grantparkmusicfestival€¦ · bizet suite no. 1 from carmen prélude (prelude to act i ......

Program Notes C��

GrantParkMusicFestivalSeventy-fifth Season

Grant Park Orchestra and ChorusCarlos Kalmar, Principal ConductorChristopher Bell, Chorus Director

Sixteenth Program: Opera hits on Venetian NightSaturday, July 25, 2009 at 6:30 p.m. Jay Pritzker PavilionGRANT PARK ORChESTRAJuanjo Mena, ConductorNicole Cabell, Soprano*Russell Thomas, Tenor†

BIZET Suite No. 1 from Carmen

Prélude (Prelude to Act I) Aragonaise (Prelude to Act IV) Intermezzo (Prelude to Act III) Seguedille (Act I) Les Dragons d’Alcala (Prelude to Act II) Les Toréad (Introduction to Act I)

GOUNOD Jewel Song from Faust*

GOUNOD Ah! lève-toi, soleil! from Roméo et Juliette†

GOUNOD Va! Je t’ai pardonné from Roméo et Juliette*†

ROSSINI Overture to Il Barbiere di Siviglia

DONIZETTI Una furtiva lagrima from L’Elisir d’Amore†

ROSSINI Una voce poco fa from Il Barbiere di Siviglia*

DONIZETTI Una parola, O Adina from L’Elisir d’Amore*†

MASCAGNI Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana

PUCCINI Excerpts from Act I of La Bohème

Che gelida manina† Mi chiamano Mimì* O Soave Fanciulla*†

VERDI Brindisi. Libiamo from Act I of La Traviata *†

This concert is generously sponsored by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

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Saturday, July 25, 2009 GRANT PARK MUSIC FESTIVAL

Recently appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic (Norway), JuAnJO MEnA is one of Spain’s most distinguished and dynamic young conductors. Relinquishing his post as Music Director of the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, a position he has held since 1999, Mr. Mena will continue as Chief Guest Conductor at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa. Born in Vitoria, he has appeared with almost all of the principal orchestras and chamber orchestras of his native country. Increasingly in demand outside of Spain, Mr. Mena has conducted the Baltimore Symphony, Bergen Philharmonic, Bern

Symphony, Bucharest Philharmonic, Indianapolis Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, La Scala Philharmonic, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Oregon Symphony, RAI Symphony Orchestra, Santiago Philharmonic, São Paulo Symphony, and the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz. Festival appearances include La Folle Journée (Nantes), La Roque d’Anthéron International Piano Festival, the White Nights Festival (St. Petersburg), and numerous festivals with the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Mena has recorded extensively for the Basque Radio, Basque Television (EITB), European Broadcasting Union (EBU), Spanish National Radio (RNE), and the Spanish National Television (RTVE). he has also recorded a splendid symphonic collection of Basque music with the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra for Naxos International. Juanjo Mena studied at the Vitoria-Gasteiz Conservatory, the Royal higher Conservatory of Music (Madrid) and in Munich with Sergiu Celibidache. he has also served as Artistic Director of the Jesús Guridi Chamber Orchestra and Associate Conductor of the Euskadi Symphony Orchestra in Spain.

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niCOLE CABELL’s current season brought her to the Metropolitan Opera for her much-anticipated house debut in two of her most acclaimed roles: Pamina in The Magic Flute and Adina in L’Elisir d’Amore. With her home company, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, she was heard in a new role, Leïla in Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles as well as at the very beginning of the season in an Opera Concert at Millennium Park conducted by the company’s Music Director, Sir Andrew Davis. Other opera engagements this season included two role debuts: the Countess in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro with the Cincinnati Opera and

Micaëla in Carmen with the Deutsche Oper, Berlin. In concert, Nicole Cabell was heard in Copenhagen, Prague, Munich, Frankfurt, Dortmund, Ottawa, Indianapolis and Raleigh. Miss Cabell appeared in recital at Carnegie hall both for Marilyn horne’s 75th birthday and as part of Jessye Norman’s Honor! Festival, as well as in Toronto, Berkeley and Cincinnati. A more unusual event in the soprano’s season was a series of cabaret concerts at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Future engagements include returns to the Metropolitan Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Royal Opera house, Covent Garden and the Deutsche Oper, Berlin, all in leading roles. Nicole Cabell’s solo album “Soprano” was named “Editor’s Choice” by Gramophone and has received an incredible amount of critical acclaim and several prestigious awards: the 2007 Georg Solti Orphée d’Or from the French Académie du Disque Lyrique and an Echo Klassik Award in Germany.

RuSSELL THOMAS’ current season included Tamino in The Magic Flute at the Metropolitan Opera, his debut as the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto with the Arizona Opera, and the Steuermann in Der fliegende Holländer with Atlanta Opera. Russell Thomas also reprised his role of the Prince for John Adams’ A Flowering Tree with the the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Perth International Festival and the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, before singing it later this summer at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival. Among other notable debuts were the role of Mao Tse-Tung in Mr. Adams’ Nixon in China with the Pittsburgh Symphony and the composer conducting, as well as concerts of Schubert’s Mass No.6 with the houston Symphony and hans Graf. he appeared twice in the same week at Carnegie hall/Stern Auditorium, first in George Walker’s Lilacs with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Charles Dutoit, and as the tenor soloist in Michael Tippett’s A Child Of Our Time. Another milestone this season was the tenor’s debut in Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde at the Spoleto USA Festival. In addition, Mr. Thomas sang at Carnegie’s Weill hall for the Marilyn horne Foundation in a recital that was part of the mezzo’s 75th birthday celebration. Future plans include returns to the Metropolitan Opera as Foresto in Attila and as the Steuermann in Der fliegende Holländer and to the Welsh National Opera for Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly. Russell Thomas’ recording on Nonesuch of A Flowering Tree has been lauded as “vibrant” and “impassioned”.


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Suite NO. 1 FrOm Carmen (1875)georges Bizet (1838-1875)

Carmen, Prosper Mérimée’s earthy novella of 1845, was an unlikely subject for Georges Bizet to have chosen for representation at the Opéra-Comique, whose bourgeois works had accustomed the theater’s audiences to light-hearted, happy-ending stories disposed in breezy musical numbers separated by spoken dialogue. heroism, tragedy and recitative were re-served for the hallowed environs of the Paris Opéra. Even though Bizet

and his librettists, henri Meilhac and Ludovic halévy, smoothed the edges of the story and the characters (Carmen was little more than a raw prostitute in Mérimée’s novella), critics and audience were bemused at the opera’s premiere on March 3, 1875 by the tragic progression of its plot, the depth of its characterization, the lubriciousness of its emotions, and the cumulative power of its impact. Though Carmen did not initially achieve the success Bizet had hoped, neither was it the fi-asco that some legends later made of it. It was retained in the Opéra-Comique repertory, and given 35 times before the end of the 1875 season and thirteen the next, though Bizet died in Paris exactly three months after the premiere, knowing little of the opera’s success. Carmen then was produced to much acclaim across Europe and in America (first at New York’s Academy of Music on October 23, 1878), and by the time that it was revived at the Opéra-Comique, in 1883, the original spoken dialogue had been replaced with composed recitatives by the New Orleans-born composer Ernest Guiraud. Carmen was invariably performed in this through-composed version until Bizet’s original score again came to light in the 1960s.

The lure of Carmen continues unabated. Carmen is probably the most frequently performed opera in the world, having reached its 3,000th performance in Paris alone within a half-century of its premiere in 1875. In America, Carmen is one of the “operatic A-B-C’s,” the three most popular works at the Metropolitan Opera — Aida and La Bohème complete the triumvirate. It has been recorded several dozen times, more than any other opera save Rigoletto (according to Alan Blyth’s compendious book about Opera on Record), and it was the third opera to be recorded complete, when Emmy Destinn created the title role (in German!) in 1908, preceded only by Aida (1906) and I Pagliacci (1907). In addition to its innumerable stage presentations, three unusual versions of the opera have appeared during the last two decades: Peter Brook’s controversial adaptation as a play-with-music, which emphasized the grittiness of Prosper Mérimée’s novella of 1845 on which the opera was based; Carlos Saura’s spectacular flamenco movie with Bizet’s music as accompaniment for some of the most exciting dance ever photographed; and a filmed production of the complete opera with Julia Migenes-Johnson and Placido Domingo shot on location in Spain.

Carmen continues to excite and intrigue as do few other musical works. The fascination of the opera is not just in the glorious music but also in the characterization and dramatic power that elec-trify the score: Carmen herself is an unfathomable mixture of dark sensuality and steely scorn; Don José is an all-too-human Everyman, drawn like a moth into the searing flame of Carmen’s tempta-tions; Micaëla is sweet and good and pitiable and defeated by events beyond her control; Escamillo, the Toreador, parades his machismo as a mask for his lack of feeling and tenderness.

The Prelude to Act I includes the brilliant music later heard as the procession of bull fighters enters the arena in Seville in Act IV and the ominous motive associated with Carmen’s tragic fate. The Dragoons of Alcala (Prelude to Act II) is the marching music that precedes Don José’s arrival among the Gypsies. The Intermezzo (Prelude to Act III) provides a quiet, lyrical foil to the surround-ing events. The Aragonaise (Entr’acte to Act IV), brilliant and languorous by turns, sets the scene for the opera’s searing conclusion.

With their abundance of melody, exotic Spanish milieu and vivid orchestral colors, excerpts from Carmen have long been concert-hall favorites. “If you want to learn how to orchestrate,” counseled Richard Strauss, a master of symphonic sonority, “don’t study Wagner’s scores, study Carmen.... It is sheer perfection. What wonderful economy, how every note is in its proper place.”

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C�� Program Notes

GRANT PARK MUSIC FESTIVAL Saturday, July 25, 2009

jewel sOnG FrOm faust (1859)Charles François gounod (1818-1893)

The aged Faust has signed away his soul to the devil, Mephistopheles, in exchange for the return of his long-lost youth. Faust and Mephistoph-eles set out on their adventures, and come to a village fair, where Margue-rite, with whose vision the devil tempted his prey to agree to their pact, is dancing with other young girls. As a lure for Marguerite, Mephistopheles provides a fabulous casket of jewels, which Faust presents to the girl. Mar-

guerite revels in the fabulous beauty of her new treasure.

O Dieu! que de bijoux! ... est-ce un rêve Oh, heaven! what jewels! charmant? Can I be dreaming?Qui m’éblouit, ou si je veille! — Or am I really awake?Mes yeux n’ont jamais vu de richesse Ne’er have I seen such costly things before! pareille! ...

(She puts down the casket and kneels down in order to adorn herself with the jewels.)

Si j’osais seulement I should just like to seeMe parer un moment how they’d look upon meDe ces pendants d’oreille! Those brightly sparkling earrings!

(Takes out the earrings.)

Voici tout justement, Ah! at the bottom of the casket is a glass:Au fond de la cassette, I there can see myself!Un miroir! ... comment But am I not becoming vain?N’être pas coquette?

(Puts on the ear-rings rises, and looks at herself in the glass.)

Ah! je ris de me voir Ah! I laugh, as I pass, to look into a glassSi belle en ce miroir! ... Is it truly Marguerite, then?Est-ce toi, Marguerite? Is it you?Réponds-moi, réponds vite! — Tell me true!Non! non! — ce n’est plus toi! No, no, no, ’tis not you!Ce n’est plus ton visage! No, no, that bright face there reflectedC’est la fille d’un roi, Must belong to a queen!Qu’on salue au passage! It reflects some fair queen, whom I greetAh! s’il était ici! As I pass her.S’il me voyait ainsi! ... Ah! could he see me now,Comme une demoiselle here, deck’d like this, I vow,Il me trouverait belle! ... he surely would mistake me,Achevons la métamorphose! And for noble lady take me!Il me tarde encor d’essayer I’ll try on the rest.Le bracelet et le collier. The necklace and the bracelets I’d like to try!

(She adorns herself with the bracelets and necklace, then rises.)

Dieu! c’est comme une main qui sur heavens! ’Tis like a handmon bras se pose! That on mine arm doth rest!Ah! je ris de me voir Ah! I laugh, as I pass, to look into a glass



Si belle en ce miroir! Is it truly Marguerite, then?Est-ce toi, Marguerite? Is it you?Réponds-moi, réponds vite! — Tell me true!Non! non! — ce n’est plus toi! No, no, no, ’tis not you!Ce n’est plus ton visage! No, no, that bright face there reflectedC’est la fille d’un roi, Must belong to a queen!Qu’on salue au passage! ... It reflects some fair queen, whom I greetAh! s’il était ici! As I pass her.

ah! lèVe-tOi, sOleil! FrOm rOméO et juliette (1867)Charles François gounod

Romeo, a Montague, has fallen in love with Juliet, of the rival Capulet family, in 14th-century Verona. Drawn irresistibly to Juliet, Romeo steals into the moonlit garden of the Capulet villa and compares his beloved to the rising sun in the aria Ah! lève-toi, soleil! that begins Gounod’s realization of Shakespeare’s famous Balcony Scene.

L’amour, l’amour! Oui, son ardeur a troublè Love! Love! Ay, its intensity has disturbed tout mon être! my very being!

(A light comes on in Juliet’s window.)

Mais quelle soudaine clarté resplendit But what sudden light through yonder à cette fenêtre? window breaks?C’est là que dans la nuit rayonne sa beauté! ’Tis there that by night her beauty shines!

Ah! lève-toi, soleil! fais pâlir les étoiles Ah, arise, o sun! Turn pale the starsQui dans l’azur sans voiles, that, unveiled in the azure,Brillent au firmament. do sparkle in the firmament.Ah! lève-toi! Ah! lève-toi! parais! parais! Ah, arise! Ah, arise! Appear! Appear,Astre pur et charmant! thou pure and enchanting star!Elle rêve, elle dénoue She is dreaming, she loosensUne boucle de cheveux a lock of hairQui vient caresser sa joue. which falls to caress her cheek.Amour! amour! porte-lui mes voeux! Love! Love, carry my vows to her!Elle parle! Qu’elle est belle! She speaks! how beautiful she is!Ah! je n’ai rien entendu! Ah, I heard nothing.Mais ses yeux parlent pour elle, But her eyes speak for herEt mon coeur a répondu! and my heart has answered!Ah! lève-toi, soleil! fais pâlir les étoiles, etc. Ah, arise, o sun! turn pale the stars, etc.... viens, parais! ... come thou, appear!

Va! je t’ai pardOnné FrOm rOméO et julietteCharles François gounod

Soon after Romeo and Juliet declare their love for each other, Romeo kills Tybalt, a Capulet, in a street brawl. he is sentenced to exile and spends his last night in Verona in Juliet’s chamber. They sing of the sweetness of their ardor and the sadness of their parting in the passionate duet Va! Je t’ai pardonné.

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Juliet

Va! Je t’ai pardonné, Come, I have forgiven you. Tybalt voulait ta mort; Tybalt desired your death; S’il n’avait succombé tu If he had not died, Succombait toi-même! You would have done so yourself! Loin de moi la douleur! Away with sorrow! Loin de moi les remords! Away with remorse!Il te haïssais et je t’aime! he hated you, and I love you!

Romeo

Ah! redis-le, redis-le, ce mot si doux! Ah, say it again, that word so sweet!

Juliet

Je t’aime, ô Romeo! I love you, o Romeo! Je t’aime, ô mon époux! I love you, o my husband!

Juliet, Romeo

Nuit d’hyménée! O bridal night! Ô douce nuit d’amour! O sweet night of love! La destinée Destiny M’enchaîne à toi sans retour. Binds me to you for ever. Ô volupté de vivre O how is love so lavishÔ charmes tout puissants! O how is life so fair!Ton doux regard m’enivre Thy loving gaze doth ravish,Ta voix ravit mes sens! Thy voice my soul ensnare!Sous tes baisers de flamme Beneath your ardent kisses Le ciel rayonne en moi. heaven is radiant within me. Je t’ai donné mon âme; I have given you my heart; A toi, toujours à toi. It is yours, yours for ever.

(The first glimmers of day lighten the window-panes. A lark is heard singing.)

Juliet

Roméo! qu’as-tu donc? What is it, Romeo?

Romeo

Écoute, ô Juliette! O Juliet, listen! L’alouette déjà nous annonce le jour! Already the lark is telling us it’s day!

Juliet

Non! non, ce n’est pas le jour, No, no! It is not morn, Ce n’est pas l’alouette ’Tis not the larkDont le chant a frappé Whose song hath pierc’d Ton oreille inquiète, The fearful hollow of thine ear, C’est le doux rossignol, It is the nightingale, Confident de l’amour! Love’s confidant!



Romeo

C’est l’alouette, hélas! It is the lark, alas, Messagère du jour! herald of morn! Vois ces rayons jaloux See those envious streaks Dont l’horizon se dore; Gilding the horizon:De la nuit les flambeaux Night’s candles Pâlissent et l’aurore Are burnt out Dans les vapeurs de l’Orient And the dawn breaks smiling Se lève en souriant! In the mists of the east!

Juliet

Non! non, ce n’est pas le jour, No, no, it is not morn, Cette lueur funeste That fatal gleam N’est que le doux reflet Is but the soft reflectionDu bel astre des nuits! Of the moon! Reste! Reste! Stay! O stay!

Romeo

Ah! vienne donc la mort! je reste! Ah, come then, death! I will stay!

Juliet

Ah! tu dis vrai: c’est le jour! Ah, you are right: it is morn! Fuis, il faut quitter ta Juliette! Flee! You must leave your Juliet!

Romeo

Non! non, ce n’est pas le jour! No, no, it is not day! Ce n’est pas l’alouette! ’Tis not the lark! C’est le doux rossignol It is the gentle nightingale, confident de l’amour! Love’s confidant!

Juliet

C’est l’alouette, hélas! Alas, it is the lark, Messagère du jour! herald of morn! Pars! ma vie! Go now, my life!

Romeo

Un baiser et je pars! One kiss and I’ll be gone!

Juliet

Loi cruelle! loi cruelle! O cruel decree! cruel decree!

Romeo

Ah! reste! reste encor Ah, stay, stay awhile En mes bras enlacés! In my entwining arms! Reste encor! reste encor! Stay awhile!


Un jour il sera doux One day it will be sweet À notre amour fidèle For our true love De se ressouvenir To recall De ses tourments passés. Its past torments.

Juliet

Il faut partir, hélas! Alas, you must go! Il faut quitter ces bras You must leave these arms Où je te presse In which I clasp you Et t’arracher à cette ardente ivresse. And tear yourself from this passionate joy.

Juliet, Romeo

II faut partir, hélas! Alas, we must part!II faut quitter ces bras You/I must leave these arms Où je te/elle me presse In which I clasp you/you clasp me, Et t’arracher/m’arracher And tear yourself/myself À cette ardente ivresse. From this passionate joy. Ah! que la sort qui de toi me sépare Ah, how much more cruel and barbarous Plus que la mort Than death is the fate Est cruel et barbare! Which severs me from you! Il faut partir, hélas! Alas, we must part! Il faut quitter ces bras You/I must leave these arms Où je te/elle me presse In which I clasp you/she clasps me Et t’arracher à cette ardente ivresse! And tear myself from this passionate joy!C’en est fait de cette ardente ivresse! It is all over, this passionate joy!

Romeo

Adieu, ma Juliette, adieu! Farewell, my Juliet, farewell!

Juliet

Adieu! Farewell!

Juliet, Romeo

Toujours à toi! Ever thine!

Juliet

Adieu, mon âme! adieu, ma vie! Farewell, my soul, farewell, my life! Anges du ciel, à vous, Angels in heaven, to you, À vous je le confie! To you do I confide him!

Overture tO il BarBiere di siViGlia (“the BarBer Of seVille”) (1816)gioacchino rossini (1792-1868)

In 1815, the Neapolitan impresario Domenico Barbaja hired a 23-year-old musician from Pesaro to direct two musical theaters in Naples and write one new opera every year. The duties seemed imposing for one so young, but Gioacchino Rossini had already penned a baker’s dozen of operas, and he was quickly becoming one of Italy’s best-known compos-


Program Notes C�9


ers. His first work for Naples was a historical piece, Elisabetta, Regina d’Inghilterra (“Elizabeth, Queen of England”), and it created enough excitement that he was invited to Rome late in 1815 by Duke Francesco Sforza-Cesarini, manager of the Teatro di Torre Argentina, to produce two new operas in that city. The first was the opera seria Torvaldo e Dorliska, which failed completely at its premiere on December 26th. The second venture, composed in less than three weeks to a libretto that Ce-sare Sterbini adapted from a comedy of Beaumarchais, was first mounted as Almaviva, ossia l’inutile Precauzione (“Almaviva, or The Useless Precaution”) on February 20, 1816 at the Argentina. It flopped. Rossini’s early (1867) biographer, h. Sutherland Edwards, reported that the orchestra comprised “very indifferent musicians, most of whom were workmen and petty shopkeepers engaged during the day in pursuit of their trade.” The tenor, Manuel Garcia, was to have accompanied himself in a serenade on the guitar, but the instrument was biliously out-of-tune when he started to play it on stage, and halfway through the song it burst a string that went twanging about his ears in mid-phrase. The audience’s laughter at that contretemps was as nothing, though, compared to that evoked when a cat presented itself to view and haughtily toured about the stage at a particularly tense moment in the drama. The greatest ruckus of the evening, however, was incited by a professional claque hired by the supporters of the composer Giovanni Paisiello, who had set the same story Rossini assayed that evening some 26 years earlier to great acclaim as Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Despite the horrendous opening night, the run of the production continued and audiences soon began to realize that this new opera was something special. A production in Bologna on August 19th, the first occasion on which the opera was given the title Il Barbiere di Siviglia (which had been eschewed to avoid confusion with Paisiello’s opera), confirmed the work’s popularity with the public, and it quickly spread a wild contagion of “Rossini fever” across Europe and even to America, where the work was heard as early as 1819, in New York. The Barber of Seville, praised by Giuseppe Verdi as “the finest opera buffa in existence,” has never since been absent from the stage.

Rossini was said to have based the original Overture to The Barber of Seville, appropriately enough, on Spanish themes. That piece, however, was lost in transit somewhere between Rome and Bologna, and Rossini, rather than recreating it or writing another one, simply replaced it with the instrumental preface he had composed for Elisabetta in Naples the year before, which in its turn had been adapted from the Overture to Aureliano in Palmira of 1813. “Persons with fantastic imaginations have rhapsodized on the Overture’s appositeness [to The Barber of Seville],” chided the noted early-20th-century American critic henry Edward Krehbiel. “But when Rossini composed this music its mission was to introduce an adventure of the Emperor Aurelian in Palmyra in the third century of the Christian era…. Truly, the verities of time and place sat lightly on the Italian opera composers of a hundred years ago.” Whether comedic or serious, this sparkling Overture is the perfect embodiment of Rossini’s unaffected artistic philosophy: “Delight must be the basis and aim of this art. Simple melody — clear rhythm.”

The Overture is launched with a stately slow introduction comprising several separated motivic gestures overlain with inchoate lyrical phrases. The main theme is quick in tempo and somewhat solemn in tenor, but this mood gives way to an ebullient second theme trotted out by the oboe. That wonderful engine of musical dynamism, the “Rossini Crescendo,” follows. There is no devel-opment section but rather a direct return to the main theme, here greatly truncated; second theme, crescendo and vigorous cadential chords bring this ageless Overture to a rousing close.

una furtiVa laGrima FrOm l’elisir d’amOre (1832)gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848)

The gentle villager Nemorino is in love with Adina, and is upset with her apparent indifference to him. In hope of enhancing his attractive-ness to her, he buys a bottle of “magic love elixir” — actually, just cheap Bordeaux — from the quack Dr. Dulcamara. Nemorino is mobbed by young girls (who have just learned that his recently deceased uncle has left Nemorino his fortune), and he thinks that he detects a hint of jealousy

in Adina. When she still remains aloof, however, he sings of his feelings in the touching aria Una

C�0 Program Notes

furtiva lagrima. Adina relents and admits her love. The couple are betrothed as the curtain falls.

Una furtiva lagrima A furtive tearNegli occhi suoi spuntò ... escaped from her eye ...Quelle festose giovani Those merry maidensInvidiar sembrò ... she seemed to envy ...Che più cercando io vo’! Why do I seek further?M’ama, sì, m’ama, lo vedo. She loves me, she loves me, I can see.Un solo istante i palpiti If I could but feel the beatingDel suo bel cor sentir ... of her dear heart for one instant ...I miei sospir confondere mingle my sighs for a littlePer poco a’ suoi sospir! ... with hers! ...I palpiti, i palpiti sentir! If I could feel that beating!Confondere i miei co’ suoi sospir! And mingle my sighs with hers!Cielo, si può morir; Oh, heaven, I could die then,Di più non chiedo, non chiedo. Ah! nor ask anything more.Cielo, etc. Oh, heaven, etc.Di più non chiedo. I ask nothing more.Si può morir, si può morir d’amor. One could die, could die of love.

una VOCe pOCO fa FrOm il BarBiere di siViGliagioacchino rossini (1792-1868)

The young and handsome Count Almaviva is in love with Rosina, ward and prospective bride of the mean and suspicious old Dr. Bartolo, and he sings a serenade below her window. Figaro, the Barber of Seville, enters noisily upon the scene with his famous aria, and offers his services as jack-of-all trades in arranging a liaison between Almaviva and Rosina. Almaviva instructs Figaro that he does not wish the lady to be swayed by his lofty social station, however, and so will assume the guise and name of a student, Lindoro. As Figaro hatches his plans, Almaviva/Lindoro writes a love note to Rosina. In Scene 2, Rosina, already much affected by the Count’s serenade, receives the missive, and responds with the brilliant aria Una voce poco fa, which reveals both her intent and her personality.

Una voce poco fa A voice a short while agoQui nel cor mi risuonò. here in my heart resounded.Il mio cor ferito è già, My heart is already wounded,E Lindor fu che il piagò. and Lindoro is the culprit.Sì, Lindoro mio sarà, Yes, Lindoro will be mine,Lo giurai, la vincerò. I swore that I would win.Il tutor ricuserà, The guardian I shall refuse.Io l’ingegno aguzzerò. I shall sharpen my wits.Alla fin s’accheterà, In the end, he will be appeased,E contenta io resterò. and I shall be happy.Sì, Lindoro mio sarà, Yes, Lindoro will be mine,Lo giurai, la vincerò. I swore that I would win.

Io sono docile, son rispettosa, I am docile, I am respectful,Son obbediente, dolce amorosa, I am obedient, sweetly loving;Mi lascio reggere, mi fo guidar. I let myself be governed, be led.Ma se mi toccano dov’è il mio debole, But if they touch my weaker side,Sarò una vipera, e cento trappole I can be a viper, and a hundred tricks,Prima di cedere farò giocar! I’ll play before I give in!



una parOla, O adina FrOm l’elisir d’amOregaetano Donizetti

Nemorino and Adina have their first encounter in the Act I duet, Una parola, o Adina.

Nemorino

Una parola, O Adina. A word, Adina.

Adina

L’usata seccatura! I soliti sospir! The usual nuisance! The same old sighs! Faresti meglio a recarti in città You would do better to go to town presso tuo zio, che si dice malato, to your uncle who is said to be e gravemente. dangerously ill.

Nemorino

Il suo mal non è niente appresso al mio. his suffering is nothing compared to mine. Partirmi non poss’io. I cannot leave. Mille volte il tentai. I have tried a thousand times.

Adina

Ma s’egli more, But if he dies,e lascia erede un altro? and leaves his wealth to someone else?

Nemorino

E che m’importa? What do I care?

Adina

Morrai di fame, e senza appoggio alcuno. You will die of hunger, with no support.

Nemorino

O di fame o d’amor, Of hunger or of love, per me è tutt’uno. it’s all one to me.

Adina

Odimi. Listen to me.Tu sei buono, modesto sei, You are good, you are modest, nè al par di quel sargente not like that sergeant,ti credi certo d’ispirarmi affetto; you don’t think yourself sure to inspire me with love;così ti parlo schietto, so I shall be frank with you e ti dico che invano amor tu speri and tell you that you hope for my love in vain; che capricciosa io sono I’m capricious e non v’ha brama and I’ve never felt a desire che in me tosto non muoia which did not die as soon appena è desta. as it was aroused.

Nemorino

Oh! Adina! e perché mai? Oh, Adina! Why ever is that?



Adina

Bella richiesta! What a question!

Chiedi all’aura lusinghiera Ask the flattering breeze perchè vola senza posa why it flies without settling or sul giglio, or sulla rosa, now on the lily, now on the rose, or sul prato, or sul ruscel: now on the meadow, now on the brook: ti dirà che è in lei natura it will say that it is its nature l’esser mobile e infedel, always to be inconstant and fickle, è natura, è natura it is its nature l’esser mobile e infedel. always to be inconstant and fickle.

Nemorino

Dunque io deggio? So what must I do?

Adina

All’amor mio rinunziar, fuggir da me. Renounce all thought of my love, leave me.

Nemorino

Cara Adina! non poss’io. Dear Adina! I cannot.

Adina

Tu nol puoi? Perchè? You cannot? Why? Perchè? Perchè? Why? Why?

Nemorino

Perchè! Perchè! Why! Why!

Chiedi al rio perchè gemente Ask the river why, lamenting dalla balza ov’ebbe vita from the rock from which it sprang corre al mar che a sè l’invita, it runs down to the sea which beckons it on, e nel mar sen va a morir: and goes to its death in the ocean: ti dirà che lo trascina it will tell you it is dragged there un poter che non sa dir, by a power it cannot explain, un poter che non sa dir. a power it cannot explain.

Adina

Dunque vuoi? So what do you want?

Nemorino

Morir com’esso, ma morir seguendo te. To die like the river, but to die following you.

Adina

Ama altrove: è a te concesso. Love elsewhere: you are free to.

Nemorino

Ah! possibile non è, Oh, it’s impossible,no, no, non è. no, no.



Adina

Per guarir di tal pazzia, To cure yourself of such madness, ch’è pazzia l’amor costante, for constant love is madness, dei seguir l’usanza mia, you should follow my example ogni dì cambiar d’amante. and take a new lover every day. Come chiodo scaccia chiodo, As one nail drives out another, così amor discaccia amor. so love dislodges love. In tal guisa io me la godo, That is how to enjoy life, in tal guisa ho sciotto il cor, ecc. that is how my heart remains free, etc.

Nemorino

Ah! ah te sola io vedo, io sento, Oh, oh, it’s you alone that I see and hear, giorno e notte, in ogni oggetto: night and day, in everything: d’obbliarti invano io tento, I try in vain to forget you, il tuo viso ho sculto in petto. your image is engraved on my heart. Col cambiarsi qual tu fai, Changing as you do, può cambiarsi ogn’altro amor, every other love may be changed, ma non può, non può giammai but no, not ever il primiero uscir dal cor. can the first love be driven from the heart.

Adina

Sì, sì, sì. Yes, yes, yes.

Nemorino

No, no, no. No, no, no.

Adina


Nemorino

No, non può uscir dal cor. No, not driven from the heart.

Adina

Sì, sì, sì. Rido e godo, rido e godo, Yes, yes, yes. I laugh and enjoy myself, in tal guisa ho sciolto il core. that is how my heart remains free.Dunque vuoi? So what do you want?

Nemorino

Morir seguendo te, I die following you, morir, morir per te. to die, to die for you.

Adina

Ama altrove. Love elsewhere.

Nemorino

No. No.

Adina

T’è concesso. You are free to.



Nemorino

No, vo’ morir con te. No, I want to die with you.

Adina

Morir per me? morir per me? Die for me? Die for me? Per guarir di tal pazzia, To cure yourself of such madness, ch’è pazzia l’amor costante, for it is madness, constant love, dei seguir l’usanza mia, you should follow my example, ogni di cambiar d’amante. and take a new lover every day.

Nemorino

Col cambiarsi, qual tu fai, Changing as you do, può cambiarsi ogn’altro amor, every other love may be changed, ma non può, non può giammai but no, never il primiero uscir dal cor. can the first love be driven from the heart.

Adina


Nemorino

No, no, no. No, no, no.

Adina


Nemorino

No, non può uscir dal cor, ecc. No, not driven from the heart, etc.

Adina

Sì, sì, sì. Rido e godo, rido e godo, Yes, yes, yes. I laugh and enjoy myself,in tal guisa ho sciolto il cor, ecc. that is how my heart remains free, etc.

iNtermezzO FrOm CaValleria rustiCana (1890)pietro mascagni (1863-1945)

Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana created a sensation when it was pre-miered on May 17, 1890 in Rome. The progenitor of an Italian operatic sub-species known as verismo (“realism”), it was one of the first modern operas to depict contemporary settings and characters on stage, and was produced with immediate and enormous success across Europe and in the United States. The one-act story is set in the square of a Sicilian village

on Easter morning. Turiddu returns from the army to find that his former sweetheart, Lola, has married Alfio. With Lola unavailable, Turiddu consoles himself with the charms of the peasant girl, Santuzza. She falls in love with Turiddu, and is infuriated when he returns to Lola for an adulterous affair. Santuzza confronts Turiddu on the steps of the church when he arrives to attend Mass, but he refuses to submit to her jealousy. Lola enters, singing a lighthearted ditty, grasps the situation at a glance, and exchanges bitter words with Santuzza. Turiddu, furious at the scene, hurls Santuzza to the ground, and escorts Lola into church. At this tense moment, Alfio enters, and Santuzza reveals



to him his wife’s illicit love for Turiddu. Alfio swears vengeance and leaves. A crowd fills the square after the Easter service ends. Turiddu proposes a toast to the villagers, but Alfio spurns the glass of wine offered to him. Insulted, Turiddu challenges him to a duel, and the two leave. The villagers rush back into the square with the news that Turiddu has been killed.

The Intermezzo occurs at the crucial moment in the drama when Alfio has just learned of his wife’s infidelity and determines to confront her lover. The serenity of the music, played while the stage is empty for the Easter service, evokes the solemn worship in the church and also acts as a foil for the intensity and tragedy of the scenes surrounding it.

eXCerptS FrOm ACt i OF la BOhème (1896)giacomo puccini (1858-1924)

Four poor but high-spirited bohemians live together in a Parisian gar-ret. Marcello, a painter, suggests that they smash a chair to fuel the waning fire on this chilly Christmas Eve, but Rodolfo, a poet, offers the manuscript of his latest work instead. The philosopher Colline arrives with the disap-pointing news that he has been unable to pawn a bundle of old books, but Schaunard, the musician, appears with food and fuel and some extra

cash from a new patron. he suggests that they celebrate his good fortune at the Café Momus in the Latin Quarter. Rodolfo stays behind to finish an article. There is a knock on the door. Rodolfo opens it to find Mimi, his neighbor, whose candle has gone out on the way to her flat. She asks him to light it, and drops her key in the process. Rodolfo, struck with her fragile beauty, extinguishes his own candle. As they search in the darkness for Mimi’s key, they touch, and Rodolfo remarks on her “frozen little hand” (“gelida manina”). “Let me give it back its warmth,” he sings. he holds her hand tenderly as he tells her of his life: “When it comes to dreams and visions ... I’ve the soul of a mil-lionaire.” Rodolfo asks Mimi to tell him about herself, which she does in the tender aria Mi chiamano Mimì. They are immediately drawn to each other and in the rapturous duet O soave fanciulla sing of their new-found love before leaving to join the bohemians at the Café Momus.

Che gelida manina, What a frozen little hand,se la lasci riscaldar. let me warm it again.Cercar che giova? What’s the use of looking?Al buio non si trova. We can’t find anything in the dark.Ma per fortuna But fortunatelyè una notte di luna it’s a moonlight night,e qui la luna and very soonl’abbiamo vicina. the moon will shine in here.Aspetti, signorina, Wait, pretty maiden,le dirò con due parole and I’ll tell you brieflychi son, e che faccio, who I am, what I do,come vivo. Vuole? and how I live. May I?Chi son? Sono un poeta. Who am I? I’m a poet.Che cosa faccio? Scrivo. What do I do? I write.E come vivo? Vivo. And how do I live? I live!In povertà mia lieta In my happy povertyscialo da gran signore I’m as prodigal as a lordrime ed inni d’amore. with my rhymes and love-songs.Per sogni e per chimere In dreams, fantasiese per castelli in aria, or castles in the air,l’anima ho milionaria. I’m as rich as a millionaire.Talor dal mio forziere Sometimes the strongroom of my imaginationruban tutti i gioielli is robbed of all its treasuresdue ladri: gli occhi belli. by two thieves: beautiful eyes.V’entrar con voi pur ora, They came in with you just now,


C�6 Program Notes

ed i miei sogni usati and all my accustomed dreams,e i bei sogni miei all my beautiful dreams,tosto si dileguar! melted away at once!Ma il furto non m’accora, But I’m not distressed at this robbery,poichè, poichè v’ha preso stanza because they have been replaced la speranza! by hope!Or che mi conoscete, Now that you know all about me,parlate voi, deh! parlate. Chi siete? won’t you please tell me who you are?Vi piaccia dir! Please will you say?

* * *

Si. Mi chiamano Mimì, Yes. They call me Mimi,ma il mio nome è Lucia. but my name is Lucia.La storia mia My storyè breve: a tela o a seta is brief: I embroider linenricamo in casa e fuori. or silk, at home or outside.Son tranquilla e lieta, I’m contented and happy,ed è mio svago and it’s my pleasurefar gigli e rose. to make roses and lilies.Mi piaccion quelle cose I love those thingsche han sì dolce malia, which possess such sweet enchantment,che parlano d’amor, di primavere; which speak of love and springtime,che parlano di sogni e di chimere, of dreams and visions,quelle cose che han nome poesia. those things that people call poetic.Lei m’intende? Do you understand?

Mi chiamano Mimì, They call me Mimi,il perchè non so. why, I don’t know.Sola mi fo il pranzo da me stessa. All alone, I make my own supper.Non vado sempre a messa, I don’t always go to Mass,ma prego assai il Signor. but I pray diligently to God.Vivo sola, soletta, I live alone, quite alonelà in una bianca cameretta; there in a little white room;guardo sui tetti e in cielo, I overlook roofs and sky,ma quando vien lo sgelo, but when the thaw comes,il primo sole è mio! the first sunshine is mine,il primo bacio dell’aprile è mio! April’s first kiss is mine!Il primo sole è mio! The first sunshine is mine,Germoglia In a vasein un vaso una rosa; a rose is coming into bloom;foglia a foglia petal by petalla spio! Così gentil I watch it! The scentil profumo d’un fior. of a flower is so sweet.Ma i fior ch’io faccio, ahimè! ... But the flowers I make, alas,i fior ch’io faccio, ahimè! the flowers I makenon hanno odore! have no smell!Altro di me non le saprei narrare: There’s no more I can tell you about myself:sono la sua vicina I am your neighborche la vien fuori d’ora who comes to bother youa importunare. at the wrong moment.

* * *



Rodolfo

O soave fanciulla, Oh lovely girl,o dolce viso oh sweet face suffuseddi mite circonfuso alba lunar, with the light of the rising moon,in te ravviso il sogno ch’io vorrei in you I see the dream incarnatesempre sognar! I’d like to dream for ever!

Mimi

Ah! tu sol comandi, amor! Oh, love, alone command me!

Rodolfo

Fremon già nell’anima … My soul’s already throbbing …… dolcezze estreme. ... with the sweetness of passion.Nel bacio freme amor! Love trembles in a kiss!

Mimi

Oh! come dolci scendono Oh, how sweetly his flatteryle sue lusinghe al core, falls upon my heart.tu sol comandi, amor! Love, alone command me!

(as he tries to kiss her)No, per pietà! No, please!

Rodolfo

Sei mia! You’re mine!

Mimi

V’aspettan gli amici. Your friends are waiting for you.

Rodolfo

Già mi mandi via? Are you sending me away already?

Mimi

Vorrei dir … ma non oso … I’d like to say … but dare not …

Rodolfo

Di’. Say it!

Mimi

Se venissi con voi? Suppose I came with you?



Rodolfo

Che? Mimi! What? Mimi!Sarebbe così dolce restar qui. It would be lovely to stay here.C’è freddo fuori. It’s cold outside.

Mimi

Vi starò vicina! I shall be near you!

Rodolfo

E al ritorno? And when we return?

Mimi

Curioso! Wait and see!Rodolfo

Dammi il braccio, mia piccina. Give me your arm, my sweet.

Mimi

Obbedisco, signor! I obey, Monsieur!

Rodolfo

Che m’ami di’. Say you love me.

Mimi

Io t’amo! I love you!

Mimi, Rodolfo (as they go out)

Amor! Amor! Amor! Ah, love, love, love!


grantparkmusicfestival€¦ · bizet suite no. 1 from carmen prélude (prelude to act i ......

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