Maggie Ramsey
mezzo-soprano
Katherine Burleson
piano
Junior Recital
Saturday, March 2, 2013
5:30 pm
Organ Hall, Music Building
Program
Caro mio ben Tommaso Giordani
(1730-1806)
Il mio bel foco Benedetto Marcello
(1686-1739)
from Lucrezia Borgia (1833) Gaetano Donizetti
Il segreto per esser felici (1797-1848)
from Les Huguenots (1836) Giacomo Meyerbeer
Nobles seigneurs, salut! (1791-1864)
Les berceaux, Op. 23 no. 1 Gabriel Fauré
Nell, Op. 18 no. 1 (1845-1924)
from Italienisches Liederbuch (1892) Hugo Wolf
Wir haben beide lange Zeit geshwiegen (1860-1903)
Nein, junger Herr
Ave Maria (Ellens dritter Gesang) Franz Schubert
(1797-1828)
Ms. Ramsey and Ms. Burleson
from Mikrokosmos (1926-1939) Béla Bartók
Vol. 4 no. 97 - Notturno (1881-1945)
Invention No. 1 in C Major Johann Sebastian Bach
Invention No. 9 in F minor (1685-1750)
Ms. Burleson
from Messiah (1742) George Frideric Handel
He was despised (1685-1759)
from Show Boat (1927) Jerome Kern
Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man (1885-1945)
Bill
Ms. Ramsey and Ms. Burleson
Maggie Ramsey is a student of Dr. Nancy Walker
Katherine Burleson is a student of Dr. John Salmon
________
In partial fulfillment of the degree requirements for the
Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance
Bachelor of Music in Music Education
Program Notes
Although the poet of “Caro mio ben” is unknown, according to John Glenn Paton,
editor of the 26 Italian Songs and Arias collection, it is known that the song was
originally composed for voice and strings for a concert in Naples. The piano
accompaniment in today’s concert is a reduction of those string parts.
“Il mio bel foco” is even more mysterious than “Caro mio ben” in its origins. The aria
comes from a solo cantata Dopo tante e tante pene, preserved in a collection of cantatas
by Francesco Bartolomeo Conti, apparently a wealthy Florentine who decided to save
as many composers’ works as possible. The cantata was originally scored for a
continuo instrument as the accompaniment. (Paton)
“Il segreto per esser felici“ comes from Donizetti’s opera Lucrezia Borgia, which is an
adaptation of the Victor Hugo play about the notorious illegitimate daughter of Pope
Alexander VI. At this point in the opera, Lucrezia has poisoned the wine at a party
she knows her enemies will attend. Ignorant of her scheme, six of the guests drink
before Lucrezia reveals what she has done. This brindisi (drinking song), sung by
Duke Orsini towards the end of the opera, is a moment of dramatic irony because he
is about to drop dead of the poisoned wine.
“Nobles seigneurs, salut!” is from the five-act opera Les Huguenots. The story takes
place during the Reformation, at the height of violent conflict between Catholics and
Protestants. It is based around an actual event that took place in France in 1572: the St.
Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, when Catholics slaughtered thousands of Protestants
to stop them from having any influence in the country. Urbain, the pageboy of
Marguerite de Valois, Queen of Navarre, sings this aria in Act I. Marguerite has sent
Urbain to fetch Raoul, the Protestant court emissary, for a meeting. The pageboy
dares this young nobleman to come blindfolded to a secret location. In fact, this
location is the Queen’s chambers, and Raoul is to be introduced to Valentine, a young
Catholic lady the Queen is trying to set him up with in order to mend relations
between the two religious factions. Unfortunately, the plan ends in disaster since
Valentine’s friends and family are none too pleased with the religious views of her
new beau, and the infamous Massacre ensues.
“Les berceaux” is almost uncomfortably haunting with its compound rhythm that
evokes the ships pitching and rolling on the waves, the minor key that occasionally
modulates, and, of course, the incredibly melancholy poem. “Nell” has a beautiful
sustained sense of line in the vocal part while the piano part sparkles with energy in
chords arpeggiated in steady sixteenth-note subdivisions. Both of these pieces are part
of the French style that rebelled against German romanticism during the nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries.
Hugo Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch is a delightful collection of 48 short songs that he
set to German translations of Italian poems. I first learned about it when I did the
Greensboro Light Opera and Song program last summer. We performed a concert of
some of these songs, and here are the two that I contributed.
Franz Schubert’s “Ave Maria” is often heard with the Latin prayer for the lyrics.
However, it should be noted that the composer never actually set that prayer to the
music. Instead, he himself wrote a translation of a section of Sir Walter Scott’s epic
poem The Lady Of The Lake, and those are the lyrics you will hear today.
“He was despised” comes from Part II of Messiah, which deals with Jesus’s death and
resurrection. The text is from the Book of Isaiah 53: 3 and 50: 6.
The plot of Show Boat is lengthy and complex, so I recommend watching the film
version with Kathryn Grayson and Ava Gardner if you are unfamiliar with it. The
same character, Julie, sings both of these songs, but they have very different dramatic
contexts. Julie sings “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man” at the beginning of the show when
she is very much in love. She sings “Bill” much later in the show in a nightclub, after
the man she loves has left her and she has become an alcoholic.
- Maggie Ramsey
Tommaso Giordani:
Caro mio ben
Poet unknown
Caro mio ben, credimi almen:
Senza di te, languisce il cor.
Il tuo fedel sospira ognor.
Cessa, crudel, tanto rigor!
Benedetto Marcello:
Il mio bel foco
Poet unknown
Il mio bel foco, o lotano o vicino
ch’esser possio senza cangiar mai tempre
per voi, care pupille, arderà sempre.
Quella fiamma che m’accende
piace tanto all’alma mia
che giammai s’estinguerà.
E se il fato a voi mi rende,
vaghi rai del mio bel sole,
altra luce ella non vuole,
né voler giammai potrà.
Gaetano Donizetti:
Lucrezia Borgia
Text by Felice Romani (1788-1865)
Il segreto per esser felici
Il segreto per esser felici so per
prova e l’insegno agli amici.
Sia sereno, sia nubilo il cielo,
ogni tempo, sia caldo, sia gelo,
scherzo e bevo e derido gl’insani
che si dan del futuro pensier.
Non curiamo l’incerto domani
se quest’oggi n’è dato goder!
Profitiamo degl’anni fiorenti:
il piacer gli fa correr più lenti.
Se vecchiazza con livida faccia
stammi a tergo e mia vita minacchia,
scherzo e bevo e derido gl’insani
che si dan del futuro pensier.
Non curiamo l’incerto domani
se quest’oggi n’è dato goder!
My dearly beloved
My dearly beloved, believe me at least:
Without you, my heart languishes.
Your faithful one always sighs.
Cease your cruelty, O cruel one!
My beautiful fire
My beautiful fire, whether far or near
as I can be from you without ever changing,
will always burn for you, dear eyes.
That flame which kindles me
pleases my soul so much
that it will never extinguish itself.
And if fate returns you to me,
O lovely rays of my beautiful sun,
that flame will not desire any other light,
nor will it be able to wish it.
Lucretia Borgia
The secret to being happy
The secret to being happy I know through
practice, and I teach it to my friends.
Whether clear or cloudy the sky,
in any weather, be it hot, be it icy,
I joke and drink and deride the insane ones
who give themselves to thoughts of future.
We’ll not care about uncertain tomorrow
if it’s given to us to enjoy today!
Let’s take advantage of the flowering years:
pleasure makes them run by more slowly.
If old age with its hideous face
stands at my back and threatens my life,
I joke and drink and deride the insane ones
who give themselves to thoughts of future.
We’ll not care about uncertain tomorrow
if it’s given to us to enjoy today!
Giacomo Meyerbeer:
Les Huguenots
Text by Eugéne Scribe (1791-1861)
and Émile Deschamps (1791-1871)
Nobles seigneurs, salut!
Nobles seigneurs, salut!
Une dame noble et sage
dont les rois seraient jaloux
m’a chargé de ce message,
chevaliers, pour l’un de vous.
Sans qu’on la nomme,
honneur ici au gentilhomme
qu’elle a choisi.
Vous pouvez croire que nul seigneur
n’eutant de gloire ni de bonheur.
No, jamais!
Ne craignez mensonge ou piège,
chevaliers, dans mes discours.
Or salut! Que Dieu protégé
vos combats, vos amours!
Gabriel Fauré:
Les berceaux, Op. 23 no. 1
Text by Sully Prudhomme (1839-1907)
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,
car il faut que les femmes pleurent
et que les hommes curieux
tentent les horizons qui leurent.
Et ce jour là, les grands vaisseaux
fuyant le port qui diminue,
sentent leur masse retenue
par l’âme des lointains berceaux.
Nell, Op. 18 no. 1
Text by Leconte de Lisle (1818-1894)
Ta rose de pourpre à ton clair soleil,
O Juin, étincelle enivrée.
Penche aussi vers moi ta coupe dorée:
mon coeur à ta rose est pareil.
Sous le mol abri de la feuille ombreuse
monte un soupir de volupté.
Plus d’un ramier chante au bois écarté,
O mon coeur, sa plainte amoureuse.
Que ta perle est douce au ciel enflammé,
étoile de la nuit pensive.
Mais combien plus douce est la clarté vive
qui rayonne en mon coeur charmé!
The Huguenots
Noble lords, greetings!
Noble lords, greetings!
A noble and wise lady
of whom kings should be jealous
has charged me with this message,
chevaliers, for one of you.
Without my naming her,
honor here on the gentleman
whom she has chosen.
You can believe that no lord
ever had so much glory or good fortune.
No, never!
Do not fear a lie or a trap,
chevaliers, in my speech.
Now farewell! May God protect
your battles, your loves!
The cradles
Along the quay, the big ships
that the swell tilts in silence
pay no attention to the cradles
that the hand of the women balance.
But the day of goodbyes will come,
because it is necessary that the women cry
and that the curious men
attempt the horizons that lure them.
And on that day the big ships
leave the port that diminishes,
they feel their mass held back
by the soul of the distant cradles.
Nell
Your crimson rose under your bright sun,
O June, sparkles ecstatically.
Lean over me too with your golden cup:
my heart is like your rose.
Beneath the soft shelter of the shady leaves
a sigh of pleasure rises.
More than one dove sings its amorous song,
O my heart, in the isolated grove.
How sweet your pearl is in the flaming sky,
star of the pensive night.
But how much sweeter is the lively light
that shines in my charmed heart!
La chantante mer, le long du rivage
taira son murmure éternel
avant qu’en mon coeur,
chère amour, O Nell,
ne fleurisse plus ton image.
Hugo Wolf:
Italienisches Liederbuch
Texts by Paul Johann Ludwig von Heyse
(1830-1914)
Wir haben beide lange Zeit geschwiegen
Wir haben beide lange Zeit geschwiegen
auf einmal kam uns nun
die Sprache wieder.
Die Engel, die herab vom Himmel fliegen,
sie brachten nach dem Krieg
den Frieden wieder.
Die Engel Gottes sind herab geflogen,
mit ihnen ist der Frieden eingezogen.
Die Liebesengel kamen über Nacht
und haben Frieden meine Brust gebracht.
Nein, junger Herr
Nein, junger Herr,
so treibt man’s nicht, für wahr;
man sorgt dafür,
sich schicklich zu betragen.
Für alltags bin ich gut genug, nicht wahr?
Doch Bessre suchst du dir an Feiertagen.
Nein, junger Herr,
wirst du so weiter sündgen,
wird dir den Dienst
dein Alltagsliebchen kündgen.
Franz Schubert:
Ave Maria (Ellens dritter Gesang)
Text by the composer
Ave Maria! Jungfrau mild!
Erhöre einer Jungfrau Flehen;
aus diesem Felsen starr und wild
soll mein Gebet zu dir hin wehen.
Wir schlafen sicher bis zum Morgen,
ob Menschen noch so grausam sind.
O Jungfrau, sieh der Jungfrau Sorgen,
O Mutter, hör ein bittend Kind!
Ave Maria! Unbefleckt!
Wenn wir auf diesen Fels hin sinken
zum Schlaf, und uns dein Schutz bedeckt,
wird weich der harte Fels uns dünken.
Du lächelst, Rosendüfte wehen
in dieser dumpfen Felsenkluft.
O Mutter, höre kindes Flehen,
O Jungfrau, eine Jungfrau ruft!
The singing sea, along its shore,
will cease its eternal murmur
before, in my heart,
dear love, O Nell,
your image blooms no more.
Italian Song-book
We have both been silent for a long time
We have both been silent for a long time
and now the gift of speech
has come to us again.
The angels flew down from heaven,
they brought peace again
after the war.
The angels of God have flown down
and peace is with them.
The angels of love came during the night
and have brought peace to my breast.
No, young man
No, young man,
one does not carry on so, in truth;
one takes care
to behave.
For everyday I am good enough, yes?
Yet you seek better on festival days.
No, young man,
if you will sin further,
your everyday sweetheart
will give notice.
Hail Mary (Ellen’s third song)
Hail Mary! Maiden mild!
Hear a maiden’s cry;
from this rugged and wild cave
let my prayer blow to you there.
May we sleep safe until the morning,
if men are still so cruel.
O Maiden, see the maiden’s worry,
O Mother, hear a crying child!
Hail Mary! Undefiled!
When we go down to that cave there
for sleep, and to us beneath your protection,
tender is the hard rock to us in darkness.
You smile, the scents of roses blow
into this dull cavern.
O Mother, hear a child’s cry,
O Maiden, hear a prayerful maiden!
Ave Maria! Reine Magd!
Der Erde und der Luft Dämonen
von deines Auges Huld verjagt,
sie können nicht hier bei uns wohnen.
Wir wolln uns still dem Schicksal beugen,
da uns dein heilger Trost anweht;
der Jungfrau wolle hold dich neigen,
dem Kind, das für den Vater fleht!
Hail Mary! Pure maid!
The demons of the earth and air
flee from the Grace of your eyes,
they cannot stay here.
We want Destiny to quietly bow to us,
there to us your holy comfort blows;
the Maiden wants lovely You to intercede,
for the child, plead her case to the father!
