Corinne Rydman, mezzo-soprano Graduate Recital Friday, April 8, 2016, 8 p.m. Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall with Steven Bailey piano
Tre ariette
Vincenzo Bellini
Dolente immagine di Fille mia Il fervido desiderio Vaga luna che inargenti
(1801-1835)
Mein Auge Ich trage meine Minne Ruhe, meine Seele Wiegenlied
Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
-Intermission-
Visible World (world premiere)
Shase Leland Hernandez (b. 1987)
The Glory of the Day Was in Her Face An April Day Night The Heart of a Woman Sympathy Resignation Four Encore Songs The Poet and His Song
Florence B. Price
Cameras, recording equipment, food and drink are not permitted in Conservatory performance halls. Please turn off all cell phones and other electronic equipment before the performance begins.
(1887-1953)
Program Notes / Texts and Translations Bellini Tre ariette The life of Vincenzo Bellini bears significant similarities to the better known life story of the archetypal musical genius, Wolfgang Mozart. Both were born into families with accomplished musical patriarchs. Mozart and Bellini began musical studies quite young, composing at the age of a modern Kindergartener. This young mastery led both to contribute major contributions to the classical music repertoire before their untimely deaths: Mozart at age 35, Bellini at age 34. Known best for his bel canto operas, Bellini applied his clear, melodic style to his art songs as well. The piano accompaniment is supportive but secondary, giving the singer full responsibility for expressing the intent of composer and poet. Though appearing simple to the ear and eye, bel canto is known for being technically difficult, hence its use as a tool by great teachers for centuries. Studying Bellini enables a singer to become her own artistic director, a necessary skill set when approaching music with no aural recording. Dolente immagine di Fille mia Dolente immagine di Fille mia, perché sì squallida mi siedi accanto? Che più desideri? Dirotto pianto io sul tuo cenere versai finor. Temi che immemore de' sacri giuri io possa accendermi ad altra face? Ombra di Fillide, riposa in pace; è inestinguibile l'antico ardor.
Sorrowful Image of My Phillis Sorrowful image of my Phillis, why do you sit so desolate beside me? What more do you wish for? Streams of tears have I poured on your ashes. Do you fear that, forgetful of sacred vows, I could turn to another? Shade of Phillis, rest peacefully; the old flame cannot be extinguished.
Il fervido desiderio Quando verrà quel dì che riveder potrò quel che l'amante cor tanto desia? Quando verrà quel dì che in sen t'accoglierò, bella fiamma d'amor, anima mia?
The Fervent Desire When will that day come when I may see again that which the loving heart so desires? When will that day come when I welcome you to my bosom, beautiful flame of love, my own soul?
Vaga luna che inargenti Vaga luna, che inargenti queste rive e questi fiori ed inspiri agli elementi il linguaggio dell'amor; testimonio or sei tu sola del mio fervido desir, ed a lei che m'innamora conta i palpiti e i sospir.
Lovely Moon, You Who Shed Silver Light Lovely moon, you who shed silver light on these shores and on these flowers and breathe the language of love to the elements, you are now the sole witness of my ardent longing, and can recount my throbs and sighs to her who fills me with love.
Dille pur che lontananza il mio duol non può lenir, che se nutro una speranza, ella è sol nell'avvenir. Dille pur che giorno e sera conto l'ore del dolor, che una speme lusinghiera mi conforta nell'amor.
Tell her too that distance cannot assuage my grief, that if I cherish a hope, it is only for the future. Tell her that, day and night, I count the hours of sorrow, that a flattering hope comforts me in my love.
Strauss Selections The life of Richard Strauss spanned incredible events in European history. In his lifetime, numerous wars were fought from the U.S. Civil War to World War II, the machines and tools of modern life were invented, empires fell and republics rose. This was also a time of great change in music. Composers such as Beethoven, Schubert, and Wagner had lead music into new territory through harmony, grandeur, and context. The Late Romantics such as Strauss continued the work creating music that aimed to express the messiness of human expression rather than imposing order and reason upon it. The harmonies and textures of Strauss music are full, lush, and unstable. His melodies are lyrical but meander instead of repeating in strophic form. The challenge of singing his songs and operas is navigating the dramatic shifts in musical content that mirror the ever-changing mood of the text. Mein Auge (Text by Richard F. L. Dehmel, 1863-1920) Du bist mein Auge! Du durchdringst mich ganz, mein ganzes Wesen hast du mir erhellt, mein ganzes Leben du erfüllt mit Glanz, mich Sträuchelnden auf sichern Pfad gestellt!
My Sight You are my sight! You permeate me completely, You have illuminated my entire being, you have filled my whole life with radiance, have placed me, a faltering one, upon a sure path!
Mein Auge, du! Wie war ich doch so blind an Herz und Sinn, eh du dich mir gesellt, und wie durchströmt mich jetzt so licht, so lind, verklärt der Abglanz dieser ganzen Welt!
My eye, you! How very blind I was in heart and spirit, before you joined your path with mine, and how I am now flooded so brightly, so gently transfigured, by the reflected splendour of this whole world!
Ich trage meine Minne (Text by Karl F. Henckell, 1864-1929) Ich trage meine Minne vor Wonne stumm im Herzen und im Sinne mit mir herum. Ja, dass ich dich gefunden, du liebes Kind, das freut mich alle Tage, die mir beschieden sind.
I Carry My Love I carry my love mute with delight, in my heart and in my mind with me wherever. Yes, that I have found you, you beloved child, that makes me joyful everyday, and that is granted to me.
Und ob auch der Himmel trübe kohlschwarz die Nacht, hell’ leuchtet meiner Liebe goldsonnige Pracht. Und lügt auch die Welt in Sünden, so tut mir’s weh, die Arge muss erblinden vor deiner Unschuld Schnee.
And no matter if the sky is gloomy, coal-black the night, brightly shines my Love's gold-shining splendor. And even as the world lies through its sinfulness, and I am heavy-hearted, the evil must become blind from your snowy innocence.
Program Notes / Texts and Translations Ruhe, meine Seele (Text by Karl F. Henckell, 1864-1929) Nicht ein Lüftchen regt sich leise, sanft entschlummert ruht der Hain; durch die Blätter dunkle Hülle stiehlt sich lichter Sonnenschein. Ruhe, ruhe, meine Seele, deine Stürme gingen wild, hast getobt und hast gezittert, wie die Brandung wenn sie schwillt! Diese Zeiten sind gewaltig, bringen Herz und Hirn in Not Ruhe, ruhe, meine Seele, und vergiß, was dich bedroht!
Rest, My Soul Not a breeze is stirring lightly, the wood lies slumbering gently; through the dark cover of leaves steals bright sunshine. Rest, rest, my soul, your storms have gone wild, have raged and trembled like the surf when it breaks! These times are powerful, bringing torment to heart and mind; rest, rest, my soul, and forget what is threatening you!
Wiegenlied (Ttext by Richard F. L. Dehmel, 1863-1920) Träume du, mein süsses Leben, von dem Himmel, der die Blumen bringt. Blüten schimmern da, die leben von dem Lied, das deine Mutter singt.
Lullaby Dream, my sweet life, of the heaven that brings flowers. Shimmering there are blossoms that live on the song that your mother is singing.
Träume, Knospe meiner Sorgen, von dem Tage, da die Blume spross; von dem hellen Blüten morgen da dein Seelchen sich der Welt erschloss.
Dream, bud of my worries, of the day the flower bloomed; of the bright morning of blossoming, when your little soul opened up to the world.
Träume, Blüte meiner Liebe von der stillen, heil’gen Nacht, da die Blüte Seiner Liebe diese Welt zum Himmel mir gemacht.
Dream, blossom of my love, of the quiet, of the holy night when the flower of his love made this world a heaven for me.
Shase Leland Hernandez Visible World The extreme experimentation of 20th century art music encouraged a strange precedent in history: living musicians do not have regular experiences performing new music. This was unheard of in music history. Each of the masters we celebrate and adore were new and cutting edge in their time, and new music was expected in order to dazzle the upper crust of society or entertain the growing middle class of hobby
musicians. While the daring modernists may have left a bad taste in the collective mouth of art music consumers, Modernism is old news, leaving room for innovation of a different kind. The work of my colleague and fellow Conservatory alum, Shase Hernandez fits in wonderfully among the other Romantic composers of this recital. The music of this piece is dictated by the mood and flow of the poetry down to the irregular meter. Thick harmonies are juxtaposed against a melody shared by the singer and piano as if conversing. And though it seems unmeasured and sometimes tonally disorienting, the underlying tension of light and matter is framed by exquisite beauty and earnest wonder. Visible World (Text by Richard Siken, b. 1967) Sunlight pouring across your skin, your shadow flat on the wall. The dawn was breaking the bones of your heart like twigs. You had not expected this, the bedroom gone white, the astronomical light pummeling you in a stream of fists. You raised your hand to your face as if to hide it. The pink fingers gone gold as the light streamed straight to the bone, as if you were the small room caged in glass with every speck of dust illuminated. The light is no mystery. The mystery is that there is something to keep the light from passing through.
Florence B. Price Selections Florence Price nee Smith was a younger contemporary of Richard Strauss but experienced a much different life. While Strauss experienced a lifetime of financial success and appreciation, Florence persevered despite being an African American woman living through the Jim Crow era and raising two children on her own. She studied Piano Pedagogy and Organ Performance at the New England Conservatory and became the first Black woman to have a composition premiered by a major American orchestra in 1933. Like Strauss, Florence used the cultural capital around her as inspiration for her music. Her songs combine the expressive harmonies and grandeur of Late Romanticism with the musical traditions of Black culture all with spectacular piano accompaniment and fine literature of the time.
Program Notes / Texts and Translations The Glory of the Day Was in Her Face
The Heart of a Woman
(Text by James Weldon Johnson, 1871-1938)
(Text by Georgia Douglas Johnson, 1880-1966)
The glory of the day was in her face. The beauty of the night was in her eyes and over all her loveliness the grace of morning blushing in the early skies. And in her voice, the calling of the dove like music of a sweet melodious part. And in her smile the breaking light of love and all the gentle virtues in her heart and now the glorious day, the beauteous night, the birds that signal to their mates at dawn to my dull ears, to my tear blinded sight are one with all the dead since she is gone.
The heart of a woman goes forth with the dawn as a lone bird soft winging so restlessly on afar on life’s turrets and vales does it roam in the wake of those echoes the heart calls home. The heart of a woman goes back with the night and enters some alien cage in its plight and tries to forget it has dream’d of the stars while it breaks on the sheltering bars. Sympathy (Text by Paul Laurence Dunbar, 1872-1906)
An April Day (Text by Joseph S. Cotter, Jr., 1895-1919)
On such a day as this I think, on such a day as this when earth and sky and nature’s world are clad in April’s bliss; and balmy zephyrs gently waft upon your cheek a kiss, sufficient is it just to live on such a day as this. Night (Text by Louise C. Wallace, dates unknown)
Night comes, a Madonna clad in scented blue. Rose red her mouth and deep her eyes, she lights her stars, and turns to where, beneath her silver lamp the moon, upon a couch of shadow lies a dreamy child, the wearied Day.
I know what the caged bird feels, alas! when the sun is bright on the upland slopes; when the wind stirs soft through the springing grass and the river flows like a stream of glass; when the first bird sings and the first bud opes and the faint perfume from its chalice stealsI know what the caged bird feels. I know why the caged bird beats his wing till the blood is red on the cruel bars; for he must fly back to his perch and cling when he fain would be on the bough a-swing; and the pain still throbs in the old, old scars and they pulse again with a keener stingI know why he beats his wing! I know why the caged bird sings, ah me, when his wing is bruised and his bosom sore, when he beats his bars and he would be free. It is not a carol of joy or glee, but a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core but a plea that upward to Heaven he flingsI know why the caged bird sings.
Resignation
The Poet and His Song
text by Florence B. Price
text by Paul Laurence Dunbar
My life is a pathway of sorrow. I’ve struggled and toiled in the sun with hope that the dawn of tomorrow would break on a work that is done. My Master has pointed the way. He taught me in prayer to say, “Lord, give us this day and our daily bread.” I hunger yet I shall be fed.
A song is just a little thing and yet what joy it is to sing! In hours of toil it gives me zest and when at last I long for rest when cows come home along the bars and in the fold a hear the bell! At Night, the shepherd herds his stars, I sing my song and all is well.
My feet they are wounded and dragging. My body is tortured with pain. My heart it is shattered and flagging. What matter if Heaven I gain. Of happiness once I have tasted but only a moment it paused. Tho brief was the hour that I wasted forever the woe that it caused. I’m tired and want to go home. My mother and sister are there. They’re waiting for me to come where mansions are bright and fair.
My days are never filled with ease. I till my ground and prune my trees. When ripened gold is all the grain I labor hard and toil and sweat while others dream within the dell, but even while my brow is wet I sing my song and all is well.
Four Encore Songs Tobacco
(Text by Graham L. Hemminger, 1895-1950) A Flea and a Fly
(Text by anonymous) “Come, come,” said Tom’s Father
(Text by Thomas Moore, 1779-1852) Song of the Open Road
(Text by Ogden Nash, 1902-1971)
Sometimes the sun unkindly hot, my garden makes a desert spot; Sometimes a blight upon the tree takes all my fruit away from me and then with throes of bitter pain rebellious passions rise and swell but life is more than fruit or grain and so I sing and all is well.
Biography Corinne Rydman mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano, Corinne Rydman had the joy of singing Donna Elvira in the San Francisco Conservatory’s mainstage production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni under the guiding hands of Maestro Sandmeier and director Jose Maria Condemi. Other opera highlights include Nerone in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea with baroque orchestra under Corey Jamason and Volpino in the rarely performed Haydn opera buffa, Lo speziale. A lover of masterclasses, Corinne has sung for mezzo sopranos Stephanie Blythe and Frederica von Stade. Ms. Rydman currently studies vocal performance under Sylvia Anderson and vocal coach Steven Bailey. Before coming to the Conservatory, Corinne studied with Michael Chipman and vocal coach Emily Williams at Westminster College of Salt Lake City. Other significant teachers include Jose Maria Condemi, Curt Pajer, Michael Mohammed, Daryll Cooper, Corey Jamason, Milisa Carey, Carol Anderson, and Marcie Stapp. She also owes much to the batons of Scott Sandmeier, Barlow Bradford, Susanne Sheston, Caleb Harris, Michael Horsley, and Lauren Mayer. An interest in great storytelling has lead Corinne to the world of musical theatre as well as opera and art song. Roles include Liliane La Fleur in Maury Yeston’s Nine along with ensemble in Irving Berlin’s As Thousands Cheer, Maltby and Shire’s Closer Than Ever, and Kotis and Hollmann’s Urinetown. Special thanks to Sylvia Anderson, Steven Bailey, Michael Mohammed, Logan Campbell, Shase Hernandez, and Marissa Simmons for their roles in tonight’s recital.
Bibliography Bellingham, Jane. "bel canto." The Oxford Companion to Music. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. Accessed March 24, 2016. http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.sfcm.idm.oclc.org/subscriber/article/opr/t114/e706. Ezust, Emily. The LiederNet Archive. Accessed March 23, 2016. http://www.lieder.net/lieder/ McKnight, Terrance. The Price of Admission: A Musical Biography of Florence Beatrice Price. Podcast audio. WQXR. MP3, 59:7. Published February 6, 2013. Accessed March 24, 2016. http://www.wqxr.org/#!/story/271521-musical-biography-florence-beatrice-price/. "Richard Strauss." Britannica Academic. Accessed March 24, 2016. http://academic.eb.com/EBchecked/topic/568524/Richard-Strauss. “Vincenzo Bellini.” Casa Ricordi. Accessed March 24, 2016. http://www.ricordi.it/catalogue/composers/vincenzo-bellini/