YCA PROGRAM

PROUDLY PRESENTS

Young Concert Artists on Tour

CHRISTENSEN PERFORMANCE HALL on The Madeline Janis Courter Stage

FEBRUARY 4, 2024 3:30PM 2204 Classical Circle Producing Sponsors Ed and Virginia Stringer 2024 Classical Circle Leadership Supporters David Huggin & Ken Nees

YOUNG CONCERT ARTISTS ON TOUR YCA’s artists are the leaders of the future – stars who combine world-class talent with creative vision to bring new reach and relevance to the art form. For more than 60 years YCA has invested in extraordinary young musicians, providing them with the support, clarity, and confidence to tell their stories, as well as with the tools, opportunities, and infrastructure to take their careers to the highest level.

With a legacy of artistic excellence recognized around the world, YCA alumni include such luminaries as Emanuel Ax, Julia Bullock, Jeremy Denk, Ray Chen, Anne-Marie McDermott, Fazıl Say, Andrew Norman, Dawn Upshaw, Mason Bates, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Kevin Puts, Pinchas Zukerman, and many more.

YCA realizes that modern artists need to be more than simply gifted, highly-trained musicians – they must also be cultural ambassadors who share musical experiences that reflect the beauty and diversity of the world around them.

Albert Cano Smit Piano

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Chelsea Guo Soprano and Piano

Daniel McGrew Tenor

SooBeen Lee Violin

Jonathan Swensen Cello

Young Concert Artists has acquired a special status in the musical world, and deservedly so…It is extremely doubtful that any organization anywhere could have matched the YCA record for spotting great talent and helping it along.

– THE NEW YORK TIMES

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PROGRAM NOTES DR. RICHARD E. RODDA

Two Selections from Myrthen (“Myrtles”), Op. 25 Robert Schumann Born June 8, 1810 in Zwickau, Germany.

Died July 29, 1856 in Endenich, near Bonn.

In 1828, Schumann moved into the Leipzig home of Friedrich Wieck with the intention of having that distinguished piano teacher turn him into a virtuoso.

Though he soon abandoned that ambition, the eighteen-year-old Robert did find himself strongly drawn to his mentor’s daughter, Clara, nine years his junior but already a phenomenally gifted pianist and a young lady mature well beyond her years. The story that follows is well known — how Robert and Clara fell hopelessly in love, how they became secretly engaged, how Friedrich forbade their marriage, how they sued him in the courts, and how they were finally married in 1840. During the time surrounding their wedding, on September 12, 1840 (Clara’s 21st birthday), Schumann composed some 140 songs, a genre to which he had not contributed since writing eleven Lieder in 1827-1828. “Oh Clara, what bliss to write songs,” he told his new wife. The 26 songs to poems by Goethe, Rückert, Heine, Byron, Robert Burns and others that he collected under the title Myrthen (“Myrtles”) were his wedding gift to Clara. (Myrtle was then a traditional flower in German wedding bouquets.) “This I did not expect,” she wrote to a friend. “My reverence for him grows along with my love. No one alive today is as musically gifted as Robert.”

“Widmung” (“Dedication”) from Myrthen Arranged for Piano by Franz Liszt Born October 22, 1811 in Doborján, Hungary (now Raiding, Austria).

Died July 31, 1886 in Bayreuth, Germany.

Franz Liszt devoted considerable creative and performing energy to rendering vocal, operatic and orchestral music into versions for the keyboard, often with the ornate decoration and virtuoso panache listeners expected from such a titan of the piano. Liszt’s transcriptions and arrangements for keyboard number at least 180 separate items, which include numerous free adaptations of songs by

Robert Schumann and excerpts from Wagner’s operas. In 1848, Liszt arranged Widmung (text by Friedrich Rückert) from Myrthen, one of Schumann’s most highly regarded songs: You my soul, you my heart, you my bliss, O you my pain, you my world in which I live, my heaven you, wherein I float.

“Du bist wie eine Blume” (“You Are Like a Flower”) from Myrthen Du bist wie eine Blume, one of Heinrich Heine’s most beloved poems, was said to have been inspired from Schumann by a young Jewish girl, perhaps a street urchin, perhaps a rabbi’s daughter, who represented for him a figure of innocence and purity. The poem has been a favorite of composers since its publication in 1825, having been set as many as 400 times.

Du bist wie eine Blume So hold und schön und rein; Ich schau’ dich an, und Wehmut Schleicht mir ins Herz hinein.

You are like a flower, So sweet and fair and pure; I look at you, and sadness Steals into my heart.

Mir ist, als ob ich die Hände Aufs Haupt dir legen sollt’, Betend, dass Gott dich erhalte So rein und schön und hold.

I feel as if I should lay My hands upon your head, Praying that God preserve you So pure and fair and sweet.

Aufträge (“Messages”), Op. 77, No. 5 Robert Schumann Composed in 1850.

Aufträge (“Messages”) is Schumann’s quicksilver setting of a poem by the little-known Carl Julius Grüel (1809-1850?), who also wrote under the more fashionably Frenchified pseudonym Charles L’Égru. Schumann’s music mirrors the poet’s thoughts dispatched to his beloved by waves, birds and moonlight to pass “through her little window and greet her fondly for me.”

Nicht so schnelle, nicht so schnelle!

Wart ein wenig, kleine Welle!

Will dir einen Auftrag geben An die Liebste mein.

Wirst du ihr vorüberschweben, Grüsse sie mir fein!

Sag, ich wäre mitgekommen, Auf dir selbst herabgeschwommen:

Not so fast, not so fast!

Wait a bit, tiny wave!

I’d like to give you a message for my sweetheart.

If you glide past her, greet her fondly for me!

Say, I would come with you, sailing on you myself —

Für den Gruss einen Kuss Kühn mir zu erbitten, Doch der Zeit Dringlichkeit Hätt’ es nicht gelitten.

in return for my greeting, boldly demanding a kiss — but the urgency of time would not permit it.

Nich so eillig! halt! erlaube, Kleine, leichtbeschwingte Taube!

Habe dir was aufzutragen An die Liebste mein!

Sollst ihr tausend Grüsse sagen, Hundert obendrein.

Sag, ich wär’ mit dir geflogen, Über Berg und Strom gezogen: Für den Gruss einen Kuss Kühn mir zu erbitten, Doch der Zeit Dringlichkeit Hätt’ es nicht gelitten.

Not so hasty! stop! permit me, small, light-winged dove!

I have a message for my sweetheart!

You should give her a thousand greetings, and a hundred beyond that.

Say, I would fly with you, stretching over mountain and stream — in return for my greeting, boldly demanding a kiss — but the urgency of time would not permit it.

Warte nicht, dass ich dich treibe, O du träge Mondesscheibe!

Weisst’s ja, was ich dir befohlen Für die Liebste mein: Durch das Fensterchen verstohlen Grüsse sie mir fein!

Sag, ich wär’ auf dich gestiegen, Selber zu ihr hinzufliegen: Für den Gruss einen Kuss Kühn mir zu erbitten, Du seist schuld, Ungeduld hätt mich nicht gelitten.

Don’t wait for me to drive you, oh you sluggish round moon!

You know well what I have commanded you to do for my sweetheart: through her little window, furtively, greet her fondly for me!

Say, I would climb on you and fly to her myself — in return for my greeting, boldly demanding a kiss; It was your fault, for your impatience would not permit me.

from Frauenliebe und -leben (“Woman’s Love and Life”), Op. 42, No. 2 Robert Schumann Composed in 1840.

In 1840, his “Year of Songs,” Schumann took up the intimate domestic poetry of the German Romanticist Adalbert von Chamisso (1781-1838), setting eight of his verses as Frauenliebe und -leben. Chamisso’s original cycle consisted of nine poems encapsulating a woman’s courtship and married life: awakening love, admiration of her lover (Er, der Herrlichste von allen [“He is the most wonderful of all”]), proposal, engagement, wedding, pregnancy, maternity, bereavement and consolation in children and grandchildren. Schumann set only the first eight of these, however,

omitting the comforting verses of the final poem, so his cycle ends with the sorrow over the beloved’s sudden death, made deeply poignant by the reprise of the opening song, the music of new love, as a piano postlude.

Er, der Herrlichste von allen, Wie so milde, wie so gut.

Holde Lippen, klares Auge, Heller Sinn und fester Mut.

He is the most wonderful of all, so gentle, so good.

Sweet lips, bright eyes, clear mind and firm resolve.

So wie dort in blauer Tiefe Hell und herrlich jener Stern, Also er an meinem Himmel Hell und herrlich, hehr und fern.

As there in the blue depths that star, clear and wonderful, so he is in my heaven, clear and wonderful, majestic, remote.

Wandle, wandle deine Bahnen; Nur betrachten deinen Schein, Nur in Demut ihn betrachten, Selig nur und traurig sein.

Wander, wander your ways; just to watch your radiance, just to watch it in humility, just to be blissful and sad!

Höre nicht mein stilles Beten, Deinem Glücke nur geweiht; Darfst mich niedre Magd nicht kennen, Hoher Stern der Herrlichkeit.

Hear not my silent prayer for your happiness alone; me, lowly maid, you must not know, lofty, wonderful star.

Nur die Würdigste von allen Darf beglücken deine Wahl Und ich will die Hohe segnen Viele tausend Mal.

Only the most worthy woman of all Wahl may your choice favor and that exalted one will I bless many thousands of times.

Will mich freuen dann und weinen, Selig, selig bin ich dann, Sollte mir das Herz auch brechen, Brich, o Herz, was liegt daran?

Then shall I rejoice and weep, be blissful, blissful then; even if my heart should break, then break, O heart, what matter?

Two Songs Clara Schumann Born September 13, 1819 in Leipzig.

Died May 20, 1896 in Frankfurt.

Goethe called her “a noble phenomenon”; Franz Grillparzer, Austria’s greatest poet and a sensitive musician, was inspired to write a poem titled When She Played Beethoven’s F minor Sonata; the prestigious journal Neue Zeitschrift für Musik ranked her as the third greatest pianist of the day, behind only Franz Liszt and

Sigismond Thalberg. The object of these encomia was a teenage girl from Leipzig, a dazzling Wunderkind who possessed not only flawless keyboard technique but also extraordinary artistic sensitivity and unswerving dedication to the most elevated principles of the musical art — Clara Wieck. Clara’s father, Friedrich, a noted teacher of piano and voice, operator of a music-lending library and a piano store, and a former preacher, vowed even before the girl was born that he would develop her into a consummate artist, and he showed considerable restraint by not beginning her lessons until she was five. His instruction fell upon a fertile talent — Clara made her public debut at the Leipzig Gewandhaus on October 20, 1828 (she was nine-and-quarter years old), gave her first complete recital two years later, and made her debut international tour the following season. By 1835, she was acclaimed throughout Europe as a child prodigy.

In 1829, the nineteen-year-old Robert Schumann met Friedrich Wieck, and he was accepted by the pedagogue as a student; the following year, Robert moved into the Wieck household. He was at first amused by his teacher’s gifted daughter, but over the course of the following years, the couple’s relationship developed into true love (“Clara grows more charming, inwardly, outwardly, every day, every hour,” Robert wrote in 1835) and became one of the great romances of the 19th century.

That story — Papa Wieck’s nearly irrational resistance to the union, the lovers’ court battle to receive legal permission to marry, their passionate devotion to each other during their sixteen years of wedded life, Robert’s mental collapse and untimely death in 1856 — is well-known and carefully chronicled in a half-dozen books. Clara put her domestic duties before her professional ambitions during those years (she gave birth to eight children between 1841 and 1854), concertizing only occasionally and composing just a piano trio and a handful of songs and solo piano pieces, including her Variations on a Theme of Robert Schumann in 1853.

Following her husband’s death in 1856, she resumed touring and teaching, but never composed again.

Liebeszauber (“Love’s Magic”) is a youthfully breathless setting of a verdant poem by Emanuel Geibel (1815-1884), poet, playwright, translator and University of Munich faculty member whose verses appealed to Romantic composers for their imagery and mood.

Die Liebe sass als Nachtigall Im Rosenbusch und sang; Es flog der wundersüsse Schall Den grünen Wald entlang.

Love in the guise of a nightingale sat In a rosebush and sang; ‘Twas a wonderful sweet sound that soared All about the green forest.

Und wie er klang, da stieg im Kreis Aus tausend Kelchen Duft, Und alle Wipfel rauschten leis’, Und leiser ging die Luft;

And with its echoes rose all around Perfume from a thousand blossoms, And every treetop rustled quietly, And the air moved more gently.

Die Bäche schwiegen, die noch kaum Geplätschert von den Höh’n Die Rehlein standen wie im Traum Und lauschten dem Getön.

The brooks were silent, they that had only just Been splashing from the heights, As in a dream stood the deer Heeding every sound.

Und hell und immer heller floss Der Sonne Glanz herein, Um Blumen, Wald und Schlucht ergoss Sich goldig roter Schein.

And bright and ever brighter flowed The splendor of the sun, Flowers, woods and ravines were bathed In a glow of golden red.

Ich aber zog den Weg entlang Und hörte auch den Schall.

Ach! was seit jener Stund’ ich sang, War nur sein Widerhall.

I wended my way, Hearing the sounds as well.

Alas! The songs which I have since sung, Have been but their echo.

Liebst du um Schönheit (“If You Love for Beauty”) is a direct, heartfelt setting of a verse by Friedrich Rückert (1788-1866), scholar, poet and translator of texts from Persian, Arabic, Hebrew, Armenian, Ethiopian, Coptic and Sanskrit, whose verses were set to music by an enormous number of 19th-century composers, including Schubert, Marschner, Mahler and both Robert and Clara Schumann.

Liebst du um Schönheit, o nicht mich liebe!

Liebe die Sonne, sie trägt ein gold'nes Haar!

Liebst du um Jugend, o nicht mich liebe!

Liebe den Frühling, der jung ist jedes Jahr!

If you love for beauty, oh, do not love me!

Love the sun, it has hair of gold!

If you love for youth, oh, do not love me!

Love the spring, which is young again every year!

Liebst du um Schätze, o nicht mich liebe!

Liebe die Meerfrau, sie hat viel Perlen klar.

Liebst du um Liebe, o ja, mich liebe!

Liebe mich immer, dich lieb' ich immerdar!

If you love for treasures, oh, do not love me!

Love the mermaid, she has many a bright pearl.

If you love for love, oh yes, do love me!

Love me forever, I love you evermore!

“In der Nacht” (“In the Night”) from Spanisches Liederspiel (“Spanish Song Play”), Op. 74, No. 4 Robert Schumann Composed in 1849.

In 1848, Schumann took over direction of the Dresden Verein für Chorgesang (“Association for Choral Singing”), and the following March he set ten verses by Emanuel von Geibel for that ensemble as the Spanisches Liederspiel, Op. 74 (“Spanish Song Play”), which he scored for soprano, alto, tenor and bass voices distributed in solo, duet and quartet configurations and accompanied by piano.

Joseph Braunstein wrote of the Spanisches Liederspiel, “The action of the lovers is restrained . It never transgresses the lyrical sphere, and avoids dramatic gestures.

They sing love songs without glowing passion, and the cycle emanates the fragrance of carnations and jasmine.”

In der Nacht (“In the Night”) Alle gingen, Herz, zur Ruh, Alle schlafen, nur nicht du.

All have gone to their rest, O heart, All are sleeping, all but you.

Denn der hoffnungslose Kummer Scheucht von deinem Bett den Schlummer, Und dein Sinnen schweift in stummer Sorge seiner Liebe zu.

For hopeless grief Frightens slumber away from your bed, And your thoughts wander in silent Sorrow to their love.

Two Selections from Four Songs on Texts by Anton Wildgans Joseph Marx Born May 11, 1882 in Graz, Austria.

Died September 3, 1964 in Graz.

Composed in 1916.

Joseph Marx was originally intended by his family for a career in the law but he instead became what Wilhelm Furtwängler, Principal Conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, called “the leading force in Austrian music.” Marx was born in 1882 in Graz and was taught music as part of his early general education, but he showed such inordinate interest in the subject that his parents forbid him to play piano for a time. He continued to practice at school, however, teaching himself to play violin and cello as well as piano, joining several ensembles, and making his first attempts at composition. He enrolled at Graz University for classes in law, philosophy and art history, but his determination to become a musician led him to formal study of the field, and in 1909 he received his doctorate for a dissertation on the psychological foundations of tonality and harmony.

Marx had begun composing in earnest the preceding year, and by 1912 he had produced some 120 songs. Those works, coupled with his excellent multi-disciplinary education, led to his appointment as a professor of theory and composition at Vienna University’s Music Academy in 1914. He became the Academy’s director in 1922, and oversaw its reorganization two years later as the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellenede Kunst Wien (“University for Music and Performing Arts, Vienna”), when it was granted the right to award advanced degrees. He stepped down as director in 1927, but remained on the Hochschule’s faculty until his retirement in 1952. In 1932-1933, he (and later, Bartók and Hindemith) advised the Turkish government on organizing a national music curriculum and establishing a conservatory in Ankara. Marx also wrote music criticism in Vienna, for the Neues Wiener Journal from 1931 until the outbreak of World War II, and for the Wiener Zeitung after hostilities ceased, and taught musicology at Graz University from 1947 to 1952. During the two decades before his death, in Graz in 1964, Marx was

president of the Association of Austrian Composers, Mozart Society, Association of Viennese Critics, Association of Music Teachers of Austria, and several other influential Austrian institutions. His contributions to the nation’s musical life were recognized with the Vienna Music Prize, Austrian State Prize, membership in the Austrian Academy of Sciences, an honorary doctorate from the Hochschule für Musik, and honorary citizenship of the cities of Vienna and Graz.

Marx’s Four Songs on Texts by Anton Wildgans (1916), each accompanied by piano and a different solo instrument, are settings of varied texts by a close friend of the composer whose verses mingled realism, neo-romanticism and expressionism.

Adagio (with cello) is a halcyon nocturne. Du bist der Garten (with violin) is sensual in subject and Impressionistic in style.

2. Adagio Alles Tagverlangen Ist zur Ruh gegangen, Rosenrot im Rohr.

Aus den Birkenzweigen, Wo er still gehangen, Bleich und netzgefangen, Hebt im sanftsten Reigen Sich der Mond empor.

All daily desires have gone to sleep, rosy red in the reeds.

From the birch-tree’s branches, where it was silently suspended, pale and enmeshed, the moon rises forth in the gentlest of rounds.

Leise weisse Seiden Kleiden jetzt die Weiden, Schläfernd schlürft der Bach.

Schober auf den Wiesen Hocken wie die Riesen.

Und die dunkeln Hunde Ruhlos in der Runde Wandern wach.

Soft white silks now clothe the pastures, the brook drowsily sips.

Hayricks on the meadows crouch like giants.

And the dark hounds, restless and alert, wander their rounds.

3. Du bist der Garten (“You Are the Garden”) Du bist der Garten, wo meine Hände Über die weissen Wege gehn.

Du bist das Blühen und das Gelände Der sanften Hügel und blauen Seen.

Denn deine Augen, sie gleichen diesen, Und deine Lenden sind die Wiesen, Nach denen meine Träume sehn.

You are the garden where my hands move across the white pathways.

You are the flowering and the terrain of gentle hillocks and blue lakes.

Your eyes resemble them, and your loins are the meadows I look for in my dreams.

Du bist der Garten, wo meine Seele Über die dämmernden Wege geht.

Du bist der Mohnduft für meine Fehle Und meiner Reue verschwiegenes Beet.

You are the garden where my soul moves across the twilit pathways.

You are the poppy fragrance for my frailties and the silent flower-bed of my remorse.

Denn alles, so mir im Suchen begegnet, Du hast es geheiligt und gesegnet, Dass es in mir wie ein Bildnis steht.

Everything I encounter in my quests you have made sacred and blessed, so that it stands in me like a portrait.

Morgen (“Tomorrow”), Op. 27, No. 4 Richard Strauss Born June 11, 1864 in Munich.

Died September 8, 1949 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Composed in 1894.

Pauline de Ahna, the daughter of an old and honorable German family with long associations with the military and Bavarian patriotism, showed a talent for music as a girl, and graduated as a singer from the Munich Conservatory in 1886.

Richard Strauss first met her through his maternal uncle George Pschorr, whose family ran one of the most successful breweries in Munich. (Hacker-Pschorr Beer is still a staple of Oktoberfests in Germany.) The de Ahnas knew of Strauss’ reputation as one of the country’s fastest rising musical stars, and socialized easily with him, even though his pedigree was rather less exalted than theirs. Strauss and Pauline were married in Weimar on September 10, 1894. His wedding gift to her was the set of four love songs, Op. 27, which closed with the quietly passionate Morgen.

Und morgen wird die Sonne wieder scheinen, und auf dem Wege, den ich gehen werde, wird uns, die Glücklichen, sie wieder einen inmitten dieser sonnenatmenden Erde …

And tomorrow the sun will shine again, and on the path I will take, it will unite us again, we happy ones, upon this sun-breathing earth …

Und zu dem Strand, dem weiten, wogenblauen, werden wir still und langsam niedersteigen, stumm werden wir uns in die Augen schauen, und auf uns sinkt des Glückes stummes Schweigen.

And to the shore, the wide shore with blue waves, we will descend quietly and slowly; we will look mutely into each other’s eyes and the silence of happiness will settle upon us.

Three Songs Noël Coward Born December 16, 1899 in Teddington, Middlesex, England.

Died March 26, 1973 in Blue Harbour, Jamaica.

Noël Coward was among the most gifted and multi-talented figures in 20th-century theater, music and entertainment. Born in 1899 into a working class family in a London suburb, Coward took dance lessons as a youngster, made his professional stage debut at age eleven, and was a star on both ideas of the Atlantic for the next six decades. He appeared in and/or directed some seventy stage productions and seventeen films, wrote over fifty plays (more than twenty of which were made into movies) as well as words and music for eight full-length musicals, performed in cabarets in London and Las Vegas, composed 300 songs, made popular recordings of his songs as singer and pianist, was knighted, and received an Honorary Academy Award and a Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement. In 1999, The Stage, the venerable London entertainment weekly founded in 1880, took a “millennium poll” of its readers to determine the people who have most influenced the arts and entertainment in Britain: Shakespeare came first; Noël Coward was second. On the occasion of Coward’s seventieth birthday, Lord Louis Mountbatten wrote, “There are probably greater painters than Noël, greater novelists than Noël, greater librettists, greater composers of music, greater singers, greater dancers, greater comedians, greater tragedians, greater stage producers, greater film directors, greater cabaret stars, greater TV stars. If there are, they are 14 different people. Only one man combined all 14 labels — Noël Coward, The Master.”

A Room With a View was introduced in the 1928 revue This Year of Grace, with book, music and lyrics by Coward. The song, which borrowed its title from the 1908 novel by E.M. Forster, was composed a year earlier in Hawaii, where Coward had retreated to recuperate from a nervous breakdown caused by the failure of his play This Was a Man. This Year of Grace itself proved to be an effective remedy. The show ran so successfully in London that a second production was staged on Broadway with the Coward himself as the star.

Something To Do With Spring was written for the revue Words and Music, book, lyrics and music by Coward, which opened in Manchester on August 25, 1932 before transferring to the Adelphi Theatre in London the following month. In addition to Something To Do With Spring, whose lyric starts as a vernal paean but develops into wry commentary on the production’s scenery, the show produced three other Coward standards: Mad Dogs and Englishmen, Mad About the Boy and The Party’s Over Now. Someday I’ll Find You was inserted into Coward’s 1930 comedy of manners, Private Lives, in which he starred with Gertrude Lawrence playing a divorced couple whom fate throws together again, each with a new partner, in adjacent hotel suites that share a balcony. They bicker but discover that they still have feelings for each other, which they express in Someday I’ll Find You.

Trio No. 1 for Piano, Violin and Cello in B-flat major, Op. 99 (D. 898) Franz Schubert Born January 31, 1797 in Vienna.

Died November 19, 1828 in Vienna.

Composed in 1827.

Premiered on January 28, 1828 in Vienna at the home of Schubert’s friend Josef von Spaun by pianist Carl Maria von Bocklet, violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh and cellist Josef Linke.

On January 31, 1827, Franz Schubert turned thirty. He had been following a bohemian existence in Vienna for over a decade, making barely more than a pittance from the sale and performance of his works and living largely by the generosity of his friends, a devoted band of music-lovers who rallied around his convivial personality and exceptional talent. The pattern of Schubert’s daily life was firmly established by that time: composition in the morning; long walks or visits in the afternoon; companionship for wine and song in the evening. The routine was broken by occasional trips into the countryside to stay with friends or families of friends — he visited Dornbach, near the Vienna Woods, for several weeks in the spring of 1827 and Graz in September. A curious dichotomy marked Schubert’s personality during those final years of his life, one that suited well the Romantic i mage of the inspired artist, rapt out of quotidian experience to carry back to benighted humanity some transcendent vision. “Anyone who had seen him only in the morning, in the throes of composition, will never forget it — though in the afternoon, to be sure, he became another person,” recorded one friend. The ability to mirror his own fluctuating feelings in his compositions — the darkening cloud momentarily obscuring the bright sunlight — is one of Schubert’s most remarkable and characteristic achievements, and touches indelibly the incomparable series of works — Winterreise, the “Great” C major Symphony, three last Piano Sonatas, String Quintet, two Piano Trios, Impromptus — that he created during the final months of his brief life.

A sense of conviviality and expressive bounty floods the opening theme of the B-flat Trio, a paraphrase of Schubert’s song Des Sängers Habe (“The Singer’s Possession”) , whose text summarizes his music-bound existence: “Shatter all my happiness in pieces, take from me all my worldly wealth, yet leave me only my zither and I shall still be happy and rich!” The subsidiary subject is a lyrical inspiration sung by the cello. Both themes figure in the development section. The Andante is one of those creations of ravishing lyrical beauty that could have been conceived by no one but Schubert. Its outer sections, calm and almost nocturnal in expression,

take as their theme a flowing cello melody in the nature of a barcarolle. An agitated, minor-key central section provides formal and emotional contrast. The Scherzo and Trio juxtapose the two most popular Viennese dances of the day — the Ländler and the waltz, just the sort of thing Schubert loved to improvise to accompany the dancing of his friends at their soirées. The finale is titled “Rondo,” but its theme returns with such extensive alterations that the movement’s formal type is closer to a developmental sonata form than to the traditional refrain-based rondo structure. Here, also, Schubert hinted in the main theme at an earlier song, Skolie (1815): “Let us, in the bright May morning, take delight in the brief life of the flower, before its fragrance disappears.”

©2023 Dr. Richard E. Rodda

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ALAN BIBEY & GRASSTOWNE February 17, 8:00PM Sponsored by Tom and Barb Dunham

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SO GOOD! THE NEIL DIAMOND EXPERIENCE February 29, 8:00PM Sponsored by Gustav and Vibeke Christensen

Meet Our Supporters Thank you to our loyal donors.

Your support is needed now, as never before.

PREMIERE Gustav & Vibeke Christensen Leslie Fleischner Florida Department of State Ken Nees Jim & Gaye Pigott Bob & Kathy Wiesemann

PACESETTER Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Dr. Michael & Mrs. Marilee Wood

BENEFACTOR Bank of the Islands James C. & Susan H. Berg Ginny Bowen Andrew & Ruthelen Burns Dick & Mary Butler Congress Jewelers Janice Devitt Barb & Tom Dunham Kathleen & John Green Jr. Dorothy & Seth Hemming

Bob & Marilyn Klaskin Dorothy Lichtenstein Northern Trust Sue Pick Jeffrey & Rene Savarise Charlie & Gail Sheetz Patricia Thurber Linda & Tom Uhler Linda & John Wulff

GRAND PATRON Edward & Catherine Anderson Lore Bahnik, The Bahnik Foundation David and Judy Baum Mary Buck Jack & Fay Chestnut Nancy Dehmlow David Filkins Doug & Sherry Gentry Laurie & Steve Hafener Melissa & Jason Halliburton George & Susan Heisler David Huggin Peter & Ann Lambertus

Vicky & John Lettmann Bruce & Antonette McDonald Philip & Roberta Puschel Richard & Nathalie Pyle Gary & Maureen Saage Vreni Scheu Dawn Schumann Chris & Crystal Smith Dr. Robert & Betty Van Tassel Anni & Jack Wellauer Penny Wilkinson & Dick Boehning Gene & Margaret Zelek

PATRON Charles & Linda Adams Brenda & Marty Harrity Elaine & T.P. August Tony & Angie Lapi John & Mary Ann Boorn William & Barbara Millar Barry & Judy Bronstein Stephanie Rahe Linda & Gordon Coons Dick & Peggy Raney Anonymous Don & Joyce Rice Mr. & Mrs. Manny Fernandez Chip & Nancy Roach Susan & John Freund Ed & Virginia Stringer Emily (Lee) Haines Morton & Betty Tavel Law Office of Janet M. Strickland, P.A.

ANGEL Hazel Barber Curtis A. Barton Lynn Bernard Walter & Wendy Berninger Naomi Bloom Robert & Dixie Bowden Philip & Helen Bradbury Dan & Donna Casey Ralph & Carolyn Clark

Aaron J. Cohen Coile Foundation Lillian Decker Dana DiCarlo Yvonne & Phillip Dressel Boomer Duvin Kim Eastman & Louise Sinclair Eastman Dave & Linda Essig Cecy Faster

ANGEL Anonymous Attila & Patty Molnar Mardi Glenn Vincent & Celina Monte-Sano JoAnn & Bob Glick Mr. & Mrs. John R. Morse Jean & John Halligan Pamela & Kevin Murray Albert & Sandra Hann Pam & Bob Norton Al & Sally Hanser Denis O'Connor Susan & Bill Hartz Rob & Mindy Pierce Herman Foundation Barbara Powers Peter & Donna Holden Eileen Kehoe & Bud Reinhold Deborah Jaeger Christine Schluter Jan Jaeger Lowell Schwab & Rae Carter Mary & Dick Jalkut Tom & Susan Sheridan Charles & Helen Ketteman Nancy & Steve Siegel Alan & Joan Klutch The Reverend Doctor Ellen Sloan Ray & Diane Knight Sheridan & Dick Snell The Health Whisperer Mary Snyder Robin & Barbara Lee Robert & Nancy Sperte John & Barbara Lies Merrill Taylor Calvin & Patricia Linnemann Nancy Traylor Dudley & Kristin Malone Carolyn & Gerald Wheaton Gene Massey Dr. Edward C. Wheeler & Anne Haslem Richard & Adele Mattern Barry & Fran Wilson Douglas McLemore & Judith Rittenhouse Mr. & Mrs. Lawrence Yenkole Tom & Pam Miller Patty & Bill Zimmerman David & Nora Mimms Art and Martha Kaemmer Fund of HRK Foundation Kristen & Douglas Ryckman/Ryckman Family Charitable Fund

SUPPORTER Bob & Sharon Barton The Berger Foundation Robert & Lynn Bolz Mike & Pat Boris Tom & Pam Campbell Mr. & Mrs. William Cheney Michael & Laurie Chouinard Richard & Beth Davis Don & Gaither DeLuca Barb & Neil Demchick

The Dooling/Danussi Fund Molly B. Downing John & Pam Fridlington Christopher & Carol George Bob & Marvis Gillison Neal & Sherry Halleran Barry & Marilyn Humphries Kyle & Marybeth Jackson Hope & David Jeffrey Tom & Jan Knowlton

SUPPORTER Anonymous Charles Krahmer Mrs. Gloria Lagrassa Tom & Susan McCully Sue & Ted Merrick Michael & Mary Miller Moreland and Devitt, LLC Edward & Carol Mosel Gar & Nicole Murtha Robert & Elizabeth Nanovic Jim & Mary Nelson Donna Oberhill Dave & Karen Paulin Jeffrey H. Pierce Robert & Susan Ross

Jennifer & Daniel Sager Patricia Schwarz AJ & Sunny Scribante Hank & Linda Spire Art Stevens Kathi Straubing Jim & Josie Urbelis Joel & Cathy Vogel Annie Wainwright Richard & Gloria Waterhouse Carol Watkins Martin & Deborah Watz Tommy & Trudy Williams Mark & Debbie Wimmer

CONTRIBUTOR Robert M. Allen David & Diann Frantz Teresa Anzalone Ted Gasteyer Richard & Carol Arnould Phyllis K. Gresham Doug & Lu Bannerman Ed & Sharon Hannon Christopher Berman Madeline Etkin & Jeff Hayward Laurence Bettcher Mr. & Mrs. Richard Healey Douglas & Meg Born Mark & Paula Henry Donald Breitner & Debbie Gurman Becky Higbie Pamela Z. Brislin Jo-Ann & Robert Hilliard John & Sarabess Cahill Norma Hoppenfeld Reynolds & Barbara Challoner Doug & Janie Jacobson Nancy Clark Louis & Mary Kahn David & Robyn Cook Roger & Christine King Peter & Sue Danford Donna & Jim Kraft James & Maggie Davis Linda Kramer Robin & W. Patrick Dickson Bob & Helen Lambiase Jim & Catrina Drotleff Donna Leahy Ron & Jeannie Ellington Brenda & Matt Levatich Carolyn & Oliver Esman Dale Luchsinger Mary & Millard Everhart Ann McCarthy Myra Fisher Don & Joan McDonald Greater Milwaukee Foundation James and Mary LaVelle Fund

CONTRIBUTOR Mark McQuade & Ellen Mayeron Howard & Ruth Menken Scott & Arlene Mowry Robert & Mary Ellen Paulson Steve & Susan Peltzman Carol & Ron Periard Mike & Anna Puma Mr. & Mrs. David Rappaport Robert & Lorraine Rippe Cecily I. Robinson Scott & Marianne Rogers Lawrence & Phyllis Sager Marcel & Jane Saghir Sanibel Historical Museum & Village

Francie & Larry Schenck Shirley Schlossman Howard & Pam Shaw Frank & Jeanne Speizer Chris & Janis Swain August & Maureen Thoma Nancy Trimbur Ken & Virginia Trudell Thomas & Kathleen Veratti Douglas H. & Priscilla B. Viets John & Beverly Voorhees Ellen Wersan The Buckman Family George C. Witte

FRIEND Don & Betty Abbott Cindy Bixler Borgmann Corrine & Art Addie Dick & Victoria Bourdow Judith Adler Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Susan Ahlcrona Raymond L. Brennan Clare Almack John & Catherine Bridge Amejo Amyot Kathryn Brintnall Judie Anderson Jo & Arthur Brisbane Leslie & Joe Anding Leslie Brunn Susan Andrews Peter & Connie Bukowick Mary S. Arceneaux Rodger & Mary Jo Bunnell Dr. Donald Bachman & Dr. Karen Back Deborah Butler Suzanne & Randy Baker Melissa & Mark Calkin Charles & Ann Balch Richard & Marcy Calkins George & Molly Barbee Mr. & Mrs. John Campbell Dr. Ann Tice & Dr. Joe Barkmeier Ron & Janice Chaddock Richard & Madeline Baron Carl & Mary Ann Chambers Mary & Dan Bell Mrs. Marcia Chauvet & Mr. John Dolan Tom & Laura Bernhardt Leslie Cimino Kathryn Bielefeld Michele Classe Virginia Bisby Janice Udesen Cohen PJ Blankenhorn & Tony Wagner Robin & David Coleman Mark & Doreen Bolhuis & Maureen Corpron-Vel

FRIEND Anonymous Tom & Barbara Cooley Raymond & Nancy Cooper Carmen & Jim Courter Foundation Julie Cronin Cheryl & Tom D’Altrui Patricia David John & Linda DeFrancisco Laura & Chris Denick Andrea & Daniel Derrington Nicole Dewoolfson Richard & Deborah Donahue Marlene Donaldson Nancy Donaldson Bob & Ellen Dugan Mary Dunnavan Barbara & Jim Egan Angela & Brian Ellacott Kathryn Engle John & Judy Evans Anonymous Bill & Virginia Fellows Bev Forslund George Foster Shirley & Byron Frank Raf & Bonnie Frankel John W. Fredericks Barbara Hill Freeman Dorothy C. Fritze Rabbi Stephen & Rabbi Victoria Fuchs Beverly Gaabo Walter & Methel Gale Fred & Barbara George Brenda A. Pommerenke & Larry George Maureen & Andy Ginipro Lisabet & Gertrude Girr Nancy & Clivie Goodwin Ron & Joan Gould Carol Gregg

Bill & Shelley Greggs Lois Gries Buzz & Mary Jo Griffin Kathy & Alan Grundei Richard & Jane Guelich Lyder & Charlene Gulbrandsen John & Betty Gundersdorf Roberta Gutwein George & Audrey Hagerman Ella Hall Miriam Pepper Gloria Hammersley Gene & Jo Hardy Karen Bush Havrilla Dale & Suzette Heeres Susan Marie Herrmann Linda J. Hooper Libby & Rob Hoops Richard & Stephanie Huddleston Janet Hurley Louise Huyck Don & Stefanie Irwin Andrew & Teresa Jacob John & Lana Jacobs Bob & Amy Johnson Paul & Janet Johnson Norm Johnston Thomas J. Juedes Petra & Wolfgang Kaiser Stanley & Jo Ann Katz Jack Kennedy Mally Khorasantchi John & Wendy Kindig Candy & Steve Klare Carl Knight Mark & Kristen Koelmel Susan Kolson Julian Korn Jack & Cathy Kozik Kathy Kuck

FRIEND Anonymous Mr. & Mrs. Erich Pfanzelt Thomas LaFond Dr. Allen & Wendy Pois Melissa Laidlaw & Menashe Ben-David Isabella Rasi Linda Laird Marianne Nyhan Ravenna Virginia & Tim Lattner Debra & David Ray Mr. & Mrs. Paul R. Lawrence James Reynolds Annie Layman Jan Rice Ann Lindberg Rob & Debbie Rizzo Karen Holder & Randy Lisk Carlos & Mary Roche Maryann L. Loh Carol & Bill Rosenberg Gary & Margot Long Margaret Ross Howard Lorsch & Tracy Dwyer Carolyn Ruff David & Kelly Lowden Jolene & Kooroush Saeian David & Jackie Lurio Di Saggau Janet MaGirl Mr. & Mrs. Peter Saltz Marla Manning Michael Samet & Elissa Karasin-Samet Joan M. Martyn Pat Santucci, M.D. Pamela M. Mascio David Scheiber John & Jennifer Masters Laurence & Jeanie Schiffer Roy & Judith McCloskey John & Lisa Schmidlin John & Janet McLaughlin Craig & Lynn Schneider Dana Mehlig Bob & Caren Schoen Michele Messenger Steve & Laurie Schulz Sarah Ashton & Jim Metzler Walter & Betsy Schuman Eleanor Miller Michelle Schweber Rene & Margarethe Miville Debbie Scray Joseph & Linda Mondelli Mr. Terry See & Mrs. Theresa Shea-See Mike & Debbie Morgan Mr. Juan Serret & Mrs. Karen Serret Mary Beth & Scott Morrison Jack & Karen Shaw Drs. John & Gwendolynn Newman Sally & Dwight Shelton Randall & Marilyn Niehoff Bradford Shingleton Fred C. Nordstrom Joseph Shuster & Barbara Bazzone Mr. & Mrs. John L.S. Northrop Karen Shutway Jim & Barbara O’Hare Cathy Simon Bruce & Catherine Odlaug Dennis & Brooke Simon Tom & Barbara Olson Anonymous Carl Ordemann Joyce & Joe Sirkin Enid Packard Ellen Smiley & David Bollinger Jim & Nancy Patterson Jon & Kathryn Sternburg Mica Pennington Priscilla Stevens Nathan Perkins Betsy Sugerman Dr. Anjanette Stoltz & Mr. Anthony Bango

FRIEND Dennis Sutherland Al & Monica Taylor Kathleen Taylor & Bruno Notari Lynn Thelen Kersti Thompson Mr. & Mrs. Stanley Timson Kay Trainor Karr & Joan Van Nordstrand Janice VanBuskirk Kelli Vestal Gary & Linda Vroegindewey David Waks & Sandra Teger Anne Walter Bob & Roberta Washlow James Weddell

Ina Weissblatt Lyman & Deana Welch Lynne Wesolowski Berta & Carroll Wetzel Helene Weyant Brian & Susan White Patricia Pombo Wilson Elaine & Sanford Winer Linda & Jim Winn J Pamela Weiner & James Wittenberg E. Blake Wood The Dunham Children Nancy Zeedyk Mr. & Mrs. Jeffry Zimmer

LEGACY SOCIETY Jack T. Bailey Jerry Churchill K. Ann Dempsey Elizabeth Eagleton Ruth F. Frank Roni Freer

Deborah & John La Gorce Kenneth L. Nees Don & Joyce Rice John Schork Penny Wilkinson & Dick Boehning

Please remember BIG ARTS in your estate planning.

GIFTS IN HONOR OF Chuck Bonser Donna Leahy The Dunham Family Kris Gurall Patrick Harder David and Ann Hedges George & Susan Heisler Ken Nees

Dan & Gerri Perkins Jim & Gaye Pigott Carol Rosenberg Elmer Stilbert Janet M. Strickland, P.A. Monica Taylor Ellen Whitten

GIFTS IN MEMORY OF Suzanne Crawford Blake Devitt Henry Foltz Dave Havrilla Beth Murphy Dr. Laurence Oberhill Bea Pappas

Tom Pick Paul Powers Karen Shaw Davis Thurber Ronald Glenn Wallace Pat Whitaker

IN-KIND DONORS Landgraphics Sanibel-Captiva David M. Platt, PA DONOR LIST AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2023

Gifts can be made in many forms. For information on how to support BIG ARTS and all its programs, contact Michelle Schweber, Director of Development mschweber@bigarts.org | 239.472.9700 ext. 308

Meet Our Staff

Lena Baranova - Staff Accountant Denise Dillon - Events Assistant Marina Dowling - Office Manager Barbara Freeman - Executive Assistant Meghan Govoni - Marketing Manager Melody Hampton - Database and Information Manager Lee Ellen Harder - Executive Director Charlotte Hardt - Customer Service Associate Wendy Harriman - House Manager Aimee Harrison - Workshops Manager Richard Jones - Technical Director David Kolson - Chief Financial Officer Greg LeBlanc - Facilities and Maintenance Supervisor Kelly Lowden - Customer Service Associate Wilson McCray - Gallery Director Michelle Schweber - Development Director Olga Semreen - Staff Accountant

Meet Our Board Chair - Rene Savarise Vice Chair - Bob Wiesemann Treasurer/Secretary - David Lowden Past Chair - Don Rice Gustav Christensen Scot Congress Mike Wood

Great communities create great organizations – not the other way around. In 1979, BIG ARTS was created, by, and for the community, and owes its rich history to a small band of dedicated artists who drew inspiration from each other and from the breathtaking island beauty that infused their work with grace and authenticity.

They set out to create a special gathering place where artistic and educational experiences were accessible to all. Today that vision is alive and well. With the help of our loyal donors and supporters, BIG ARTS will carry that vision forward – providing joy, inspiration and a sense of community for generations to come.

Vision

To create great arts, entertainment and learning experiences that always inspire, enrich and delight.

Mission

Provide an array of quality entertainment, arts and education programs that enrich and nurture the lives of Sanibel and Captiva residents and visitors through: • professionally led arts and enrichment classes and workshops for students of all ages • stimulating and informative lectures and group discussions with renowned national thought leaders and educators • dynamic visual and performing arts presentations of the highest caliber

INFORMATION & TICKETS:

IN PERSON: 900 Dunlop Road, Sanibel, Florida 33957

BY PHONE: 239.395.0900 ONLINE: BIGARTS.org