Robert Mann The Emperor and the Nightingale for Narrator, Violin and Piano
Text by Hans Christian Andersen (adapted by Robert Mann)
The Emperor and the Nightingale, the first of Robert Mann’s “Fairy Tales,” was composed for Lucy Rowan Mann in 1949-50. The Lyric Trio premiered the work in 1954 at the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences (now the Chrysler Museum of Art), and it received its first New York performance in 1955 at the Juilliard School. When the Lyric Trio performed the work again for their 1957 debut at Carnegie Recital Hall (now Weill Recital Hall), the New York Times found the piece to have “considerable sentiment as well as wit”; the New York Herald Tribune called it “humane and sweetly touching.” Other fairy tale settings composed by Robert Mann and published by Peermusic include How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin, How the Whale Got His Throat, and The Princess on the Pea. Recorded on the Bartók Records CD “Tales” (BR 1928).
Robert Mann (1920-2018) was a driving force in the world of music for more than 70 years. As founder and first violinist of the Juilliard String Quartet, and as a soloist, composer, teacher, and conductor, Mr. Mann brought a refreshing sense of adventure and discovery to chamber music performances, master classes, and orchestral performances worldwide. He was, in the words of Richard Dyer of the Boston Globe, “one of the country’s most admired and deeply loved musicians.” Born in Portland, Oregon in 1920, Mr. Mann began studying violin when he was 8, and at age 13 was accepted into the class of Edouard Hurlimann, concertmaster of the Portland Symphony. In 1938, he enrolled in the Juilliard School, where he studied violin with Edouard Dethier, composition with Bernard Wagenaar and Stefan Wolpe, and conducting with Edgar Schenkman. Mr. Mann won the prestigious Naumburg competition in 1941. In 1946, at the invitation of Juilliard’s president, William Schuman, Robert Mann founded the Juilliard String Quartet, serving as the ensemble’s first violinist for 51 years until his retirement from the Quartet in 1997. Along the way, he was a mentor to younger generations of string quartets, including the Alexander, American, Concord, Emerson, LaSalle, New World, Mendelssohn, Tokyo, Brentano, Lark, St. Lawrence, and Colorado quartets. Robert Mann conducted throughout his career, leading ensembles such as the New York Chamber Symphony, Manhattan School of Music Symphony, and ensembles at the Ravinia, Tanglewood, and Aspen music festivals. At the invitation of Seiji Ozawa, he enjoyed a residence at Japan’s Saito Kinen Music Festival as a conductor, teacher, and performer. Mr. Mann composed more than 30 works for narrator with various instruments that he performed with his wife, Lucy Rowan. He also composed an Orchestral Fantasy performed by Dimitri Mitropoulos with the New York Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, and at the Salzburg Festival; a Duo for Violin and Piano that was premiered at Carnegie Hall by Itzhak Perlman; and a String Quartet that was included in the repertoires of both the La Salle and the Concord string quartets. His other works include a Duo for Cello and Piano written for Joel Krosnick and Gilbert Kalish, and Dream Time, recorded by violist David Carpenter.
The Emperor and the Nightingale Words adapted from the fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen In China, you must know, the Emperor 5 was a Chinese Man.
Robert Mann
Moderato (q = ca. 72)
rit. The Emperor’s palace was the most splendid in the world. 6
Narrator
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Violin
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Piano
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Everything in the Emperor’s garden was wondrous to behold.
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In the trees lived a Nightingale, who sang so beautifully that
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rit. e dim. 6
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even the poor fisherman, who had many
5 things to do, stopped still and listened. 4
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poco
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q=60 From all the countries of the world travelers came to the city of the Emperor.
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L.H. pizz.
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When they heard the Nightingale, they said, “That is the best of all!�
Wise men wrote many books about the palace and the garden, but they did not forget the Nightingale.
That was placed highest of all, and those who were poets wrote magnificent poems about the Nightingale in the wood.
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Some of these books once came to the Emperor. He sat in his golden chair and read and read,
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Faster (q = 84)
“What’s that?” exclaimed the Emperor. “I don't know the Nightingale at all! Is there such a bird in my empire and even in my garden? To think that I should have to learn such a thing from a book!”
“But the Nightingale is the best of all!” (not real harmonics, but not solid notes)
Thereupon he called his cavalier.
via sord.
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“There is said to be a wonderful bird here called a Nightingale. I command that he appear this evening and sing for me.”
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“I have never heard him mentioned,” said the cavalier, “I shall seek for him.”
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But no one whom he met had heard talk of the Nightingale.
“Tsing-pe” said the cavalier and
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col legno battuto (senza sord.)
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18 away he ran down the stairs.
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At last he met a poor little
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Slower 22
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kitchen girl who said: “The Nightingale? Yes indeed, I know him well. He can sing gloriously.
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Every evening I get leave to carry scraps from the table to my poor sick mother. When I rest in the
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“Little girl,” said the cavalier, “You will have permission to watch the Emperor dine if you will take us to the Nightingale.”
rit.
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wood, I hear the Nightingale sing, and then the tears come into my eyes and it is just as if my mother kissed me.”
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Faster (q = 70) 27
So all the courtiers went out in the wood where the Nightingale was accustomed to sing.
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Soon a cow began to moo.
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“Oh,” cried the Courtiers, “Now we have it.”
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“No, those are the cows mooing,” said the little kitchen girl.
ord.
(repeat until cue)
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Now the frogs in the marsh began to croak. col legno tratto
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“Glorious,” said the court poacher,
“It sounds just like
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church bells.”
“No, those are the frogs,” said the little kitchen girl,
“but soon, I think, we shall hear him.”