Overture to "The Magic Flute"
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Mozart displayed, in his penultimate opera, not only his view of the human condition (the sacredness of Sarastro and his minions alongside the "profane" Papageno and Papagena) but also the aspiration we all have for a nobler and meaningful life--represented by the young lovers, Tamino and Pamina. On a still different level, Mozart's musical erudition and facility is expressed by the magnificent fugati in the exposition and development of this brilliant overture. Masonically, there are the five E-flat major chords which precede the slow introduction--five in this instance, and, midway through the overture, a 3 x 3 repetition in the key of B-flat major. (The numbers 5 and 9 have--we are told--special, mystic Masonic significance). Not the least of our joys (and Mozart's felicities) are the chattering, stuttering Papageno/-gena motives buried within the contrapuntal complexities of the development. 

Suite for String Orchestra: "Capriol"
Peter Warlock (1894-1930)

Peter Warlock was not who he said he was, nor is his suite, "Capriol", everything he intimated on the flyleaf of his score and on its movement headings. "Warlock" was the pseudonym of Philip Heseltine; Capriol was one the protagonists of a dissertation entitled "Orchesography", dated 1588, in which a mentor instructs his interlocutor (Capriol by name) in the intricacies of 16th century dance - choreographically as well as musically. Thus we have a "Basse Danse", "Mattachins", "Pieds-en-l'air", etc., clothed in Warlock/Heseltine's felicitous early-20th century harmonizations. Friend and biographer of Frederick Delius (also a friend of D.H. Lawrence, who portrayed him and his wife, not entirely kindly, in one of his novels), Heseltine was a prolific song writer and researcher into the intricacies of Elizabethan and Jacobean musical manuscripts. A conscientious objector during World War I, Heseltine fled England for Ireland and there became involved in the occult mysteries of some of her secret societies. Thus the name "Warlock" (male witch) may tell us more about Heseltine's brooding spirituality than it reflects the sunny and spirited cadences of these charming dance settings. 

"Chi il bel sogno", from "La Rondine" Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) 
"Erriam sotto la luna", from "Falstaff" Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) 
"O luce di quest' anima", from "Linda di Chamounix" Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848)

We present a trilogy of bel canto melody with Ms. Menges at the end of the first half of our concert. It represents, in turn, the burgeoning, the full flower, and the incipient decadence of this style in the music of, respectively, Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini. "Linda di Chamounix" presents a typically convoluted plot typical of early 18th century Italian opera (similar to, but more serious than, Rossini's " Barber of Seville"). Verdi is represented in the full maturity of his genius (his final opera, Falstaff, was written at the age of 83). Finally, an excerpt from the sentimental, nostalgic, not-quite-successful attempt on the part of Puccini to evoke an Italianate, quasi Viennese, Lehar operetta. All three arias show their composers' great affinity for vocal writing and - one must mention it - our soloist's elegance in bringing it to realization.  Text for arias

Prelude to "Afternoon of a Faun"
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

Claude Debussy was a relatively young (32) iconoclast when he wrote the epoch-making "Prelude à L 'après-midi d'un Faun" in 1894. This work ushered in, and simultaneously epitomized, the musical style called "impressionism". Inspired by a poem by the symbolist, Stephane Mallarmé, which suggests much more than it specifically describes, Debussy's tone-poem also suggests, but does not candidly state, the poem's eroticism. A good deal of it is based upon the tritone, an ambiguous musical interval (which alters the perfect 5th, a cornerstone of traditional harmonic usage, unseating its rock-like stability by either lowering the upper note by a half-step or raising the lower note by a half-step. This interval (once outlawed as "Diabolus in Musica") is clearly outlined by the upper and lower notes of the introductory flute melody (C-sharp-G natural). Debussy's sounds immediately give a melodic and harmonic ambiguity, which beautifully reflect the suggestiveness of Mallarmé's poem. One might add that, when first presented as a ballet by Diaghileff's celebrated Ballets Russes ( Paris, 1913) in Nijinsky's overtly erotic interpretation, not only was the public scandalized, but even Debussy, whose sultry atmosphere was destroyed by a palpability that subverted the delicate suggestiveness of his music, was outraged. We leave a final realization to each listener's imagination. One of the glories of the musical art is that it can be interpreted in as many ways as there are listeners to hear...

Trois Bourées, from "Songs of the Auvergne"
arr. Joseph Canteloube (1879-1957)

Joseph Canteloube's prodigious settings of folk songs from his native Auvergne, in south-central France, are paradigms of graceful harmonization and brilliant orchestration. In all, there are three extensive sets of his realizations for voice and orchestra, with several more for other combinations. The principal difficulty singers have in presenting these charming works seems to be in choosing which of them to perform! The text you will hear will sound only vaguely French: in truth, it is the native Auvergnat dialect, the language in which these songs were originally sung. These "Trois Bourées" tell us of bucolic innocence, love, courtship and marriage as Canteloube observed them in his youth, when he first heard these melodies. Songs 1 and 2 are separated by a brilliant cadenza for the oboe; songs 2 and 3 by the solo clarinet - equally virtuosic. Text for "Trois Bourées

Selections from the Incidental Music to "L' Arlésiènne"
Georges Bizet (1838-1875)

Georges Bizet's well-known incidental music for Daudet's Provençal drama, "L'Arlésiènne" ("The Woman of Arles"), was not well received at its first performances. Bizet immediately created a concert suite of excerpts and, in this version, it was extremely successful. The composer, who died tragically in his mid- thirties (as did several other geniuses: Mozart, Shelley, van Gogh...) wrote prodigiously for the stage, although only two of his operas hold the stage besides the ubiquitous "Carmen" -as does his charming, youthful Symphony in C in the concert hall. Our selection will include the famous "Farandole", heard often in a Yuletide context. It begins with a stately march but soon progresses into a fast-moving dance, accompanied by the "tamburin" a Provençal tenor drum. Toward the end of the dance the brasses intone (in counterpoint with the dance tune) the introductory march theme- this time in the major mode.