Belfast Music Society Celebrity Concerts 1/2/96 Programme

ebys rigsso PROGRAMME SUZANNE MURPHY -soprano INGRID SURGENOR - piano ܀ ܀ Pastoral Song (My Mother bids me bind my hair) Mermaid Song She never told her love Liebst du um Schönheit Ich stand in dunkeln Träumen Am Strande vlinioj bodeilduq agnoa a'mal HAYDN CLARA SCHUMANN Frauenliebe und Leben ROBERT SCHUMANN Interval Wenn du nur Dein blaues Auge Ach wende diesen Blick Nimmersatte Liebe by BRAHMS Thamns to sou and of a seveiled ones Ich hab' in Penne einen Liebsten wohnen tognitisa aid-sbauc L'Invitation au Voyage Chanson Triste Extase Ich trage meine Minne Schlechtes Wetter WOLF sluchos al 0481 ova amanda DUPARC to dep STRAUSS Traum durch die Dämmerung Zueignung Saturday, 3rd February 1996 Elmwood Hall at 7.30pm Supported by the ARTS COUNCIL BELFA CITY COUNCIL NATIONAL FEDERATION OF MUSIC SOCIETIES NEMS anim so sai onnig

Pastoral Song (Hunter) Joseph Haydn Mermaid Song (Hunter)ИЙЛЛИ (1732-1809) She never told her love (Shakespeare) Haydn completed his two sets of English canzonettas, 12 songs in all, in 1794-5. Clara Schumann (ied ym baid sm abid VM) 200 1819-96 avolod blos novon Robert Schumann's wife Clara was a talented pianist and composer, but she wrote little after their marriage. Liebst du um Schönheit (Rückert) was one of three of Clara's songs published jointly with nine of Robert's in his cycle Liebesfrühling, op 37 of 1840. If you love for beauty ...for youth... for riches ... don't love me, but if you love for love, love me forever. Ich stand in dunkeln Träumen (Heine) is the first of Clara's op 13, dedicated to the Queen of Denmark. The poet stands gloomily looking at his beloved's picture. He cannot believe that he has lost her. 291b obnow doɔA Am Strande - this setting of Robert's beloved Burns was presented to him by Clara on Christmas Eve 1840. Its turbulent music compares a stormy sea to the lovers' pangs of separation. Robert Schumann 1810-56 snail onism 92 Song cycle: Frauenliebe und Leben, op 42. Schumann's setting of eight of Chamisso's poems was composed in his annus mirabilis of song writing, 1840, the year of his joyful marriage to Clara. The mood of the cycle, with its masterful male and subservient female, was, of course, thoroughly typical of its time, but can only give today's listeners an uncomfortable feeling. So perhaps one should concentrate on the music! At the conclusion of the final song, the piano provides an epilogue that brings us back to the music (and key) of the opening song. Seit ich ihn gesehen. Since I first saw him, I think I must be blind; wherever I look I see only him. Er, der Herrlichste von allen. He shines for me as does the distant star in the blue sky. If only he could be mine.

Ich kann's nicht fassen, nicht glauben. I can't believe it! He has chosen me before all others. Du Ring an meinem Finger. You ring on my finger, I press you devoutly to my lips and to my heart. Helft mir, ihr Schwestern. Help me, sisters, on this happy day; twine about my brow the myrtle blossom; help me overcome my fear and in reverence and humility bow to my lord. Süsser Freund, du blickest. Sweet friend, you gaze at me, astonished. Can't you understand why I am crying? It is with joy, that your image will soon smile at me from this cradle. An meinem Herzen, an meiner Brust. Only she who nurses and loves the child she feeds knows what true love and happiness are. Nun hast du mir den ersten Schmerz getan. The joy of marriage and motherhood has turned to pain - her husband is dead, the world is empty. Johannes Brahms 1833-97 Brahms had become very close to Clara Schumann as she came to depend on him during Robert's last illness, and after his death. The actual nature of their relationship will probably never be known, but the songs of op. 57 (1871, poems by Daumer) are unashamedly love songs, and musically they make use of motifs that we know Brahms associated with Clara. We hear two of the set tonight: Tom on s dmun ni ail to 1251 610) Wenn du nur zuweilen lächelst. If only occasionally she would smile, he could bear her coolness towards him. Ach, wende diesen Blick. He begs his beloved not to look at him, lest his sleeping passion be revived. and between them, a setting of a poem by Groth from op. 59: Dein blaues Auge. The rejected lover gazes into the depths of a woman's eyes and finds them like blue lake water, cool and healing.

Hi susilad ondual din 1860-1903 Hugo Wolf Wolf's 300 or so songs were largely composed in three bursts of awesome productiv- ity, sometimes two or three being completed in a day. Most date from the years 1888 to 1897; in that year his mental health collapsed and he spent the rest of his life in an asylum. It has been suggested that both his intense creativity and his breakdown were due to syphilis. His 53 settings of poems by Mörike were published in 1889. Nimmersatte Liebe is not a poem for delicate tastes! That's how love is - it can't be quenched, even in 1000 years. We bit each other's lips until they bled - the more it hurts, the better I like it. Even for the wise King Solomon love wasn't different. For his Italian songbook, Wolf took translations by Paul Heyse of largely anonymous folksongs, setting them in two groups, completed in 1891 and 1896 respectively. Ich hab' in Penna einen Liebsten wohnen was composed on 25th April 1896 in the morning, and was designed as the conclusion to the cycle, hence the virtuoso piano postlude. I have a lover in Penna, boasts the singer, à la Don Giovanni,... and another in Maremma... in Ancona... and ten in Castiglione! amden zomerlot mid no busqub o mes de 28 nnsmad as of saolo nav sorsod bid emula Henri Duparc loupe adTest aid 191te bins.229nitial 1848-1933 adi ud,nwon In total contrast to Wolf, Duparc composed little apart from a handful of songs - small in number, but each a perfect gem. In the 1880s Duparc's creative spark dried up,and for the rest of his long life he wrote no more. for the rest L'Invitation au Voyage. (Baudelaire, 1870). My child, my sister, how sweet it would be to go and live together, free from care, in that beautiful land that is so like you. Hiltb aboaw d Chanson Triste. (Lahor; one of Duparc's first songs, published in 1868). In your heart there sleeps a moonbeam, and to escape this troublesome life, I shall drown myself in its light. bos Extase. (Lahor, 1878). On a pale lily... on your pale breast, my heart is asleep, in a slumber sweet as death.

Richard Strauss alzin egino 1864-1949 Ich trage meine Minne (from five songs op 32 (1896), words by Henckell). I will keep my love hidden in my heart of hearts... You are in my thoughts both day and night. However black the sky is, my love will shine as brightly as the sun. Schlechtes Wetter (from five Kleine Lieder op 69 (1918), words by Heine). In this witty song, that ends as one of Strauss' beloved waltzes, the poet sits at his window watching the storm raging, and, in the midst of it, a mother returning from the shops with the ingredients to bake a cake for her 'great big daughter'. Traum durch die Dämmerung (from three songs op 29 (1895), words by Bierbaum). The sun has set, the stars appear, and I am going to a fair maid - I'm led to the land of lovers... Zueignung - Dedication. The poet gives thanks for the love and strength given by his loved one. To sio or badan sgoilo tud min2 2769 28 10 2gbuj od! To so Alec Macdonald zibortis to tiodo exiDoins ad aadw nouis 1996 zil lo seib oloz 10 penoly orlt weesy tacl bits 001 ni sizzel anillo Jadul YM02 si no "slal na xos bains gaz

Tonight's Artists 220612 618db SUZANNE MURPHY The Irish-born soprano Suzanne Murphy is particularly renowned for her interpretation of the major roles of Verdi, Puccini and Bellini. She began her studies with Veronica Dunne at the College of Music in Dublin in 1973 and joined Welsh National Opera in 1976. Subsequently, operatic engagements have taken her to the major opera houses all over Europe and America. Suzanne Murphy has an active concert career and apart from regular concerts throughout Britain recent engagements have included concerts in Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Portugal, an Armenian Gala at the Vienna State Opera and an extensive tour of Spain with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. She appeared as one of the judges at last year's Sainsbury Choir of the Year competition when The Senior Girls' Choir of Methodist College reached the final. A solo recording of Puccini and Verdi arias called "Heroines" was released by Collins Classics in 1994, and last year saw the release of a solo disc of Irish songs entitled "There is an Isle" on the SONY label.

Tonight's Artists INGRID SURGENOR Ingrid Surgenor is one of Britain's busiest and most successful accompanists. Born in Belfast, she studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London and studied further with Paul Hamburger and the legendary accompanist, Gerald Moore. She began her career as an opera repetiteur and in addition to many years' association with Welsh National Opera, Ingrid has also worked at Glyndebourne, Hong Kong, Taormina and Bayreuth Festivals. As an accompanist for recitals, Ingrid has worked over many years with the international tenor, Dennis O'Neill. Together they have performed on record, in televised recitals from opera houses in Italy and France, and at the Edinburgh Festival. As an official accompanist, Ingrid worked for many years for the Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Scholarships and has been official accompanist for the Cardiff Singer of the World competition since its inception. Next Concert Saturday, 9th March 1996 Škampa String Quartet Elmwood Hall 2 7.30 pm