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Sunday, November 24 · Friday, December 6 · Saturday, December 7
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Letter from the Cofounder
Get to Know Us
Dear Audience,
I am so happy to share this program with you! Meghan, Dana, Jose, Cooper and I have been working on it for the better part of the year so it feels amazing to finally have our plans come to fruition! This is such an interesting subject full of musical and literary interactions. On top of an amazing subject, we have also commissioned TWO works by Cooper and José to further illustrate the theme of the cycle. Thank you for making this possible and Happy Holidays!
-- Leah
Cofounder of Insight Chamber
About the Salons
Program
November 24 · December 6 · December 7
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
Frank Bridge (1879-1941)
Roger Quilter (1877-1953)
World Premieres
José Vargas b. 2001
Cooper Grosscup b. 1994
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
“As to the kind of music i want to make, i would like it to be flexible enough and sufficiently accented to correspond with the lyrical impulses of the spirit and to the capriciousness of dreams”
-- Claude Debussy
Clair de lune
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
Votre âme est un paysage choisi
Que vont charmant masques et bergamasques
Jouant du luth et dansant et quasi
Tristes sous leurs déguisements fantasques.
Your soul is a chosen landscape
Bewitched by masquers and bergamaskers,
Playing the lute and dancing and almost
Sad beneath their fanciful disguises.
Tout en chantant sur le mode mineur
L’amour vainqueur et la vie opportune,
Ils n’ont pas l’air de croire à leur bonheur
Et leur chanson se mêle au clair de lune,
Singing as they go in a minor key
Of conquering love and life’s favours,
They do not seem to believe in their fortune
And their song mingles with the light of the moon,
Au calme clair de lune triste et beau,
Qui fait rêver les oiseaux dans les arbres
Et sangloter d’extase les jets d’eau,
Les grands jets d’eau sveltes parmi les marbres.
--Paul Verlaine
The calm light of the moon, sad and fair,
That sets the birds dreaming in the trees
And the fountains sobbing in their rapture,
Tall and svelte amid marble statues.
Translations by Richard Stokes, from A French Song Companion (Oxford, 2000)
Erlkönig
Guided Listening
Louis Spohr (1784-1859)
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Characters
Wer reitet so spät durch Nacht und Wind?
Es ist der Vater mit seinem Kind:
Er hat den Knaben wohl in dem Arm,
Er fasst ihn sicher, er hält ihn warm.
Who rides so late through the night and wind?
It is the father with his child.
He has the boy in his arms;
he holds him safely, he keeps him warm.
„Mein Sohn, was birgst du so bang dein Gesicht?“
„Siehst, Vater, du den Erlkönig nicht?
Den Erlenkönig mit Kron’ und Schweif?“
„Mein Sohn, es ist ein Nebelstreif.“
‘My son, why do you hide your face in fear?’
‘Father, can you not see the Erlking?
The Erlking with his crown and tail?’
‘My son, it is a streak of mist.’
„Du liebes Kind, komm, geh mit mir!
Gar schöne Spiele spiel’ ich mit dir;
Manch’ bunte Blumen sind an dem Strand,
Meine Mutter hat manch gülden Gewand.“
‘Sweet child, come with me.
I’ll play wonderful games with you.
Many a pretty flower grows on the shore; my mother has many a golden robe.’
„Mein Vater, mein Vater, und hörest du nicht,
Was Erlenkönig mir leise verspricht?“
„Sei ruhig, bleibe ruhig, mein Kind:
In dürren Blättern säuselt der Wind.“
‘Father, father, do you not hear
what the Erlking softly promises me?’
‘Calm, be calm, my child:
the wind is rustling in the withered leaves.’
„Willst, feiner Knabe, du mit mir gehn?
Meine Töchter sollen dich warten schön;
Meine Töchter führen den nächtlichen Rein
Und wiegen und tanzen und singen dich ein.“
‘Won’t you come with me, my fine lad?
My daughters shall wait upon you;
my daughters lead the nightly dance,
and will rock you, and dance, and sing you to sleep.’
„Mein Vater, mein Vater, und siehst du nicht dort
Erlkönigs Töchter am düstern Ort?“
„Mein Sohn, mein Sohn, ich seh es genau:
Es scheinen die alten Weiden so grau.“
‘Father, father, can you not see
Erlking’s daughters there in the darkness?’
‘My son, my son, I can see clearly:
it is the old grey willows gleaming.’
„Ich liebe dich, mich reizt deine schöne Gestalt; Und bist du nicht willig, so brauch ich Gewalt.“
„Mein Vater, mein Vater, jetzt fasst er mich an! Erlkönig hat mir ein Leids getan!“
‘I love you, your fair form allures me,
and if you don’t come willingly, I’ll use force.’
‘Father, father, now he’s seizing me!
The Erlking has hurt me!
Dem Vater grausets, er reitet geschwind, Er hält in Armen das ächzende Kind, Erreicht den Hof mit Mühe und Not:In seinen Armen das Kind war tot.
-- Johann Wolfgang van Goethe
The father shudders, he rides swiftly,he holds the moaning child in his arms; with one last effort he reaches home; the child lay dead in his arms.
Translation by Richard Wigmore
Music, When Soft Voices Die
Frank Bridge (1879-1941)
Roger Quilter (1877-1953)
Music, when soft voices die,
Vibrates in the memory—
Odours, when sweet violets sicken,
Live within the sense they quicken.
Rose leaves, when the rose is dead,
Are heaped for the belovèd's bed;
And so thy thoughts, when thou art gone,
Love itself shall slumber on.
-- Percy Bysshe Shelly
Eros
José Vargas b. 2001
Cooper Grosscup b. 1994
I confess,
I love that which caresses me.
I believe Love has its share
in the sun's brilliance
and virtue
I desire
and I crave
You set me on fire!
And there was no dance, no holy place
from which we were absent.
Believe me,
I prayed for us
the night
could last twice as long
--Sappho
Gestille Sehnsucht
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
In goldnen Abendschein getauchet,
Wie feierlich die Wälder stehn!
In leise Stimmen der Vöglein hauchet
Des Abendwindes leises Wehn.
Was lispeln die Winde, die Vögelein?
Sie lispeln die Welt in Schlummer ein.
Bathed in golden evening light,
How solemnly the forests stand!
The evening winds mingle softly
With the soft voices of the birds.
What do the winds, the birds whisper?
They whisper the world to sleep.
Ihr Wünsche, die ihr stets euch reget
Im Herzen sonder Rast und Ruh!
Du Sehnen, das die Brust beweget,
Wann ruhest du, wann schlummerst du?
Beim Lispeln der Winde, der Vögelein,
Ihr sehnenden Wünsche, wann schlaft ihr ein?
But you, my desires, ever stirring
In my heart without respite!
You, my longing, that agitates my breast –
When will you rest, when will you sleep?
The winds and the birds whisper,
But when will you, yearning desires, slumber?
Ach, wenn nicht mehr in goldne Fernen
Mein Geist auf Traumgefieder eilt,
Nicht mehr an ewig fernen Sternen
Mit sehnendem Blick mein Auge weilt;
Dann lispeln die Winde, die Vögelein
Mit meinem Sehnen mein Leben ein.
-- Friedrich Rückert
Ah! when my spirit no longer hastens
On wings of dreams into golden distances,
When my eyes no longer dwell yearningly
On eternally remote stars;
Then shall the winds, the birds whisper
My life – and my longing – to sleep.
Translations by Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)
About the Musicians
Acknowledgements
The arts have always leaned on the support of patrons. Historical arts patrons like the Medici and Esterhazy families made it possible for us to hear iconic classical compositions we know and love today. Insight Chamber Players is a 501(c)(3) non profit organization and all donations are eligible for a tax deduction.
Foundation Support
Charles N. Felton & Charlotte Ashley Felton Endowment
Lucy Evans Foundation
Myriam Weinstein Charitable Fund
Estherhazy Circle
Jeff and Diane Steinhilber
Maecenas Circle
Rev. Davidson Bidwell Waite & Edwin Waite
Dr. Bing Liem
Felicia Su
Benefactors of the Arts
Jennifer Jolliffe
Albert Yeh and Haerang Lee
Beau Grosscup and Rose Anne York
Patrons of the Arts
Linda Johnson
Ben Everblue
Amber Kim
Peter Rosenfeld & Dr. Carla Golden
Susan & Jeff Froyd
Joe Laska
Simon Wistow
Michelle Chang
Anne Smith
Douglas & Batch Murray
George Horsfall
Betsy Bellmar
Ranjit Jose & Mary Antony
John Dickerman
Jenefer Bickers
Shipra Kayan
Ana Elsner
Teri Cervantes
Kerstin & John Froyd
Mona Muscat
James & Teresa Agate
Dr. Kriegh Moulton
Udi & Guy Ledergor
Anna Ewins
Keith Milne
Howard Robbins and Linda Kardos
Kaye Reeves
Kelly Boyce
Patricia Finson
Edward Pizzi
Jenefer Bickers
Martine Darwish
