GALWAY EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL May 9-12, 2013
Lost Innocence Adrian Mantu, cello John Feeley, guitar & lute Readers: Jacopo Bisagni, Lise Carrel, John Rogers
Friday, May 10, 2013 1:00 pm Druid Lane Theatre
Galway Early Music would like to thank its sponsors and friends, without whose support the Festival would not happen.
SUPPORTED
BY
MEDIA SPONSORS
GOLD PATRONS Kimberly LoPrete
Adare Guesthouse
SILVER PATRONS Delo Collier Michael & Claire Cuddy Tom Grealy Riana & Pat O’Dwyer
Seán & Lois Tobin St Anthony’s & Claddagh Credit Union Ann McDonagh
WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO The Rector & Vestry of St Nicholas Collegiate Church, with heartfelt thanks to Catherine Moore-Temple The director and staff of the Galway City Museum, with special thanks to Brendan Mc Gowan Galway Early Music
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See our general Festival Promo on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fveRZSI1pi8 or scan this QR code:
Lost Innocence Pastoral Music & Poetry through the Ages Adrian Mantu – cello John Feeley – guitar, lute John Rogers, Jacopo Bisagni, Lise Carrel – reading
Who has not dreamt at least once of escaping the hassle of modern life by seeking refuge in the tranquillity of the countryside, or in the solitude of the wilderness? The more urbanised, complex and self-aware a society becomes, the more it seems to look for its ‘lost innocence’: a dream-time of purity, simplicity, and harmony with the forces of nature. No symbol of such a mythical Golden Age has been employed by poets and musicians more often than the pastoral world: ever since Greek and Roman Antiquity, shepherds have been portrayed as the guardians of poetic sensibility, sincere emotions, uncorrupted life. This theme repeatedly influenced intellectuals and artists of the French and Italian Renaissance, reached its highest point of formal perfection in Baroque France, and in many ways it still speaks to us today as it did many centuries ago…
PRIMO TEMPO: THE ORIGINS Theocritus (3rd century BC), Idylls, I, 64: ,
,
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(‘Begin, o Muses dear, begin the pastoral songs!’) J. S. Bach: Prelude for solo cello in C Major Theocritus (3rd century BC), Idylls, IX, 7–9, 12–13, 31–36:
(‘Ah, sweetly lows the calf, and sweetly the heifer too; sweetly sounds the shepherd with his pipe, and sweetly also do I. A rush-strewn bed is mine, by the cool water, and thereon are heaped fair skins of white calves […]. Thus, I heed no more the scorching summer,
than a lover cares to heed the words of father or of mother. […] Cicada to cicada is dear, and ant to ant, and hawks to hawks, but dear to me is the Muse, and songs. Of songs may all my dwelling be full, for sleep is not more sweet, nor sudden spring, nor flowers are more delicious to the bees – so dear to me are the Muses. Whomever they look on favourably, Circe hath never harmed with her enchanted potion.’) Benedetto Marcello (1686–1739): Sonata no. 5, in G Major 1. Adagio 2. Allegro 3. Grave 4. Allegro
Tibullus (1st century BC), Elegies, I, 1. Divitias alius fulvo sibi congerat auro Et teneat culti iugera multa soli, Quem labor adsiduus vicino terreat hoste, Martia cui somnos classica pulsa fugent: Me mea paupertas vita traducat inerti, Dum meus adsiduo luceat igne focus. Ipse seram teneras maturo tempore vites Rusticus et facili grandia poma manu; Nec spes destituat, sed frugum semper acervos Praebeat et pleno pinguia musta lacu. […] Flava Ceres, tibi sit nostro de rure corona Spicea, quae templi pendeat ante fores, Pomosisque ruber custos ponatur in hortis, Terreat ut saeva falce Priapus aves. Vos quoque, felicis quondam, nunc pauperis agri Custodes, fertis munera vestra, Lares. […] Agna cadet vobis, quam circum rustica pubes Clamet ‘io messes et bona vina date’. (‘Let others toil to mass a pile of gleaming gold and own vast acreage of well-tilled land, and strive in endless fear when the enemy closes in and the martial trumpet routs them from repose; for me, may poverty induce an idle life, if only my hearth glow with warmth secure! And may I, like a peasant, with my own skilful hand, implant my young vine shoots and tall fruit trees, and let not Hope desert us, but ever grant us heaps of crops and rich new wine in brimming vats. […] Blonde goddess Ceres, from my farm may you receive a wreath of grain to hang before your temple door; and in my fruitful garden may red Priapus stand
with his fierce pruning-knife to fright the birds. And you, protective Lares of fields once fortunate, now poor, you also have your rightful gifts! […] A lamb shall die for you, and around it country youths shall cry, “Ah! send us harvest and good wine!”) Translation: Roman Erotic Elegy: Selections from Tibullus, Propertius, Ovid, and Sulpicia, translated, with an Introduction, Notes, and Glossary by Jon Corelis (Salzburg Studies in English Literature Poetic Drama & Poetic Theory 128, copyright 1995)
SECONDO TEMPO: RENAISSANCE & BAROQUE SHEPHERDS J. S. Bach: Prelude for solo guitar in G Major Jean Vauquelin de La Fresnaye (1536–1608), Idylles. Une belle Vestale habite au beau rivage D’Orne, où c’est qu’elle vit comme en un hermitage. Quelquefois en son parc elle se sied au bois, Gaillarde sur les eaux elle sort quelquefois, Et quelquefois cueillant des fleurs toute pensive, Elle en orne son sein, assise sur la rive. Maintenant elle semble une Nymphe des eaux, Maintenant des forests : et parmi les troupeaux Bergere on la diroit, n’estoit que trop hautaine Elle oit de nos flageols les chansons à grand’peine. Jamais aviendra-t-il qu'elle change son coeur ? Et que je puisse un jour, comme Arion vainqueur Attira le daufin au doux son de sa lyre, Qu’au son de ma musette à la fin je l’attire ? Et qu’autre Orfé je face encor’ marcher apres (Pour cacher nos amours) les ombreuses forests. (‘A beautiful Vestal dwells on the lovely shore Of the river Orne, where she lives as in a hermitage. Sometimes, in its park, she sits in the wood, Sometimes, vigorous, out on the waters she goes, And sometimes, lost in her thoughts while picking flowers, She adorns her breast with them, sitting on the shore. Now she seems a Nymph of the water, Now of the forest : and among the flock Shepherdess you would call her, but for her hauteur, on account of which she hardly hears the humble flutes. Will she ever happen to change her heart ? Shall I one day, like victorious Arion Attracted the dolphin with the sweet sound of his lyre, Finally attract her with the sound of my bagpipe? And may I, like a second Orpheus, make the shadowy forests Walk after us once more (to conceal our love).’)
Marin Marais (1656–1728): Old French Songs and Dances 1. L'Agréable 2. La Provençale 3. La Musette 4. La Matelotte 5. Le Basque
Jean Regnault de Segrais (1624–1701), Éclogue IV. Qui craint l’ennui d’aimer, toute chose l’ennuie; Celle qui fuit l’amour mérite qu’on la fuie […]. Quiconque se voudra faire une vie heureuse, Que, content, il s’attache à la vie amoureuse; Qu’il quitte pour jamais l’ambitieuse cour; Qu’il vienne dans ces bois, borné de son amour, A ses jeunes désirs son âme abandonnée, Se faire une innocente et libre destinée. Aminte, arrête un peu, vois sur ce vieux cormier Le baiser amoureux du sauvage ramier, Les caresses qu’il fait à sa compagne aimée, Qui d’un même désir se fait voir animée. Peut-on, considérant leur innocent souci, Ne pas dire en soi-même : “Heureux qui vit ainsi!” (‘Whoever fears the trouble of loving, everything troubles him; Any woman who flees from love deserves to be fled [...]. Anyone desiring to lead a happy life, Let him, content, devote himself to a life of love; Let him leave forever the ambitious court; Let him come to these woods, engrossed in his love, And to his young desires dedicate his soul, To find a free and innocent destiny. Shepherd Aminta, stop for a while, and see on this old tree The loving kiss of the wild ringdove, The caresses it makes to its beloved female companion, Who shows herself to be moved by a like desire. Is it possible, while watching their innocent worries, Not to say to yourself: “Happy are those who live so!”’)
FINALE Paul Bazelaire (1886–1958): “Suite française” sur des airs populaires Chanson d’Alsace
ADRIAN MANTU Adrian was born in Bucharest and is a post-graduate of the University of Music in Bucharest. His studies continued at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada, Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Royal Academy of Music in London, Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sophia in Madrid and European Academy of Music in Aix-enProvence where he studied with Stefan Popov, Zara Nelsova, Radu Aldulescu, Lawrence Lesser and Marin Cazacu. He also studied and worked in various string quartet master classes with members of the Amadeus, Alban Berg, Hagen, Tokyo and Emerson Quartets. In 1999 the ConTempo Quartet was offered a Fellowship at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where each member coached chamber music groups. In 2003, after an international audition, Adrian and his colleagues from ConTempo became Galway’s first Ensemble-in-Residence and remain at the heart of the residency today. Adrian has won many national competitions all over Romania and two prizes in International Cello Competitions in Bucharest and Sofia. As a member of the ConTempo String Quartet he has won a record of 13 international prizes in competitions such as London, Munich, Hamburg, Rome, Graz, Berlin, Bucharest & Prague.
JOHN FEELEY Described by the Washington Post as 'Ireland's leading classical guitarist' and by Michael Dervan in the Irish Times as 'a trailblazer...when it comes to the guitar and guitar-playing in Ireland', Feeley studied at Trinity College, Dublin, Queens College of the City University, New York, and The National University of Ireland, Maynooth, where he graduated with a PhD in music. He has taught at the American Institute of Guitar, Memphis State University and currently holds the post of Senior Lecturer at the Conservatory of Music, Dublin Institute of Technology. In addition to his solo and chamber music concerts, Feeley has performed widely with orchestra -- with The American Symphony at Carnegie Hall, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, the Ulster Orchestra, and the Irish Chamber Orchestra, among others. He has won a number of prizes in international competitions, including the Special Award for interpretation in the 1984 Mauro Giuliani competition, Italy. Highly regarded for his performance of new works by Irish composers, he has had many works written for him, which include Guitar Concertos by Jerome de Bromhead, Eric Sweeney and Brent Parker; a Quintet for Guitar and String Quartet by Andrew Shiels and Brent Parker; Four Pieces by Jane O' Leary; a solo Guitar Sonata and Flute and Guitar duo, In Winter Light, by John Buckley; a number of works by David Fennessy, John McLachlan and Ciaran Farrell. The American composer, Robert Newell, has also written an extended solo guitar work for him.
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