40 minute read
JUANJO MENA CONDUCTS SOUTH
by Dr. Richard E. Rodda
© 2022 May Festival ALBERTO GINASTERA Suite from Panambí,Op. 1a
Born: April 11, 1916 in Buenos Aires Died: June 25, 1983 in Geneva Work Composed: 1937 Premiere: November 27, 1937 by the Teatro Colón Orchestra in Buenos Aires, conducted by Juan José Castro; complete ballet premiered on July 12, 1940 at the Colón, also conducted by Mr. Castro. Instrumentation: treble voice chorus, 4 fl utes (incl. 2 piccolos), 3 oboes, English horn, 4 clarinets (incl. E-fl at clarinet and bass clarinet), 4 bassoons (incl. contrabassoon), 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, claves, cymbals, small bass drum, small drum, snare drum, suspended cymbals, tam-tam, tambour de Basque, tenor drum, triangle, xylophone, celeste, piano, strings May Festival Notable Performances: This is the fi rst May Festival performance of the work. Duration: approx. 15 minutes Alberto Ginastera was the outstanding creative figure in South American music following the death of Villa-Lobos in 1959. Ginastera’s career was divided between composition and education, and in the latter capacity he held posts at leading conservatories and universities in Argentina and at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.
Ginastera, of Catalan and Italian descent, showed musical talent early and began studying formally when he was seven. Five years later he was admitted to the music school established in Buenos Aires in 1893 by the pioneering Paris Conservatoiretrained Brazilian composer Alberto Williams (1862-1952), among the fi rst to incorporate indigenous infl uences in his works; Ginastera graduated in 1935 with a Gold Medal in composition. He composed prolifi cally after entering the National Conservatory of Music the following year, and got his big break on November 27, 1937, while he was still a student, when Juan José Castro, principal conductor of the Teatro Colón, performed a suite from the ballet based on Argentinean legend he had just completed—Panambí. The young composer became a musical celebrity in Argentina when Castro led the premiere of the complete ballet at the Colón on July 12, 1940, and he gained international notice when Lincoln Kirstein, director of the American Ballet Caravan of New York, became familiar with Panambí during the company’s South American tour the following year and commissioned him to write his next ballet, Estancia, with a scenario depicting Argentinean country life.
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expresses special thanks to
HORAN
for generous sponsorship of the South American Epics concert
Panambí is based on a legend of the Guaraní people, the indigenous culture of the region where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay meet; the Guaraní language and Spanish are the two offi cial languages of Paraguay. Ginastera captured the setting, the romance, the violence and the supernatural elements of the timeless tale in his music (in Guaraní, Panambí means “butterfl y,” thought by them to be the reincarnated spirits of certain individuals), which is outlined in the score: “According to the legend, Panambí was the beautiful daughter of the chieftain of an Indian tribe on the banks of the Paraná River. She was betrothed to Guirahú, the most valiant warrior of the tribe, who, shortly before the wedding day, is kidnapped by the maiden spirits of the river. The tribe sorcerer, who is also in love with Panambí but has been rejected by her, tries to take advantage of the situation by claiming that the almighty spirits decreed that she should descend into the river in quest of her lover. Panambí is ready to carry out the supposedly divine orders when Tupá, the good god, appears from above and stops her. Tupá punishes the sorcerer by turning him into a strange black bird and restores Guirahú, who rises from the waters of the river to throw himself into the arms of his loved one.”
HEITOR VILLA-LOBOS Chôros No. 10, Rasga o coração (“Rend the Heart”)
Born: March 5, 1887 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Died: November 17, 1959 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Work Composed: 1926 Premiere: November 26, 1926 at the Teatro Lirico in Rio de Janeiro, conducted by the composer Instrumentation: mixed chorus, piccolo, 2 fl utes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, alto saxophone, 3 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, timpani, bass drums, chocalho, fi eld drum, friction drum, gong, reco-reco, snare drum, tam tam, tenor drum, tom tom, wood drum, harp, piano, strings May Festival Notable Performances: This is the fi rst May Festival performance of the work. Duration: approx. 20 minutes Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazil’s foremost composer, had little formal training. From his earliest years, Villa-Lobos was enthralled with the indigenous songs and dances of his native land, and he made several trips into the Brazilian interior to study the native music and ceremonies. Beginning with his earliest works, around 1910, his music shows the
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south-american-program will lead you to more information about this concert on our website, including artist bios and full program notes. infl uence of the melodies, rhythms and sonorities that he discovered. Villa-Lobos summarized his creative philosophy in an interview with New York Times critic Olin Downes by saying that he did not think of music as “culture, or education, or even as a device for quieting the nerves, but as something more potent, mystical and profound in its eff ect. Music has the power to communicate, to heal, to ennoble, when it is made part of man’s life and consciousness.”
The Chôros No. 10 is from a series of 16 works by Villa-Lobos bearing that title and scored for a varied instrumentation ranging from solo guitar to full orchestra combined with mixed chorus. The term derived from the popular bands of Rio de Janeiro that originated in the mid-19th century that freely mixed winds, guitars and simple percussion instruments. Villa-Lobos believed that these bands epitomized Brazilian native music, and he attempted to capture their essence in his series of Chôros, as he explained in a note in the score: “The Chôros represents a new form of musical composition in which are synthesized the diff erent modalities of Brazilian, Indian and popular music, having for principal elements Rhythm, and any typical Melody of popular character.”
The Chôros No. 10 of 1926 is in four sections, the fi rst three of which are for orchestra alone. The opening section depicts the groves and Brazilian forests, with mock birdcalls piercing the insistent rhythmic motion. The second portion explores the coloristic possibilities of solo winds set against string glissandos in the highest register. The brief third section climaxes in a giant wave of sound led by the brass. A solo bassoon establishes the rhythmic ostinato that permeates the concluding section. Soon, the entire orchestra, reinforced by a large variety of percussion instruments, joins in with overlapping patterns that generate a primal energy. The chorus enters singing an untranslatable text derived from the Indian ceremonial chants that Villa-Lobos collected on his journeys into Brazil’s forests. This text is used for the sonority of its words rather than for their meaning, a compositional device that lends the work much of its incantatory power. As the chanting continues, a wordless song moving evenly and majestically rises from the chorus. This melody is known in Brazil as Rasga o coração (“Rend Your Heart”) after the poem in Portuguese by Catullo Cearense which it uses as its text. This theme stands in sharp relief to the visceral rhythmic background of aboriginal vocalization as an almost desperate cry for lost innocence.
TEXT AND TRANSLATION
Se tu queres ver a immensidão do çéo If you want to see the immensity of the e mar reflectindóa prismatisaçao sky and sea reflected like a prism da luz solar, of sunlight, rasga o coração, vem te debruçar sobre rend your heart, come and bow a vastidão do meu penar. yourself to the vastness of my pain. Sorve todo o olor que anda a recender Especially above all, be aware of the odor pelas espinhosas floranções do meu that accompanies the thorny flowers soffrer. Vêse podes ler nas suas of my suffering. See if you can read in pulsações your pulsations as brancas illuzões e o que elle diz the white, pure illusions and that which no seu gemer; they say to you in your soft groaning; e que nao. and that now. Pode a ti dizer nas palpitações! Ou Can it say it to you, your heartbeat! Or veo brandamenta docemente palpitar. I see softly, sweetly, my heart beating. Casto e purpural n’um threno vesperal Chaste and purple in a twilight thought mais puro que uma candida vestal! more pure than a heavenly picture. Rasga o que has de ver la: Open up to see what you have to see: dentro a dôr a soluçar: inside the pain is the solution: sob o peso deuma cruz de lagrimas, under the weight of a cross of tears, chorar; weeping; anjos a cantar préces divinaes. angels singing little divine songs. Deos a rythimar seus pobres, ais! God has given rhythm to his poor ones, alas! Rasga que has de ver. Open up to what you must see.
Born: January 3, 1916 in Calabozo, Venezuela Died: November 26, 1988 in Caracas, Venezuela Work Composed: 1954 Premiere: July 25, 1954 at the Vicente Emilio Sojo Competition in Caracas’ Municipal Theater, conducted by the composer with soloists Teo Capriles and Antonio Lauro Instrumentation: tenor, baritone, mixed chorus, piccolo, 2 flutes, 3 oboes (incl. English horn), 3 clarinets (incl. bass clarinet), 3 bassoons (incl. contrabassoon), 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, glockenspiel, maracas, military drum, snare drum, suspended cymbals, tam-tam, temple blocks, triangles, whip, xylophone, piano, strings May Festival Notable Performances: This is the first May Festival performance of the work. Duration: approx. 40 minutes Composer and conductor Antonio Estévez was one of Venezuela’s leading musicians. Estévez began studying music at age ten as a clarinetist in the Guárico state band. In 1934, he entered the Music Conservatory in Caracas to study composition (with Vicente Emilio Sojo) and oboe, completing his performance studies in 1942 and receiving his master’s degree in composition two years later. His study in Europe and the United States from 1944 to 1948 on a scholarship from the Venezuelan government was highlighted by a course in orchestral conducting at Tanglewood directed by Aaron Copland and Serge Koussevitzky. Estévez came to prominence after returning to his homeland, serving as an oboist with the Caracas Symphony Orchestra, teaching at the Caracas Conservatory, helping to found Orfeón University, directing the National Radio Orchestra and the Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, and appearing as guest conductor with the Belgian Radio-Television Orchestra, Paris Opéra, French Radio Orchestra, Municipal Orchestra of Rio de Janeiro and other leading ensembles.
The Cantata Criolla: Florentino, el que cantó con el Diablo (“Creole Cantata: Florentino, Who Sang with the Devil”), premiered in July 1954 in Caracas, won First Prize in the Vicente Emilio Sojo Competition and received praise from Heitor Villa-Lobos, Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson and other important musical figures when it was heard at a festival of Latin-American music later that year. The Cantata is a setting of a poem by the Venezuelan writer, educator and statesman Alberto Arvelo Torrealba based on the legend of a singing contest between a Plainsman and the Devil. Estévez chose tenor and bass soloists to represent the characters, with a chorus setting the scenes and commenting on the unfolding drama. Though cast in a modern idiom, with daring harmonic and orchestral effects, the Cantata Criolla incorporates two ancient Gregorian chants: the Marian hymn Ave maris stella (“Hail, Star of the Sea”) is identified with Florentino, the Plainsman; the venerable Sequence from the Requiem Mass, Dies Irae (“Day of Wrath”), also used by Berlioz, Liszt, Saint-Saëns, Rachmaninoff and others, is associated with the Devil. In his Cantata Criolla, Antonio Estévez created a significant work of nationalistic art that fuses elements of popular and cultivated music into an authentic and elegant Venezuelan atmosphere.
EL RETO (“THE CHALLENGE”)
El coplero Florentino The singer-poet1 Florentino por el ancho terraplén by the wide terraplein caminos del Desamparo towards El Desamparo desanda a golpe de seis. travels round about six. El coplero Florentino... The singer-poet Florentino... Puntero en la soledad Riding in the loneliness que enlutan llamas de ayer, blackened by yesterday’s flames, macolla de tierra errante clusters of flying dust le nace bajo el corcel. rise under the horse. Ojo ciego el lagunazo Like a blind eye the pond sin garza, junco ni grey, without stork, rush or flock, dura cuenca enterronada hard lumped basin donde el casco de traspié. where the hoof stumbles. Los escuálidos espinos The squalid cactus desnudan su amarillez, bares its yellowness, las chicharras atolondran the harvest fly rattles el cenizo anochecer. the ashy sunset. Parece que para el mundo It seems to stop the world la palma sin un vaivén. the palm tree without its sway. El coplero solitario The lonely poet-singer vive su grave altivez carries his deep pride de ir caminando el erial of walking on unplowed land como quien pisa vergel. as if it were a flower garden. En el caño de Las Animas In the Las Animas ditch se para muerto de sed he stops dying of thirst y en las patas del castaño and by the trunk of the chestnut tree ve lo claro del jagüey. he sees the glitter of a pond. El cacho de beber tira, He throws the water bottle en agua lo oye caer; and on water he hears it fall; cuando lo va levantando as he lifts it back towards him se le salpican los pies water wets his feet pero del cuemo vacío but from the empty bottle ni gota pudo beber. not one drop could he drink. Vuelve a tirarlo y salpica He throws it again and splashes el agua clara otra vez, the clear water again, mas sólo arena sus ojos but only sand his eyes en el turbio fondo ven. in the turbid bottom can see. Soplo de quema el suspiro, The breath like a burning gust, paso llano el palafrén, the palfrey at slow pace, mirada y rumbo el coplero look and bearing the singer-poet pone para su caney, sets toward his cabin, cuando con trote sombrío when with a somber trot oye un jinete tras él. he hears a rider behind him. Negra se le ve la manta, Black is his poncho, negro el caballo también; black is also his horse; bajo el negro pelo-e-guama under his black high-hat la cara no se le ve. the face cannot be seen. Pasa cantando una copla Rides by singing a couplet sin la mirada volver: without turning his head: —Amigo, por si se atreve, —Friend, if you dare, aguárdeme en Santa Inés, wait for me in Santa Inés, que yo lo voy a buscar where I will be looking for you para cantar con usté. to sing with you. Mala sombra del espanto Evil shadow of horror cruza por el terraplén. crosses the terraplein. Vaqueros de lejanía Remote cowboys la acompañan en tropel; accompany him in a bustle; la encobijan y la borran he is covered and obscured pajas del anochecer. by the grass of sunset. Florentino taciturno Florentino taciturn coge el banco de través. cuts across the plains. Puntero en la soledad Riding in the loneliness que enlutan llamas de ayer blackened by yesterday’s flames parece que va soñando he seems to be dreaming
1 A “coplero” is a singer capable of improvising “coplas,” or rhymed verses. The first line of the “copla” must be the last one of the other “coplero,” which this way forces the rhyme on his opponent. This type of musical competition is called “contrapunteo” (roughly “counterpointing”) in the Venezuelan plains. The first singer that cannot improvise at once on the cue of the opponent loses.
con la sabana en la sien. with the savanna at his temple. En un verso largo y hondo In a long and deep verse se le estira el tono fiel: his faithful tune stretches: —Sabana, sabana, tierra —Savanna, savanna, land que hace sudar y querer, that makes you sweat and love, parada con tanto rumbo a place with many routes con agua y muerta de sed, with water and dying of thirst, una con mi alma en lo sola, one with my soul in its solitude, una con Dios en la fe; one with God in the Faith; sobre tu pecho desnudo over your bare chest yo me paro a responder: I stop to answer: sepa el cantador sombrío let the somber singer know que yo cumplo con mi ley that I abide by my law y como canté con todos and as I have sung with all tengo que cantar con él. I have to sing with him.
LA PORFÍA (“THE DUEL”)
Noche de fiero chubasco Night of fiery squall por la enlutada llanura, all over the mourning plain, y de encendidas chipolas and of aroused “cipolas”2 que el rancho de peón alumbran. that light up the laborer’s hut. Adentro suena el capacho, Inside the “capacho”3 sounds, afuera bate la lluvia; outside the rain pours; vena en corazón de cedro vein in the heart of cedar el bordón mana ternura; the bass string oozes tenderness; no lejos asoma el río not far the river appears pecho de sabana sucia; breast of dirty savanna; más allá coros errantes, further away wandering choirs, ventarrón de negra furia; wind of black fury; y mientras teje el joropo and while the rhythm weaves bandoleras amarguras sadness with “bandola”4 el rayo a la palmasola the lightning to the palm tree le tira señeras puntas. fires solitary rays. Súbito un hombre en la puerta: Suddenly a man at the door: indio de grave postura, Indian of grave attitude, ojos negros, pelo negro, black eyes, black hair, frente de cálida arruga. forehead of fiery wrinkle. Pelo de guama luciente Shiny high hat que con el candil relumbra. that glitters under the oil lamp. Un golpe de viento guapo A gust of daring wind le pone a volar la blusa, blows his shirt open, y se le ve jeme y medio and one inch can be seen de puñal en la cintura. of a knife under his belt. Entra callado y se pone Comes in quietly and goes para el lado de la música. to where the music is. Oiga vale, ese es el Diablo, Listen friend, it is the Devil, —la voz por la sala cruza—. —the rumor spreads across the room—. Mírelo como llegó, See how he arrived, con tanto barrial y lluvia, with all the mud and rain, planchada y seca la ropa ironed and dry his clothes sin cobija ni montura. without poncho or mount. Dicen que pasó temprano They say he went by earlier como quien viene de Nutrias, like someone coming from Nutrias, con un oscuro bonquero with a dark boatman por el paso Las Brujas. by the Las Brujas pass. Florentino está silbando Florentino is whistling sones de añeja bravura tunes of past bravery y su diestra echa a volar and his right hand sets flying ansias que pisa la zurda longing pressed down by his left cuando el indio pico de oro when the Indian silver-tonged con su canto lo saluda. with his song salutes him. EL DIABLO (“THE DEVIL”) Catire quita pesares “Catire quita pesares”5 contéstame esta pregunta: answer me this question: ¿quién es el que bebe arena who is he who drinks sand en la noche más oscura? in the darkest night?
2 “Chipolas” are one of the forms of the “joropo,” which is a folk rhythm in fast and syncopated 3/4–6/8 time. “Joropo” is the basic rhythm pattern for the “contrapunteo,” the kind illustrated in this poem. 3 “Capacho”: maracas 4 The word “bandoleras” is derived from “bandola,” a stringed instrument of the guitar family used in combination with the harp, the “cuatro” (a small member of the guitar family, with four strings) and the “capacho” to play the “joropo.” 5 “Catire” is the name given to the people of white or light-brown skin, usually with light-brown hair. “Quita pesares” refers to a person who makes one forget his sorrows (“pesares”).
FLORENTINO En la noche más oscura In the darkest night lo malo no es el lanzazo the bad thing is not the attack of the spear sino quien no lo retruca. but not to return it. Tiene que beber arena It must drink sand el que no bebe agua nunca. he who never drinks water. THE DEVIL El que no bebe agua nunca. He who never drinks water. Así cualquiera responde Anybody can answer barajando la pregunta. avoiding the question. ¿Quién mata la sed sin agua Who satiates the thirst without water en jagüey de arena pura? in a pond of pure sand? FLORENTINO En jagüey de arena pura, In a pond of pure sand, el médano solitario, the solitary dune, el ánima que lo cruza, the soul that crosses it, la noche que lo encobija, the night that shelters it, el lucero que lo alumbra. the star that lights it. ¡Qué culpa tengo señores It is not my fault, gentlemen, si me encuentra el que me busca! if he who looks for me finds me! THE DEVIL Ya que tienes tantas artes Since you have so many skills déjeme que se las vea. allow me to see them. Falta un cuarto pa la una It is now quarter to one cuando el candil parpadea, when the oil lamp quivers, cuando el espanto sin rumbo when the ghost without direction con su dolor sabanea, with its pain scours the plain, cuando Florentino calla when Florentino stops singing y así perdió la pelea, and so he lost his fight, cuando canta la pavita, when the “pavita”6 sings, cuando el gallo menudea. when the rooster crows. FLORENTINO Cuando el gallo menudea When the rooster crows la garganta se me afina my throat gets in tune y se me aciarala idea. and my ideas become clear. Yo soy como el espinito I am like the cactus que en la sabana florea: that flowers in the plain: le doy aroma al que pasa I give perfume to the passer-by y espino al que me menea. and thorn to the one that shakes me. THE DEVIL Espino al que me menea: Thorn to the one that shakes me: ¡Ah caramba! yo en quedarme Well, then! I am wanting to stay y usted Catire me arrea. and you drive me on. Mire que estoy relón Can’t you see I am undecided con esta noche tan fea. with this ugly night. Vaya poniéndose alante Put yourself ahead pa’que en lo oscuro me vea. so you can see me in the dark. FLORENTINO Pa’que en lo oscuro me vea. So you can see me in the dark. Amigo no arrime tanto My friend don’t get so close que el bicho se le chacea. or your beast will go out of control. Atrás y alante es lo mismo Behind and ahead is the same pa’el que no carga manea: if one doesn’t carry a hobble: el que va atrás ve p’alante the one behind looks ahead y el que va alante voltea. and the one ahead turns his head. THE DEVIL El que va alante voltea. The one ahead turns his head. Catire, usté canta mucho “My man, you sing quite well pero quítese esa idea but forget the idea de que me puede enseñar that you can teach me como se canta un corrío. how to sing a “corrío.”7 Los perros está aullando The dogs are howling escúcheles los aullíos, listen to their howls, los gallos están cantando, the roosters are crowing, recuerde lo convenía. remember our deal.8
“Zamuros de la barrosa “Vultures of ‘La Barrosa’ del Alcornocal del frío from ‘Alcornocal del frío,’9 albricias pido señores congratulations I ask, gentlemen, que ya Florentino es mío.” for already Florentino is mine.”
6 “Pavita”: fictional bird whose song predicts misfortunes; full name is pavita de tierra 7 “Corrío”: the musical form for the “contrapunteo” 8 The deal, according to this type of legend, as in Faust, is that Florentino will go to Hell if he loses to the Devil. 9 invented places
FLORENTINO Que ya Florentino es mío. For already Florentino is mine. Si usté dice que soy suyo If you say that I am yours será que me le he vendío, it must be because I sold myself to you, si me le vendí me paga if I sold myself pay me porue yo a nadie le fío. because I give credit to no one. Yo no soy pájaro bobo I am not a silly bird pa’estar calentando nío. to be warming up the nest. THE DEVIL Pa’estar calentando nío. To be warming up the nest. No sé si es pájaro bobo I don’t know if you are a silly bird pero va por un tendío... but you got into a long journey... Con el adiós de los gallos With the farewell of the roosters yo cargo con los rendíos I take with me the defeated en el anca e’mi caballo on the back of my horse que sabe un trote sombrío. that knows a somber trot. Y vuelvo a cambiarle el pie And I change again the cue a ver si topa atajo. to see if you find the shortcut. FLORENTINO A ver si topa el atajo. To see if you find the shortcut. Cuando se fajan me gusta When they get involved I like it porque yo también me fajo. for I also get involved. “Zamuros de la barrosa “Vultures of ‘La Barrosa’ del Alcornocal de abajo: from ‘Alcornocal de abajo’
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: ahora verán señores, now you will see, gentlemen, al Diablo pasar trabajo.” the Devil having a hard time.” Déjenlo que barajuste Let him try to confuse me que yo en mi rucio lo atajo I will catch him with my horse déjenlo que pare suertes, let him try his luck, yo sabré si le barajo, I will see if I deal to him, alante el caballo fino, ahead the fine horse, atrás el burro marrajo. behind the cunning donkey. Antes que toquien la una Before the clock strikes one se lo lleva quien lo trajo. he will leave as he came. ¡Quién ha visto doro-doro Who has seen a “doro-doro”
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cantando con arrendajo! singing with a mocking-bird! Si me cambio el consonante If he changed the cue for me yo se lo puedo cambiar. I can change it back for him. THE DEVIL Yo se lo puedo cambiar. I can change it back for him. Los graves y los agudos The bass and the treble a mí lo mismo me dan. are the same to me. ¡Ay! catire Florentino “Ay! My Florentino” arrendajo y turupial, mocking-bird and troupial, qué largo y solo el camino what a long and lonely road que nunca desandará, that you will never retrace, con esta noche tan negra in this night so black chaparral y chaparral. chaparral and chaparral. No le valió su baquía, Your skill didn’t help you ni lo salvó su cantar. nor did your singing save you. Catire quita pesares, “You who makes others forget sorrows,” arrendajo y turupial. mocking-bird and troupial. FLORENTINO Arrendajo y turupial. Mocking-bird and troupial. Zamuros de la Barrosa Vultures of “La Barrosa” salgan del Alcornocal come out of “Alcornocal” pa’que miren a Mandinga so you can see the Devil el brinco que va a pegar: the leap he is going to take: Sácame de aquí con Dios Get me out of here with God Virgen de la Soledá, Virgin of la Soledá, Virgen del Carmen bendita, blessed Virgin del Carmen, piadosa Virgen del Real, pious Virgin del Real, tierna Virgen del Socorro, tender Virgin del Socorro dulce Virgen de la Paz. sweet Virgin de la Paz. Virgen de la Coromoto, Virgin de la Coromoto, Virgen de Chiquinquirá, Virgin de Chiquinquirá, piadosa Virgen del Valle, pious Virgin del Valle, Niño de Atocha bendito, blessed Niño de Atocha, Santísima Trinidá, Holy Trinity, Virgen del Carmen bendita, blessed Virgin del Carmen, Santísima Trinidá. Holy Trinity.
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“Doro-doro”: a common black bird 11 To beat the Devil by holding him until sunrise, Florentino embarks on a long litany of all the saints and sacred names he can remember.
MONTGOMERY + BEETHOVEN NO. 9
SAT MAY 28, 7:30 pm | Music Hall
JUANJO MENA, conductor NICOLE CABELL, soprano TAMARA MUMFORD, mezzo-soprano JI-MIN PARK, tenor REGINALD SMITH, JR., baritone MAY FESTIVAL CHORUS Robert Porco, director
The May Festival Chorus is endowed by the Betsy & Alex C. Young Chair MAY FESTIVAL YOUTH CHORUS, Matthew Swanson, director CINCINNATI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, Louis Langrée, Music Director Ludwig van BEETHOVEN Excerpts from Fidelio
(1770–1827) Overture, Op. 72 O Welche Lust (“O What Joy”) Heil sei dem Tag! (“Hail to the Day!”)
Jessie MONTGOMERY I Have Something to Say
(b. 1981)
INTERMISSION
Allegro ma non troppo; un poco maestoso Molto vivace Adagio molto e cantabile Presto—Allegro assai—Allegro assai vivace
Tonight’s concert will end at approximately 9:40 pm.
Tonight’s concert is sponsored by Kathy and Craig Rambo. The 2022 May Festival is presented by Fort Washington Investment Advisors. The 2022 May Festival is sponsored by Chavez Properties. The appearance of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is generously supported by the Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund of the Greenacres Foundation. The appearance of Nicole Cabell in this evening’s performance is made possible in part by David and Elaine Billmire. The appearance of Tamara Mumford in this evening’s performance is made possible in part by generous endowment gifts from the friends and family of the Joan P. and Oliver L. Baily Fund. The appearance of Ji-Min Park in this evening’s performance is made possible in part by Sherie Lynch Marek and Family. The appearance of Reginald Smith, Jr. is made possible in part by a generous endowment gift in memory of Mr. and Mrs. LeRoy R. Brooks. Steinway Pianos, courtesy of Willis Music, is the official piano of the May Festival. The encore performance of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah is given in memory of Betty Wohlgemuth, with funds generously provided by The Wohlgemuth Herschede Foundation. This concert will be broadcast on 90.9 WGUC on October 23, 2022 at 8 pm. The use of photographic and recording devices at these concerts is prohibited.
by Dr. Richard E. Rodda
© 2022 May Festival LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN Excerpts from Fidelio
Born: Baptized December 17, 1770 in Bonn, Germany Died: March 26, 1827 in Vienna, Austria Work Composed: 1804-1805; revised in 1806 and 1814 Premiere: Original version premiered on November 20, 1805 in Vienna, conducted by Ignaz von Seyfried under the composer’s supervision. The fi nal version of the opera was premiered on May 25, 1814 at Vienna’s Kärntnertor Theater, conducted by Michael Umlauf, though the Fidelio Overture was not fi nished in time for that performance and was fi rst heard two days later. Instrumentation: mixed chorus, 2 fl utes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones (incl. bass trombone), timpani, strings
May Festival Notable Performances:
• Overture: First Performance: May 1892, Theodore Thomas Orchestra, Theodore Thomas conducting. Most Recent: May 1989, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, James Conlon conducting. • O welche Lust: First Performance: May 1927, Frank Van der Stucken conducting, May Festival Chorus. Most Recent: May 1948, Fritz Busch conducting, May Festival Chorus. • Heil sei dem Tag: First Performance: May 1927, Frank Van der Stucken conducting, May Festival Chorus. Most Recent: May 2002, James Conlon conducting, May Festival Chorus. Duration: approx. 14 minutes Beethoven devoted a decade (1804–1814) to his only opera, Fidelio, and the most evident remnants of his extensive revisions are the quartet of overtures he composed for work. The fi rst version of the opera, written between January 1804 and early autumn 1805, was initially titled Leonore after the heroine, who courageously rescues her husband from his wrongful incarceration. For that production, Beethoven wrote the Leonore Overture No. 1, utilizing themes from the opera. Beethoven then composed a second overture, Leonore No. 2, and that piece was used at the fi rst performance, on November 20, 1805. (The management of Vienna’s Theater-an-der-Wien, site of the premiere, insisted on changing the title from Leonore to Fidelio to avoid confusion with Ferdinand Paër’s Leonore.) The opera foundered. Not only was the audience, largely populated by French offi cers of Napoleon’s army, which had invaded Vienna exactly one week earlier, unsympathetic, but there were also problems with Fidelio’s dramatic structure. Beethoven was encouraged by his aristocratic supporters to rework the opera and present it again. That second version, for which the magnifi cent Leonore Overture No. 3 was written, was presented in Vienna on March 29, 1806, but met with only slightly more acclaim than its forerunner.
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expresses special thanks to
KATHY AND CRAIG RAMBO
for their generous sponsorship of the Montgomery + Beethoven No. 9 concert
In 1814, some members of the Court Theater approached Beethoven, by then Europe’s most famous composer, about reviving Fidelio. The idealistic subject of the opera had never been far from his thoughts, and he agreed to the project. The libretto was revised yet again, and Beethoven rewrote all the numbers in the opera and changed their order to enhance the work’s dramatic impact. The new Fidelio Overture, the fourth he composed for his opera, was among the revisions. * * *
In the opera, Florestan, a fighter against despotism, has been imprisoned by his enemy Don Pizarro, governor of the castle prison. Hoping to save Florestan, his wife, Leonora, disguises herself as a young man under the name “Fidelio,” and becomes an assistant to Rocco, the chief jailer of the prison. Marcellina, Rocco’s daughter, falls in love with the disguised Leonore. Under Pizarro’s orders, Rocco and Leonore enter Florestan’s cell to dig his grave and offer him a little food. Pizarro rushes in, intent on killing Florestan. Dagger in hand, he rushes toward Florestan but Leonore, brandishing a pistol, throws herself between them. Just at that moment, a trumpet sounds to announce the arrival of Don Fernando, Prime Minister of Spain, who has come to question Pizarro about his suspected abuse of power. Florestan and Leonore rejoice at their reunion, and fall into each other’s arms. In the opera’s closing scene, set in the parade ground of the castle, Don Fernando arrives and orders the prisoners freed. They are led into the courtyard by Leonore and Florestan, whom Fernando recognizes as an old friend he thought dead. Leonore is allowed to remove her husband’s chains herself, while Pizarro is taken away to answer for his treachery. Florestan sings a tribute to his devoted wife, and all join in a jubilant hymn to love and brotherhood—Heil sei dem Tag: All Hail the Day.
TEXT AND TRANSLATION CHORUS OF PRISONERS O welche Lust, in freier Luft Oh what joy, in the open air Den Atem leicht zu heben! Freely to breathe again! Nur hier, nur hier ist Leben! Up here alone is life! Der Kerker eine Gruft. The dungeon is a grave. FIRST PRISONER Wir wollen mit Vertrauen We shall with all our faith Auf Gottes Hilfe bauen! Trust in the help of God! Die Hoffnung flüstert sanft mir zu: Hope whispers softly in my ears! Wir werden frei, wir finden Ruh. We shall be free, we shall find peace. ALL THE OTHERS O Himmel! Rettung! Welch ein Glück! Oh Heaven! Salvation! Happiness! O Freiheit! Kehrst du zurück? Oh Freedom! Will you be given us? SECOND PRISONER Sprecht leise! Haltet euch zurück! Speak softly! Be on your guard! Wir sind belauscht mit Ohr und Blick. We are watched with eye and ear. ALL Sprecht leise! Haltet euch zurück! Speak softly! Be on your guard! Wir sind belauscht mit Ohr und Blick. We are watched with eye and ear. O welche Lust, in freier Luft Oh what joy, in the open air Den Atem leicht zu heben! Freely to breathe again! Nur hier, nur hier ist Leben. Up here alone is life. Sprecht leise! Haltet euch zurück! Speak softly! Be on your guard! Wir sind belauscht mit Ohr und Blick. We are watched with eye and ear. CHORUS OF PRISONERS AND TOWNSPEOPLE Heil sei dem Tag, Heil sei der Stunde, All hail the day, all hail the hour, Die lang ersehnt, doch unvermeint; So long desired, and so long denied; Gerechtigkeit mit Huld im Bunde When justice joins forces with mercy, Vor unsres Grabes Tor erscheint! To come and open up the prison gates!
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JESSIE MONTGOMERY I Have Something to Say
Born: December 8, 1981 in New York City Work Composed: 2020, co-commissioned by the May Festival and Cathedral Choral Society Premiere: March 13, 2022 at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. by the Cathedral Choral Society, conducted by Steven Fox Instrumentation: mixed chorus, children’s chorus (incl. child soloist), 2 flutes (incl. piccolo), 2 oboes (incl. English horn), 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, bongo drums, chimes, cymbals, glockenspiel, snare drum, triangle, celeste, strings May Festival Notable Performances: This is the first May Festival performance of the work. Duration: approx. 8 minutes Violinist, composer and music educator Jessie Montgomery started studying violin at age four at the Third Street Music School Settlement in her native New York City. She was composing and improvising by 11, and while still in high school twice received the Composer’s Apprentice Award from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
Montgomery has created works for concert, theater and film (one of which was in collaboration with her father, Ed Montgomery, also a composer and an independent film producer), and held residencies with the Deer Valley Music Festival, New York Youth Symphony, American Composers Orchestra and Sphinx Virtuosi. Among her rapidly accumulating distinctions are the Leonard Bernstein Award from the ASCAP Foundation and the Sphinx Medal of Excellence. Jessie Montgomery is currently working on a commission for Project 19, the New York Philharmonic’s multi-year celebration of the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. The Philharmonic began premiering these new compositions by 19 women composers in February 2020. In September 2021, Montgomery was commissioned by The Metropolitan Opera along with two other Black composers—Valerie Coleman and Joel Thompson—to develop new works in collaboration with the Lincoln Center Theater.
Jessie Montgomery wrote that I Have Something To Say, “portrays an imagined interaction between Sojourner Truth and Greta Thunberg during a timeless public forum. The text is inspired by quotes from their historic speeches: Truth’s famed Ain’t I a Woman speech during the First National Women’s Convention in 1850, and Thunberg’s gripping speech about climate justice during the UN Climate Change summit in 2018. Robbie McCauley, playwright, performer and activist (and mother to yours truly), wove sentiments from each speech together to create the lyrics. Special features include a musical depiction of a courtroom gathering and a children’s protest rising to the final chorus. We created this work together to highlight and celebrate the efforts of the elder and younger generations of women who have fought and continue to fight ‘the ongoing struggle for us and all people to be free.’”
For more about Ms. Montgomery, please read “In Conversation with Jessie Montgomery” on p. 13.
TEXT: I have something to say Said Sojourner Truth Before the Civil War I’m women’s rights I can’t read but I can hear Do not be afraid of us for fear If you have a quart We’ll take no more than our pint’ll hold I have something to say Said Greta Thunberg In the year twenty and nineteen While she is only age fifteen I speak for Climate Justice Now What will you tell your children how You did nothing while there was time? We were blessed to be born When many doors had been torn Open for us to be free And from now on We women and we girls All over the world Know we must carry on The ongoing struggle For us and all people to be free
Work Composed: 1822–1824 Premiere: May 7, 1824 in Vienna, conducted by Michael Umlauf under the composer’s supervision Instrumentation: soprano, alto, tenor, bass, mixed chorus, piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, strings May Festival Notable Performances: First Performance: May 1873 at Saengerhalle, Theodore Thomas Orchestra conducted by Theodore Thomas, soloists: Helen Smith, soprano; Anne Louise Cary, contralto; Nelson Varley, tenor; J. F. Rudolphsen, bass; May Festival Chorus. Most Recent: May 2017 at Taft Theatre, Markus Stenz conducting, soloists: Carolyn Sampson, soprano; Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo-soprano; Thomas Cooley, tenor; Eric Owens, bass-baritone; May Festival Chorus. Commercial Recording with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in 2013 as part of the One City, One Symphony project. Duration: approx. 65 minutes “I’ve got it! I’ve got it! Let us sing the song of the immortal Schiller!” shouted Beethoven to Anton Schindler, his companion and eventual biographer, as he burst from his workroom one afternoon in October 1823. This joyful announcement meant that the path to the completion of the Ninth Please turn page quietly
Symphony—after a gestation of more than three decades—was finally clear.
Friedrich Schiller published his poem An die Freude (“Ode to Joy”) in 1785. By 1790 Beethoven knew the poem, and as early as 1793 he considered making a musical setting of it. Schiller’s poem appears in his notes in 1798, but the earliest musical ideas for its setting are found among the sketches for the Seventh and Eighth symphonies, composed simultaneously in 1811–1812. Though these sketches are unrelated to the finished Ode to Joy theme—that went through more than 200 revisions (!) before Beethoven was satisfied with it—they do show the composer’s continuing interest in the text and the gestating idea of setting it for chorus and orchestra. It was to be another dozen years before he could bring this vague vision to fulfillment.
The first evidence of the musical material that was to figure in the finished Ninth Symphony appeared in 1815, when a sketch for the theme of the Scherzo emerged among Beethoven’s notes. Beethoven was forced to lay aside the Scherzo in 1818 because of ill health, the distressing court battle to secure custody of his nephew, and other composing projects, notably the monumental Missa Solemnis.
The awesome Missa dominated Beethoven’s life for over four years. The chronology of these compositions—the great Mass preceding the Symphony—was vital to the creation of the Symphony, and is indispensable to understanding the last years of Beethoven’s creative life. The critic Irving Kolodin wrote, “The Ninth owes to the Missa Solemnis the philosophical framework, the ideological atmosphere, the psychological climate in which it breathes and has its existence.... Unlike the Missa, however, it is a celebration of life, of man’s earthly possibilities rather than his heavenly speculations.” The 1822 sketches show considerable progress on the Symphony’s first movement, little on the Scherzo, and, for the first time, some tentative ideas for a choral finale based on Schiller’s poem.
Beethoven had one major obstacle to overcome before he could complete the Symphony: how to join together the instrumental and vocal movements. He pondered the matter during his summer stay in Baden in 1823, but had not resolved the problem when he returned to Vienna in October. It was only after more intense work that he finally hit upon the idea of a recitative as the connecting tissue. A recitative—the technique that had been used for generations to bridge from one operatic number to the next—that would be perfect, he decided. And the recitative could include fragments of themes from earlier movements—to unify the structure. “I’ve got it! I’ve got it!” he shouted triumphantly. Beethoven still had much work to do, as the sketches from the autumn of 1823 show, but he at last knew his goal. The composition was completed by the end of the year. When the final scoring was finished in February 1824, it had been nearly 35 years since Beethoven first considered setting Schiller’s poem.
TEXT AND TRANSLATION: Fourth Movement
BARITONE O Freunde, nicht diese Töne! O friends, not these sounds! Sondern lasst uns Rather let us angenehmere anstimmen, sing more pleasing songs, und freudenvollere. full of joy. BARITONE AND CHORUS Freude, schöner Götterfunken, Joy, brilliant spark of the gods, Tochter aus Elysium, daughter of Elysium, wir betreten feuertrunken, drunk with fire, we enter, Himmlische, dein Heiligtum. Divinity, your sacred shrine. Deine Zauber binden wieder Your magic again unites was die Mode streng geteilt; all that custom harshly tore apart; alle Menschen werden Brüder all men become brothers wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt. beneath your gentle hovering wing. QUARTET AND CHORUS Wem der grosse Wurf gelungen, Whoever has won in that great gamble eines Freundes Freund zu sein, of being friend to a friend, wer ein holdes Weib errungen, whoever has won a gracious wife, mische seine Jubel ein! let him join in our rejoicing! Ja, wer auch nur eine Seele Yes, even if there is only one other soul sein nennt auf dem Erdenrund! he can call his own on the whole earth! Und wer’s nie gekonnt, der stehle And he who never accomplished this, weinend sich aus diesem Bund! let him steal away weeping from this company! Freude trinken alle Wesen All creatures drink of joy an den Brüsten der Natur, at Nature’s breast, alle Guten, alle Bösen All men, good and evil, folgen ihre Rosenspur. follow her rose-strewn path.
Küsse gab sie uns und Reben, Kisses she gave us and vines, einen Freund, geprüft im Tod; a friend, faithful to death; Wollust ward dem Wurm gegeben, desire was even given to the worm, und der Cherub steht vor Gott! and the cherub stands before God! TENOR AND CHORUS Froh, wie seine Sonnen fliegen Joyously, just as His suns fly durch des Himmels prächt’gen Plan, through the splendid arena of heaven, laufet, Brüder, eure Bahn, run, brothers, your course freudig wie ein Held zum Siegen. gladly, like a hero to victory. CHORUS Freude, schöner Götterfunken, Joy, brilliant spark of the gods, Tochter aus Elysium, daughter of Elysium, wir betreten feuertrunken, drunk with fire, we enter, Himmlische, dein Heiligtum. Divinity, your sacred shrine. Deine Zauber binden wieder Your magic again unites was die Mode streng geteilt; all that custom harshly tore apart; alle Menschen werden Brüder all men become brothers wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt. beneath your gentle hovering wing. Seid umschlungen, Millionen! Be embraced, ye millions! Diesen Kuss der ganzen Welt! This kiss is for the entire world! Brüder, über’m Sternenzelt Brothers, above the canopy of stars muss ein lieber Vater wohnen. surely a loving Father dwells. Ihr stürzt nieder, Millionen? Do you bow down, ye millions? Ahnest du den Schöpfer, Welt? Do you sense the Creator, World? Such’ ihn über’m Sternenzelt! Seek Him above the canopy of stars! Über Sternen muss er wohnen. Above the stars must He dwell. Freude, schöner Götterfunken, Joy, brilliant spark of the gods, Tochter aus Elysium, daughter of Elysium, wir betreten feuertrunken, drunk with fire, we enter, Himmlische, dein Heiligtum. Divinity, your sacred shrine. Seid umschlungen, Millionen! Be embraced, ye millions! Diesen Kuss der ganzen Welt! This kiss is for the entire world! Ihr stürzt nieder, Millionen? Do you bow down, ye millions? Ahnest du den Schöpfer, Welt? Do you sense the Creator, World? Such’ ihn über’m Sternenzelt! Seek Him above the canopy of stars! Brüder! Brüder! Brothers! Brothers! Über’m Sternenzelt Above the canopy of stars muss ein lieber Vater wohnen. surely a loving Father dwells. QUARTET AND CHORUS Freude, Tochter aus Elysium, Joy, daughter of Elysium, deine Zauber binden wieder Your magic again unites was die Mode streng geteilt; all that custom harshly tore apart; alle Menschen werden Brüder all men become brothers wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt. beneath your gentle hovering wing. Seid umschlungen, Millionen! Be embraced, ye millions! Diesen Kuss der ganzen Welt! This kiss is for the entire world! Brüder, über’m Sternenzelt Brothers, above the canopy of stars muss ein lieber Vater wohnen. surely a loving Father dwells. Freude, schöner Götterfunken, Joy, brilliant spark of the gods, Tochter aus Elysium! daughter of Elysium!
