ent BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY OF NORTHERN IRELAND NORMA 1975-76 SEASON THIRD CONCERT STEUART BURROWES (soprano) BEDFORD (piano) Tuesday 16 December at 7.30 p.m. in the Elmwood Hall, Queen's University Belfast

2 ENGLISH 18th CENTURY SONGS Tell me lovely shepherd How gentle was my Damon's air (Comus The Happy Bride William Boyce (1710-1779) Thomas Arne (1710-1778) Thomas Arne William Boyce, master of the orchestra to George III, devoted most of his life to writing and or being overtaken by deafness collecting Church music. The pastoral song Tell me lovely shepherd', with words by Edward Moore, was published in 1756 and is typical of the light-hearted music written for the London pleasure gardens of Vauxhall and Ranelagh. - The masque His exact contemporary Thomas Arne was perhaps more at home in the theatre. Comus was first produced at Drury Lane in 1738, with words by Milton. The recitative and aria 'How gentle...' is a good example of Arne's special flair for writing a simple yet telling melody. The Happy Bride', another song for the gardens, dates from 1745. SONGS BY RICHARD STRAUSS (1864-1949) Three Songs for Ophelia (op 67) words by Shakespeare The three "mad songs" for Ophelia, were written in 1918 in part settlement of an out- standing contract to provide six songs (the other three were "bad-tempered songs"!) for the publishing home of Bote & Bock, with whom Strauss had had an acrimonious dispute about copyright.

3 Int!! The songs, in translations by Simcoch, are: at bad oda vol How should I your true love know Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's Day They bore him bare-faced on the bier (doks The first two songs are mere fragments, with unresolved dissonances and weird harmonies - the music even looks mad! In the third song Strauss cannot resist the suggestion of a waltz, and a harmonic sequence immediately reminiscent of Rosenkavalier. 104 Einkehr (1900) words by Uhland Stina plupe adto w The verses make he analogy of a hospitable apple tree which rests and nourishes the traveller as an innkeeper might a welcome guest. Ständchen (1887) words by Schack 'Open up, my love, but softly so that no one wakes...fly swiftly out into the moonlit night, slip into the garden to join me. The nightingale above us shall dream of our kisses, and the rose... shall glow with the bliss of the night.' TWO ITALIAN ARIAS O della mia speranze (La Dorinda) Francesco Cavalli (1602-1676) Cavalli was born at Cremona and while still a boy was adopted by a Venetian and brought to Venice. He was first a chorister at St Marks and then second organist under the Maestro di Capella, Monteverdi, whose pupil, friend and collaborator he became. He was a prolific composer for the stage and wrote more than 40 operas. La Dorinda was produced in 1645. In this aria Eurinda

4 greets her lover, whom she had his safe return from the wars. built over a repeated four-bar ground bass, a device employed by many 17th century composers, most notably Henry Purcell (e.g., in Dido's lament). Qui la voce (I Puritani) feared dead, upon The voice part is INTERVAL (1801-1835) Bellini was born in Sicily and died near Paris after a brief 34 years of life. He was no pioneer but he did one thing supremely well - he wrote lyrical opera as gracefully and expressively as it could be written. The Puritans is his last opera and was produced in Paris in 1835 only a few months before his death. In this aria Elvira, daughter of the Roundhead Governor of Plymouth has been driven to distraction by the apparent desertion of her Royalist lover, Lord Arthur Talbot. Vincenzo Bellini GROUP OF FRENCH SONGS Fauré, Duparc and Debussy are endoubtedly the three great masters of French song. Fauré wrote songs throughout his life more than 100 of them over a period of 60 years. In contrast Duparc's fame rests entirely on a set of 14 melodies written over 16 years: following a nervous breakdown at the age of 37 he did not write another note of music in his remaining 48 years of life. Debussy's great gift lay in his unfailing ability to achieve the 'mysterious alloy of music and poetry¹. Too often singers have to fight to make the marriage of words and music appear natural. In Debussy 'there is no problem, it is easy for the singers (as it is also their duty) to serve the musician first, without betraying the poet'. (Pierre Bernac).

Poème d'un jour (op 21) 5 Rencontre Toujours Adieu t'ensibio nei Chanson Triste (Jean Lahor) In the first song the poet meets a woman and, falling in love with her, wonders whether she will be his ideal dream, always pursued in vain. In the second song, he cries out in despair when she speaks of leaving him, and in 'Adieu' he says: even the longest loves are short and I leave your charms without tears farewell! Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) Mandoline (Verlaine) Henri Duparc (1848-1933) In your heart moonlight sleeps and to escape from the stress of life I will drown myself in your radiance. I will forget past sorrows in the loving peacefulness of your arms.' L'invitation au voyage (Charles Beaudelaire) Henri Duparc The poet depicts his vision of a future life where 'all is order and beauty, luxuriousness, calm and sensuous delight.' Claude Debussy (1862-1918) The serenaders exchange sweet nothings beneath the singing branches of the trees and the mandoline chatters amid the quivering of the breeze.

Depuis le jour (Louise 6 An aria from Charpentier's highly successful opera about working-class life in Paris, first produced in 1900. The heroine reflects on her happiness in her love for Julien and recalls with delight the charms of their first day together. Orpheus with his lute Come sing and dance. Gustave Charpentier (1860-1956) ENGLISH SONGS Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900) Most people know little of Sullivan without Gilbert (pace 'Onward Christian Soldiers'!) but in fact he had great ambitions as a composer of more serious music - he wrote six 'non-Gilbert' operas, several large-scale cantatas, orchestral works and many songs. Although steeped in the heavy sentimentality of Victorian England some of the latter have achieved a permanent place in the history of English song. 'Orpheus', one of Sullivan's many settings of Shakespeare, certainly merits such distinction. Herbert Howells (b.1892) Howells was professor of composition at the Royal College of Music and a pupil of Charles Stanford. He has many choral works and songs to his name, including a series of Church Services written specially for some of the English Cathedral Choirs. 'Come sing and dance' has words from an old carol.

Sprig of Thyme 7 Pretty Ring Time Grainger was a gifted and eccentric Australian, who studied with Burosi and became friendly with Grieg and Delius. He had great interest in folk tunes and set many of these for various combinations of instruments and voices. in what has been described as 'breezy' style. Percy Grainger (1882-1961) Notes by Michael Swallow. Peter Warlock (1894-1930) Warlock can lay just claim to being the greatest of the early 20th century English song writers. Under his real name of Philip Heseltine he was also a prominent critic and another friend and admirer of Delius (about whom he wrote an excellent book). Many of his songs are still neglected, but not this one, which sets the familiar Shakespeare words to a simple melody with characteristic accompaniment of increasing elaboration with each succeeding verse.