THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY College of Music presents
Faculty/Guest Artist Recital of
Elise Qualiata, Mezzo-Soprano
Valerie M. Trujillo, Piano
Sunday, January 12, 2025 4:00 p.m. | Longmire Recital Hall
To Ensure An Enjoyable Concert Experience For All…
Please refrain from talking, entering, or exiting during performances. Food and drink are prohibited in all concert halls. Recording or broadcasting of the concert by any means, including the use of digital cameras, cell phones, or other devices is expressly forbidden. Please deactivate all portable electronic devices including watches, cell phones, pagers, hand-held gaming devices or other electronic equipment that may distract the audience or performers.
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Florida State University provides accommodations for persons with disabilities. Please notify the College of Music at (850) 644-3424 at least five working days prior to a musical event to request accommodation for disability or alternative program format.
Banalités (Apollinaire)
PROGRAM
Francis Poulenc
Chansons d’Orkenise (1899–1963)
Hôtel
Fagnes de Wallonies
Voyage à Paris
Sanglots
Chansons de Bilitis (Louÿs)
Claude Debussy
La flûte de Pan (1862–1918)
La chevelure
Le tombeau de Naïades
Chants d’Auvergne (selections)
Joseph Canteloube
L’Antouèno (1879–1957)
La pastoura als camps
Pastourelle
Lou coucut
Pregúntale a las estrellas
INTERMISSION
arr. Edward Kilenyi
Mi sueño (1910–2000)
Noche serena
Les filles de Cadix (Musset)
Pauline Viardot
Haï luli! (Maistre) (1821–1910)
Madrid (Musset)
Siete canciones populares españolas
Manuel de Falla
El paño moruno (1876–1946)
Seguidilla murciana
Asturiana
Jota
Nana
Canción
Polo
Banalités (Apollinaire) (1940)
Francis Poulenc (1899–1963) | Guillaume Apollinaire (1880–1918)
Chanson d’Orkenise
Through the gates of Orkenise a carter wants to enter. Through the gates of Orkenise a tramp wants to leave. And the sentries of the town, rush up to the tramp and ask: “What are you taking out of the town?” “I’m leaving my whole heart behind.”
And the sentries of the town, rush up to the carter and ask: “What are you bringing into the town?” “My heart: I’m getting married.” What a lot of hearts in Orkenise! The sentries laughed and laughed. Oh tramp, the road is dreary; oh carter, love is heady. The handsome sentries of the town knitted superbly; then the gates of the town slowly swung shut.
Hôtel
My room has the form of a cage. The sun reaches its arm in through the window. But I want to smoke and make shapes in the air, and so I light my cigarette on the sun’s fire. I don’t want to work; I want to smoke.
Fagnes de Wallonie
So much deep sadness seized my heart on the desolate moors when I sat down weary among the firs, unloading the weight of the kilometers while the west wind growled. I had left the pretty woods. The squirrels stayed there. My pipe tried to make clouds of smoke in the sky which stubbornly stayed blue. I murmured no secret except an enigmatic song which I confided to the peat bog. Smelling of honey, the heather was attracting the bees, and my aching feet trod bilberries and whortleberries. Tenderly she is married North! North!
There life twists in trees that are strong and gnarled. There life bites bitter death with greedy teeth, when the wind howls.
Voyage à Paris
Ah, how delightful it is to leave a dismal place and head for Paris! Beautiful Paris, which one day Love had to create!
Sanglots
Our love is ruled by the calm stars.
We know that within us many people breathe who came from afar and are united behind our brows.
This is the song of that dreamer who had torn out his heart and was carrying it in his right hand...
Remember, oh dear pride, all those memories: the sailors who sang like conquerors, the chasms of Thule, the tender skies of Ophir, the accursed sick, the ones who flee their own shadows, and the joyful return of the happy emigrants.
Blood was flowing from that heart; and the dreamer went on thinking of his wound which was delicate ...
You will not break the chain of those causes... ...and painful; and he kept saying to us: ...which are the effects of other causes.
“My poor heart, my heart which is broken like the hearts of all men... Look, here are our hands which life enslaved.”
...has died of love or so it seems, has died of love and here it is.
That is the way of all things.
“So tear your hearts out too!”
And nothing will be free until the end of time.
Let us leave everything to the dead, and let us hide our sobbing.
Chansons de Bilitis (Louÿs) (1897)
Claude Debussy (1862–1916) | Pierre Louÿs (1870–1925)
La flûte de Pan
For the festival of Hyacinths he gave me a syrinx, a set of pipes made from well-cut reeds joined with the white wax that is sweet to my lips like honey.
He is teaching me to play, as I sit on his knees; but I tremble a little. He plays it after me, so softly that I can scarcely hear it.
We are so close that we have nothing to say to one another; but our songs want to converse, and our mouths are joined as they take turns on the pipes.
It is late: here is the song of the green frogs, which begins at dusk. My mother will never believe I spent so long searching for my lost belt.
He told me: “Last night I had a dream. Your hair was around my neck, it was like a black necklace round my neck and on my chest.
“I was stroking your hair, and it was my own; thus the same tresses joined us forever, with our mouths touching, just as two laurels often have only one root.
“And gradually I sensed, since our limbs were so entwined, that I was becoming you and you were entering me like my dream.”
When he’d finished, he gently put his hands on my shoulders, and gazed at me so tenderly that I lowered my eyes, quivering.
Le tombeau des Naïdes
I was walking along in the frost-covered woods; in front of my mouth my hair blossomed in tiny icicles, and my sandals were heavy with muddy caked snow.
He asked: “What are you looking for?” “I’m following the tracks of the satyr—his little cloven hoofprints alternate like holes in a white cloak.”
He said: “The satyrs are dead. The satyrs are dead, and the nymphs too. In thirty years there has not been such a terrible winter. That’s the trail of a goat. But let’s pause here, where their tomb is.”
With his hoe he broke the ice of the spring where the water-nymphs once laughed. There he was, picking up large cold slabs of ice, lifting them toward the pale sky, and peering through them.
Chants d’Auvergne (selections) (1923–1930)
Joseph Canteloube (1879–1957)
L’Antouèno
When we go to the fair, ié! When we go to the fair, oh! We’ll go together, l’Antoine, we’ll go together! We’ll buy a cow, ié! We’ll buy a cow, oh! We’ll buy her together, l’Antoine, We’ll buy her together. But the cow shall be mine, ié!
But the cow shall be mine, oh! The horns only for you, l’Antoine, The horns only for you.
La pastoura als camps
When the shepherd lass goes off into the fields, when the shepherd lass goes off into the fields, to mind her sheep, Tidera la la la la la loi! To mind her sheep!
She meets a handsome gentleman, t gentleman looks at her, Tidera la la la la la loi! The gentleman looks at her. “Ah, let me just look at you, Ah, let me just look at you, you are so pretty, Tidera la la la la la loi! You are so pretty!”
“Then tie up your horse, then tie up your horse, tie him to this tree, Tidera la la la la la loi! tie him to this tree!”
When he thought he held the beauty, when he thought he held her fast, she got away, Tidera la la la la la loi! She got away!
Pastourelle
Oh, come over to me on my side of the river! Come talk of ewes and rams and your pretty woolly lambs, and when we’ve chatted enough then our talk will be of love!
But what way can I use for crossing over the river? I have no boat to row, nor a bridge by which to go, nor yet a little boy blue to love me ever true.
You soon would have a boat if you were really pretty, a fine bridge to cross, and a handsome shepherd too, a boy who would be true your whole life-time through!
Lou coucut
The cuckoo is a beautiful bird, there is none more beautiful than cuckoo when it is singing, than my cuckoo, than your cuckoo, than other people’s cuckoo!
What? Haven’t you heard the cuckoo sing?!
In the back of the meadow down there a tree is in bloom, all red, and there the cuckoo sings. My cuckoo, your cuckoo…What? Haven’t you heard the cuckoo sing?!
Certainly if all the cuckoos were to wear little bells they would sound like five hundred trumpets! My cuckoo, your cuckoo…
Three Mexican folk songs arr. by Edward Kilenyi (1910–2000)
Pregúntale a las estrellas
Ask the stars
If they see me cry at night
Ask them if I am not looking
To love you in my loneliness
Ask the gentle river
If it does not see my love flowing
Ask the whole world
If my suffering is not horrible
Don’t you ever forget
That I love you
That I die for you
I die of love
Do not desire anyone
Do not love anyone
Listen to the laments
Listen to the laments
Of a troubadour
Mi sueño
Oh! Without your love I’ll die, indeed my dear! Because you are a delusion.
You give my heart
The chance of which to dream.
Don’t look at me so, because I will die. Well, I can’t live with your scorn
Oh! Look again, which is my adoration
To have you with passion, Angel of Love!
That here I come to beg
And plead forgiveness,
And if I should die, Farewell! Farewell!
Noche serena
Serene night of spring, white dove of dawn’s light, Serene night of spring, white lily, that you are,
And upon my arrival here completely full of delight
Receive this tender kiss that I send you, for you.
Field in winter, withered flower, night without moonlight, dark, turbulent. Flower without aroma, withered, tree fallen, that am I.
Three Songs of Pauline Viardot (1821–1910)
Les filles de Cadix
poetry: Alfred de Musset (1810–1857)
We’d just left the bullfight, Three boys, three girls, The sun shone on the grass
And we danced a bolero
To the sound of castanets.
“Tell me, neighbor, am I looking good, And does my skirt suit me, this morning?
Have I a slender waist? . . .
Ah! Ah! The girls of Cadiz are fond of that.”
And we were dancing a bolero
One Sunday evening. A hidalgo came towards us, Glittering in gold, feather in cap, And hand on hip:
“If you want me, dark beauty with the sweet smile, You’ve only to say so, and these riches are yours.”
“Go on your way, fine sir.”
Ah! ah! The girls of Cadiz don’t take to that.
Haï luli
poetry: Xavier de Maistre (1763–1852)
I am sad, I am anxious, I no longer know what’s to become of me. My lover was to have come, And I wait for him here alone.
Haï luli, haï luli, How sad it is without my lover!
I sit down to spin my wool, The thread snaps in my hand: Well then! I shall spin tomorrow, Today I am too upset.
Haï luli, haï luli, Where can my lover be?
Ah! If it’s true that he’s unfaithful, And will one day abandon me, Then let the village burn And me too along with the village!
Haï luli, haï luli, What point is there in living without a lover?
Madrid
Madrid, Princess of Spanish lands, Many blue eyes, many dark eyes
Can be seen on your thousand fields. Many dainty feet tread each evening Along the walks of your white town, Famed for its serenades.
Madrid, when your bulls rampage, Many a white hand applauds, Many scarves are waved.
On your beautiful starry nights, Many a señora with long veils Descends your blue stairs.
Madrid, Madrid, I mock Your slim-waisted ladies Who wear narrow dancing shoes; For there’s no brunette or blonde In all the world who’s worth the finger-tips Of a lady I know!
For she is my Andalusian princess, My lover, my jealous one!
My beautiful, well-connected widow!
She’s a real demon, she’s an angel!
She’s as yellow as an orange, She’s as lively as a bird!
Now, if by chance people wonder How I achieved such a conquest, I reply: because of my handsome horse, The way I praised her mantilla, The vanilla sweets I gave her On a beautiful carnival evening.
Siete canciones populares españolas (1914)
Manuel de Falla (1876–1946)
El paño moruno
On the fine cloth in the store a stain has fallen; It sells at a lesser price, because it has lost its value. Alas!
Seguidilla murciana
Who has a roof of glass should not throw stones to their neighbor’s (roof). Let us be muleteers; It could be that on the road we will meet! For your great inconstancy I compare you to a coin that runs from hand to hand; which finally blurs, and, believing it false, no one accepts!
Asturiana
To see whether it would console me, I drew near a green pine, To see whether it would console me. Seeing me weep, it wept; And the pine, being green, seeing me weep, wept.
Jota
They say we don’t love each other because they never see us talking but they only have to ask both your heart and mine. Now I bid you farewell your house and your window too and even...your mother. Farewell, my sweetheart until tomorrow.
Nana
Go to sleep, Child, sleep, sleep, my soul, Go to sleep, little star of the morning. Lulla-lullaby, Lulla-lullaby, sleep, little star of the morning.
Canción
Because your eyes are traitors I will hide from them you don’t know how painful it is to look at them. “Mother I feel worthless, Mother” They say they don’t love me and yet once they did love me “Love has been lost in the air, Mother, all is lost. It is lost, Mother.”
Polo
Ay! I keep a... (Ay!) I keep a... (Ay!) I keep a sorrow in my breast, I keep a sorrow in my breast Ay! that to no one will I tell. Wretched be love, wretched, wretched be love, wretched, Ay! And he who gave me to understand it! Ay!
GRAMMY-nominated mezzo-soprano Elise Quagliata recently reprised her well-known Carmen with Union Avenue Opera to great acclaim, was featured as the mezzo soloist in Verdi’s Requiem with The Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra, sang the role of Sarah Brown in Guys & Dolls with Charlottesville Opera, The Marquise in Utah Opera’s La Fille du Regiment, and Pellegrina to great acclaim in Minnesota Opera’s world premiere of Prestini and Campbell’s Edward Tulane. In 2022, she starred as Ginny in Des Moines Metro Opera’s world premiere of Kuster and Campbell’s A Thousand Acres, where Opera News praised her as “an extraordinary singing actress” in a “vocally resplendent tourde-force” performance.
Quagliata is also well-known in traditional operatic repertoire in such roles as Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Suzuki in Madame Butterfly, Fricka in Das Rheingold, Olga in Eugene Onegin, as well as Sondheim classics singing Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd and Countess Malcolm in A Little Night Music. As a celebrated Carmen, she has sung many notable productions across the country and was featured in New York City Opera’s world tour of Carmen. She is a celebrated recitalist and has performed as mezzo soloist in Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Mahler’s Rückertlieder and 3rd Symphony, DeFalla’s Sombrero Tres Picos and El amor brujo, Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, and Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky, to name a few, with symphonies around the country.
Contemporary roles include the Minskwoman in Flight, Maria in Maria de Buenos Aires, Hannah After in As One, Hedda Hopper in Hopper’s Wife, Jo in Little Women, and Elle in Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine. Known for her sensitive and passionate rendering of Jake Heggie’s works, Elise has performed Sister Helen for six productions of Dead Man Walking. She also premiered Out of Darkness: Two Remain with Atlanta Opera, and performed his song cycles The Breaking Waves in New York and The Deepest Desire in New York and Los Angeles, with Heggie at the piano. Her work with the composer Luna Pearl Woolf on her 2020 album Fire and Flood earned Quagliata and the creative team a Grammy nomination in 2021 in the category of Best Classical Compendium.
This season Quagliata will return to the Reno Philharmonic as mezzo soloist in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, reprise her signature Carmen with the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra, and will perform several recitals in Miami, Florida.
Valerie M. Trujillo’s experiences in song literature and opera make her a much sought-after accompanist, coach, and teacher of masterclasses. Formerly Co-Director of the Young American Artists Program at Glimmerglass Opera, she has been associated with many opera companies including Santa Fe Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Wexford Festival Opera (Ireland), Connecticut Opera, Shreveport Opera, Mississippi Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Opera Theatre at Wildwood, Augusta Opera, Ohio Light Opera and Opera in the Ozarks. Trujillo has served as artist faculty at the Tanglewood Music Center, Ars Vocalis México (Zamora, México), the Taos Opera Institute, Si parla, si canta (Urbania, Italy), and La Musica Lirica (Novafeltria, Italy) as well as the academic faculty at the Hartt School, Middle Tennessee State University, Yale University, and Central Connecticut State University. She made her Weill Recital Hall debut in 2006 and can be heard on the Grammy-nominated Chandos release of Bennett’s The Mines of Sulphur, as well as on the Mark Records, Albany, and Azica labels. Trujillo is proud to have served as the NATS Master Collaborative Teacher for the 2020 and 2021 NATS Intern Programs. A native of Santa Fe, NM, she received her musical training from Eastern New Mexico University and the University of Illinois. She taught at Florida State University from 1990-1996 and rejoined the faculty in 2002 where she is now Professor of Vocal Coaching and Accompanying.