Queensland Art Song Festival
Masterclass Presentation Concert
Featuring student duos from:
- The University of Queensland’s School of Music
- Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University (QCGU)
- Collaborating pianist from University of Michigan
Guest Faculty: Benjamin Appl and Sholto Kynoch.
Sunday 30 July | Ian Hanger Recital Hall
Duo 1: Beth Allen 3rd year and Mac Johnson 1st year
The University of Queensland’s School of Music
Songs: Not all my Torments (Purcell), Litanei auf das Fest Allerseelan (Schubert),
Liebesbriefchen (Korngold)
English Text/Translations:
Not all my Torments
Not all my torments can your pity move, Your scorn increases with my love.
Yet to the grave I will my sorrow bear; I love, tho' I despair.
Litanei auf das Fest Allerseelan (Litany for the Feast of All Souls)
May all souls rest in peace; those whose fearful torment is past; those whose sweet dreams are over; those sated with life, those barely born, who have left this world:
may all souls rest in peace!
The souls of girls in love, whose tears are without number, who, abandoned by a faithless lover, rejected the blind world. May all who have departed hence, may all souls rest in peace!
And those who never smiled at the sun, who lay awake beneath the moon on beds of thorns, so that they might one day see God face to face in the pure light of heaven: may all who have departed hence, may all souls rest in peace!
©Richard Wigmore, author of Schubert: The Complete Song Texts (Schirmer Books), provided via Oxford International Song Festival (www.Oxford song.org).
Liebesbriefchen (Billet-doux)
Far from you I think of you, Dear child.
I am lonely, But my love Has stayed true.
I think Only of you, O peace of my heart.
I always see, Fair and bright, Your face.
And you sound Within me Always.
It is you alone Who brightens For me the world.
I am yours, My sweetest, Think of me! (Translation © Richard Stokes author of: The Book of Lieder (Faber); The Complete Songs of Hugo Wolf (Faber), provided via Oxford International Song Festival (www.Oxford song.org).
Duo 2: Connor Willmore 5th year and Saxon Mills-Booth 2nd year The University of Queensland’s School of Music
Songs: Sea Mist (Alan Tregaskis), Abends am Strand (Schumann), Trockne Blumen
English Text/Translations:
Sea Mist
Comes fog and mist, And all the sails hang limp. The ship is the core of a pearl, We are enclosed!
Lord God! The mist!
We have no need of it here on your ocean sea For we are already lost!
It has its own mysterious sound
And you call the softest murmur of a girl’s lips speech Then this is just one continuous whisper whispering, whispering
Here fine gold hair upon my wrist grows pearls
Lord God! The mist
We already lost
Abends am Strand (Evening by the Sea)
We sat by the fisherman’s house, And gazed out at the sea; The evening mists gathered And lifted into the sky.
In the lighthouse
The lights were gradually lit, And in the far distance
Another ship was sighted.
We talked of storm and shipwreck, Of the sailor and how he lives, Of his life between sky and water, Between fear and joy.
We talked of distant shores, Of South and of North, And of the strange people
And strange customs there.
By the Ganges it’s fragrant and sunny, And huge trees blossom there, And handsome, quiet people Kneel before the lotus flowers.
In Lapland there are dirty people, Flat-headed, big-mouthed, small; They squat round fires, and fry Fish, and squeak and scream.
Earnestly the girls listened, At last no one spoke any more; The ship was no more to be sighted; It was growing far too dark.
Trockne Blumen (Withered Flowers)
All you flowers that she gave to me, you shall be laid with me in the grave.
How sorrowfully you all look at me, as though you knew what was happening to me!
All you flowers, how faded and pale you are! All you flowers, why are you so moist?
Alas, tears will not create the green of May, nor make dead love bloom anew.
Spring will come, and winter will pass, and flowers will grow in the grass.
And flowers will lie
Translation © Richard Stokes author of: The Book of Lieder (Faber); The Complete Songs of Hugo Wolf (Faber), provided via Oxford International Song Festival (www.Oxford song.org).on my grave –all the flowers that she gave me.
And when she walks past that mound and ponders in her heart, ‘His love was true.’
Then, all you flowers, come forth, come forth! May is here, winter is over!
©Richard Wigmore, author of Schubert: The Complete Song Texts (Schirmer Books), provided via Oxford International Song Festival (www.Oxford song.org).
Duo 3: Sarah Hubbard, Postgrad QCGU and Muse Ye, DMA University of Michigan
Songs: Rastlose Liebe (Schubert), Song (Anthony Ritchie), Schlagende Herzen (Strauss)
English Translations:
Rastlose Liebe (Restless Love)
Into the snow, the rain, and the wind, through steamy ravines, through mists, onwards, ever onwards! Without respite!
I would sooner fight my way through suffering than endure so much of life’s joy. This affection of one heart for another, ah, how strangely it creates pain!
How shall I flee? Into the forest?
It is all in vain!
Crown of life, happiness without peace –this, O love, is you!Love, thou art this!
©Richard Wigmore, author of Schubert: The Complete Song Texts (Schirmer Books), provided via Oxford International Song Festival (www.Oxford song.org).
Song
My love came though the city
And they did not know him
With his beard and his eyes and his gentle hands
For he was a working man
My love stood on the lakeshore
And spoke to the people there
And the fish in the water forgot to swim
And the birds were quiet in the air
‘Truth’ he said, ‘Love’ he said
But his purest word was ‘Mercy’
And the fisherman left their boats
And came To share his poverty
My love was taken before the judge
And they nailed him on a tree
With his strong face and long brown hair
And the whiteness of his body
‘Truth’ he said, ‘Love’ he said But his purest word was ‘Mercy’ And the blood ran down And the sun went dark
For the lack of his company
My Love was only a working man And now he is God on high; I have left my books and my bed and my house, To follow him till I die
‘Truth’ he said, ‘Love’ he said But his purest word was ‘Mercy’
Flowers and candles I bring to him
And no one is kinder than he
Schlagende Herzen (Beating hearts)
A boy was walking across meadows and fields, Pit-a-pat went his heart, A golden ring gleamed on his finger, Pit-a-pat went his heart.
‘O meadows, O fields, How fair you are!
O mountains, O valleys, How fair!
How good you are, how fair you are, You golden sun in heaven above!’
Pit-a-pat went his heart.
The boy hurried on with happy steps, Pit-a-pat went his heart, Took with him many a laughing flower, Pit-a-pat went his heart.
‘Over meadows and fields
A spring wind blows, Over mountains and woods
A spring wind blows.
A spring wind is blowing in my heart, Driving me to you, softly and gently!’
Pit-a-pat went his heart.
Between meadows and fields a young girl stood, Pit-a-pat went her heart, She shaded her eyes with her hand as she gazed, Pit-a-pat went her heart.
‘Over meadows and fields, Over mountains and woods, To me, to me he’s hurrying!
Ah! would he were with me, with me already!’
Pit-a-pat went her heart.
Translation © Richard Stokes author of: The Book of Lieder (Faber); The Complete Songs of Hugo Wolf (Faber), provided via Oxford International Song Festival (www.Oxford song.org).
Duo 4: Jenson White 2nd year and Jacob Fowler 2nd year
The University of Queensland’s School of Music
Songs: An Chloe (Mozart), Der Jüngling an der Quelle (Schubert), Du bist die Ruh (Schubert)
English Text/Translation:
An Chloe (To Chloe)
When love looks out of your blue, Bright and open eyes, And the joy of gazing into them Causes my heart to throb and glow; And I hold you and kiss
Your rosy cheeks warm, Sweet girl and clasp
You trembling in my arms,
Sweet girl, sweet girl, and press
You firmly to my breast, Where until my dying moment
I shall hold you tight –
My ecstatic gaze is blurred
By a sombre cloud; And I sit then exhausted, But blissful, by your side.
Translation © Richard Stokes author of: The Book of Lieder (Faber); The Complete Songs of Hugo Wolf (Faber), provided via Oxford International Song Festival (www.Oxford song.org).
Der Jüngling an der Quelle (The Youth by the Spring)
Softly rippling brook, swaying, whispering poplars, your slumbrous murmur awakens only love.
I sought consolation in you, wishing to forget her, she who is so aloof. But alas, the leaves and the brook sigh for you, Louise!
©Richard Wigmore, author of Schubert: The Complete Song Texts (Schirmer Books), provided via Oxford International Song Festival (www.Oxford song.org).
Du bist die Ruh (You are repose)
You are repose
And gentle peace,
You are longing
And what stills it.
I pledge to you
Full of joy and pain
As a dwelling here
My eyes and heart.
Come in to me, And softly close The gate
Behind you.
Drive other pain
From this breast!
Let my heart be filled
With your joy.
This temple of my eyes Is lit
By your radiance alone, O fill it utterly.
Translation © Richard Stokes author of: The Book of Lieder (Faber); The Complete Songs of Hugo Wolf (Faber), provided via Oxford International Song Festival (www.Oxford song.org).
Duo 5: Jack Bolton 4th year QCGU and Samuel Choi Postgrad QCGU (just graduated)
Song: The White Owl (Lewis Lavater), Wanderer’s Nachtlied (Schubert), Prometheus (Schubert)
English Text/Translations:
The White Owl
When cats run home, and light is come, The dew is cold upon the ground, And the far off stream, the stream is dumb, And the wiring sail goes round and round, The whirling sail goes round, The whirling sail goes round
Alone and warming his five wits, The white owl in the belfry sits, Alone and warming his five wits, The white owl in the belfry sits, The white owl in the belfry sits alone.
When merry milkmaids click the latch And rarely smells the new mown hay And cook hath sung beneath the thatch Twice or thrice the round delay His round delay
Alone and warming his five wits, The white owl in the belfry sits, Alone and warming his five wits, The white owl in the belfry sits, The white owl in the belfry sits alone.
Wanderer’s Nachtlied II (Wanderer’s night song 2) Over every mountain-top Lies peace, In every tree-top You scarcely feel A breath of wind; The little birds are hushed in the wood. Wait, soon you too Will be at peace.
©Richard Wigmore, author of Schubert: The Complete Song Texts (Schirmer Books), provided via Oxford International Song Festival (www.Oxford song.org).
Prometheus (Prometheus)
Cover your heaven, Zeus,
With cloudy vapours, And test your strength, like a boy
Beheading thistles, On oaks and mountain peaks; Yet you must leave My earth alone,
And my hut you did not build, And my hearth, Whose fire
You envy me.
I know nothing more paltry
Beneath the sun than you, gods!
Meagrely you nourish
Your majesty
On levied offerings
And the breath of prayer, And would starve, were Not children and beggars
Optimistic fools.
When I was a child, Not knowing which way to turn, I raise my misguided eyes
To the sun, as if above it there were An ear to hear my lament, A heart like mine,
To pity me in my anguish.
Who helped me
Withstand the Titans’ insolence?
Who saved me from death
And slavery?
Did you not accomplish all this yourself, Sacred glowing heart?
And did you not – young, innocent, Deceived – glow with gratitude for your deliverance
To that slumber in the skies?
I honour you? Why?
Did you ever soothe the anguish
That weighed me down?
Did you ever dry my tears
When I was terrified?
Was I not forged into manhood
By all-powerful Time
And everlasting Fate, My masters and yours?
Did you suppose
I should hate life, Flee into the wilderness,
Because not all
My blossoming dreams bore fruit? Here I sit, making men In my own image, A race that shall be like me, That shall suffer, weep, Know joy and delight, And ignore you As I do!
©Richard Wigmore, author of Schubert: The Complete Song Texts (Schirmer Books), provided via Oxford International Song Festival (www.Oxford song.org).
Duo 6: Gianna Gutelli Postgrad QCGU 2024 & Reuben Tsang 2nd year QCGU
Song: Brown Bird (John Villaume), Heiss mich nicht reden (Schubert), Ganymed (Schubert)
English Text/Translations:
Brown Bird
Brown bird with silver eyes, Fly down and teach me to sing. I am alone I will not touch you or move
I am only thirsty for love And the clear stream of your voice And the brown curve of your wing And the cold of your silver eyes.
Yet tho’ I hung my head And did not look or move He felt my thirst and was gone
Though not a word I said He would not give me a song. My heart sounded too strong; Too desert looked my love
Heiss mich nicht reden “Lied der Mignon” (Do not bid me speak ('Mignon's Song)
Do not bid me speak; bid me be silent, for my duty is to keep my secret; I long to reveal my whole soul to you, but fate does not permit it.
At the appointed time the sun in its course drives away the dark night, and day must break; the hard rock opens its bosom and ungrudgingly bestows on the earth its deep-hidden springs.
Every man seeks peace in the arms of a friend; there the heart can pour out its sorrows. But an oath seals my lips, and only a god can open them.
©Richard Wigmore, author of Schubert: The Complete Song Texts (Schirmer Books), provided via Oxford International Song Festival (www.Oxford song.org).
Ganymed (Ganymede)
How your glow envelops me in the morning radiance, spring, my beloved! With love’s thousandfold joy the hallowed sensation of your eternal warmth floods my heart, infinite beauty! O that I might clasp you in my arms!
Ah, on your breast I lie languishing, and your flowers, your grass press close to my heart. You cool the burning thirst within my breast, sweet morning breeze, as the nightingale calls tenderly to me from the misty valley. I come, I come! But whither? Ah, whither?
Upwards! Strive upwards! The clouds drift down, yielding to yearning love, to me, to me! In your lap, upwards, embracing and embraced! Upwards to your bosom, all-loving Father! (©Richard Wigmore, author of Schubert: The Complete Song Texts (Schirmer Books), provided via Oxford International Song Festival (www.Oxford song.org).)
Across the week, these student duos have had the honour and privilege of participating in a masterclass series with internationally leading baritone, Benjamin Appl and esteemed English pianist and Artistic Director of the Oxford International Song Festival, Sholto Kynoch. Benjamin and Sholto have journeyed to Queensland specifically to share their immense knowledge and expertise in the interpretation and performance of Art Song. Throughout the week, the students have learned about the importance of listening to one another, deep knowledge of text for both singer and pianist, addressed technical challenges, received in-depth carrier guidance, and enjoyed embracing the freedom of personal interpretation that Art Song provides. The Queensland Art Song Festival is immensely grateful to these two formidable, passionate, and generous artists for joining us. QASF would also like to thank the Queensland Conservatorium, University of Queensland’s School of Music, Brisbane City Council, BDO, and Henkell Brothers. And finally, the Festival would like to thank the duos themselves for their openness, patience, and humility throughout the week.
