ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Natalie Harrison, Soprano
Natalie is a senior music education major with a concentration in voice at West Chester University. During her time here, Natalie has participated in the mellophone section of the Incomparable Golden Ram Marching Band and is an active brother of the National Honorary Band Fraternity Kappa Kappa Psi. She is also the current music director of the acapella group “The Suspensions”. Outside of school, she has a black belt in karate, six years of tap experience, and has worked for a multitude of theater camps back home. Natalie comes from a family of teachers and cannot wait to follow in their footsteps.
Unadonnaaquindicianni,WolfgangAmadeusMozart(1756-1791)
Così Fan Tutte was the last opera of Mozart’s three collaborations with Lorenzo Da Ponte. The opera stars officers Ferrando and Guglielmo who are engaged to sisters Dorabella and Fiordiligi. Don Alfonso makes a bet with the two men that their fiancées will not be faithful, so the men disguise themselves as strangers and attempt to seduce the sisters. After the sisters reject them, Don Alfonso recruits Despina to help him win the bet. Despina performs this aria in the beginning of act II, while she encourages the sisters to accept the men’s advances. The sisters agree that Despina is correct and admit their love for the strangers.
Ständchen,JohannesBrahms(1833-1897)
“Ständchen” is the first song in Brahms’ collection Fünf Lieder, Op. 106 (Five Songs, Op. 106). Published in 1888, it is a set for voice and piano. The collection begins with happy and nostalgic songs and ends with darker and bitter songs. This song is set to a poem by Franz Kugler about three students serenading a sleeping lover.
Erist’s,RobertSchumann(1810-1856)
“Er Ist’s” is the twenty-fourth song in Robert Schumann’s Op. 79, "Lieder-Album für die Jugend" (Songbook for the Young). This collection was composed in 1849 and contains twenty-nine songs for children designed to be educational and engaging. The songs cover a wide range of themes, and this song addresses spring. Based on the well-known German poem by Eduard Morike, this song personifies spring during the arrival of the season.
Erist’s,HugoWolf(1860-1903)
Hugo Wolf also composed a song to the Eduard Morike poem and published it in 1889. This song was written during Wolf’s rediscovery of Morike’s poetry which led to a “miracle year” of song writing for Wolf. The miracle year took place in 1888 and consists of collections such as Mörike-Lieder: 53 songs to the poetry of Eduard Mörike, Eichendorff-Lieder: 20 songs to the poetry of Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff. and Goethe-Lieder: 51 songs to the poetry of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
NuitD’étoiles,ClaudeDebussy(1862-1918)
Written when he was eighteen, “Nuit d’etoiles” was Claude Debussy’s first published work. Composed in 1880 and written in 1882, it is a vocal work based on a poem by French writer Théodore de Banville. The piano accompaniment imitates the sound of a lyre while the singer dreams of past love and describes the image of a starry night.
LaDivade“l’Empire”,ErikSatie(1866-1925)
Composed in 1904, “La Diva de l’Empire” is one of Satie’s cabaret songs from the early 1900s. These songs were written while Satie was suffering from poverty and questioning his music direction. This song references a diva who is an unnamed performer whose loyalty follows “snobs”. Satie wrote this piece for Paulette Darty who was nicknamed the “Queen of the Slow Waltz”.
WishingYouWereSomehowHereAgain,AndrewLloydWebber(b. 1948)
Performed in act II, Christine expresses her grief and longing for her late father. She visits her father’s grave after the Phantom writes an opera and insists that Christine plays the lead role. The Phantom of the Opera opened on Broadway in 1988 and won Best Musical as well as six other Tony Awards that year. Running for over 35 years, it became the longest running show on Broadway with its final performance in 2023.
Coyotes,RickyIanGordon(b. 1956)
“Coyotes is a part of the collection A Horse with Wings, a 21-song collection written for medium-high voice and piano. Released in 2008, it is the 11th song of the set. Gordon was inspired by his love of poetry while writing this collection. “Coyotes” was written to a poem by Ray Underwood who was a friend of Gordon’s who passed away during the AIDS epidemic. The lyrics describe longing and lost love.
PoorWanderingOne,W.S.Gilbert/ArthurSullivan(1836-1911/1842-1900)
The Pirates of Penzance was written as a parody to traditional operas. It was a comedic opera and premiered in 1879. The show stars Fred who has just turned 21 and therefore has finished his apprenticeship with a band of pirates. He meets the daughters of Major-General Stanley and instantly falls in love with Mabel, the youngest daughter. Mabel sings “Poor Wandering One” to Fred as an expression of her feelings for him. It is then revealed that Fred was born on a leap day and will not have his 21st birthday for another 63 years. Fred honors his bond and returns to the pirates while Mabel agrees to wait for him. It is later revealed that Fred was supposed to apprentice a pilot not a pirate, and Fred and Mabel are married.
PeasinaPod,ScottFrankel(b. 1963)
Grey Gardens opened on Broadway in 2006 and closed in 2007. It is based on the 1975 documentary that tales the tale of a mother and her daughter, “Big Edie” and “Little Edie”. “Peas in a Pod” is sung in act I and describes the inseparable bond between the two women. Act I is a flash back to Little Edie’s engagement party, while act II takes place 32 years late in the family’s decaying mansion. The musical follows the women a they face their past and their relationship with each other.
UNA DONNA QUINDICI ANNI
Una donna a quindici anni
Dèe saper ogni gran moda, Dove il diavolo ha la coda, Cosa è bene e mal cos'è.
Dèe saper le maliziette
Che innamorano gli amanti, Finger riso, finger pianti, Inventar i bei perché.
Dèe in un momento
Dar retta a cento; Colle pupille
Parlar con mille;
Dar speme a tutti, Sien belli o brutti;
Saper nascondersi
Senza confondersi;
Senza arrossire
Saper mentire;
E, qual regina
Dall'alto soglio, Col posso e voglio Farsi ubbidir.
Par ch'abbian gusto
Di tal dottrina.
Viva Despina
Che sa servir!
STÄNDCHEN
Der Mond steht über dem Berge, So recht für verliebte Leut; Im Garten rieselt ein Brunnen, Sonst Stille weit und breit.
Neben der Mauer, im Schatten, Da stehn der Studenten drei Mit Flöt’ und Geig’ und Zither, Und singen und spielen dabei.
Die Klänge schleichen der Schönsten Sacht in den Traum hinein, Sie schaut den blonden Geliebten Und lispelt: Vergiß nicht mein!
At fifteen a woman
Should know the ways of the world, Where the devil keeps his tail, What's right and what is wrong. She should know the wiles That ensnare lovers, How to feign laughter or tears
And to make up good excuses.
At one and the same moment
She must listen to a hundred
But speak with her eyes
To a thousand, Hold out hope to all, Be they handsome or plain, Know how to hide things Without getting flustered, Know how to tell lies Without ever blushing.
And, like a queen
On her lofty throne, Get her own way With I can and I will It seems they're taking To this doctrine; Hooray for Despina, She knows how to do it!
The moon shines over the mountain, Just right for the people in love; A fountain purls in the garden –Otherwise silence far and wide.
By the wall in the shadows, Three students stand With flute and fiddle and zither, And sing and play.
The sound steals softly into the dreams Of the loveliest of girls, She sees her fair-headed lover And whispers “Remember me.”
ER IST'S
Frühling lässt sein blaues Band
Wieder flattern durch die Lüfte; Süße, wohlbekannte Düfte
Streifen ahnungsvoll das Land.
Veilchen träumen schon, Wollen balde kommen.
Horch, ein Harfenton!
Frühling, ja du bist’s!
Dich hab ich vernommen!
NUIT D‘ÉTOILES
Nuit d’étoiles, Sous tes voiles,
Sous ta brise et tes parfums, Triste lyre
Qui soupire, Je rêve aux amours défunts.
La sereine mélancolie
Vient éclore au fond de mon cœur, Et j’entends l’âme de ma mie
Tressaillir dans le bois rêveur.
Je revois à notre Fontaine
Tes regards bleus comme les cieux;
Cette rose, c’est ton haleine, Et ces étoiles sont tes yeux.
LA DIVA DE L’EMPIRE
Sous le grand chapeau Greenaway, Mettant l'éclat d'un sourire, D'un rire charmant et frais
De baby étonné qui soupire, Little girl aux yeux veloutés,
C'est la Diva de l'Empire.
C'est la rein' dont s'éprennent
Les gentlemen
Et tous les dandys
De Piccadilly.
Dans un seul "yes" elle mettant de douceur
Que tous les snobs en gilet à coeur, L'accueillant des hourras frénétiques, Sur la scène lancent des gerbes de fleurs, Sans remarquer le rire narquois
De son joli minois.
Spring is floating its blue banner On the breezes again; Sweet, well-remembered scents Drift portentously across the land.
Violets, already dreaming, Will soon begin to bloom. Listen, the sound of a harp! Spring, that must be you! It’s you I’ve heard!
Text by Eduard Morike (1804-1875)
Night of stars,
Beneath your veils, beneath your breeze and fragrance, Sad lyre
That sighs, I dream of bygone loves.
Serene melancholy
Now blooms deep in my heart, And I hear the soul of my love Quiver in the dreaming woods.
Once more at our fountain I see Your eyes as blue as the sky; This rose is your breath
And these stars are your eyes.
Text by Théodore de Banville (1823-1891)
Beneath her large Greenaway hat, Putting on her dazzling smile, The fresh and charming laugh
Of a wide-eyed sighing babe, A little girl with velvet eyesShe's the Diva of the Empire, She's the queen they're smitten with,
The gentlemen
And all the dandies
Of Piccadilly.
She invests a single 'Yes' with such sweetness, That all the fancy-waistcoated snobs
Welcoming her with frenzied cheers, Hurl bouquets on the stage, Without observing the wily smile
On her pretty face.
Elle danse presque automatiquement
Et soulève, oh très pudiquement, Ses jolis dessous de fanfreluches, De ses jambes montrant le frétillement.
C'est à la fois très très innocent
Et très très excitant.
WISHING YOU WERE SOMEHOW HERE AGAIN
She dances almost mechanically
And lifts - Oh! so modestly –
Her pretty petticoat edged with flounces, To reveal her wriggling legs.
It is very, very innocent And very, very exciting too.
You were once my one companion, you were all that mattered. You were once a friend and father, then my world was shattered. Wishing you were somehow here again, wishing you were somehow near; sometimes it seemed if I just dreamed, somehow you would be here. Wishing I could hear your voice again, knowing that I never would, dreaming of you won't help me to do all that you dreamed I could.
Passing bells and sculpted angels, cold and monumental, seem for you the wrong companions; you were warm and gentle
Too many years fighting back tears, why can't the past just die?
Wishing you were somehow here again, knowing we must say goodbye
Try to forgive, teach me to live, give me the strength to try
No more memories, no more silent tears, no more gazing across the wasted years Help me say goodbye
COYOTES
I understand you coyotes, I understand the song you croon. I never did before, before I hungered for his kisses underneath an amber moon. Oh how I loathe you coyotes, and everything you know of me. You sing of my demise, that laughing in your eyes turns all my love to bitter mockery,
yes, coyotes, you tell of all that I am dreaming of. Yes, coyotes, you tell of these fools fool enough to love. Laugh on, laugh on you wild coyotes, with angels on your razor backs who tell me not to stay and beckon me away, to run the ridges with your frenzied packs
No man may own my soul from off this frozen knoll.
I’ll scream it till I turn that moon to wax.
Ah Ah Ah!
Text by Ray Underwood (1953-1993)
Poor wand’ring one! Tho’ thou hast surely stray’d, Take heart of grace, Thy steps retrace, Poor wand’ring one! Poor wand’ring one!
If such poor love as mine can help thee find True piece of mind Why, take it, it is thine!
Take heart, no danger low’rs; Take any heart but ours!
Take heart, fair days will shine; Take any heart take mine!
Ah! Ah! Ah!
Poor wand’ring one! Tho’ thou hast surely stray’d, Take heart of grace, Thy steps retrace, Poor wand’ring one! Poor wand’ring one! Ah, ah! Ah, ah, ah!
Fair days will shine, Take heart!
Take any heart but ours!
Take mine! Take heart! Take mine!
Take heart, no danger low’rs; Take any heart but ours!
Take heart, Ah! Ah!
Take any heart but ours, Take heart!
PEAS IN A POD
Given our amazing similarities, we could be a plate of eggs and ham. A pair of canaries, I shadow you like Mary’s lamb.
Physically a few discreet disparities ought to keep us happy as…happy as…as a clam. Why fight it lady? Our star is in ascendance!
Make me your matey and I’ll give you my independence.
We’re a bowl of peaches and cream, the Dodgers and Brooklyn, a permanent team. India and Ghandi, Dagwood and his Blondie, two peas in a pod.
We’re an act like Crosby and Hope, a rose complexion and Ivory soap. Pip and Miss Estella, Hedda and Louella, two peas in a pod.
We stick together like a cushion and pins. Birds of a feather, I’d say Siamese twins.
Ever aftering where we will build a cozy retreat which no nosy neighbors can see from the street. What need we Manhattan? Just us and a cat in a cottage on Cape Cod for two please, two peas in a pod. If by our devotion nature gets the notion to send a gift from God, Send two please, say “koot-chee koo,” cuties in pink and blue. Two please, two peas in a pod, two peas in a pod, two peas in a pod.