Graduate Recital Jacelyn Yeo,

soprano Nicholas Loh, piano

6 Lieder, Op. 131. Ich stand in dunklen Trumen2. Sie liebten sich
beide3. Liebeszauber4. Der Mond kommt still gegangen 5. Ich hab in
Deinem Auge6. Die stille Lotosblume

BrieflyItEnters
III. Otherwise VI. Man Eating

DeuxRomance
Les Cloches Romance

Fidelio
O wr ich schon mit dir vereint Ridente la calma

SonnetsfromthePortuguese
II. My LettersIII. With the Same Hearts, I Said, Ill
Answer Thee

Alcina
Tornami a vagheggiar
Clara Schumann (1819 - 1896)
William Bolcom (b. 1938)
Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918)
Ludvig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)

Libby Larsen (b. 1950)
George Frederic Handel(1685 - 1759)
May 11, 2016 | 8.55pmLee Foundation Theatre | FREE
ADMISSION

6 Lieder, Op. 13by Clara Schumann (1819 - 1896)

Can delete:Beginning the set on 6 German songs by Clara
Schumann. Clara Schumann was a gifted piano player and
composer, teacher, editor. She was the wife of Robert Schumann,
who began composing songs after their marriage as a birthday or
Christmas gift for him. One of the three (of these song cycles?)
was her setting of Heinrich Heines Ich stand in dunklen
Trumen. The motivation for Claras setting comes from
reflective thoughts about the recent period of separation, during
which both she and Robert must, on many occasions, have enacted
the scene described by Heine at the beginning of his poem: one
lover stood in melancholy reverie, gazing at the others portrait.
The second setting of Heinrich Heine was translated as They
Loved Each Other. It tells a story of a man and woman who never
expressed their love for one another even till their death.
Schumann sets this text in a tragic vein, using G minor key and
harmonies filled with poignant suspensions. It was written in the
time signature of 6/8 and the tempo refers to a smooth motion like
a wave.
The other three poems were by Emanuel Geibel, including
Liebeszauber, a paean to love and nature. It is also translated as
Loves magic. It consists of five stanzas in a simple ABAB
scheme. The first stanza provides the place of departure for loves

sound, introducing the metaphor of love as nightingale whose tone

rings throughout the forest. Subsequently, the excitement of being
whisked along and not only mere the image of love but sees
through the eyes of love as travels through the forest. At last, the
speaker who happened to hear this sound wishes to recapture or
recreate this beautiful sound by him/herself.
The fourth of sixth song translated as The Moon is Rises Peaceful.
It is the form of modified strophic. For the first two stanzas, the
composer composed the same music, but sets it to very similar yet
slightly different music in the last stanza, creating an overall form
in this song that might be diagramed as A-A-A.
The fifth poem was based on Friedrich Rckerts text and was a
gift to Robert Schumann on his thirty-third birthday. It is translated
as I have seen in your eyes which a heartfelt setting of a poem on
the constancy of love. The composer uses to set the songs three
key words of Liebe. Herzen and Auge over its highest note as
the highlight. Her composition of this piece makes it very clear that
the motifs meaning was an important expression of her love.
Die stille Lotusblume, the closing song in Op 13 collection uses
the memorable choice of the flattened median at its point of most
tender meaning, where the white swan sings in the metaphor of
love towards the lotus flower. This great poem was all credited to
Emanuel Geibel as well. The interesting part of this piece was the
ending this piece, it ends with the beginning of the progression
which reflects the question: Oh flower, white flower, can you
understand the song? The lotus flower offers no answer and so the
swans song was probably in vain and provides the feeling of
unsettling.
These collections were probably composed specifically for
publication in this collection. Clara dedicated the songs to the
Danish Queen Caroline Amalie, whose hospitality she had enjoyed
in spring 1842 during a concert tour.

III. Otherwise from BrieflyItEntersby William Bolcom (b.

1938)

With the 1997 published poetry of American poet Jane Kenyon,

Otherwise is a piece from William Bolcoms song cycle Briefly
It Enters. Composed with soprano Benita Valente in mind, the
poems are emotionally rich and accessible, with a darker
background of melancholy and loss. This is partly because of her
own marriage with the poet Donald Hall and the suffering from life
after she had leukemia.

VI. Man Eating from BrieflyItEntersby William Bolcom (b.

1938)
From the same cycle, poem and composer as the previous songs. In this
song, the poet conveys about a strangers attentiveness to the small
motions involved in eating a carton of yoghurt.

Les Clochesby Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918)

A collection of DeuxRomancesby Debussy which included a
setting of poems by Paul Bourget that published in 1891. However,
this collection provided an interplay of two independent melodies
that gives a remarkable duet between piano and voice.
LesClochesbegins with a brief piano introduction that suggests
ringing bells. Debussy uses the expanded vocal range and
dynamics to express the speaking of happier years in poets mind.
Furthermore, the unaccented rhythm in the piano accompaniment
and the interval in the last statement of this piece Desjours
dautrefois creates a feeling of tension and reflects on the days
gone by.

Romanceby Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918)

Romance opens with a brief piano that illustrates the absence of
accompaniment as it draws attention to the text. Perhaps, it gives

the meaning of the evaporating and suffering soul. After the vocal
line has been present, the piano melody returns to an octave lower.
Towards the end of this piece, the piano melody returns back with
playing octaves in vocal line faitedespoir which to emphasize
how vanish and suffer the soul is.

O wr ich schon mit dir vereint from Fidelioby Ludvig

van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)

Fidelio (op. 72) is Beethovens only opera, and the third version is
the one commonly performed today.
This aria is sung by Marzelline, the daughter of the jail guard
Rocco, who has fallen in love with Fidelio, a servant in her house.
She is unaware that Fidelio is actually Leonard in disguise, the
wife of the political prisoner Florestan. The opera opens with
Roccos assistant Jacquino proposing marriage to Marzelline, but
she refuses him, and when he leaves, she sings of her love to
Fidelio.

Ridente la calma (KV152)by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756

- 1791)

Mozart composed the piece in 1775 and it is written in three

sections, A-B-A form. The A section has two main important
theme and the repeat of A section is equally to the original
statement. The B section is much shorter in length. The text
conveys a calm frame of mind, which the poet looks forward to
seeing his beloved, despite the binding ties of love.

II. My Letters from SonnetsfromthePortugueseby Libby

Larsen (b. 1950)

Libby Larsen is one of the most performed living American female

composers. Her works span genres including intimate vocal and
chamber music, massive orchestra works, and operas. Larsen finish
composing this cycle in 1991 and it was based on poems from

Elizabeth Barrett Brownings famous collection Sonnetsfromthe

Portuguesewhich consists of forty-four poems of emotions she
experienced through her entire relationship with Robert Browning.
The intention to compose this is because Larsen was asked to write
a song cycle that would speak of mature love, in contrast to the
youth love in Schumanns Frauenliebe und leben. In addition,
Arleen Auger, a singer, suggested this whole sets of poems
specifically because she liked the way how Brownings constructed
the poem from the female perspective, love, longing, sexual
tension and many aspects of mature love as an Victorian woman.
The second piece of this cycle shows the poet, sitting and reading
through her bundle of letters. The letters were dry and could
crumble at any moment, were out of her control and physically
released. Then, she couldnt believe the words that wrote by her
lover in the letter. The excitement of finally realizing he loved her.
But she never answer him because of her fathers disagree of their
relationship.

III. With the Same Hearts, I Said, Ill Answer Thee from
SonnetsfromthePortuguese
by Libby Larsen (b. 1950)

It is the third piece from this cycle. The poet has now chosen to
respond to her lover as freely as she does to those in her own
family. She differentiates her childhood response to her
overbearing father and to the present response to her lover. In
childhood, her smile was feigned and in obedience, but when she
became an adult, her response is with a willing heart and release
from solitude.

Tornami a vagheggiar from Alcinaby George Frederic

Handel (1685 - 1759)

Alcina was premiered in 1735 and the operas libretto is derived

from sections of Lodovico Ariostos epic poem Orlando Furioso
which written in 1516.
An exciting aria sung by Morgana or some other setting by Alcina,
which occurs at the end of Act 1. Here, Morgana sings of her love
towards Ricciardo, who is actually Bradamante disguised herself
as her brother Ricciardo. Morgana believes that she is the one that
Ricciardo loves, but the truth is not.