Daveda Karanas, mezzo-soprano Michael Ippolito, piano
A Charm of Lullabies, op.14 (1947) Benjamin Britten A Cradle Song (1913-1976)
The Highland Balou
Sephestia’s Lullaby A Charm
The Nurse’s Song
L’Invitation au Voyage (1870) Henri Duparc (1848-1933) Les Berceaux, op. 23, no. 1 (1879) Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) Berceuse d’Armorique (1914) Poldowski (Régine Wieniawski) (1879-1932)
Intermission
Three Moods of the Sea (1913) Ethel Smyth Requies (1858-1944) Before the Squall After Sunset
Death by Drowning (2024) Michael Ippolito From the Shore (b. 1985) The King of the Seas
Low-Tide
Sea Calm
Inland
The Waves
PROGRAM NOTES
by Daveda Karanas, 2025
“Sea Longing”
The theme of our recital explores the connection between the tenderness of lullabies and the vast, unpredictable nature of the sea. These two ideas create a journey that contrasts the comfort of familiar, safe moments with the unknown and uncontrollable Lullabies, often thought of as nurturing and soothing, take on deeper and more complex meanings in this program, revealing both warmth and unease The program reflects how moments of peace and intimacy exist alongside life’s challenges and uncertainties.
The first half of the program features lullabies with a range of emotional tones. Benjamin Britten’s A Charm of Lullabies moves beyond the traditional lullaby’s comforting nature, incorporating darker and more unsettling elements that hint at frustration, fear, and even warning. Henri Duparc’s L’invitation au voyage offers a dreamy escape to a serene, faraway place, providing a more calm but still mysterious sense of comfort Gabriel Fauré’s Les Berceaux and Poldowski’s Berceuse d’Armorique connect the cradle to the sea, using imagery of ships leaving the harbor to reflect the inevitability of departure and life’s uncertain journey
The second half focuses on the sea itself, with its power, beauty, and unpredictability Ethel Smyth’s Three Moods of the Sea captures its shifting emotions, from serene waters to turbulent storms, mirroring the emotional highs and lows of life. Our recital concludes with
PROGRAM NOTES
Michael Ippolito’s Death by Drowning, a world premiere song cycle that reflects on longing and mortality, set against the endless, everchanging backdrop of waves and the ocean Through this cycle, the sea becomes a refuge where, in the end, we all long to be, at rest.
Texts:
A Charm of Lullabies, Op. 41 – Britten
1. A Cradle Song (William Blake)
Sleep, sleep, beauty bright,
Dreaming o 'er the joys of night;
Sleep, sleep, in thy sleep
Little sorrows sit and weep.
Sweet babe, in thy face
Soft desires I can trace,
Secret joys and secret smiles,
Little pretty infant wiles
O! the cunning wiles that creep
In thy little heart asleep.
When thy little heart does wake
Then the dreadful lightnings break,
From thy cheek and from thy eye,
O'er the youthful harvests nigh.
Infant wiles and infant smiles
Heaven and Earth of peace beguiles.
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2. The Highland Balou (Robert Burns)
Hee Balou, my sweet wee Donald, Picture o ' the great Clanronald! Brawlie kens our wanton Chief What gat my young Highland thief. (Hee Balou!)
Leeze me on thy bonnie craigie! And thou live, thou'll steal a naigie, Travel the country thro' and thro' , and bring hame a Carlisle cow!
Thro' the Lawlands, o 'er the Border, Weel, my babie, may thou furder!
Herry the louns o ' the laigh Countrie, Syne to the Highlands hame to me!
3. Sephestia’s Lullaby (Robert Greene)
Weep not, my wanton, smile upon my knee; When thou art old there's grief enough for thee Mother's wag, pretty boy, Father's sorrow, father's joy; When thy father first did see Such a boy by him and me, He was glad, I was woe; Fortune changèd made him so, When he left his pretty boy, Last his sorrow, first his joy.
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Weep not, my wanton, smile upon my knee; When thou art old there's grief enough for thee.
The wanton smiled, father wept, Mother cried, baby leapt; More he crow'd, more we cried, Nature could not sorrow hide: He must go, he must kiss Child and mother, baby bliss, For he left his pretty boy, Father's sorrow, father's joy
Weep not, my wanton, smile upon my knee, When thou art old there's grief enough for thee.
4. A Charm (Thomas Randolph)
Quiet!
Sleep! or I will make Erinnys whip thee with a snake, And cruel Rhadamanthus take Thy body to the boiling lake, Where fire and brimstones never slake; Thy heart shall burn, thy head shall ache, And ev'ry joint about thee quake; And therefor dare not yet to wake!
Quiet, sleep!
Quiet, sleep!
Quiet!
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Quiet!
Sleep! or thou shalt see
The horrid hags of Tartary, Whose tresses ugly serpants be, And Cerberus shall bark at thee, And all the Furies that are three
The worst is called Tisiphone, Shall lash thee to eternity; And therefor sleep thou peacefully
Quiet, sleep!
Quiet, sleep!
Quiet!
5. The Nurse’s Song (John Phillip)
Lullaby baby, Lullaby baby,
Thy nurse will tend thee as duly as may be. Lullaby baby!
Be still, my sweett sweeting, no longer do cry; Sing lullaby baby, lullaby baby. Let dolours be fleeting, I fancy thee, I ... To rock and to lull thee I will not delay me.
Lullaby baby, Lullabylabylaby baby,
Thy nurse will tend thee as duly as may be Lullabylabylaby baby
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The gods be thy shield and comfort in need! The gods be thy shield and comfort in need!
Sing Lullaby baby, Lullabylaby baby
They give thee good fortune and well for to speed, And this to desire ... I will not delay me. This to desire ... I will not delay me.
Lullaby baby, Lullabylaby baby,
Thy nurse will tend thee as duly as may be. Lullabylabylabylaby baby.
PROGRAM NOTES
“L'invitation au voyage” – Duparc “Invitation to journey”
Text: Charles Baudelaire
Mon enfant, ma sœur,
Translation: Richard Stokes
My child, my sister, Songe à la douceur
D’aller là-bas vivre ensemble!
Aimer à loisir,
Think how sweet
To journey there and live together!
To love as we please, Aimer et mourir
Au pays qui te ressemble!
Les soleils mouillés
De ces ciels brouillés
Pour mon esprit ont les charmes
Si mystérieux
De tes traîtres yeux,
Brillant à travers leurs larmes
To love and die
In the land that is like you!
The watery suns
Of those hazy skies
Hold for my spirit
The same mysterious charms
As your treacherous eyes
Shining through their tears
Là, tout n ’est qu ’ordre et beauté, There-nothing but order and beauty dwell,
Luxe, calme et volupté!
Vois sur ces canaux
Dormir ces vaisseaux
Abundance, calm, and sensuous delight
See on those canals
Those vessels sleeping, Dont l’humeur est vagabonde; Vessels with a restless soul;
C’est pour assouvir
Ton moindre désir
To satisfy
Your slightest desire
Qu’ils viennent du bout du monde. They come from the ends of the earth.
-Les soleils couchants
Revêtent les champs,
The setting sunds
Clothe the fields, Les canaux, la ville entière, Canals and all the town
D’hyacinthe et d’or; With hyacinth and gold; Le monde s ’endort
The world falls asleep
Dans une chaude lumière. In a warm light.
PROGRAM NOTES
Là, tout n ’est qu ’ordre et beauté, There-nothing but order and beauty dwell
Luxe, calme et volupté!
Abundance, calm, and sensuous delight
“Les berceaux” – Faure “The Cradles”
Text: Sully Prudhomme
Translation: Richard Stokes
Le long du quai les grands vaisseaux, Along the quay the great ships,
Que la houle incline en silence, Listing silently with the surge, Ne prennent pas garde aux berceaux Pay no heed to the cradles Que la main des femmes balance. Rocked by women ’ s hands.
Mais viendra le jour des adieux, But the day of parting will come, Car il faut que les femmes pleurent, For it is decreed that women shall weep,
Et que les hommes curieux And that men with questioning spirits Tentent les horizons qui leurrent. Shall seek enticing horizons.
Et ce jour-là les grands vaisseaux, And on that day the great ships, Fuyant le port qui diminue, Leaving the dwindling harbour behind Sentent leur masse retenue Shall fell their hulls held back Par l’âme des lointains berceaux. By the soul of the distant cradles.
Dors, petit enfant, Sleep, little child, dans ton lit bien clos: in your soft bed: Dieu prenne en pitié les matelots! May God take pity on the sailors!
–Chante ta chanson, -Sing your song, chante bonne vieille! sing, old woman!
La lune se lève et la mer s’éveille The moon is rising and the sea is awakening
PROGRAM NOTES
Au pays du Froid, In that cold country, la boule des fiords the swell of the fjords
Chante sa berceuse en Sings its lullaby while berçant les morts. lulling the dead.
–Chante ta chanson, -Sing your song, chante bonne vieille! sing, old woman!
La lune se lève et la mer s’éveille. The moon is rising and the sea is awakening.
Dors, petit enfant, Sleep, little child, dans ton lit bien doux, in your soft bed
Car tu t’en iras comme For you will go away ils s ’ en vont tous. as they all go away.
–Chante ta chanson, -Sing your song, chante bonne vieille! sing, old woman!
La lune se lève et la mer s’éveille. The moon is rising and the sea is awakening.
Tes yeux ont déjà Your eyes already have the la couleur des flot, color of the waves
Dieu prenne en pitié les matelots! May God take pity on the sailors!
–Chante ta chanson, -Sing your song, chante bonne vieille! sing, old woman!
La lune se lève et la mer s’éveille The moon is rising and the sea is awakening
PROGRAM NOTES
Three Moods of the Sea – Smyth
Text by Arthur Symons
1. Requies
O is it death or life that sounds Like something strangely known In this subsiding out of strife, This low sea monotone?
A sound scarce heard through sleep Murmurs as the August bees That fill the forest hollows deep About the roots of trees
O is it death or life, or is it Hope or memory
That quiets all things with this breath Of the eternal sea?
2. Before the Squall
The wind is rising on the sea, The windy white foam dancers leap; And the sea moans uneasily, And turns to sleep, and cannot sleep.
Ridge after rocky ridge uplifts wild hands, And hammers at the land, Scatters in liquid dust, and drifts To death among the dusty sand.
On the horizon's nearing line, Where the sky rests a visible wall,
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Grey in the offing I divine
The sails that fly before a squall
3. After Sunset
The sea lies quieted beneath The after sunset flush
That leaves upon the heap'd grey clouds
The grapes faint purple blush.
Pale, from a little space in heaven
Of delicate ivory
The sickle moon and one gold star
Look down upon the sea.
Death by Drowning – Ippolito
1. From the Shore (Carl Sandburg)
A lone gray bird, Dim-dipping, far-flying, Alone in the shadows and grandeurs and tumults Of night and the sea And the stars and storms.
Out over the darkness it wavers and hovers, Out into the gloom it swings and batters, Out into the wind and the rain and the vast, Out into the pit of a great black world, Where fogs are at battle, sky-driven, sea-blown, Love of mist and rapture of flight, Glories of chance and hazards of death
On its eager and palpitant wings
PROGRAM NOTES
Out into the deep of the great dark world, Beyond the long borders where foam and drift Of the sundering waves are lost and gone On the tides that plunge and rear and crumble.
2. The King of the Seas (Stephen Crane)
The Ocean said to me once, "Look!
Yonder on the shore Is a woman, weeping
I have watched her. Go you and tell her this–Her lover I have laid In cool green hall
There is wealth of golden sand And pillars, coral-red; Two white fish stand guard at his bier.
Tell her this And more–
That the king of the seas Weeps too, old, helpless man. The bustling Fates
Heap his hands with corpses Until he stands like a child With surplus of toys "
PROGRAM NOTES
3. Low-Tide (Edna St. Vincent Millay)
These wet rocks where the tide has been, Barnacled white and weeded brown And slimed beneath to a beautiful green, These wet rocks where the tide went down Will show again when the tide is high Faint and perilous, far from shore, No place to dream, but a place to die, The bottom of the sea once more. There was a child that wandered through A giant's empty house all day, House full of wonderful things and new, But no fit place for a child to play
4. Sea Calm (Langston Hughes)
How still, How strangely still The water is today It is not good For water
To be so still that way.
5. Inland (Edna St Vincent Millay)
People that build their houses inland, People that buy a plot of ground Shaped like a house, and build a house there, Far from the sea-board, far from the sound
Of water sucking the hollow ledges, Tons of water striking the shore, What do they long for, as I long for One salt smell of the sea once more?
PROGRAM NOTES
People the waves have not awakened, Spanking the boats at the harbour's head, What do they long for, as I long for, Starting up in my inland bed,
Beating the narrow walls, and finding Neither a window nor a door, Screaming to God for death by drowning, One salt taste of the sea once more?
6. The Waves (Virginia Woolf)[1]
I see nothing We may sink and settle on the waves The sea will drum in my ears. The white petals will be darkened with sea water. They will float for a moment and then sink. Rolling over the waves will shoulder me under Everything falls in a tremendous shower, dissolving me
d e b u t s i n c l u d e K u n d r y i n P a r s i f a l a t L y r i c O p e r a o f
C h i c a g o , J e ž i b a b a i n R u s a l k a a t A r i z o n a O p e r a , B r a n g ä n e i n T r i s t a n u n d I s o l d e a t C a n a d i a n O p e r a
C o m p a n y , A m n e r i s i n A i d a a t A r i z o n a O p e r a , A z u c e n a
i n I l T r o v a t o r e a t O p e r a G r a n d R a p i d s , a n d B o t h
W a l t r a u t e a n d S e c o n d N o r n i n G ö t t e r d ä m m e r u n g a t
S a n F r a n c i s c o O p e r a S h e m a d e h e r G e r m a n d e b u t a s
M a r f a i n K h o v a n s h c h i n a a t O p e r F r a n k f u r t a n d h e r
E u r o p e a n d e b u t a s J u d i t i n B l u e b e a r d ’ s C a s t l e a t
M a g g i o M u s i c a l e F i o r e n t i n o . M s . K a r a n a s i s c o m m i t t e d
t o p e r f o r m i n g n e w a n d u n k n o w n w o r k s , p a r t i c u l a r l y i n
r e c i t a l a n d o r c h e s t r a l s e t t i n g s , w h e r e s h e p r e m i e r e s
c o m p o s i t i o n s a n d c o l l a b o r a t e s w i t h c o m p o s e r s t o
b r i n g b o l d , c o n t e m p o r a r y m u s i c t o t h e s t a g e . A 2 0 0 8
G r a n d P r i z e W i n n e r o f t h e M e t r o p o l i t a n O p e r a
N a t i o n a l C o u n c i l A u d i t i o n s ( n o w L a f f o n t C o m p e t i t i o n ) ,
M s K a r a n a s c o n t i n u e s t o e n j o y a d i s t i n g u i s h e d c a r e e r
a s a c e l e b r a t e d a r t i s t a n d e d u c a t o r .
About the Performers
P r a i s e d b y t h e N e w Y o r k T i m e s f o r h i s “ p o l i s h e d
o r c h e s t r a t i o n ” t h a t “ g l i t t e r s , f r o m b i g - s h o u l d e r s b r a s s
t o e e r i l y f l o a t i n g s t r i n g s , ” M i c h a e l I p p o l i t o ’ s m u s i c
h a s b e e n p e r f o r m e d b y l e a d i n g m u s i c i a n s i n v e n u e s
a r o u n d t h e w o r l d . D r a w i n g o n a r i c h m u s i c a l
b a c k g r o u n d o f c l a s s i c a l a n d f o l k m u s i c , a n d t a k i n g
i n s p i r a t i o n f r o m v i s u a l a r t , l i t e r a t u r e a n d o t h e r a r t
f o r m s , I p p o l i t o h a s f o r g e d a d i s t i n c t i v e m u s i c a l v o i c e
i n a b o d y o f w o r k s p a n n i n g o r c h e s t r a l , c h a m b e r a n d
v o c a l m u s i c . H i s o r c h e s t r a l m u s i c h a s b e e n c o n d u c t e d b y E d o d e
W a a r t , M a r i n A l s o p , M i c h a e l F r a n c i s a n d D a v i d A l a n
M i l l e r i n p e r f o r m a n c e s b y t h e C h i c a g o S y m p h o n y
O r c h e s t r a , t h e M i l w a u k e e S y m p h o n y O r c h e s t r a , t h e
S a n D i e g o S y m p h o n y O r c h e s t r a , t h e F l o r i d a O r c h e s t r a ,
t h e C a b r i l l o F e s t i v a l O r c h e s t r a , t h e A l b a n y S y m p h o n y
O r c h e s t r a a n d t h e J u i l l i a r d O r c h e s t r a . H i s c h a m b e r
m u s i c h a s b e e n p e r f o r m e d b y t h e M i r o Q u a r t e t ,
A t t a c c a Q u a r t e t , a n d A l t i u s Q u a r t e t , a m o n g o t h e r s . H e
h a s r e c e i v e d c o m m i s s i o n s f r o m n u m e r o u s
o r g a n i z a t i o n s , i n c l u d i n g C a r n e g i e H a l l , C h a m b e r M u s i c
A m e r i c a , a n d t h e N e w Y o r k C h o r e o g r a p h i c I n s t i t u t e . I p p o l i t o i s c u r r e n t l y A s s o c i a t e P r o f e s s o r o f
C o m p o s i t i o n a t T e x a s S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y . H e s t u d i e d w i t h J o h n C o r i g l i a n o a t T h e J u i l l i a r d S c h o o l a n d w i t h
J o e l H o f f m a n a n d M i c h a e l F i d a y a t t h e C i n c i n n a t i
C o l l e g e - C o n s e r v a t o r y o f M u s i c .
