gfjhgsjhdf Programme Note 2016 (FINAL)

8/17/2019 gfjhgsjhdf Programme Note 2016 (FINAL)

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raduate Recital

Jacelyn Yeo , sopranoNicholas Loh , piano

6 Lieder, Op. 131. Ich stand in dunklen Träumen

2. Sie liebten sich beide

3. Liebeszauber

4. Der Mond kommt still gegangen

5. Ich hab’ in Deinem Auge

6. Die stille Lotosblume

Clara Schumann

(1819 - 1896)

Briefly It EntersIII. Otherwise

VI. Man Eating

William Bolcom

(b. 1938)

Deux RomanceLes ClochesRomance

Claude Debussy(1862 - 1918)

Fidelio“O wär ich schon mit dir vereint”

Ludvig van

Beethoven

(1770 - 1827)

Ridente la calma Wolfgang

Amadeus Mozart

(1756 - 1791)

Sonnets from the Portuguese

II. My LettersIII. With the Same Hearts, I Said, I’ll Answer Thee

Libby Larsen

(b. 1950)

Alcina “Tornami a vagheggiar”

George Frederic

Handel

(1685 - 1759)

May 11, 2016 | 8.55pmLee Foundation Theatre | FREE ADMISSION

Can change to“To that man I love”

A graduation recital by

Jace;yn Yeo, etc etc


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6 Lieder, Op. 13 by Clara Schumann (1819 - 1896)

Beginning the set on 6 German songs by Clara Schumann. Clara Schumann was agifted piano player and composer, teacher, editor. She is a wife of Robert Schumann,

apparently began to compose songs only after her marriage as birthday or Christmas

gift for him. One of the three was her setting of Heinrich Heine’s “Ich stand in

dunklen Träumen”. The motivation for Clara’s setting comes from reflective thoughts

about the recent period of separation, during which both she and Robert must, on

many occasions, have enacted the scene described by Heine at the beginning of his

poem: one lover stood in melancholy reverie, gazing at the other’s portrait.

The second setting of Heinrich Heine was translated as They Loved Each Other. It

tells a story of a man and woman who never express the love they have for one

another even when they died. Schumann sets this text in a tragic vein, using G minor

key and harmonies filled with poignant suspensions. It written in the time signature of

6/8 and the tempo refers to a smooth motion like a wave.

The other three poems were by Emanuel Geibel, including Liebeszauber , a paean to

love and nature. It is also called as Love’s magic. It consists of five stanzas in a

simple abab scheme. The first stanza provides the place of departure for love’s sound,introducing the metaphor of love as nightingale whose tone rings throughout theforest. Subsequently the excitement of being whisked along and not only mere the

image of love but sees through the eyes of love as travels through the forest. At last,the speaker who happened to hear this sound, wish to recapture or recreate this

beautiful sound by him/herself.

The fourth of sixth song translated as The Moon is Rises Peaceful. It is the form of

modified strophic. For the first two stanzas, the composer composed the same music,

but the last stanza she set to very similar yet slightly different music, creating an

overall form in this song that might be diagramed as A-A-A’.

Fifth poem was based on Friedrich Rückert’s text and was a gift to Robert Schumann

on his thirty-third birthday. It is translated as I have seen in your eyes which a

heartfelt setting of a poem on the constancy of love. The composer uses to set the

song’s three key words of ‘Liebe’. ‘Herzen’ and ‘Auge’ over its highest note as the

highlight. Her composition of this piece makes very clear that the motif’s meaning

was important for her to express her love.

Die stille Lotusblume, the closing song in Op 13 collection uses the memorablechoice of the flattened median at its point of most tender meaning, where the white

swan sings in the metaphor of love towards the lotus flower. This great poem was all

credits to Emanuel Geibel as well. The interesting part of this piece was the endingthis piece, it ends with the beginning of the progression which reflects the question:“Oh flower, white flower, can you understand the song?” The lotus flower offers no

answer and so the swan’s song was probably in vain and provides the feeling of

unsettling.

These collections were probably composed specifically for publication in this

collection. Clara dedicated the songs to the Danish Queen Caroline Amalie, whose

hospitality she had enjoyed in spring 1842 during a concert tour.


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III. Otherwise from Briefly It Enters by William Bolcom (b. 1938)

A piece composed by American composer William Bolcom. This song cycle was

written with soprano Benita Valente in mind and the poetry is taken from the work of

American poet Jane Kenyon and published in 1997. This poems are emotionally rich

and accessible, with darker background of melancholy and loss, and partly because

the story of her marriage with the poet Donald Hall and the suffering from life after

she had leukemia.

VI. Man Eating from Briefly It Enters by William Bolcom (b. 1938)

From the same cycle, poem and composer as the previous songs. In this song, the poet

conveys about a stranger’s attentiveness to the small motions involved in eating a carton of

yoghurt.

Les Cloches by Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918)

A collection of Deux Romances by Debussy which included a setting of poems by

Paul Bourget that published in 1891. However, this collection provided an interplay

of two independent melodies that gives a remarkable duet between piano and voice.

Les Cloches begins with a brief piano introduction that suggesting ringing bells.

Debussy uses the expanded vocal range and dynamics to express the speaking of

happier years in poet’s mind. Furthermore, the unaccented rhythm in the piano

accompaniment and the interval in the last statement of this piece ‘ Des joursd’autrefois’ , create a feeling of tension and come to think of “the days gone by.”

Romance by Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918)

Romance opens with a brief piano that illustrates the absence of accompaniment as it

draws attention to the text. Perhaps, it gives the meaning of ‘evaporating and suffering

soul’. After the vocal line has been present, the piano melody returns to an octave

lower. Towards the end of this piece, the piano melody returns back with playing

octaves in vocal line ‘ faite d’espoir ’ which to emphasize how vanish and suffer the

soul is.

“O wär ich schon mit dir vereint” from Fidelio by Ludvig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)

Fidelio (op. 72) is Beethoven’s only opera, and the Third version is the one

commonly performed today.

This aria is sung by Marzelline, the daughter of the jail guard Rocco, who has fallen

in love with Fidelio, a servant in her house. She is unaware that Fidelio is actually

Leonard in disguise, the wife of the political prisoner Florestan. The opera opens with

Rocco’s assistant Jacquino proposing marriage to Marzelline, but she refuses him, andwhen he leaves, she sings of her love for Fidelio.


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Ridente la calma (KV152) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)

Mozart composed the piece in 1775 and it is written in three sections, ABA form. TheA section has two main important theme and the repeat of A section is equally to the

original statement. The B section is much shorter in length. The text conveys a calm

frame of mind, that the poet looks forward to seeing his beloved, despite the binding

ties of love.

II. My Letters from Sonnets from the Portuguese by Libby Larsen (b. 1950)

Libby Larsen is one of the most performed living American female composers. Her

works span genres including intimate vocal and chamber music, massive orchestra

works, and operas. Larsen finish composing this cycle in 1991 and it was based on

poems from Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s famous collection Sonnets from the

Portuguese which consist of forty-four poems of emotions she experienced throughher entire relationship with Robert Browning.

The intention to compose this because Larsen was asked to write a song cycle thatwould speak of mature love, in contrast to the youth love in Schumann’s Frauenliebeund leben. In addition, Arleen Auger, a singer suggested this whole sets of poems

specifically because she like the way how Browning’s constructed the poem from the

female perspective, love, longing, sexual tension and many aspects of mature love as

an Victorian woman.

Second piece of this cycle show the poet, sitting and reading through her bundle of

letters. The letters were dry and could crumble at any moment, were out of her control

and physically released. Then, she couldn’t believe the words that wrote by her lover

in the letter. The excitement of finally realizing he loved her. But she never answer

him because of her father’s disagree of their relationship.

III. With the Same Hearts, I Said, I’ll Answer Thee from Sonnets fromthe Portuguese

by Libby Larsen (b. 1950)

It is the third piece from this cycle. The poet has now chosen to respond to her lover

as freely as she does to those in her own family. She differentiates her childhood

response to her overbearing father and to the present response to her lover. In

childhood, her smile was feigned and in obedience, but she became adult, her

response is with a willing heart and release from solitude.

“Tornami a vagheggiar” from Alcina by George Frederic Handel (1685 - 1759)

Alcina was premiered in 1735 and the opera’s libretto is derived from sections of

Lodovico Ariosto’s epic poem Orlando Furioso which written in 1516.

An exciting aria sung by Morgana or some other setting by Alcina, which occurs at

the end of Act 1. Here, Morgana sings of her love towards Ricciardo, who is actuallyBradamante disguised herself as her brother Ricciardo. Morgana believes that she is

the one that Ricciardo loves, but the truth is not.

Documents

gfjhgsjhdf Programme Note 2016 (FINAL)