Presents a
THIRTEEN CONSECUTIVE SUNDAY AFTERNOONS
THREE SATURDAY TWILIGHT CONCERTS
THE ST. PETERSBURG
STRING QUARTET
ALLA ARANOVSKAYA, VIOLIN
ALLA KROLEVICH, VIOLIN
BORIS VAYNER, VIOLA
LEONID SHUKAEV, CELLO
ASSISTING ARTIST
JAN OPALACH, BASS-BARITONE
TED TAYLOR, PIANO
SUNDAY, AUGUST 3, 2008 at 3:00 P.M.
SEVENTY-NINTH YEAR
2008
www.musicmountain.org
860-824-7126
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SUNDAY, AUGUST 3, 2008
THE ARTISTS
THE ST. PETERSBURG STRING QUARTET
One of the world’s leading string quartets, the St. Petersburg
was founded as the Leningrad Quartet by Alla Aranovskaya, Alla
Krolevich (Goryainova) and Leonid Shukayev, all three graduates
of the Leningrad Conservatory. The Quartet blazed a trail through
international chamber music competitions, winning First Prize
at the All-Soviet Union String Quartet Competition, the Silver
Medal and a Special Prize at the Tokyo International Competition
of Chamber Ensembles, First Prize and both Special Prizes at the
Vittorio Gui International Competition for Chamber Ensembles
in Florence, Italy, and First Prize and the “Grand Prix Musica
Viva” at the International Competition for Chamber Ensembles
in Melbourne, Australia.
When the city of Leningrad resumed its historic name, the
Quartet changed its name to the St. Petersburg String Quartet.
The Quartet has continued its ascendancy, building a reputation
of worldwide proportions including a Grammy nomination,
“Best Record” honors in both Stereo Review and Gramophone
Magazines, and the Chamber Music America/WQXR Prize for
Best CD of 2001. The Quartet was Quartet-in-Residence at the
Oberlin Conservatory of Music from 1999 to 2003.
In 2008, the St. Petersburg Quartet will play in the library of
Congress, Washington, D.C., Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival,
Amsterdam Concertgebouw.
Audiences from Toronto to Tokyo, from Lithuania to London and
in music halls across the United States give the St. Petersburg
Quartet standing ovations. No classical CD collection is complete
without recordings by the acclaimed group. This season the
Quartet plans to release new CDs of the Ravel and Debussy
quartets as well as Tchaikowsky’s complete chamber music
works.
www.stpetersburgquartet.com
JAN OPALACH, BASS-BARITONE
Jan Opalach, whose voice has been described as “lyric,” “flexible,”
and “displays a wonderful variety of color,” is one of America’s
most versatile performers on the operatic stage today. Combining
serious musicianship with excellent acting skills, Mr. Opalach is
highly regarded for his superb understanding of a broad range
of musical styles and eras. He is also well known for a repertoire
which includes both serious and comic character roles.
Long, Distinguished Opera Career
Mr. Opalach has been a regular guest of the New York City Opera
since 1980. Most recently, he sang Falstaff in Verdi’s Falstaff
in 2008 and Dr. Dulcamara in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore in
2006. Among the many opera roles he has performed during his
long association there, are Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, the title
role in Le nozze di Figaro, Leporello in Don Giovanni, Bartolo
in Il barbiere di Siviglia, The Forester in The Cunning Little
Vixen, Sancho Panza in Don Quichotte, Capellio in I Capuleti e i
Montecchi, and King Fisher in Michael Tippett’s The Midsummer
Marriage. He has also appeared with the Seattle Opera (Musik
Lehrer in Ariadne auf Naxos, and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte), the
Florentine Opera of Milwaukee (Bottom in Benjamin Britten’s A
Midsummer Night’s Dream), and the Santa Fe Opera. Elsewhere,
he has performed with the Metropolitan Opera (World Premiere
of The Voyage by Philip Glass), Washington Opera (Pandolfe in
Cendrillon opposite Frederica von Stade), Cincinnati Opera,
Atlanta Opera (Faninal in Der Rosenkavalier) and Opera Theater
of St. Louis (Kissinger in John Adams’ Nixon in China).
Mr. Opalach has also achieved international recognition, appearing
with the Canadian Opera Company, English National Opera
(Wesener in the British premiere of Alois Zimmermann’s Die
Soldaten), Netherlands Opera (Taddeo in Dario Fo’s production
of L’italiana in Algeri, Live TV Broadcast), Scottish Opera,
Teatro Bellas Artes in Mexico City, and Sweden’s Drottningholm
Royal Court Theater (Plutone in Luigi Rossi’s Orfeo, Live TV
Broadcast).
Award-Winning Musical Artist
Mr. Opalach has been a featured soloist, singing with the
acclaimed orchestras of Baltimore, Dallas, Detroit, Houston,
Los Angeles, Minnesota, Montreal, New York, Pittsburgh, San
Francisco, St. Louis, Seattle, and National Symphony. Among
the many conductors with whom he has collaborated are Marin
Alsop, Daniel Barenboim, Herbert Blomstedt, Semyon Bychkov,
Charles Dutoit, Gunther Herbig, Christopher Hogwood, Lorin
Maazel, Kurt Masur, Roger Norrington, Christof Perick, Sir
Simon Rattle, Robert Shaw, Leonard Slatkin, Edo de Waart, and
David Zinman.
A winner of the prestigious Walter M. Naumburg Vocal Competition,
the Metropolitan Opera National Auditions, and the International
Vocalisten Concours of s’Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, as well
as the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Soloist
Recital Grant, he is also busy with an active career as a recitalist.
Notable recital venues in which he has appeared include Alice
Tully Hall, Ambassador Auditorium (Pasadena), the Library of
Congress, Harvard University, and the Morgan Library (NYC).
In addition, he collaborates with many new music ensembles,
including Speculum Musicae, Continuum, Parnassus, and the
American Composers Orchestra.
Recordings
Mr. Opalach has made recordings for a number of labels including
Argo, Bridge, CRI, Decca, Delos, EMI, Koch International,
L’Oiseau-Lyre, Nonesuch, Telarc, and Vox Unique. Works recorded
include Igor Stravinsky’s Renard/Pulcinella (St. Paul Chamber
Orchestra; Hugh Wolff), Solo Cantatas 56, 82, 158 by J.S. Bach
(Bach Ensemble; Joshua Rifkin), Stefan Wolpe’s Quintet with
Voice, Elliot Carter’s Syringa (Speculum Musicae), Robert
Beaser’s Seven Deadly Sins (Premiere Recording, American
Composers Orchestra; Dennis Russell Davies), G.F.Handel’s
Acis and Galatea (Seattle Symphony; Gerard Schwarz), Pulitzer
Prize winner Aaron Kernis’ Mourning Song, and selected lieder
of Franz Schubert.
TED TAYLOR, PIANO
Whether conducting at New York’s Lincoln Center or playing piano
at Suntory Hall in Tokyo, appearing at London’s Wigmore Hall or
the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, playing in Vienna’s Mozartsaal
or Manhattan’s Algonquin Oak Room, Ted Taylor enjoys a wideranging career. Equally at home in the pit conducting a varied
repertoire of nearly 50 operas and musicals or on the stage
accompanying some of the world’s pre-eminent vocalists, he has
appeared with such luminaries as Kathleen Battle, Sylvia McNair,
Eileen Farrell, Ben Heppner and Christine Schaefer, and in the
2002-03 season made his debut at New York City Opera leading
La Traviata.
Formerly Music Director for the New York City Opera Naetional
Company for two years and Mobile (Alabama) Opera for eight
seasons, he has appeared with many American opera companies,
including those of Atlanta, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Wolf Trap
and Central City, as well as serving on the conducting staffs of
the Metropolitan Opera and the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
As a pianist in master classes, he has worked with such legendary
artists as Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Regine Crespin and Carlo
Bergonzi. On CD, he may be heard as harpsichord soloist with
Seiji Ozawa in the Philips recording of Stravinsky’s The Rake’s
Progress and as pianist with Sylvia McNair in a disc of Gershwin
songs on BBC Worldwide, live from London’s Wigmore Hall.
In the field of contemporary opera, Mr. Taylor served as assistant to
the Academy Award winning composer Tan Gun for the premiere of
his first opera, Marco Polo, at the Munich Biennale and prepared
the Hong Kong Philharmonic and Tokyo Philharmonic orchestras
for subsequent performances. For New York City Opera, he
led excerpts of three new works for the company’s Showcasing
American Composers series.
As an educator, he is on the faculty of the Opera Program at
Manncs and the Institute of Sacred Music at Yale University, has
been invited to guest conduct at such prestigious music schools as
Indiana University, where he led the university premier of Mark
Adamo’s Little Women, and Cincinnati Conservatory of Music,
conducting Rossini’s Il Viaggio A Reims, awarded first place in its
category in the National Opera Association Competition.
Mr. Taylor has served as a judge for the Connecticut, New York
and Western Tennessee District Metropolitan Opera National
Council Auditions. A native of Texas, Mr. Taylor did his graduate
studies in conducting and opera at Indiana University. He makes
his home in Manhattan, where he maintains an active studio as
coach and teacher.
PROGRAM
FRANZ SCHUBERT
(1797-1828)
LIEDER:
DIE GOTTER GRIECHENLANDS, D. 677 (1819)
GRETCHEN AM SPINRADE, OPUS 2, D. 118 (1814)
STRING QUARTET IN A MINOR, OPUS 20, D. 804
“ROSAMUNDE” (1824)
Allegro ma non troppo
Andante
Menuetto: Allegretto
Allegro moderato
INTERMISSION
STRING QUARTET IN D MINOR, D. 810,
“DEATH AND THE MAIDEN” (1824)
Allegro
Andante con moto
Scherzo: Allegro molto
Presto
ARKIVMUSIC.COM
CD’s of the music and artists heard today may be purchased
through this Music Mountain link, www.musicmountain.org by
clicking on the ArkivMusic.com link. CD’s purchased through
this link are a way to help fund Music Mountain with 10% of
the purchase price returned to Music Mountain.
PROGRAM NOTES
This season’s theme of “Borrowed Melodies” is unusually
appropriate for a concert with the music of Schubert. There are
many examples of his taking a song or a melody and incorporating
it in another work.
Die Forelle, (The Trout) is certainly the example that first comes
to mind. Today, however, we are bringing you two more examples
from Schubert’s compositions. One is the Rosamunda Quartet,
using some of the thematic material from Schubert’s failed opera,
“Rosamunde” and the other is his extraordinary song “Der Tod
un das Madchen” which is used in the string quartet “Death and
the Maiden.”
DIE GOTTER GRIECHENLANDS, D. 677
Schubert was 14 when he discovered Schiller’s poems and
immediately began setting them to music, the words offering the
dramatic texts that stirred an emotional response in the young
Schubert. Schiller was the poet to whom Schubert frequently
turned throughout his brief life, often returning to a text when
he felt he had something new to add. Die Gotter Griechenlands,
(The Greek Gods) with the line “Alas, only in the fabled land of
song/lives still your fabled dream” was typical of Schiller’s poetry.
Schubert wrote the song in 1819, when he was 21. This song also
inspired the Minuet of the A Minor Quartet, the “Rosamonde”
Quartet.
GRETCHEN AM SPINRADE, OPUS 2, D. 118
(1824) Published in 1821
In the Faust legend, the aged philosopher dreams of youth and
romance. Sure enough, the Devil appears and offers him a deal:
You sign over your soul to me and I’ll give you back your youth -- for
awhile. Faust takes the bait. Gretchen, (Marguerite in Gounod’s
opera) sits at her spinning wheel dreaming of that handsome
seducer who has abandoned her. She cries, “And ah, his kiss!”
among other erotic recollections. Schubert’s genius did not stop at
the vocal line; he provides the singer with a piano accompaniment
simulating the whirring of the spinning-wheel.
Indeed, all of Schubert’s songs are accompanied by piano
compositions which are no mere oom-pa-pah, but dramatic
mood-settings which call for considerable gifts on the part of the
pianist. No less a pianist than Franz Liszt transcribed this song,
accompaniment and all, for solo piano.
And this immortal work was written by Schubert at age
seventeen!
STRING QUARTET IN A MINOR, OPUS 29, D. 804
“ROSAMUNDE”
The String Quartet No. 13 in a minor (the Rosamunde Quartet), D.
804, Op. 29, was written by Franz Schubert between February and
March 1824. It dates roughly to the same time as his monumental
Death and the Maiden Quartet, emerging around three years
after his previous attempt to write for the string quartet genre,
the Quartettsatz that he never finished.
Schubert dedicated the work to Schuppanzigh, who served as the
first violinist of the string quartet which premiered Beethoven’s
late quartets. Schuppanzigh himself played in the premiere
performance of this quartet, which took place on March 14,
1824.
The quartet consists of four movements which last around 30
minutes in total.
It is the second movement, however, which has lent the Quartet
its nickname, being based on a theme from the incidental music
for Rosamunde (a similar theme appears in the Impromptu in
B-flat written three years later). It is a bland and gentle tune
Entr’acte that occurs at the decisive point in the play where
a princess resolved to return to her bucolic childhood home.
Indeed, the overall lightness of the music harks back to the
pleasant diversions of Schubert’s own early student pieces. The
“Rosamunde” Quartet suggests that Schubert, too, while pining for
his happier past, might accept his fate and hide from the future.
The minuet is inspired by the melody of another song by Schubert,
Die Götter Griechenlands, (The Greek Gods, which mourns a lost
world) D. 677.
DER TOD UND DAS MADCHEN, OPUS 7 #3, D. 531
Der Tod und das Mädchen (D. 531, February 1817, published by
Cappi und Diabelli in Vienna in November 1821 as Op. 7, No. 3),
Death and the Maiden in English, is a lied composed by Franz
Schubert. The lyrics, which are German, are derived from a poem
written by Matthias Claudius.
The piece begins with an introduction in D-minor; the first eight
bars in the time signature 2/2. Both hands are playing chords.
The section is quiet (pianissimo), and slow (“moderate”, mäßig),
and presents the musical theme of Death.
The Maiden enters in the ninth bar on an anacrusis. This section
is more agited than the first; it is marked piano and “somewhat
faster” (etwas geschwinder). The melody gradually increases
in pitch, chromatically at points. The piano accompaniment is
syncopated, playing chords of quavers alternating in the left and
right hand. A diminished chord in the first bar of the third line
(ich bin noch jung) creates an eerie mood. In the eighth bar of the
maidens song, on the word rühre (touch), the quavers stop and the
rhythm of the opening section returns. Then an imperfect cadence
leads to a rest with fermata. This brings the second section to a
total of 13 bars in length.
The third and final section is Death’s song. The music returns
to the tempo and dynamics of the introduction. The melody of
Death is almost one note. In this section, the key modulates to
F-major, the relative major of D-minor. With the last syllable of
Death’s song, the key changes into D-major. The coda is almost a
repeat of the introduction, except it is shortened by one bar and
is now in the major key.
STRING QUARTET IN D MINOR, D. 810
“DEATH AND THE MAIDEN”
The D minor quartet is subtitled “Death and the Maiden” because
Schubert borrowed the theme for the second movement from his
1817 song, “Der Tod und das Madchen” (Death and the Maiden”).
The short, simple lied tells of the death gently coming to claim the
life of the young girl who urges him, “Go on, oh go on past me!”
The melody that Schubert uses in the quartet is actually the piano
introduction that represents the approach of death. The central
role of this quotation in the quartet has led several commentators
to regard the entire work as the exposition of Schubert’s views on
death, and the climax it reaches in the finale as a frenetic Dance
of Death. More likely, Schubert borrowed the melody for musical
rather than programmatic reasons; according to some evidence,
the idea for basing the quartet on the song came from some friends
who loved the melody. Schubert composed the “Death and the
Maiden” Quartet in March 1824. The quartet was not published
until July 1831, nearly three years after Schubert’s death.
The Gordon String Quartet first played “Death and the Maiden” at
Music Mountain on September 30, 1930 during Music Mountain’s
Inaugural Season.
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-NEXT WEEKEND’S CONCERTS
SATURDAY, AUGUST 9 at 6:30 P.M.
THE AFRO-SEMITIC EXPERIENCE
Imagine Charles Mingus sitting in with a Klezmer Band and
playing Gospel Music.
An extraordinary first time Music Mountain event.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 10 at 3 P.M.
SPECIAL BENEFIT FOR THE OPERATING FUND
EUGENIA ZUKERMAN, FLUTE
THE ROSETTI STRING QUARTET
Gluck: Dnace of the Blessed Spirits from Orpheus & Eurydice
(Flute & String Quartet)
Dvorak: String Quartet #14 in A Flat Major, Opus 105
Debussy: Syrinx for Unaccompanied Flute
Piazzola: Tango Ballet for String Quartet
Foote: Nocturne & Scherzo for Flute & String Quartet
Ginastera: Impressiones de la Puna for Flute & String Quartet
Children 5-18 Admitted at No Charge
(When accompanied by a ticket holder.)
Die Götter Grichenlands
D. 677 (1819), published 1848
The Gods of Greece
D. 677 (1819), published 1848
Schöne Welt, wo bist du?
Kehre wieder,
Holdes Blütenalter der Natur!
Beauteous world, where are you
Turn back again,
Fair springtime of nature!
Ach, nur in dem Feenland der Lieder
Lebt noch deine fabelhafte Spur.
Alas, only in the fairy-land of song
lives still your fabled dream.
Ausgestorben trauert das Gefilde;
Keine Gottheit zeigt sich meinem Blick.
The fields, deserted, mourn;
No god appears before my eyes.
Ach, von jenem lebenwarmen Bilde
Blieb der Schatten nur zurück.
Alas, of all that vivid image of life
Remain only the shadows.
Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805)
Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805)
Gretchen am Spinnrad(e)
op. 2, D. 118 (1814), published 1821
Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel
op. 2, D. 118 (1814), published 1821
Meine Ruh’ ist hin,
Mein Herz ist schwer,
Ich finde sie nimmer
Und nimmermehr.
My peace is gone,
My heart is heavy,
I will find it never
and never more.
Wo ich ihn nicht hab
Ist mir das Grab,
Die ganze Welt
Ist mir vergällt.
Where I do not have him,
That is the grave,
The whole world
Is bitter to me.
Mein armer Kopf
Ist mir verrückt,
Mein armer Sinn
Ist mir zerstückt.
My poor head
Is crazy to me,
My poor mind
Is torn apart.
Meine Ruh’ ist hin,
Mein Herz ist schwer,
Ich finde sie nimmer
Und nimmermehr.
My peace is gone,
My heart is heavy,
I will find it never
and never more.
Nach ihm nur schau ich
Zum Fenster hinaus,
Nach ihm nur geh ich
Aus dem Haus.
For him only, I look
Out the window
Only for him do I go
Out of the house.
Sein hoher Gang,
Sein’ edle Gestalt,
Seine Mundes Lächeln,
Seiner Augen Gewalt,
Und seiner Rede
Zauberfluß,
Sein Händedruck,
Und ach, sein Kuß!
His tall walk,
His noble figure,
His mouth’s smile,
His eyes’ power,
And his mouth’s
Magic flow,
His handclasp,
and ah! his kiss!
Meine Ruh’ ist hin,
Mein Herz ist schwer,
Ich finde sie nimmer
Und nimmermehr.
Mein Busen drängt sich
Nach ihm hin.
Ach, dürft ich fassen
Und halten ihn,
Und küssen ihn,
So wie ich wollt,
An seinen Küssen
Vergehen sollt!
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
(1749-1832), from Faust
My peace is gone,
My heart is heavy,
I will find it never
and never more.
My bosom urges itself
Towards him.
Ah, might I grasp
And hold him!
And kiss him,
As I would wish,
At his kisses
I should die!
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
(1749-1832), from Faust
Der Tod und das Mädchen
op. 7 no. 3, D. 531 (1817), published 1821.
Death and the Maiden
op. 7 no. 3, D. 531 (1817), published 1821.
“Vorüber! ach, vorüber!
Geh, wilder Knochenmann!
Ich bin noch jung, geh, Lieber!
Und rühre mich nicht an.”
“It’s all over! alas, it’s all over!
Go, savage man of bone!
I am still young - go, devoted one!
And do not molest me.”
“Gib deine Hand, du schön und zart Gebild’.
Bin Freund und komme nicht zu strafen.
Sei gutes Muts!
Ich bin nicht wild,
Sollst sanft in meinen Armen schlafen.”
“Give me your hand, your fair and tender form!
I am a friend; I do not come to punish.
Be of good cheer!
I am not savage.
You shall sleep gently in my arms.”
Matthias Claudius (1740-1815)
Matthias Claudius (1740-1815)