Brandon MansonBaritone

Rav

el

SchumannDuparc

Mozart

Vaughan Williams

in a Senior Recital

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MUSIC

presents

Brandon Manson, Baritone In a Senior Recital

assisted by:

Roger Pan and ChiaYing Huang, piano

In partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Bachelor of Music degree in Voice

Don Quichotte a Dulcinée Maurice Ravel Chanson Romanesque (1875-1937) Chanson Épique Chanson a Boire Die beiden Grenadiere Robert Schumann In der Fremde (1810-1856) (1810-1856) Chanson triste Henri Duparc La vague et la cloche (1848-1933) La vie antérieure Non piú andrai, farfallone amoroso from Le Nozze di Figaro W.A. Mozart (1756-1791)

Intermission The Songs of Travel Ralph Vaughan Williams The Vagabond (1872-1958) Let Beauty Awake The Roadside Fire Youth and Love In Dreams The Infinite Shining Heavens Whither must I wander? Bright is the ring of words I have trod the upward and the downward slope Central United Methodist Church, at 8 P.M. Tuesday, April 24th, 2012

 

Maurice R

avel

Even though Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) is more widely thought of as an orchestral composer, his small number of mélodies are often performed. This set, Don Quichotte a Dulcinée, is his last. He wrote and orchestrated these songs in competition with Ibert for use in a film of Don Quixote to be sung by the great Chaliapine. Ravel’s set was not chosen, and the composer stopped composing shortly thereafter due to his physical incapacity to do so.

The songs are set to three traditional dances: the first is the guijara, the second the zorzica and the third the jota. The meter of these dances drives the text and the story of Don Quichotte.

Chanson Romanesque 

Were you to tell me that the earth offended you with so much turning,  speedily would I dispatch Panza:  you should see it motionless and silent.  Were you to tell me that you are weary  of the sky too much adorned with stars,  destroying the divine order,  with one blow I would sweep them from the night.  Were you to tell me that space  thus made empty does not please you,  god‐like Knight, lance in hand,  I would stud the passing wind with stars.  But were you to tell me that my blood  belongs more to myself than you, my Lady,  I would pale beneath the reproach  and I would die, blessing you.  

Chanson Épique  Good Saint Michael who gives me liberty  to see my Lady and to hear her, good Saint Michael who deigns to elect me  to please her and to defend her,  good Saint Michael, I pray you descend  with Saint George upon the altar  of the Madonna of the blue mantle.  With a beam from heaven bless my sword  and its equal in purity  and its equal in piety  as in modesty and chastity: my Lady 

 

Maurice R

avel

(O great Saint George and Saint Michael)  the angel who watches over my vigil,  my gentle Lady so much resembling  you, Madonna of the blue mantle!  Amen.  

Chanson a Boire 

A fig for the bastard, illustrious Lady,  why to shame me in your sweet eyes,  says that love and old wine  will bring misery to my heart, my soul!  I drink to joy!  Joy is the one aim  to which I go straight… when I am drunk!  A fig for the jealous fool,  dark‐haired mistress,  who whines, who weeps and vows   ever to be this pallid lover  who waters the wine of his intoxication!  I drink to joy!  Joy is the one aim  to which I go straight… when I am drunk!  Translations by Pierre Bernac   

  Robert S

chumann

Robert Schumann (1810-1856) is an enormous figure in German lied and is considered by many to be the most romantic of the romantic composers. He was a major force in the progression of formal and harmonic structure in Germany and his output was tremendous. His works for voice include two Liederkreis cycles that are very frequently performed. His piano works include many concertos and sonatas, one of the most famous and recognizable being his Carnaval.

These piano works were composed for the love of his life: Clara Wieck. She would eventually become Clara Schumann after a long court battle with her father. This is one of the most famous love stories in musical history and had a great impact on the literature.

Die beiden Grenadiere 1840­ poem by Heinrich Heine 

 Toward France moved two grenadiers,  who were captured in Russia. And when they came into the German quarter, they let their heads hang. There they both heard the sad tidings that France was lost,  the valiant army  had been defeated and routed,  and the Emperor – the Emperor! – captured. The grenadiers wept together at the pitiful news. One of them said:  “What pain I am feeling! How my old wound is burning!” The other one said:  “The song is over,  I too would like to die with you,  but I have a wife and child at home,  who without me will perish.” “What do I care for wife or child,  I want something far greater;  let them beg when they’re hungry –  my Emperor, my Emperor captured! Grant me this request, brother:  when I die now,  take my body to France and bury me in the French soil.  Place over my heart the cross of honor with the red ribbon; put my musket in my hand and gird my sword about me.  So I will lie and listen quietly, like a sentry, in the grave,  until someday I hear the roar of cannon and the hoof‐beats of neighing horses. Then my Emperor will no doubt ride over my grave,  many swords will be clanking and flashing; then I shall rise up armed forth from the grave  to defend the Emperor, my Emperor!” 

 In der Fremde 

From Liederkreis (Op.39, No.1) 1840, Poem by Freiherr von Eichendorff  

The clouds come this way from my homeland, behind the red flashes of lightning;  but Father and Mother are long since dead;  no one there knows me anymore.  How soon, ah how soon the quiet time will come when I too shall rest;  and above me the forest will rustle in its beautiful solitude;  and no one here will know me anymore either.  Translations by Beaumont Glass 

Henri D

uparc

Duparc (1848-1933) is an enigmatic composer in the French literature. He studied with César Franck and his songs reflect very much the Wagnerian influence of the time. Unfortunately, Duparc also suffered from an intense nervous disorder, which eventually led to him destroying all but sixteen of his songs. Of his circle of composers, all of whom revered Wagner, his music most reflects that of Wagner’s. His extensive orchestral colors set him apart from his peers, and the poetry he set was chosen in a discerning fashion. This set is constructed to give a brief overview of his work in chronological order.

 Chanson triste 

Poem by Jean Lahor  In your heart the moonlight sleeps, gentle summer moonlight, and to escape from the stress of life I will drown myself in your radiance  I will forget past sorrows, my love, when you cradle my sad heart and my thoughts in the loving peacefulness of your arms  You will take my aching head Oh! Sometime upon your knee, and will relate a ballad that seems to speak of ourselves.  And in your eyes full of sorrows, in your eyes then I will drink so deeply of kisses and of tenderness that, perhaps, I shall be healed… 

 Henri D

uparc

La vague et la cloche Poem by François Coppée 

 Once, laid low by a potent drink I dreamed that amid the waves and the roar of the sea, I rowed without a ship’s lantern in the night, Mournful oarsman, with no more hope of reaching the shore.  The ocean spat its foam on my brow, and the wind froze me to the entrails with horror. The waves crashed down like walls with that slow rhythm punctuated  with silence.  Then all changed. The sea and its dark conflict sank down. Under my feet the bottom of the boat gave way. And I was alone in an old belfry, riding furiously on a ringing bell.  I stubbornly gripped the clangorous thing, violently and closing my eyes with the effort, the booming made the old stones tremble, so unceasingly did I activate the heavy swinging.  Why did you not say, O dream,  where God is leading us? Why did you not say if there is to be no end to the useless toil and the eternal strife of which, alas, human life is made!  

La vie antérieure Poem by Charles Baudelaire 

 For a long time I dwelt beneath vast porticoes colored by the marine suns with a thousand fires, whose great columns, straight and majestic, resembled, at evening, basaltic grottoes.  The surging waves, rolling the mirrored skies, mingled in a solemn and mystical way the mighty harmonies of their sonorous music with the colors of the sunset reflected in my eyes. 

 

It is there that I lived in the calm delight of the senses, Surrounded by azure skies, the waves, the splendors, and the naked slaves, imbued with fragrant essences,  who cooled my brow with waving palms, and whose sole care was to deepen  the sorrowful secret that made me languish.  Translations by Pierre Bernac  

W.A

. Mozart

The life of Mozart (1756-1791) does not need to be discussed at length. His greatness is undisputed and rivaled by few composers. Le Nozze di Figaro has been in the standard operatic literature for over a century and will maintain its stature far into the future. Figaro is one of the great characters. He is witty, clever and always gets the girl. In this scene, Figaro and his beloved Susannah pick on Cherubino, the page. Cherubino has been drafted into military service and Figaro has some advice to impart…

No more you'll wander,  my amorous little butterfly, Flitting about by day and night Disturbing the rest of all those pretty women My little Narcissus, young Adonis of love No more you'll have these pretty little feathers, This smart and jaunty cap, Those curls and that lively air Those rosy, girlish cheeks. Among soldiers, by Bacchus! Great moustaches, well‐guarded knapsack A gun at your shoulder, a sabre at your  side, Head held high, bold of face A great helmet, or a big turban, Plenty of honor, but not much money, And instead of the fandango A march through the mud! Over mountains, through the valleys In the snow and burning sun To the music of trumpets, shells and cannon‐balls Whistling past Making your ear sing! Cherubino, to victory And military glory! 

 

Vaughan Williams was born on the 12th October, 1872 in the Cotswold village of Down Ampney. He was educated at Charterhouse School, then Trinity College, Cambridge. Later he was a pupil of Stanford and Parry at the Royal College of Music, after which he studied with Max Bruch in Berlin and Maurice Ravel in Paris. At the turn of the century he was among the very first to travel into the countryside to collect folk-songs and carols from singers, notating them for future generations to enjoy. As musical editor of The English Hymnal he composed several hymns that are now world-wide favorites (For all the Saints, Come down O love Divine). Later he also helped to edit The Oxford Book of Carols, with similar success. Before the war he had met and then sustained a long and deep friendship with the composer Gustav Holst. Vaughan Williams volunteered to serve in the Field Ambulance Service in Flanders for the 1914-1918 war, during which he was deeply affected by the carnage and the loss of close friends such as the composer George Butterworth. For many years Vaughan Williams conducted and led the Leith Hill Music Festival, conducting Bach's St Matthew Passion on a regular basis. He also became professor of composition at the Royal College of Music in London. In his lifetime, Vaughan Williams eschewed all honors with the exception of the Order of Merit which was conferred upon him in 1938. He died on the 26th August 1958, his ashes are interred in Westminster Abbey, near Purcell. In a long and productive life, music flowed from his creative pen in profusion. Hardly a musical genre was untouched or failed to be enriched by his work, which included nine symphonies, five operas, film music, ballet and stage music, several song cycles, church music and works for chorus and orchestra. 

­From the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society 

Ralph Vaughan W

illiams

The Songs of Travel 1905 – Poems by Robert Louis Stevenson 

 Completed in 1905, Vaughan Williams’ song cycle has become one of the most beloved song cycles in the English song literature. The 9 poems included are exerted from R.L. Stevenson’s Songs of Travel. “I have trod the upward and the downward slope” was added posthumously in 1960 by his wife. The lush harmonies and rich orchestral colors enhance the text, which Vaughan Williams sets in a subtle but rhythmic way. The poetry itself is nostalgic in nature, made apparent in “Youth and Love”. Vaughan Williams effectively colors the vocal line to reflect this nostalgia and brilliantly paints the text throughout the piece. The Songs of Travel will forever be one of Vaughan Williams’ most revered and beloved works.

  Ralph Vaughan W

illiams

The Vagabond 

Give to me the life I love, Let the lave go by me, Give the jolly heaven above, And the byway nigh me. Bed in the bush with stars to see, Bread I dip in the river ‐ There's the life for a man like me, There's the life for ever.  Let the blow fall soon or late, Let what will be o'er me; Give the face of earth around, And the road before me. Wealth I seek not, hope nor love, Nor a friend to know me; All I seek, the heaven above, And the road below me.  Or let autumn fall on me Where afield I linger, Silencing the bird on tree, Biting the blue finger. White as meal the frosty field ‐ Warm the fireside haven ‐ Not to autumn will I yield, Not to winter even!  Let the blow fall soon or late, Let what will be o'er me; Give the face of earth around, And the road before me. Wealth I ask not, hope nor love, Nor a friend to know me; 

Let Beauty Awake 

Let Beauty awake in the morn from beautiful dreams, Beauty awake from rest! Let Beauty awake For Beauty's sake In the hour when the birds awake in the brake And the stars are bright in the west!  Let Beauty awake in the eve from the slumber of day, Awake in the crimson eve! In the day's dusk end When the shades ascend, Let her wake to the kiss of a tender friend, To render again and receive! 

The Roadside Fire 

I will make you brooches and toys for your delight Of bird‐song at morning and star‐shine at night, I will make a palace fit for you and me Of green days in forests, and blue days at sea.  I will make my kitchen, and you shall keep your room, Where white flows the river and bright blows the broom; And you shall wash your linen and keep your body white In rainfall at morning and dewfall at night.  And this shall be for music when no one else is near, The fine song for singing, the rare song to hear! That only I remember, that only you admire, Of the broad road that stretches and the roadside fire. 

  Ralph Vaughan W

illiams

Youth and Love 

To the heart of youth the world is a highwayside. Passing for ever, he fares; and on either hand, Deep in the gardens golden pavilions hide, Nestle in orchard bloom, and far on the level land Call him with lighted lamp in the eventide.  Thick as stars at night when the moon is down, Pleasures assail him. He to his nobler fate Fares; and but waves a hand as he passes on, Cries but a wayside word to her at the garden gate, Sings but a boyish stave and his face is gone. 

In Dreams 

In dreams unhappy, I behold you stand As heretofore: The unremember'd tokens in your hand Avail no more.  No more the morning glow, no more the grace, Enshrines, endears. Cold beats the light of time upon your face And shows your tears.  He came and went. Perchance you wept awhile And then forgot. Ah me! but he that left you with a smile Forgets you not. 

The Infinite Shining Heavens 

The infinite shining heavens Rose, and I saw in the night Uncountable angel stars Showering sorrow and light.  I saw them distant as heaven, Dumb and shining and dead, And the idle stars of the night Were dearer to me than bread.  Night after night in my sorrow The stars [stood]1 over the sea, Till lo! I looked in the dusk And a star had come down to me. 

  Ralph Vaughan W

illiams

Whither must I wander? 

Home no more home to me, whither must I wander? Hunger my driver, I go where I must. Cold blows the winter wind over hill and heather: Thick drives the rain and my roof is in the dust. Loved of wise men was the shade of my roof‐tree, The true word of welcome was spoken in the door ‐ Dear days of old with the faces in the firelight, Kind folks of old, you come again no more.  Home was home then, my dear, full of kindly faces, Home was home then, my dear, happy for the child. Fire and the windows bright glittered on the moorland; Song, tuneful song, built a palace in the wild. Now when day dawns on the brow of the moorland, Lone stands the house, and the chimney‐stone is cold. Lone let it stand, now the friends are all departed, The kind hearts, the true hearts, that loved the place of old.  Spring shall come, come again, calling up the moorfowl, Spring shall bring the sun and rain, bring the bees and flowers; Red shall the heather bloom over hill and valley, Soft flow the stream through the even‐flowing hours. Fair the day shine as it shone on my childhood ‐ Fair shine the day on the house with open door; Birds come and cry there and twitter in the chimney ‐ But I go for ever and come again no more. 

Bright is the ring of words 

Bright is the ring of words When the right man rings them, Fair the fall of songs When the singer sings them, Still [they are]1 carolled and said ‐ On wings they are carried ‐ After the singer is dead And the maker buried.  Low as the singer lies In the field of heather, Songs of his fashion bring The swains together. And when the west is red  With the sunset embers, The lover lingers and sings And the maid remembers. 

I have trod the upward and the downward slope 

I have trod the upward and the downward slope; I have endured and done in days before; I have longed for all, and bid farewell to hope; And I have lived and loved, and closed the door. 

 

Special Thanks

Richard Fracker Roger Pan ChiaYing Huang Melanie Helton Caryn Welter, Central United Methodist Church Natalie Venuto, graphic designer  Mom and Dad Mark Nestor Tony Huff 

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