.—
including performances for a Bang on a Can Marathon, the Society of Composers, Sonic Circuits,
and Sylvia Adalman Artist Recital Series; numerous recitals for the Vocal Arts Society in D.C.; 30
performances for the Washington Savoyards as Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance; and
performances of Charpentier and Gluck at the Kennedy Center and Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln
Center, as a Young Artist with Opera Lafayette. Dr. Mastrian has been awarded prizes from The
American Bach Society, International Joseph Traxel Society, Maryland Opera Society, Mu Phi
Epsilon, National Italian American Foundation, Rosa Ponselle Foundation, and the Vocal Arts
Society; a scholarship to the SongFest Professional Program in Malibu; and Development Grants
from Peabody Conservatory. Her repertoire spans from Monteverdi through Messiaen to Pärt,
and she has several recording projects in progress. Dr. Mastrian is on the faculty of American
University and Peabody Conservatory. See www.staceymastrian.com.