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Composers

Happy birthday, Ludwig van Beethoven

December 17, 2020 By Nora Miller Rubinoff Leave a Comment

BeethovenGerman composer and pianist Ludwig van Beethoven was baptized on December 17, 1770, so it is likely he was born a few days prior to that date. As one of the most recognized composers in music history, his works are still some of the most frequently performed classical pieces to this day. Beethoven’s work spans the transition from the classical period into the romantic era.

“No composer left a mark on music quite like Ludwig van Beethoven. He took the popular forms of his time — symphony, string quartet, piano sonata, opera — and stretched them to their breaking points. He embodied the then-new ideal of the musician as passionate, politically engaged Romantic hero.”

— The New York Times

Beethoven was born in Bonn, but moved to Vienna in young adulthood to study with Haydn. He spent some 35 years in Vienna, and yet a visit to Vienna, noted Michael Cooper, bombards the traveler with “the city’s Mozart-industrial complex.” Mozart spent his last decade in Vienna, a much shorter period of time than Beethoven. Both men were key influencers of their time. Cooper’s travel back to Beethoven’s roots yields some interesting observations.

Beethoven was almost completely deaf by 1814, but continued to compose masterpiece after masterpiece. It seems that he put every ounce of his being through his work. When Beethoven died March 26, 1827, apparently he gave more. Visitors cut locks of his hair for keepsakes. There are still strands of his hair available for auction to this day.

Learn more about Ludwig van Beethoven

  • From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_van_Beethoven
  • From The New York Times: Beethoven’s 250th Birthday: Here’s Everything You Need To Know
  • From Britannica.com: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ludwig-van-Beethoven

From our collection

Fidelio

Fidelio18140523
Playbill of the first performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s opera Fidelio (third and final version) on 23 May 1814 at the Theater am Kärntnertor
  • Abscheulicher… Komm, Hoffnung, lass den letzten Stern
  • Gott! welch’ Dunkel hier!… In des Lebens Frühlingstagen
  • Ha! Welch’ ein Augenblick!
  • Hat man nicht auch Gold beineben
  • O namenlose Freude!
  • O wär’ ich schon mit dir vereint

Listen to Fidelio, conducted January 29, 1978 by Leonard Bernstein.

Orchestra – Wiener Philharmoniker
Chorus – Wiener Staatsoper
Leonore – Gundula Janowitz
Florestan – René Kollo
Pizarro – Hans Sotin
Rocco – Manfred Jungwirth
Marzelline – Lucia Popp
Jaquino – Adolf Dallapozza
Fernando – Hans Helm
Erster Gefangene – Karl Terkal
Zweiter Gefangene – Alfred Sramek

 

Christus am Ölberge

  • Christus am Ölberge – complete
  • Meine Seele ist erschüttert
  • Preist der Erlösers Güte

Listen to Jodie Devos perform Preist des Erlösers Güte, written by Franz Xaver Huber and set by Ludwig van Beethoven

9th Symphony

  • An die Freude – Ode to Joy

Autograph score of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (1822). https://t.co/3fPeFThdLZ pic.twitter.com/KEI2TuDkBZ

— Douglas Ipson (@DougIpson) December 17, 2020

Our entire collection of texts, both opera arias and art songs as set by Ludwig van Beethoven may be found here:

https://www.ipasource.com/composer/b/beethoven-ludwig-van-1770-1827.html

And finally, just for fun, a very modern take from the iPad Orchestra on Beethoven’s 5th:

Filed Under: Composers, Featured Tagged With: Beethoven, Ludwig van Beethoven

Featured composer: Richard Wagner

October 15, 2018 By Nora Miller Rubinoff Leave a Comment

RichardWagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner (Richard Wagner), born May 22, 1813 and died February 13, 1883, was a German conductor, polemicist, dramatic composer and theorist. Wagner had a revolutionary influence over the course of Western music. Unique to most opera composers is the fact that Wagner wrote both the libretto and music for each of his stage works.

Wagner was born in Leipzig, where he was the ninth child of Carl and Johanna Wagner. Wagner’s father died just six months following his birth, and his mother likely married (there are no official records) Carl’s friend, Ludwig Geyer. Until his was 14, Wagner was known as Wilhelm Richard Geyer. It is thought that Wagner likely believed that Geyer was his father.

Johanna and Ludwig Geyer moved to Dresden (from Leipzig) when Wagner was one year old. Geyer loved the theatre, and young Richard embraced that love as well, even taking part in some productions. Geyer died in 1821, and Geyer’s brother funded Richard being sent to Kreuzschule, a boarding school. It was there that Wagner wrote his first play, Leubald, which was strongly influenced by Shakespeare and Goethe. Determined to set the play to music, he convinced his family to permit him to have music lessons.

When his family returned to Leipzig in 1827, Wagner’s instruction continued. Beethoven was a big inspiration to Wagner, and he wrote several piano sonatas and orchestral overtures during this period.

Wagner enrolled in Leipzig University. Wagner was a non-conformist at his academic studies and was attending primarily for student life. During this time, he composed Die Feen, his first opera. He also held a brief appointment as musical director at an opera house in Magdeburg.

Wagner married actress “Minna” Planer in 1836. In 1837, true to many of his tempestuous relationships, Minna left Wagner. Wagner then moved to Riga (at the time in the Russian Empire) and served as a director in the local opera. He soon reconnected with Minna.

Early works from our collection of arias set by Richard Wagner:

Rienzi (libretto completed in 1838; music completed in 1840)

https://www.ipasource.com/composer/w/wagner-richard-1813-1883.html?search=rienzi#rienzi

  • Allmächt’ger Vater
    (Listen to tenor Jonas Kaufmann here: https://youtu.be/Stu4kFCvwfw)
  • Des Friedens, des Gesetzes Größe nur
  • Die Freiheit Roms sei das Gesetz
  • Gerechter Gott
    (Listen to lyric mezzo soprano Christa Ludwig here: https://youtu.be/Ond-wE_OSU4)
  • Ha, meine Liebe, ja, ich fühl’ es
  • Ich sah die Städte
  • Ihr nicht beim Feste
  • Ihr Römer, auf! Greift zu den Waffen
  • Wohl liebt’ auch ich
  • Wohlan, so mag es sein
    (Listen to tenor Günther Treptow here: https://youtu.be/e_fHRg1RSfU)
  • Zur Ruhe! Und ihr, habt ihr vergessen

 

Wagner and his wife had so much debt that they fled to avoid creditors. It was on a stormy sea passage to London that he had the inspiration for his opera, Der fliegende Holländer.

Der fliegende Holländer (libretto completed in May, 1841; music completed in November, 1841)

https://www.ipasource.com/composer/w/wagner-richard-1813-1883.html?search=die-fliegende-hollander#die-fliegende-hollander

  • Die Frist ist um
    (Listen to Danish bass-baritone Johan Reuter: https://youtu.be/NImng7mFVqU)
  • Mit Gewitter und Sturm
  • Mögst du, mein Kind
  • Traft ihr das Schiff
    (Listen to dramatic soprano Jesseye Norman: https://youtu.be/xdcuxxOeZos)
  • Willst jenes Tag’s du dich nicht

Rienzi was accepted for performance by the Dresden Court Theatre in the Kingdom of Saxony. Wagner then moved to Dresden in 1842. Richard Wagner lived in Dresden for more than 20 years. In 1843, he was appointed to the life-long post of Royal Kappelmeister. A number of his works were performed in the Semperoper.

Richard Wagner was politically influenced by the musical director August Röckel, posting calls to action in “Volksblätter,” published by Röckel. Wagner also called for freedom of the individual. This desire to establish a parliamentary system was in conflict with King Friedrich. Wagner the revolutionary was one of several prominent figures who took part in the Dresden uprising of 1849, where he acted as a guard and dispatch runner. His face appeared on “wanted” posters around the city, and he abandoned his post as Royal Kappelmeister when he fled to Saxony to escape arrest. It was 20 years before his works again appeared on opera programs in the city. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Uprising_in_Dresden#Prominent_figures_amongst_the_revolutionaries ).

Mid-career

Das Rheingold (libretto completed 1852; music completed 1854)

https://www.ipasource.com/composer/w/wagner-richard-1813-1883.html?search=das-rheingold#das-rheingold

  • Abendlich strahlt der Sonne Auge
  • Bin ich nun frei
    (Listen to baritone Leonard Lee: https://youtu.be/uO-7r8ZrS64)
  • Immer ist Undank Loges Lohn!
  • Schwüles Gedünst schwebt in der Luft
  • Weiche, Wotan! Weiche
    (Listen to American mezzo-soprano Jean Madeira: https://youtu.be/CjI39qX_qaY)

Die Walküre (libretto completed 1852; music completed 1856)

https://www.ipasource.com/composer/w/wagner-richard-1813-1883.html?search=die-walkure#die-walkure

  • Du bist der Lenz
    (Listen to soprano Kirsten Flagstad: https://youtu.be/tX62jelzWkc)
  • Hojotoho
  • Leb’ wohl
    (Listen to baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau: https://youtu.be/hhrkkzV0zho)
  • Winterstürme
  • Wo in Bergen du dich birgst

Wagner and Minna finally parted after Wagner’s affair with poet-writer Mathilde Wesendonck and his years in exile in Switzerland, Venice and Paris. Wagner returned to Germany when the political ban was lifted in 1862. He settled in Biebrich, on the Rhine. It was here that he began his work on Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. In 1864, King Ludwig II, proposed to stage several Wagner operas, including Die Meistersinger. Wagner was brought to Munich, and the King settled Wagner’s outstanding debts. The National Theatre Munich premiered Tristan und Isolde in 1865. During this time, Wagner began an affair with Cosima, the wife of Tristan conductor Hans von Bülow. Cosima gave birth to a daughter named Isolde. Wagner was Isolde’s father. Eventually King Ludwig asked Wagner to leave Munich, due to the scandal.

Minna died of a heart attack in 1866 in Dresden. Following Minna’s death, Cosima asked Hans von Bülow for a divorce, which he did not grant until after Cosima and Wagner had two more children together. Wagner and Cosima were married in 1870.

In 1871, Wagner moved to Bayreuth, the location of his new opera house. The Bayreuth Festspielhaus has completed after a number of delays due to funding, and it opened in 1876 with the performance of Das Rheingold.

Following the festival, Wagner took on commission work to help pay off the deficit in funding following the 1876 performance. He also began work at this time on Parsifal, his final opera.

Wagner dealt with political exile, turbulent love affairs, poverty and repeated flight from his creditors until near the end of his life. Richard Wagner was a lifelong anti-Semite, and his positions and writings were carried forward even after his death by his wife Cosima and other family members. Deutsch Welle has an article discussing Wagner’s anti-Semitism and how to reconcile his hatred while appreciating his music: https://www.dw.com/en/the-hateful-side-of-wagners-musical-genius/a-16850818.

Wagner died in 1883 of a heart attack. His body is buried in Bayreuth.

Later works

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (libretto completed 1862; music completed 1867)

https://www.ipasource.com/composer/w/wagner-richard-1813-1883.html?search=die-meistersinger-von-nurnberg#die-meistersinger-von-nurnberg

  • Morgenlich leuchtend im rosigen Schein
    (Listen to South African operatic tenor Johan Botha: https://youtu.be/NrjnelUsbZI) 
  • O Sachs! Mein Freund

Parsifal (libretto completed 1877; music completed 1882)

https://www.ipasource.com/composer/w/wagner-richard-1813-1883.html?search=parsifal#parsifal

  • Mein Vater! Hochgesegneter der Helden
    (Listen to German-Finnish bariton Jussi Ziegler: https://youtu.be/K6nu6JABKLc)

Tristan und Isolde

https://www.ipasource.com/composer/w/wagner-richard-1813-1883.html?search=tristan-und-isolde#tristan-und-isolde

  • Mild und Leise (Listen to Swedish dramatic soprano Nina Stemme: https://youtu.be/j8enypX74hU)
  • Tatest du’s wirklich

 

Art songs from our collection, as set by Richard Wagner:

op. 05. Sieben Kompositionen zu Goethes Faust

https://www.ipasource.com/composer/w/wagner-richard-1813-1883.html?search=sieben-kompositionen-zu-goethes-faust#sieben-kompositionen-zu-goethes-faust

  • Bauern unter der Linde
  • Branders Lied
  • Burgen mit hohen
  • Lied des Mephistopheles I – Es war einmal ein König
  • Lied des Mephistopheles II – Was machst du mir
  • Meine Ruh’ ist hin
  • Melodram Gretchens

 

Wesendonck Lieder

https://www.ipasource.com/composer/w/wagner-richard-1813-1883.html?search=wesendonck-lieder#wesendonck-lieder

  • Der Engel
  • Im Treibhaus
  • Schmerzen
  • Stehe still!
  • Träume

Our complete collection of Richard Wagner settings:

https://www.ipasource.com/composer/w/wagner-richard-1813-1883.html

Filed Under: Composers, Librettists and Poets Tagged With: composers, German, librettists, Richard Wagner, Wagner, Wilhelm Richard Wagner

Four art songs, set by Claude Debussy, perfect for soprano recital

September 13, 2018 By Nora Miller Rubinoff Leave a Comment

Claude Debussy, portrait by Marcel Baschet (1884)
Claude Debussy, portrait by Marcel Baschet (1884)
Are you preparing for a Junior Recital, Senior Recital, or Graduate Recital? These four art songs, as set by Claude Debussy, are perfect for adding to a Soprano vocal recital program.

French composer Achille-Claude Debussy, also known as Claude-Achille Debussy or Claude Debussy was born August 22, 1862, in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Seine-et-Oise. Debussy was one of the most prominent figures in Impressionist music and among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Learn more about Claude Debussy in our blog post.

Looking for even more soprano recital recommendations? Check out our collection of 24 soprano vocal recital recommendations.

Quatre chansons de jeunesse

Apparition (Apparition)
Text by Stéphane Mallarmé (1842-1898)
Set by Claude Debussy (1862-1918); Kaikhosru (Leon Dudley) Sorabji (1892-1988)
https://www.ipasource.com/catalog/product/view/id/5968/category/364/

Clair de lune (Moonlight)
Text by Paul Verlaine (1844-1896)
Set by Gustave Charpentier (1860-1956); Claude Debussy (1862-1918), from Fêtes Galantes I, #2;
Alphons Diepenbrock (1862-1921); Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924), op. 46, # 2; Jósef Szulc (1875-1956),
from Dix mélodies sur des poésies de Verlaine, op. 83
https://www.ipasource.com/catalog/product/view/id/5992/category/364/

Pantomime
Text by Paul Verlaine (1844-1896)
Set by Claude Debussy (1862-1918); Willem Pijper (1894-1947), from Fêtes galantes, #1; Kaikhosru
Sorabji (Leon Dudley) (1892-1988)
https://www.ipasource.com/catalog/product/view/id/5966/category/364/

Pierrot
Text by Théodore Faullin de Banville (1823-1891)
Set by Claude Debussy (1862-1918); Francis Poulenc (1899-1963), FP. 66
https://www.ipasource.com/catalog/product/view/id/5967/category/364/

Did you know? IPA Source now contains International Phonetic Alphabet translations for all 93 solo works of Claude Debussy.

Filed Under: Composers, Voice Classification Tagged With: Claude Debussy, Debussy, fach, recital, soprano, voice type

Perfect Baritone Recital Selections

September 6, 2018 By Nora Miller Rubinoff Leave a Comment

Georgio Ronconi-baritone
Georgio Ronconi, Italian operatic baritone
Attendees at a vocal recital fall into several categories: fans of the music; followers, family, or friends of the vocalist; those who wish to see or assess the singer’s performance; those who were brought along with someone else to the recital; and those who are needing persuasion.

Therefore, the preparation for a vocal recital – whether it’s a Junior Recital, Senior Recital, Graduate Recital, Elective Recital or some other type of recital performance – should be undertaken with a great deal of care.

IPA Source offers more than 12,000 International Phonetic Alphabet translations of opera arias, art songs, and Latin texts. Assembled in this post are a collection of texts for possible inclusion in a Baritone Recital. We’ve organized these recommendations by arias, composers, and finally include details and links to those texts from this list that appear in our database.

Arias

  • Donne mie la fate a tanti (from Così fan tutte)
  • Hai già vinta la causa…Vedrò mentr’io sospiro (from Le nozze di Figaro)
  • Mach dich, mein Herze rein (from Matthäuspassion)
  • ¡Mi aldea! (from the zarzuela Los Gavilanes)

Art Songs

Adams

  • Prayer

Bach

  • Mach dich, mein Herze rein

Bliss

  • It Is Well

Copland

  • Long Time Ago

Debussy

  • Fleur des blés

Faurè

  • Les roses d’Ispahan

Victor Maurel-baritone-as Iago
Victor Maurel, French operatic baritone
Guerrero

  • ¡Mi aldea!

Massenet

  • Les fleurs

Moore

  • Warm as the Autumn Light (from The Ballad of Baby Doe)

Mozart

  • Donne mie la fate a tanti
  • Hai già vinta la causa…Vedrò mentr’io sospiro

Pfitzner

Fünf Lieder, op. 9 

  • Die Einsame 
  • Im Herbst
  • Der Kühne
  • Abschied

Rorem

  • Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
  • O You Whom I Often and Silently Come
  • Look Down, Fair Moon
  • The Lordly Hudson
  • Early in the Morning

Santoloquido

I Canti Della Sera

  • L’assiolo canta
  • Alba di luna sul bosco
  • Tristezze crepuscolare
  • L’Incontro

Strauss

  • Traum durch die Dämmerung

Traditional Spiritual

  • I Want Jesus to Walk with Me
  • Over My Head

From our collection

Donne mie la fate a tanti
Guglielmo’s aria from the opera Così fan tutte (baritone)
Text by Lorenzo da Ponte (1749-1838)
Set by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
https://www.ipasource.com/donne-mie-la-fate-a-tanti.html

Listen to American baritone, Thomas Hampson:

Fünf Lieder, op. 9

Abendlich schon rauscht der Wald (Abschied)
Text by Josef Karl Benedikt von Eichendorff (1788-1857)
Set by Zdenko Antonín Václav Fibich (1850-1900), Abschied, H. 171, #2; Robert Franz (1815-1892),
Abends, op. 16, #4; Ferdinand von Hiller (1811-1885), Abschied, op. 25, #5; Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel
(1805-1847), from Gartenlieder, op. 3, #5; Hans Erich Pfitzner (1869-1949), Abschied, op. 9, #5 (1894-
5); Max Reger (1873-1916), Abschied, from Zehn Lieder für Männerchor, op. 83, #9; Heinrich Reimann
(1850-1906), Abschied, op. 3. #1; Othmar Schoeck (1886-1957), Abschied, op. 20, #7
https://www.ipasource.com/catalog/product/view/id/7075/category/957/

Wohin ich geh’ und schaue (Der Gärtner)
Text by Josef Karl Benedikt von Eichendorff (1788-1857)
Set by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), Der Gärtner, op. 17, #3; Robert Franz (1815-1892), Der
vielschönen Fraue, op. 10, #4; Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847), Gruß, op. 63,
#3; Hans Erich Pfitzner (1869-1949), Der Gärtner, op. 9, #1; Othmar Schoeck (1886-1957), Der Gärtner,
op. 20, #11
https://www.ipasource.com/catalog/product/view/id/7062/category/957/

Im Herbst (In Autumn) 
Text by Josef Karl Benedikt von Eichendorff (1788-1857)
Set by Eduard Lassen (1830-1904), op. 45, #3; Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel (1805-1847); Hans Erich
Pfitzner (1869-1949), op. 9, #3
https://www.ipasource.com/catalog/product/view/id/7069/category/957/

Fleur des blés (Flowers of wheat)
Text by André Girod
Set by Claude Debussy (1862-1918), set in 1891
https://www.ipasource.com/fleur-des-bles-6005.html

Les roses d’Ispahan
Text by Charles-Marie-René Leconte de Lisle (1818-1894)
Set by César Antonovich Cui (1835-1918), Les roses d’Ispahan, op. 54, #4; Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924),
op. 39, #4
https://www.ipasource.com/catalog/product/view/id/5299/category/31/

O You Whom I Often and Silently Come
Text by Walt Whitman (1819-1892) (Am)
Set by Ned Rorem (1923-) (Am), from 5 Songs to Poems – Texts by Walt Whitman, #2
https://www.ipasource.com/catalog/product/view/id/11014/category/4505/

Look Down, Fair Moon
Text by Walt Whitman (1819-1892) [Am]
Set by Ned Rorem (1923-) [Am], from 5 Songs to Poems – Texts by Walt Whitman, #4; from Five Poems
of Walt Whitman, #3
https://www.ipasource.com/catalog/product/view/id/11016/category/4505/

As Adam, Early in the Morning
Text by Walt Whitman (1819-1892) (Am)
Set by Ned Rorem (1923-) (Am), from 5 Songs to Poems – Texts by Walt Whitman, #1
https://www.ipasource.com/catalog/product/view/id/11008/category/4505/

Listen to American baritone, Nathan Gunn:

Hai già vinta la causa!… Vedrò mentr’io sospiro
Count Almaviva’s aria from the opera Le nozze di Figaro (baritone)
Text by Lorenzo da Ponte (1749-1838)
Set by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
https://www.ipasource.com/catalog/product/view/id/740/category/890/

Listen to Sir Bryn Terfel Jones, a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer:

Traum durch die Dämmerung (Dream at twilight)
Text by Otto Julius Bierbaum (1865-1910)
Set by Max Reger (1873-1916), op. 35, #3; Richard Strauss (1864-1949), op. 29, #1
https://www.ipasource.com/traum-durch-die-dammerung-9706.html

Mache dich, mein Herze, rein
#64-65, recitative and aria for bass from the Matthäuspassion, (St. Matthew Passion), BWV 244
Text by Christian Friedrich Henrici (Picander) (1700-1764), based on Matthäus 26-27
Set by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
https://www.ipasource.com/mache-dich-mein-herze-rein.html

¡Mi aldea!
Juan’s aria from the zarzuela Los Gavilanes  (baritone)
Text by José Ramos Martín (1892-1974)
Set by Jacinto Guerrero (1895-1951)
https://www.ipasource.com/mi-aldea.html

Filed Under: Composers, Voice Classification Tagged With: Adams, Bach, baritone, Bliss, Copland, Debussy, Faurè, Guerrero, Massenet, Moore, Mozart, Pfitzner, recital, Rorem, Santoloquido, Strauss, Traditional Spiritual, voice, voice classification, voice type, Wonder

Perfect Soprano Recital Selections

August 20, 2018 By Nora Miller Rubinoff Leave a Comment

Are you preparing for a Junior Recital, Senior Recital, or Graduate Recital? Deciding upon the perfect program of music for your performance is one of the most important decisions you’ll make. A vocalist must carefully select the right balance of music to appropriately highlight vocal skills. Curated from our database, here are 24 selections perfect to consider for inclusion in a Soprano recital.

Neue Liebe
Text by Heinrich Heine (1797-1856)
Set by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847), op. 19, #4
https://www.ipasource.com/neue-liebe-8243.html

Ach, um deine feuchten Schwingen
Text by Marianne von Willemer (1784-1860), attributed to Goethe
Set by Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel (1805-1847); Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847), op. 4, #4;
Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828), Suleika II, (D. 717)
https://www.ipasource.com/suleika.html

Die Schwalbe fliegt (Hexenlied)
Text by Ludwig Heinrich Christoph Hölty (1748-1776)
Set by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847), And’res Maienlied: Hexenlied, op. 8, #8
https://www.ipasource.com/catalog/product/view/id/6898/category/831/

À une fontaine (To a fountain)
Text by Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585)
Set by Darius Milhaud (1892-1974), from Quatre Chansons de Ronsard, #1
https://www.ipasource.com/catalog/product/view/id/8853/category/1774/

À Cupidon (To Cupid)
Text Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585)
Set Jacques Leguerney (1906-1997), Darius Milhaud (1892-1974), from Quatre Chansons de Ronsard,
#2
https://www.ipasource.com/catalog/product/view/id/8854/category/1774/

Dieu vous gard’
Text by Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585)
Set by Sas Bunge, from Deux poèmes, #1; Darius Milhaud (1892-1974), from Quatre Chansons de
Ronsard, #4
https://www.ipasource.com/catalog/product/view/id/8856/category/1774/

Quel guardo, il cavaliere… So anch’io la virtù magica
Norina’s aria from the opera Don Pasquale (soprano)
Text by Gaetano Donizetti and Giacomo Ruffini
Set by Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848)
https://www.ipasource.com/catalog/product/view/id/190/category/424/

Ich folge dir gleichfalls
#9, aria for soprano from the Johannespassion (St. John Passion), BWV 245
Text from the Martin Luther translation of The Gospel According to St. John, chapters 18-19
Set by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
https://www.ipasource.com/ich-folge-dir-gleichfalls.html

Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen (Complete)
Cantata BWV 32 for soprano and bass for the 1st Sunday after Epiphany
Text by Georg Christian Lehms (1684-1717); Luke 2: 49; Paul Gerhardt (1607-1676)
Set by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
https://www.ipasource.com/bwv-032-liebster-jesu-mein-verlangen-complete.html

L’idéal (The Ideal)
Text by René-François Sully-Prudhomme (1839-1907)
Set by Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944)
https://www.ipasource.com/catalog/product/view/id/5869/category/321/

Trahison (Betrayal)
Text by Edouard Guinand (1838-?)
Set by Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944)
https://www.ipasource.com/catalog/product/view/id/5875/category/321/

Rosamonde
Text by Marc Constantin (1810-1888)
Set by Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944)
https://www.ipasource.com/catalog/product/view/id/5874/category/321/

Hark! The Echoing Air
Air of the Second Woman from The Fairy Queen (soprano)
Text by Elkanah Settle (1648-1724) [Br] adapted from A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William
Shakespeare (1554-1616) [Br]
Set by Henry Purcell (1658/9-1695) [Br], Z. 629 no. 48 (1692)
https://www.ipasource.com/catalog/product/view/id/1456/category/3442/

Der Hirt auf dem Felsen (The shepherd on the rock)
Text by Willhelm Müller (1794-1824) and Wilhelmina von Chézy (1783-1856)
Set by Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828), D. 965
https://www.ipasource.com/der-hirt-auf-dem-felsen-7493.html

Una voce poco fa
Rosina’s aria from the opera Il barbiere di Siviglia
Text by Cesare Sterbini (1784-1831)
Set by Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868)
https://www.ipasource.com/una-voce-poco-fa.html

Quatre chansons de jeunesse

Apparition (Apparition)
Text by Stéphane Mallarmé (1842-1898)
Set by Claude Debussy (1862-1918); Kaikhosru (Leon Dudley) Sorabji (1892-1988)
https://www.ipasource.com/catalog/product/view/id/5968/category/364/

Clair de lune (Moonlight)
Text by Paul Verlaine (1844-1896)
Set by Gustave Charpentier (1860-1956); Claude Debussy (1862-1918), from Fêtes Galantes I, #2;
Alphons Diepenbrock (1862-1921); Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924), op. 46, # 2; Jósef Szulc (1875-1956),
from Dix mélodies sur des poésies de Verlaine, op. 83
https://www.ipasource.com/catalog/product/view/id/5992/category/364/

Pantomime
Text by Paul Verlaine (1844-1896)
Set by Claude Debussy (1862-1918); Willem Pijper (1894-1947), from Fêtes galantes, #1; Kaikhosru
Sorabji (Leon Dudley) (1892-1988)
https://www.ipasource.com/catalog/product/view/id/5966/category/364/

Pierrot
Text by Théodore Faullin de Banville (1823-1891)
Set by Claude Debussy (1862-1918); Francis Poulenc (1899-1963), FP. 66
https://www.ipasource.com/catalog/product/view/id/5967/category/364/

Vado, ma dove?
Text by Lorenzo da Ponte (1749-1838)
Set by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), concert aria for soprano, K. 583
https://www.ipasource.com/vado-ma-dove.html

Auf dem Strom (On the River/In the Current)
Text by Ludwig Rellstab (1799-1860)
Set by Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828)
https://www.ipasource.com/auf-dem-strom-7557.html

Del cabello más sutil (Dos cantares populares)
Text by Anonymous
Set by Fernando J. Obradors (1897-1945), from Canciones clásicas españolas, vol. 1, #6
https://www.ipasource.com/catalog/product/view/id/10257/category/3366/

La mi sola, Laureola
Text by Juan Ponce (1480?)
Set by Fernando J. Obradors (1897-1945), from Canciones clásicas españolas, vol. 1, #1
https://www.ipasource.com/catalog/product/view/id/10252/category/3366/

Al amor
Text by Cristóbal de Castillejo (1491?-1556)
Set by Fernando J. Obradors (1897-1945), from Canciones clásicas españolas, vol. 1, #2
https://www.ipasource.com/catalog/product/view/id/10253/category/3366/

More on recital prep:

  • “Choosing your singing repertoire“
  • “Take me to your Lieder: the delicate art of the song recital“
  • “The Vanishing Vocal Recital (and Where to Find Some)“
  • “Dos And Don’ts When Preparing For A Voice Recital“
  • “How to Plan a Successful Vocal Recital“

Filed Under: Composers, Featured, Voice Classification Tagged With: Cecile Chaminade, Claude Debussy, Darius Milhaud, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Fernando J. Obradors, Franz Peter Schubert, Gaetano Donizetti, Gioacchino Rossini, Henry Purcell, Johann Sebastian Bach, recital, soprano, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Featured composer: Amy Beach

July 1, 2018 By Nora Miller Rubinoff Leave a Comment

Amy Beach 01Amy Marcy Cheney Beach (September 5, 1867 – December 27, 1944) was an American composer and pianist. She was the first successful American female composer, and is also known as the first female composer to have her symphony performed by a major orchestra. Additionally, Amy Beach was the first classical U.S. composer to achieve success without the aid of European study.

Amy lived in a time where women musicians fell into one of two categories: amateur (playing within the home only) and professional (performing in public and paid to do so). Professional women musicians typically had parents who were musicians and performers. Respectable upper-class and middle-class women musicians didn’t perform in public because of the American doctrine of domestic feminism. Women were taught that marriage, home and family were their only domains.

Amy’s mother Clara was a singer and pianist, and had a sister, Emma, that displayed similar talents. Musical skill was clearly present in Amy’s family. At age one, young Amy could already sing 40 songs. She further exhibited her prodigious skills by teaching herself to read at age 3, and writing three waltzes for piano by the age of 4. At the time, highly talented musical students were often sent to Europe for further musical training to pursue a career in music. Amy’s parents did not support the pursuit of European study and for quite some time, Amy was instructed solely by her mother.

At age 9, Amy began studying piano with German-trained Ernst Perabo, who was regarded as one of Boston’s finest pianists and instructors. Perabo taught both privately and at the New England Conservatory. Perabo believed that “the development of the mind requires slow growth, assisted by the warm sun of affection, and guided by conservative teachers with honest and ideal conceptions who understand how to so load its precious cargo, that it may not shift during life’s tempestuous vicissitudes.”

– “Amy Beach, Passionate Victorian: the Life and Work of an American Composer, 1867-1944.” Amy Beach, Passionate Victorian: the Life and Work of an American Composer, 1867-1944, by Adrienne Fried. Block, Oxford University Press, 2000, pp. 23–23.

At age 16 (in 1883), Amy debuted at a “Promenade Concert” in Boston’s Music Hall, playing Chopin’s Rondo in E-flat and was piano soloist in Moscheles’s Piano concerto No. 3 in G minor. She was enthusiastically received.

Amy was married in 1885 at the young age of 18 to Boston surgeon Dr. Henry Harris Aubrey Beach. Henry was 24 years older than Amy. Dr. Beach required his wife stop her public performance. In conformity with his wishes, she stopped performing except for one performance yearly whose proceeds were donated to charity and focused only on composition. Amy Cheney Beach agreed “to live according to his status, that is, function as a society matron and patron of the arts,” and to never teach piano.

Early Amy Beach songs

  • The Blackbird, as set by Amy Beach (1889)
  • Dark is the night, as set by Amy Beach (1890)

…

op. 1. Four Songs (1887)

  • Die vier Brüder (poem by F. von Schiller)
  • Jeune fille et jeune fleur (poem by F.R. Chateaubriand)

Self study in composition

As mentioned previously, Amy’s husband, Dr. Henry Beach, forbade her to perform. While she focused on composition, he did not want her taking formal instruction. From wikipedia.org:

Her self-guided education in composition was also necessitated by Dr. Beach, who disapproved of his wife studying with a tutor. Restrictions like these were typical for middle- and upper-class women of the time: as it was explained to a European counterpart, Fanny Mendelssohn, “Music will perhaps become his [Fanny’s brother Felix Mendelssohn‘s] profession, while for you it can and must be only an ornament.”

Amy Cheney Beach’s compositions blazed new territory for women in the Victorian Era. The Mass in E♭, Op. 5, was her first acclaimed success. A 75-minute work for chorus, quartet, organ, and orchestra, it was performed in 1892 by the Handel and Haydn Society orchestra. The orchestra had never, since its inception, performed a work by a woman. In 1896, her Gaelic Symphony was performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The Gaelic Symphony was the first symphony composed and published by an American woman.

Antonin Dvorak, in 1892, remarked that women in music did not have creative power. From the New York Times:

Here all the ladies play,” Dvorak said. “It is well; it is nice. But I am afraid the ladies cannot help us much. They have not the creative power.”

From our collection, op. 51. Four Songs (1903), as set by Amy Cheney Beach:

  • Ich sagte nicht
  • Je demande à l’oiseau
  • Juni
  • Wir drei

Amy Cheney Beach was most well-known for her songs. She wrote about 150 songs over the course of her life and career. Mostly, the words for her songs came from other poets, although she and her husband, H. H. A. Beach, wrote the text for about 5 of her songs. “The Year’s At the Spring” from Three Browning Songs, Op. 44 is perhaps Beach’s best-known work.

From our collection, two texts from op. 44, Three Browning Songs (1900), as set by Amy Cheney Beach:

  • Ah, Love, But a Day
  • The Year’s at the Spring

Widowhood, Europe and a return to performance

Amy’s husband died in 1910. Amy felt unable to work, and decided to travel to Europe. It was at this time that she changed her name to Amy Beach. In late 1912, she resumed performing. In late 1913, Amy Beach’s Gaelic Symphony was also performed in Hamburg and Leipzig. From wikipedia.org:

She was greeted as the first American woman “able to compose music of a European quality of excellence.”

op. 73. Two Songs (1914), as set by Amy Beach

  • Der Totenkranz
  • Großmütterchen

When Amy Cheney Beach died, she left more than 300 published works. More of her music has been published in recent decades. After her death in 1944, her music was largely forgotten, but has begun to show a resurgence as of the late 20th century.

View our complete collection of Amy Cheney Beach songs at https://www.ipasource.com/composer/b/beach-amy-marcy-1867-1944.html.

 

Filed Under: Composers Tagged With: Amy Beach, composer, composers, female composers, women composers

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