Thursday, June 27, 2024 at 3:15 p.m.
Athenaeum Hotel Parlor
Amia Langer, soprano
Tyrese Byrd, tenor
with Rick Hoffenberg, Carol Rausch, and Allison Voth, pianists
Robert Schumann (1810-1856):
Liebesgarten, Op. 34, No. 1
Ms. Langer and Mr. Byrd with Ms. Voth
Claude Debussy:
from Sept Poèmes de Banville
1. Rêverie
3. Le lilas
7. Fête galante
Ms. Langer with Ms. Rausch
Francis Poulenc (1899-1963):
Banalités
1. Chanson d'Orkenise
2. Hôtel
3. Fagnes de Wallonie
4. Voyage à Paris
5. Sanglots
Mr. Byrd with Ms. Voth
Joaqúin Turina (1882-1949):
from Poema en forma de canciones, Op. 19
3. Cantares
4. Los dos miedos
5. Las locas por amor
Ms. Langer with Mr. Hoffenberg
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943):
The Answer, Op. 21, No. 4
How fair this spot Op. 21, No. 7
Spring Waters, Op. 14, No. 11
Mr. Byrd with Mr. Hoffenberg
Libby Larsen (1950):
from Songs from Letters - Calamity Jane to her daughter Janey, 1880-1902
2. He never misses (1880)
5. All I have (1902)
Samuel Barber (1910-1981):
Sure on this shining night, Op. 13, No. 3
Ms. Langer with Ms. Voth
Margaret Bonds (1913-1972):
Dream Variation #2 from Three Dream Portraits
Rosephanye Powell (1962):
I want to die while you love me
Undine Smith Moore (1904-1989):
I am in Doubt and Lyric for Truelove
Mr. Byrd with Ms. Rausch
Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990):
"Tonight" duet from West Side Story
Ms. Langer and Mr. Byrd with Mr. Hoffenberg
| Song | Translation |
| Liebesgarten, Op. 34, No. 1 Poetry by Robert Reinick Die Liebe ise ein Rosenstrauch. Wo blüht er? Ei nun, in unserm Garten, Darin wir zwei, mein Lieb und ich, Getreulich seiner warten, Wofür er uns aus Dankbarkeit Alltäglich neue Blumen streut. Und wenn im Himmel Rosen blühn, Sie können doch nicht schöner blühn. Die Liebe ist ein karer Bach. Wo zieht er? Ei nun, in unserm Garten, So viele Wellen, so viel Lust Und Freuden aller Arten. Auch spiegelt er die Welt umher, Als ob sie noch viel schöner wär. Drauf fahren wir so lustig hin, Wie Vöflein durch den Himmel ziehn. Die Liebe ise ein holder Stern. Wo blüht er? Ei nun, in unserm Garten. Ach Liebchen sprich, was lässt du mich Doch oft so lange warten? Denn seh' ich dich nicht alle Stund, Des Sternes Glut mein Herz verbrennt; Doch kommst du steigt er mild herauf, Als geht im Mai die Sonne auf. | Love's Garden Translation by Richard Stokes Love is a rose-tree. Where does it bloom? In our garden, of course, Where we two, my love and I, Faithfully tend it, In return for which, in gratitude, It blooms afresh every day. And if roses bloom in heaven, They could not bloom with greater beauty Love is a small stream. Where does it flow? In our garden, of course, With many waves and much joy And pleasures of every kind. It also reflects the surrounding world, Making it more lovely by far. We travel on that stream as happily As little birds fly through the air. Love is a bright star. Where does it shine? In our garden, of course. Ah, tell me, my love, why do you often Leave me waiting so long? For if I do not see you every hour, The star burns my heart away; But when you come, it gently climes the sky Like the sun in May. |
| Sept Pôemes de Banville Claude Debussy poetry by Théodore de Banville 1. Rêverie Le zéphir à la douce haleine Entrouvre la rose des bois, Et sur les monts et dans la plaine, Il féconde tout à la fois. Le lys et la rouge verveine S'échappent fleuris de ses doigts. Tout s’enivre à sa coupe pleine Et chacun tréssaille à sa voix. Mais il est une frêle plante Qui se retire et fuit tremblante Le baiser qui va la meurtrir. Or, je sais des âmes plaintives Qui sont comme les sensitives, Et que le bonheur fait mourir. | Sept Pôemes de Banville Translation by Sun-Young Lee 1. Daydream The sweet-breathed breeze Opens the wild roses, And on the mountains and in the plain, It fertilizes everything at once. The lily and the red verbena They escape floridly from his fingers. Everything comes into full bloom And each trembles at his voice. But there is a frail plant Which withdraws and flees, trembling The kiss that will bruise it. Now, I know plaintive souls Who are like the sensitive ones, Dies of happiness. |
3. Le lilas Ô floraison divine du lilas, Je te bénis, pour si peu que tu dures! Nos pauvres coeurs de souffrir étaient las. Enfin l'oubli guérit nos peines dures Enivrez-nous, fleurs, horizons, verdures! Le clair réveil du matin gracieux; Charme l'azur irradié des cieux; Mai fleurissant cache les blanches tombes, Tout éclairé de feux délicieux, Et l'air frémit, blanc des vols de colombes.
| 3. The Lilac O divine flowering of the lilac, I bless you, the little time that you last! Our poor suffering hearts are weary. Finally oblivion heals our difficult sorrow Intoxicate us, blooms, horizons, greenery! The light awakens with the grace of morning; Blue enchantment radiates through the sky; May flowering hides the white tombs, Everything is illuminated by the exquisite light, And the air trembles, white with the flights of doves. |
7. Fête galante Voilà Sylvandre et Lycas et Myrtil Car c'est ce soir fête chez Cydalise. Partout dans l’air court un parfum subtil, Dans le grand parc où tout s'idéalise Avec la rose Aminthe rivalise. Philis, Eglé, qui suivent leurs amants, Cherchent l'ombrage en mille endroits charmants. Dans le soleil qui s'irrite et qui joue, Luttant d'orgueil avec les diamants, Sur le chemin, le Paon blanc fait la roue. | 7. Outdoor Party Here are Silvandre and Lycas and Myrtil, For tonight there’s a celebration at the home of Cydalise. Everywhere a subtle perfume fills the air, In the vast park where all is idealized Aminta rivals even the rose. Phyllis and Eglia, who pursue their lovers, Seek the shadows in a thousand charming places. Beneath the sun that flares and plays, they proudly struggle to compete with the diamonds, On the road, the white peacock fans its tail. |
| Banalités Francis Poulenc Text by Guillaume Apollinaire Chanson d'Orkenise Par les portes d’Orkenise Veut entrer un charretier. Par les portes d’Orkenise Veut sortir un va-nu-pieds. Et les gardes de la ville Courant sus au va-nu-pieds: ‘Qu’ emportes-tu de la ville?’ ‘J’y laisse mon coeur entier.’ Et les gardes de la ville Courant sus au charretier: ‘Qu’apportes-tu dans la ville?’ ‘Mon coeur pour me marier!’ Que de coeurs, dans Orkenise! Les gardes riaient, riaient. Va-nu-pieds la route est grise, L’amour grise, ô charretier. Les beaux gardes de la ville Tricotaient superbement; Puis les portes de la ville Se fermèrent lentement. | Banalités Translation by Richard Stokes Chanson d'Orkenise Through the gates of Orkenise A waggoner wants to enter. Through the gates of Orkenise A vagabond wants to leave. And the sentries guarding the town Rush up to the vagabond: 'What are you taking from the town?' 'I'm leaving my whole heart behind.' And the sentries guarding the town Rush up to the waggoner: 'What are you carrying into the town?' 'My heart in order to marry.' So many hearts in Orkenise! The sentries laughed and laughed: Vagabond, the road's not merry, Love makes you merry, O waggoner! The handsome sentries guarding the town Knitted vaingloriously; The gates of the town then Slowly closed. |
| Hôtel Ma chambre a la forme d’une cage Le soleil passe son bras par la fenêtre Mais moi qui veux fumer pour faire des mirages J’allume au feu du jour ma cigarette Je ne veux pas travailler je veux fumer | Hôtel My room is shaped like a cage The sun slips its arm through the window But I who want to smoke to make mirages I light my cigarette on daylight's fire I do not want to work I want to smoke |
Fagnes de Wallonie Tant de tristesses plénières Prirent mon coeur aux fagnes désolées Quand las j’ai reposé dans les sapinières Le poids des kilomètres pendant que râlait le vent d’ouest J’avais quitté le joli bois Les écureuils y sont restés Ma pipe essayait de faire des nuages Au ciel Qui restait pur obstinément Je n’ai confié aucun secret sinon une chanson énigmatique Aux tourbières humides Les bruyères fleurant le miel Attiraient les abeilles Et mes pieds endoloris Foulaient les myrtilles et les airelles Tendrement mariée Nord Nord La vie s’y tord En arbres forts Et tors La vie y mord La mort À belles dents Quand bruit le vent | Bogs of Wallonie So much utter sadness Seized my heart in the desolate upland moss-hags When weary I set down in the fir plantation The weight of kilometres to the roar Of the west wind I had left the pretty wood The squirrels stayed there My pipe tried to make clouds In the sky Which stubbornly stayed clear I confided no secret but an enigmatic song To the dank peat-bogs The honey-fragrant heather Attracted the bees And my sore feet Crushed bilberries and whortleberries Tenderly united North North Life is gnarled there In strong trees And twisted Life there bites Death Voraciously When the wind howls |
Voyage à Paris Ah! la charmante chose Quitter un pays morose Pour Paris Paris joli Qu’un jour Dut créer l’Amour | Voyage à Paris Oh! how delightful To leave a dismal Place for Paris Charming Paris That one day Love must have made Oh! how delightful To leave a dismal Place for Paris |
| Sanglots Notre amour est réglé par les calmes étoiles Or nous savons qu’en nous beaucoup d’hommes respirent Qui vinrent de très loin et sont un sous nos fronts C’est la chanson des rêveurs Qui s’étaient arraché le coeur Et le portaient dans la main droite Souviens-t’en cher orgueil de tous ces souvenirs Des marins qui chantaient comme des conquérants Des gouffres de Thulé des tendres cieux d’Ophir Des malades maudits de ceux qui fuient leur ombre Et du retour joyeux des heureux émigrants De ce coeur il coulait du sang Et le rêveur allait pensant A sa blessure délicate Tu ne briseras pas la chaîne de ces causes Et douloureuse et nous disait Qui sont les effets d’autres causes Mon pauvre coeur mon coeur brisé Pareil au coeur de tous les hommes Voici voici nos mains que la vie fit esclaves Est mort d’amour ou c’est tout comme Est mort d’amour et le voici Ainsi vont toutes choses, Arrachez donc le vôtre aussi Et rien ne sera libre jusqu’à la fin des temps Laissons tout aux morts Et cachons nos sanglots | Sanglots Our love is governed by the calm stars Now we know that in us many men have their being Who came from afar and are one beneath our brows It is the song of the dreamers Who tore out their hearts And carried them in their right hands Remember dear pride all these memories The sailors who sang like conquerors The chasms of Thule the gentle Ophir skies The accursed sick those who flee their shadows And the joyous return of happy emigrants This heart ran with blood And the dreamer kept thinking Of his delicate wound You shall not break the chain of these causes Of his painful wound and said to us Which are the effects of other causes My poor heart my broken heart Like the hearts of all men Here here are our hands that life enslaved Has died of love or so it seems Has died of love and here it is Such is the fate of all things So tear out yours too And nothing will be free till the end of time Let us leave all to the dead And conceal our sobs |
| Poema en forma de canciones, Op. 19 Joaqúin Turina Text by Ramón de Campoamor y Campoosorio (1817 – 1901) 3. Cantares Más cerca de mí te siento Cuanto más huyo de tí, Pues tu imágen es en mí Sombra de mi pensamiento. | Poema en forma canciones, Op. 19 Translation by Emily Ezust 3. Cantares (I feel closer to you) I feel closer to you The more I run from you, For your image haunts The very shadow of my thoughs |
4. Los dos miedos Al comenzar la noche de aquel día, ¡Tengo miedo sin tí! | 4. The two fears At the beginning of the night that day, She, far away, said to me, Why are you moving so close to me? I am afraid of you. And after the night had passed She said, close to me: Why are you straying from my side? I am afraid without you! |
| 5. Las locas por amor "Te amaré, diosa Venus, si prefieres que te ame mucho tiempo y con cordura." Y respondió la diosa de Citeres: "Prefiero, como todas las mujeres, que me amen poco tiempo y con locura." | 5. Las locas por amor "I shall love you, goddess Venus, if you wish for me to love you for a long time and with good sense." And the goddess of Cythera responded, "I prefer, as all women do, for you to love me for a short time and with madness." |
| Oni otvechali Sergei Rachmaninoff Text by Lev Aleksandrovich Mey Sprosili oni: ,,Kak v letuchikh chelnakh Nam beloju chajkoj skol'zit' na volnakh, Chtob nas storozha nedognali?`` ,,Grebite!`` oni otvechali. Sprosili oni: ,,Kak zabyt', navsegda, Chto v mire judol'nom jest' bednost', beda, Chto jest' v njom groza i pechali?`` ,,Zasnite!`` oni otvechali. Sprosili oni: ,,Kak krasavic privlech' Bez chary: chtob sami na strastnuju rech' Oni nam v ob"jatija pali?`` ,,Ljubite!`` oni otvechali. | The Answer, Op. 21. No. 4 Translation by Philip Ross Bullock They asked: ‘How, in swift boats, Are we to glide across the waves, like a white seagull, Lest the guards should catch us?’ ‘Row!’, they answered. They asked: ‘How are we to forget forever That there is poverty and misfortune in this valley of tears, That there is enmnity and sorry? ‘Sleep’, they answered. They asked: ‘How are we to win beautiful girls Without spells: so that our passionate words Will make them fall into our embraces? ‘Love!’ they answered. |
| Zdes' khorosho by Sergei Rachmaninov Text by Glafira Adol'fovna Galina Zdes' khorosho... Vzgljani, vdali Ognjom gorit reka; Cvetnym kovrom luga legli, Belejut oblaka. Zdes' net ljudej... Zdes' tishina... Zdes' tol'ko Bog da ja. Cvety, da staraja sosna, Da ty, mechta moja! | How Fair This Spot Translation by Philip Ross Bullock How fair this spot... Just look, there in the distance The river is ablaze; The meadows are like a radiant carpet, And the clouds are white. Here I am alone with God. And the flowers, and the old pine tree, And you, my dream! |
Jeshchjo v poljakh belejet sneg by Sergei Rachmaninov Text by Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev Jeshchjo v poljakh belejet sneg, A vody uzh vesnoj shumjat Begut i budjat sonnyj breg, Begut, i bleshchut, i glasjat... Oni glasjat vo vse koncy: "Vesna idjot, vesna idjot! My molodoj vesny goncy, Ona nas vyslala vperjod. Vesna idjot, vesna idjot, I tikhikh, teplykh majskikh dnej Rumjanyj, svetlyj khorovod Tolpitsja veselo za nej!..." | Spring Waters Translation by Philip Ross Bullock The fields are still white with snow, |
| from Songs from Letters - Calamity Jane to her daughter Janey, 1880-1902 He never misses (1880) I met your father 'Wild Bill Hickok' near Abilene. A bunch of outlaws were planning to kill him. I crawled through the brush to warn him. Bill killed them all. I'll never forget... Blood running down his face while he used two guns. I crawled through the brush to warn him. Bill killed them all. He never aimed and he was never known to miss. | |
All I have (1902) I am going blind. All hope of seeing you again is dead, Janey. What I have left are these pictures of you and your father. Don't pity me, Janey, forgive my faults and all the wrong I did you. Good night, little girl, And may God keep you from harm. | |
Sure on this Shining Night, Op. 13, No. 3 Samuel Barber Poetry by James Agee Sure on this shining night Of starmade shadows round, Kindness must watch for me This side the ground. The late year lies down the north. All is healed, all is health. High summer holds the earth. Hearts all whole. Sure on this shining night I weep for wonder Wandering far alone Of shadows on the stars. | |
| Dream Variation #2 from Three Dream Portraits By Margaret Bonds Text by Langston Hughes To fling my arms wide In some place of the sun, To whirl and to dance Till the white day is done. Then rest at cool evening Beneath a tall tree While night comes on gently, Dark like me- That is my dream! To fling my arms wide In the face of the sun, Dance! Whirl! Whirl! Till the quick day is done. Rest at pale evening... A tall, slim tree... Night coming tenderly Black like me. | |
I want to die while you love me by Rosephanye Powell Text by Georgia Douglas Johnson I want to die while you love me, While yet you hold me fair, While laughter lies upon my lips And lights are in my hair. I want to die while you love me, And bear to that still bed, Your kisses turbulent, unspent To warm ne when I'm dead. I want to die while you love me Oh, who would care to live Till love has nothing more to ask And nothing more to give? I want to die while you love me And never, never see The glory of this perfect day Grow dim or cease to be! | |
I am in doubt by Undine Smith Moore Text by Florence Hynes Willette I'll love you until stars fall. Can it be so sure, so lasting as my heart demands of one whose slightest touch upon my hands is like the wind inside an aspen tree? I am in doubt of this frail thing I hold so sworn to constancy And this is why, why, Too often I have watched a burnt blue sky Where slipping stars spilled scarlet and grew cold. | |
Lyric for Truelove by Undine Smith Moore Text by Florence Hynes Willette True love…true love, arise for our trysting… a young scented wind hastens by to remind us the season is on us; the hour is right. Oh, do you remember an April behind us, when dogwood twined gentle and white? Your voice was a singing bird, caught in the branches. Your hair, a bright river that curved as it fell, and silky your eyelids were… cool as the blossoms. Your mouth for my thirst was a well. True love…true love, arise for our trysting. Leave your throat bare…. and your long hair undone. We will lean to each other, where wild boughs are misting, and shake out our dreams in the sun! | |
| Leonard Bernstein "Tonight" duet from West Side Story Text by Stephen Sondheim MARIA Only you, you're the only thing I'll see, forever. In my eyes, in my words and in everything I do, Nothing else but you, Ever! TONY And there's nothing for me but Maria, Every sight that I see is Maria. MARIA Tony, Tony . . . TONY Always you, every thought I'll ever know, Everywhere I go, You'll be! MARIA All the world is only you and me! Tonight, tonight, It all began tonight, I saw you and the world went away. Tonight, tonight, There's only you tonight, What you are, what you do, what you say! TONY Today, all day I had the feeling A miracle would happen— I know now I was right. For here you are, And what was just a world is a star Tonight! BOTH Tonight, tonight, The world is full of light, With suns and moons all over the place. Tonight, tonight, The world is wild and bright, Going mad, shooting sparks into space. Today, the world was just an address, A place for me to live in, No better than all right, But here you are And what was just a world is a star Tonight! Goodnight, goodnight, Sleep well and when you dream, Dream of me Tonight. |