You are cordially invited to
witness the
A celebration of love and
music
No gifts please.
A reception in the
Haga Room will follow.
Heather DeSalme
John Gilbert
Tiffany Graves
Heather Pink
Aubrey Richardson Mark Rutherford
Katie Thomas Kenneth
Turner
Act 1
quartet from Fidelio Ludwig van
Beethoven
The Ceremony
Act 2
of Orfeo Claudio Monteverdi
John Gilbert as Orfeo Aubrey
Richardson as
Euridice/Prologue (La Musica)
Kenneth Turner as the Best Man Katie Thomas as Silvia
Tiffany Graves Heather
Pink
Intermission
An
Entertainment
Act 1
excerpt from Dido and Aeneas
Henry Purcell
Aubrey Richardson as Dido Alexandria
Brent as assistant to the
First Lady
Heather DeSalme as Belinda Tiffany
Graves as assistant to the
First Lady
Carrie Armistead as First Lady Heather
Pink as assistant to the First
Lady
Katie Thomas as assistant to the First Lady
Act 1
duet from Cosi fan tutte Wolfgang Mozart
Katie Thomas as Fiordiligi Tiffany
Graves as Dorabella
Postlude Music
The
Best of All Possible Worlds from Candide Leonard
Bernstein
Kenneth Turner as Dr. Pangloss Carrie Armistead
Heather Pink as Cunegunde Alexandria
Brent
Mark Rutherford as Candide Heather
DeSalme
John Gilbert Tiffany
Graves
Aubrey Richardson Katie
Thomas
Notes,
Texts and Translations
Fidelio,
Act 1 Quartet
Ludwig van Beethoven. An opera in two acts, 1805.
Set in a Spanish prison, near Seville, Fidelio , centers on the loyalty and love of Leonora for her husband Floristan. He is wrongfully being held in the dungeon of the prison, and Leonora disguises herself as a young man, Fidelio and takes service under Rocco, the prison warden in order to rescue her husband. Marzellina, the daughter of Rocco has fallen in love with the mysterious new employee, and Jaquino, Roccos other employee who is in love with Marzellina, feels threatened by Fidelios presence. Rocco, on the other hand is ecstatic that his lovely daughter has fallen in love with such a good man as Fidelio. Leonora, not wanting to disclose her true identity to anyone and aware of Marzellinas affections, is horrified at the situation. In this quartet, in the form of a four-part canon, each character expresses his or her feelings.
|
Marzelline Mir ist so wunderbar, Leonore Rocco Jaquino Mir strubt sich schon das Haar, |
Marzelline It is so wonderful, My heart is pent up: He loves me, it is clear, I will be happy! Leonore How great is the risk, How dimly shines the hope! She loves me, it is clear, O nameless agony! Rocco She loves him, it is clear, Yes, dear, he will be yours! A nice young pair, They will be happy! Jaquino My hair is standing up on end, The father consents, This is amazing, This can have no end! |
LOrfeo,
Act 1 excerpt and Act 2 complete
Claudio Monteverdi. An opera in a prologue and five acts, 1607.
This story
from Greek Mythology has inspired writers and composers throughout western
history. Several of the very first operas ever to be composed were settings of
the story of Orpheus. It is no coincidence that Orpheus the great singer and
lyre player was a leading figure in the inception of opera.
After
a lifetime of melancholy and unrest, Orpheus falls in love with Euridice. They
are married and, for a very brief time, Orpheus is the happiest man to walk the
earth. This is happiness is cut short when Euridice goes to pick flowers after
her wedding and she is bit by a snake and dies. Meanwhile, Orpheus and his
closest friends are celebrating. Silvia arrives at the wedding party to deliver
the fateful news, which crushes the spirits of all present, but especially
Orpheus. He vows to travel to the under world to find his beloved Euridice and
bring her back his beautiful voice will be his only aid.
Act 1
Toccata The
Wedding Ceremony
Prologue
Music:
From my beloved Permessus to you I come,
famous heroes, gentle issue of kings, whose excellent merits fame reports,
without nearing the truth since the aim is too high.
Ritornello
I am Music, who, in sweet accents, can calm every troubled heart, now with
noble anger, now with love,
can inflame the coldest minds.
Ritornello
I, with my golden lyre, singing, am used to charm, sometimes, mortal ears and
in this way with sounding harmony of the lyre of heaven I inspire their souls.
Ritornello
Whence desire urges me to tell you of Orpheus, of Orpheus who drew wild beasts
at his song and made Hades give way to his prayers, immortal glory of Pindus
and of Helicon.
Ritornello
Now while I vary my songs, now happy, now sad, let no small bird move among
these bushes, nor on these banks let a sounding wave be heard, and let each
little breeze stop in its course.
Ritornello
Act 2
Sinfonia The Wedding
Reception
Orpheus:
Here I am, returned to you, dear woods and
beloved hills, blessed by that sun through whom alone my nights are day. Here I
am, returned to you. Here I am, returned to you.
Ritornello
First Maid of Honor:
See, how there lures us the shade, Orpheus, of these beech-trees, now that his burning rays Phoebus shoots down from heaven.
Ritornello
Second Maid of Honor:
On these grassy banks let us sit and in various songs let each let free his voice to the murmur of the waters.
Ritornello
Both Maids:
In this pleasant meadow every wild spirit often comes to rest in happiness.
Ritornello
Here the charming wood-nymphs, always decked with flowers, with white fingers were seen picking roses.
Ritornello
All:
Then, Orpheus, honour with the sound of your lyre these fields where breathes the perfume of Sheba.
Ritornello
Orpheus:
Do you remember, O shady groves, my long, harsh torments, when the
rocks at my laments responded in pity?
Ritornello
Say, then did I not seem to you more disconsolate than any other? Now fortune
has changed her course and has turned woes into joy.
Ritornello
Only through you, fair Eurydice, I bless my torment; after sorrow one is more
content, after ill fortune one is happier.
First Maid of Honor:
See, ah see, Orpheus, how at every turn there smiles the
wood and smiles the meadow; then continue with your golden plectrum to sweeten
the air on so blessed a day.
Silvia:
Ah, bitter fate, ah, wicked, cruel Fate, ah, hurtful stars, ah, envious heaven.
Second Maid of Honor:
What sorrowful sound disturbs the happy day?
Silvia:
Alas, then must I, while Orpheus with his music makes heaven rejoice, with my
words pierce his heart?
Best Man:
This is gentle Sylvia, sweetest companion of fair Eurydice: oh, how much there
is in her sorrowing face: what has happened? Ah, gods above, do not turn your
kind face from us.
Silvia:
Shepherd, leave your singing, for all our good cheer is turned to pain.
Orpheus:
Whence do you come? Where are you going?
Nymph, what news?
Silvia:
I come to you, Orpheus, unhappy messenger of a happening more unhappy and more
dreadful,
your fair Eurydice . . .
Orpheus:
Alas, what do I hear?
Silvia:
Your beloved bride is dead.
Orpheus:
Alas!
Silvia:
In a flowery meadow with her other companions she went picking flowers to make
a garland for her hair,
when a deceitful snake that was hidden in the grass, bit her foot with poisoned
fang. And lo immediately her fair face grew pale and in her eyes that light
that outshone the sun faded. Then we all, appalled and sorrowing, gathered
round her, trying to recall her spirits that grew faint, with fresh water and
with powerful charms, but to no avail, ah alas, for she opened her failing eyes
a little, and calling you, Orpheus,
after a deep sigh, she died in these arms; and I remained, my heart full of
pity and of fear.
First Maid of Honor:
Ah, bitter mischance, ah, wicked, cruel fate, ah, hurtful
stars, ah, envious heaven!
Second Maid of Honor:
At the bitter news the unhappy man seems like a speechless
rock and through too much grief cannot grieve.
First Maid of Honor:
Ah, he would have the heart of a tiger or bear that did not
feel pity at your misfortune, deprived of every happiness, wretched lover.
Orpheus:
You are dead, my life, and do I breathe?
You are gone from me never to return, and do I remain? No, for if my verses can
do anything, I will go surely to the deepest abysses, and having softened the
heart of the King of Shades, I will bring her back to see again the stars: Oh,
if wicked destiny refuses me this, I will stay with you in the company of
death. Farewell earth, farewell heaven and sun, farewell.
Chorus:
Ah, bitter mischance, ah, wicked, cruel
fate, ah, hurtful stars. ah, envious heaven! Let no mortal man trust happiness
that is passing and frail, that soon flies away, and often a precipice is near
a great height.
Silvia:
But I, who with this tongue have brought the knife that has pierced the loving soul of Orpheus, hateful to Shepherds and to nymphs, hateful to myself, where may I hide? Unlucky, of the night, the sun shall I ever flee and in a lonely cave will lead a life that matches my grief.
Sinfonia
Both Maids of Honor:
But where, ah, where are now the wretched nymphs lovely,
cold limbs, where the worthy shelter in which that fair soul chose to live, who
today has left us in the flower of her days? Let us go, Shepherds, let us go in
pity to find her and with bitter tears the due tribute pay, at least, to her
lifeless body.
Chorus
Ah, bitter mischance, ah, wicked, cruel
fate,
ah, hurtful stars, ah, envious heaven!
Ritornello
Sinfonia
Dido and Aeneas, Act 1
excerpt
Henry Purcell. An opera in three
acts, text by Nahum Tate (1689).
Monteverdis Orfeo is by far the most historically
significant opera of all time. It was not the very first to be composed, but it
is certainly the first great opera.
The fact that it has been recorded dozens of times and is still performed
frequently speaks to its value. Once Italian opera was an established form of
art and entertainment by 1637, when the first public opera house opened in
Venice, most other major European countries tried to establish their own form
of the new genre forms that would be specific to their own languages. Henry
Purcells Dido and Aeneas
was Englands first attempt at the creation of an English opera. There had been
plays with songs interspersed, but never a completely sung drama. Purcell died shortly after the premiere
of Dido and
never wrote a second opera. Soon, George Frideric Handel arrived in London and
brought with him Italian opera which fascinated audiences for the next several
decades. There was not another real opera composed in England in the English
language until the twentieth century.
Dido
the Queen of Carthage is distraught. She is in love with Aeneas from Troy, and
she knows that this love will destroy her. She attempts to ignore her feelings
but confides in Belinda. Belinda and the other ladies-in-waiting hope to
convince Dido that only good can come from a union between the two
kingdoms.
|
Belinda Shake the cloud from off your
brow, Fate your wishes does allow; Empire growing, Pleasures flowing, Fortune smiles and so should you.
Chorus Banish sorrow, banish care, Grief should ne'er approach the
fair. Dido Ah! Belinda, I am prest With torment not to be Confest, Peace and I are strangers grown. I languish till my grief is known, Yet would not have it guest. Belinda Grief increases by concealing, Dido Mine admits of no revealing. Belinda Then let me speak; the Trojan
guest Into your tender thoughts has
prest; The greatest blessing Fate can
give Our Carthage to secure and Troy
revive. Chorus When monarchs unite, how happy
their state, They triumph at once o'er their
foes and their
fate. |
Dido Whence could so much virtue
spring? What storms, what battles did he
sing? Anchises' valour mixt with Venus'
charms How soft in peace, and yet how
fierce in arms! Belinda A tale so strong and full of woe Might melt the rocks as well as
you. What stubborn heart unmov'd could
see Such distress, such piety? Dido Mine with storms of care opprest Is taught to pity the distrest. Mean wretches' grief can touch, So soft, so sensible my breast, But ah! I fear, I pity his too
much. Belinda and First Woman Fear no danger to ensue, The Hero Loves as well as you, Ever gentle, ever smiling, And the cares of life beguiling, Cupid strew your path with flowers Gather'd from Elysian bowers. |
Cosi fan tutte, Act 1 duet
Wolfgang Mozart.
Opera buffa in 2
Acts, text by Lorenzo da Ponte (1790).
Cosi fan
tutte is a comic
story of two pairs of insecure lovers. The two men decide to test the fidelity
of their girlfriends by dressing up as Albanians and seducing the others
girlfriend.
This
duet, found early on in the first act, shows the two girlfriends looking
adoringly at pictures of their boyfriends. For this out-of-context performance,
however, each is not looking at one man, but at pictures of dozens and dozens
of men in search of the perfect specimen.
|
Fiordiligi Ah,
guarda sorella, se bocca pi bella, se
aspetto pi nobile si pu trovar. Dorabella Osserva
tu un poco che fuoco ha ne sguardi! Se fiamma, se dardi non sembran scoccar.
Fiord Si
vede un sembiante guerriero ed amante. Dora Si
vede una faccia che alletta e minaccia. Fiord Felice
son io! Dora Io
sono felice! Both Se
questo mio core mai cangia desio, Amore
mi faccia vivendo penar. |
Fiordiligi Oh, look sister, if a mouth more lovely, if a face more noble could ever be found. Dorabella Look you a little what fire he has in his gaze! If he doesnt seem to fling flames and arrows. Fiord One sees a face of a warrior and a lover. Dora One sees a face that entices and menaces. Fiord Happy I am! Dora I am happy! Both If my heart ever changes its affections, May Love make me live in misery. |
Candide,
The Best of All Possible Worlds
Leonard
Bernstein.
Bernsteins
great musical comedy Candide
is based on Voltaires novel by the same name (1759). It follows the adventures
of a nave young man named Candide who sees horrors and terrible sites wherever
he goes he sees war, murder, executions, he sees his dear friends parish
before his eyes. Yet, always the optimist, Candide goes on wide-eyed and happy,
trusting in what he learned from his tutor, Dr. Pangloss.
Bernstein
completed the first version of the musical in 1955 and it premiered on Broadway
in December 1956. This was the same time in which he was composing West Side
Story. He came back
to Candide many
times over the next several decades reordering songs, composing new songs,
restructuring the acts, etc. The song texts and dialogue also underwent
extensive changes. There are now several very different versions of Candide in publication. In the 1989,
Bernstein completed the Final Revised Version. Since then and after
Bernsteins death, there have been several more re-workings and adaptions of
the show.
In this song and chorus from the first act, Pangloss explains to his class of students how it is that everything can be for best in this best of all possible worlds.