ARTSONG ARCHIVE
Art Song in Dublin: the programmes for “What makes a Great Song?”
Ten Animated Recitals by Conor Biggs in Bever, Belgium
The enormous interest in poetry fostered by the romantic movement throughout Europe found its musical counterpart above all in Germany. Poetry was "in" in bourgeois circles throughout the 19th century: the latest collections were avidly discussed and read in all the fashionable salons of Europe. Also -- particularly in its earlier phase -- Romanticism was associated with the cult of the individual and the rejection of social and moral shackles. Art song doesn't just deal with revolutionary ideals: it's actually far more about the influence of nature on our lives, in itself a reaction to the increasing influence of the Industrial Revolution: exploitation of natural and human resources for profit, despoiling of Mother Earth: topics which are relevant today!
Germany had the good fortune to find musicians capable of transforming the poetic genius of Goethe and Schiller into music, thanks to composers such as Schubert and Schumann. French romanticism found its musical voice comparatively late, in Fauré, as did Russia in Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky. Art song petered out toward the middle of the last century in the works of Richard Strauss and Rachmaninoff. It spans a period roughly from 1790 to 1950.
This enormously fascinating and rich musical heritage is lying neglected. "What makes a Great Song," hopes to start reversing that trend.
With a repertoire of over 300 songs, I can tailor an evening to various tastes: Victor Hugo and French song, Schubert and Goethe, Schumann and Heine, Ravel and expressionism, Russian song, Brahms' folksongs, or just a potted history of art song: the choice is yours!
The mysteries of art song unravelled thanks to computer graphics!
Schubert, incontestably the greatest of Lieder composers, wrote over 600 songs, yet only a handful is ever performed.
Since - in the words of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau – art song is moribund, it would seem that strong measures are needed to ensure its survival in a society where poetry no longer occupies the position of importance that it did in Schubert’s day. Poetry, the most vulnerable of art forms, has been supplanted by the overwhelming influence of image. Poetry readings and Lied recitals (which I consider to be a form of poetry reading) have been marginalised to an extent that art song has been reduced to a vehicle for successful competition candidates or agents keen to capitalize on a singer’s success on stage by slotting a song recital into a busy schedule of operatic performances (and which inevitably attract an audience more keen to be seen than to listen). The problem in English-speaking countries is compounded by the fact that German, French and Russian (the languages in which the masterpieces of the genre were written) form an understandable stumbling block to potential audiences. Few English speakers would bother to see a Goethe play in German. But the solution is not translation: the unique combination between musical sound and verbal sound is what gives art song its particular flavour.
How then to inform one’s audience? Providing translations and programme notes help, but (I have seen this many times from the vantage point of a performer) are ultimately distracting. Far better to give the audience a foretaste of the flavour of the songs about to be heard. The ideal method is through an illustrated lecture, where the poetry, the composers and poets together with the sociological environment which gave rise to their creativity can be briefly discussed. A kind of reading of the foot-notes before the event.
The beginnings of Lied ; C.P.E. Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven
Schubert: settings of Goethe, Schiller and Mayrhofer
Schumann: Liederkreis I and II; Dichterliebe
Brahms: Vier ernstige Gesänge , Deutsche Volkslieder
Wolf: Eichendorff, Mörike and Michelangelo songs
Debussy, Fauré, Ravel, Schönberg
Liszt, Charles Ives, Strauss
Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Mussorgsky
Schostakovitch, Poulenc
Britten, James Wilson, Barber, Copland
Art Song in Dublin, the programmes for “What Makes a Great Song?”
Three recitals on three consecutive Mondays in January given by Conor Biggs, bass and Pádhraic Ó Cuinneagáin, animated by Apple’s ‘Keynote’ computer graphics, in the John Field Room, National Concert Hall, Dublin.
I
German song, January 14 2008
I. Johan Gottlob Neefe (1748-1798): Serenate
2. C.P.E. Bach (1714-18): Passionslied
3. W.A. Mozart (1756-1791): Abendemfpindung an Laura
4. Beethoven (1770-1827): Mailied
5. Schubert (1797-1828): Rastlose Liebe, Fahrt zum Hades
6. Schumann (1810-1856) Du bist wie eine Blume, Belsazar
7. Brahms (1833-1897): Verrat
8. Wolf (1860-1903) : Fühlt meine Seele
9. Strauss (1864-1949): Der einsame
II
French Song, January 21 2008
1. Liszt (1811-1886): Guitare
2. Chausson (1855-1899): Les pâles heures
3. Duparc (1848-1933): Soupir
4. Fauré (1845-1924): En sourdine, Au cimetière
5. Debussy (1862-1918): Le son du cor, La mer est plus belle
6. Ravel (1875-1937): Histoires naturelles ( Le grillon, le cygne)
7. Poulenc ( 1899-1963): Main dominée par le coeur, ...Mais mourir
III
Russian Song, January 28 2008
1. Tchaikovsky (1840-1897): Nye vyer, moï drug (Do not believe me), Primiren’ye (Reconciliation),
Kal’ibyelnaya pyesnya (Lullaby)
2. Mussorgsky ( 1839-1881): Trepak, Polkovadyets (The Field-Marshall), excerpts from
‘Songs and Dances of Death’
3. Rachmaninoff ( 1873-1843): M’i atdakhnyom (Let us rest), Sud’ba (Fate)
4. Shostakovitch ( 1906-1975): Noch (Night) excerpts from Michelangelo Suite
“What Makes a Great Song?” a series of ten animated recitals given in the course of 2008 by Conor Biggs, bass-baritone and Pádhraic Ó Cuinneagáin, piano in Rosario, Bever, Belgium
I: Sunday, 6 January 2008
II: Sunday, 10 February 2008
III: Sunday, March 16 2008
IV: Sunday, April 20 2008
V. Sunday, May 18 2008
VI: Sunday, June 14 2008
VII. Sunday, September 28 2008
VIII: Sunday, October 26 2008
IX: Sunday, November 16 2008
X: Sunday, 14 December 2008
C.P.E. Bach, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. The reformation encouraged people to sing devotional songs in the home, stimulating music-making and thus, in a round about way, giving birth to the Lied (although the Lied recital as such only came into being thanks to Schubert and the baritone Johann Vogl, an operatic singer in Vienna, who did so much to spread Schubert’s reputation in the concert hall). This opening recital will deal with the pietism and Sturm und Drang in the songs of C.P.E. Bach, the first faltering steps in Lied writing by composers such as Neefe, Beethoven’s teacher, Haydn’s exquisite English songs, Mozart’s “Abendempfindung an Laura”, the first masterpiece in the Lied genre, and will end with Beethoven’s small but significant contribution to the Lied.
II: Sunday, 10th February 2008
Schubert Part I: Schubert, Novalis and Goethe. Two giants of the Romantic movement, and how Schubert reacted to their work. Goethe’s acceptance of God (“Grenzen der Menscheit”) and at the same time his rebellion against clerical power(“Prometheus”), and Novalis’ unique blend of erotic and eucharistic (“Hymne I”): the search for God without the mediation of a priest. The certainties of the Age of Enlightenment have been swept away by the French Revolution: Romanticism is its child. Schubert has a certain reputation as a writer of pretty tunes; this recital dispels the idea, and shows Schubert grappling with lofty themes, not afraid to sacrifice surface beauty for dramatic veracity. Indeed his experiments with recitative - where melody takes second place to the word -foreshadow Wagner.
Schubert Part II: The night, sunset and water exercised a particular fascination for Schubert; his love of nature was as deeply felt as that of Wordsworth. And as always he responded in truly inspired fashion when the subject matter of the poem truly interested him.“Abendbilder” “ Abendrot”, “An den Mond”, “Liebesbotschaft”, etc.
Schumann & Heine: the marriage of Schumann’s music to Heine’s words was one of the most felicitous in the history of music, and a defining moment in the Romantic Movement.This recital will examine the great Heine settings, in particular the first “Liederkreis” cycle, Op. 24.
Brahms, the folksong song movement and the Bible. Brahms was the only great composer never to have written an opera, and also the least Italianate of all the great composers. His interest in folksong - unusual for a composer of the epoch - prompted him to write some of the loveliest folksong arrangements ever, often neglected in recitals. The “Vier ernste Gesänge” show the mature Brahms grappling with existentialist questions and turning to the Bible in an unorthodox way.
Wolf: certain composers write almost exclusively for one genre: Chopin for the piano, Wolf for voice, and posterity has proved them right! Wolf’s subtlety and mastery of the miniature, together with his choice of poets - giants such as Mörike and Eichendorff in particular - assure him a unique place as a Lied composer. This recital will spotlight among others his last songs, the “Michelangelo Lieder”.
VII. Sunday, 28th September 2008
La doulce France: After an uncertain start in which French song composers seemed unwilling to shake off the mantle of German musical form, France startled the world of music by providing some of the most original composers in the genre: Fauré (“En Sourdine”,“Les Berceaux” and Chausson (“Les heures”) to begin with, followed by the musical champions of impressionism and expressionism in art and poetry, Debussy (“Le son du Cor”, “La mer est plus bell que les cathédrales”) and Ravel (“Les Histoires Naturelles”). Finally Poulenc, whose settings of Paul Eluard in particular raised the art of intimacy in song to new heights.
VIII: Sunday, 26th October 2008
Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff & Shostakovitch: three radically different approaches to song writing: Tchaikovsky’s plaintive but surprisingly self-contained songs, Rachmaninoff’s passionate outpourings, in which pianistic virtuosity is seldom content to take a back seat, and lastly Shostakovitch, whose Michelangelo Suite poetry for bass voice rank amongthe great masterpieces of the song repertoire.
IX: Sunday, 16th November 2008
I Mussorgsky and Ives: two radically different approaches to song writing: the harrowing expressionism of Mussorgsky as shown in the “Songs and Dances of Death”, and the quirky individualism of the American Charles Ives (“Tom Sails Away”), the most individual song writer of all time, of whom it can truly be said that he was influenced by nobody.
English song: the insular nature of Great Britain has given rise to isolated geniuses such as Purcell and Britten. This recital will concentrate on two quintessentially bitter-sweet English composers of the early twentieth century, Gurney and Finzi. The recital series closes by paying homage to a living English composer living in Ghent, Andrew Wise, whose Three Auden Songs were commissioned and premiered by Conor Biggs and Pádhraic ÓCuinneagáin.
”What Makes a Great Song?” Viaggio in Italia
Art songs and duets by Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi, Schubert & Liszt
Lieder and French Song are no strangers to the listening public, but what about Italian art song?
Continuing his critically acclaimed series of illustrated song recitals, Conor Biggs is joined by tenor Donal J. Byrne and pianist Pádhraic Ó Cuinneagáin in a thought-provoking programme of rarely performed Italian art songs and duets. Showcasing another side of Italian vocal music: the less well-known contributions to the art song repertoire by some of Italy's leading operatic composers (Verdi, Rossini, Puccini and Donizetti) as well as solo songs by Schubert and Liszt. An opportunity to discover the music and poetry of 19th century Italy, and to discover a more intimate, salon style of vocal composition.
Conor Biggs (bass-baritone) & Donal J. Byrne (tenor) with
Pádhraic Ó Cuinneagáin (piano)
National Concert Hall (John Field Room)
Wednesday August 27th, 2008 at 8 pm
What I’m about to write about is probably taken as read by singers of classical song, so this is intended more for those who are not performers but are interested in Art Song. Getting into the mind of a performer might make interesting reading!
The most important weapon in the armory of a Lieder singer is a highly developed sense of poetry, or poetic vision if you prefer. To illustrate what I mean, I’m going to take a look at Rachmaninov’s song ‘Fate’. Fate in this song is portrayed as vindictive – not one the hands-off Classical Fates, spinning their distaffs, remaining aloof, but a real party-pooper. On the face of it, a gift to the interpreter. One of the more interesting aspects of this song is that Fate is a kind of Death figure by proxy, or if you prefer Rachmaninov’s take on Mussorgsky’s famous song-cycle ‘Songs and Dances of Death’ To hear Mussorgy’s famous song cycle, click on the recordings page.
Fate, in Russian, is a woman: Sud’ba (Судьба). Rachmaninov hits on the happy idea of using Beethoven’s Fate’ theme from the Fifth Symphony as the building block for the entire song. The appelation ‘Fate’ was applied to the symphony by later generations, in the same way as the piano sonata in c sharp minor Op. 13 No. 2 was later christened ‘The Moonlight’, and Rachmaninov takes advantage of this cultural ‘tagging’. The poem is by Apukhtin – not generally known to us here in the West, but popular still in Russia, and frequently set by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov.
There are three principal characters – or rather victims – in the piece. I should explain at the outset that it’s easier to interpret songs with a strong story line: ballads likeSchubert’s ‘Erlkönig’ come to mind. Most songs deal with an emotional state – of the type ‘If you leave me now you take away greater part of me/ ‘You are a Little Flower /‘After a Dream’. A ballad on the other hand deals with an event or series of events in linear fashion.
Back to our song! Fate is introduced after a short piano introduction in which Beethoven is omnipresent, and proves to be a bad-tempered old lady, hobbling around on a walking stick. First we see the peasant, sowing his crops happily, hand-in-hand with Fate, the next moment succumbing to the effects of famine. Fate describes this with horrid Schadenfreude. Next, the wealthy Hooray Henries, revelling à la ‘Belshazzar’s Feast’ - that most colourful episode from the Book of Daniel.* Rachmanonov introduces a new theme in the piano, marvellously vainglorious in tone. At a certain point the guests fall silent as a ghastly hand appears, pointing towards them. ‘Move over’, says Fate, ‘Make room for a new guest!’ Finally, in a passage of great lyrical beauty we are introduced to two lovers. ‘No yist’ na shchastye zhe zemle! (‘There is happinies on earth after all!’) intones Apukhtin. But not for long… the lovers’ bliss is short-lived, as they discover Fate snooping around in the undergrowth (Rather comical, that ‘Happiness? Think again!’ says Fate, and the song ends with an insistent reiteration of that famous theme. Throughout the song Fate intones the words ‘Stook, stook, stook’ (Knock-knock-knock) with a venom that can become comical if the interpreter is not careful.
The length of the song might appear daunting to a non-Russian singer – how am I going to memorize all those words? To which I would reply: don’t sing in a language you can’t speak, however sketchily. (I would love to be able to sing Kilpinen’s Finnish songs, but I don’t speak Finnish.) My Russian is not fluent, but sufficient to allow me to inflect the words as I think the poetry demands, and I can think, or dream, or imagine in Russian. When I sing about the luckless peasant, the feasting Hooray Henries confronted with that admonishing hand, or the young lovers thwarted in mid-élan, I actually see those situations: I invent – or rather re-invent during each performance: I go into story-telling mode. I sing as if for the first time, as in a spontaneous conversation., while keeping a careful eye on practical matters such as my collaboration with the pianist. Everything - the speed of my vibrato, the amount of time I spend on a specific vowel or consonant, the intensity of the breath I take – is coloured by my poetic vision. Story-tellers were a cherished race in days of yore! Fidelity to the inflections of speech, the sheer love of the spoken word – that is one of the keys to good Lieder singing. Of course, ballads like ‘Fate’ present fewer problems of interpretation. More difficult are those songs of a philosophical nature, like Schubert’s magisterial ‘Grenzen der Menscheit’, but even there opportunities present themselves. Harder again are Bach arias, for in Bach there is a lot of text repetition, militating against the story-telling mode that I speak of. Which is maybe one reason that baroque music does not lend itself to Art Song!
* ‘In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.’ (Dan. V)