ABOUT THE MUSIC
Henri Duparc (1848-1943)
L’invitation du Voyage (1870)
Poem by Charles Baudelaire
French romantic composer Henri Duparc is best known for his melodie. A destructive personality, Duparc binned many of his works, leaving us wth a canon just shy of forty songs. L’invitation du Voyage is one of his most popular works, and invites the listener into a magical sensuous landscape wherein there is nothing but harmonious beauty with ones beloved.
L’invitation du Voyage (Invitation to the Voyage)
My child, my sister,
Think how sweet
To journey there and live together!
To love as we please,
To love and die
In the land that is like you!
The watery suns
Of those hazy skies
Hold for my spirit
The same mysterious charms
As your treacherous eyes
Shining through their tears.
There, nothing but order and beauty dwell,
Abundance, calm, and sensuous delight.
See on those canals
Those vessels sleeping,
Vessels with a restless soul;
To satisfy
Your slightest desire
They come from the ends of the earth.
The setting suns
Clothe the fields,
Canals and all the town
With hyacinth and gold;
The world falls asleep
In a warm light.
There, nothing but orrder and beauty dwell,
Abundance, calm, and sensuous delight.
-----
Henri Duparc (1848-1943)
Soupir (1869)
Poem by Sully Prudhomme
A deeply sentimental song, Soupir speaks of the protagonists profound connection to their 'other', with a discourse that presumes that some kind of rift has occurred between lovers.
Soupir (Sigh)
Never to see or hear her,
Never to utter her name aloud,
But faithful, always to wait for her,
Always to love her.
To open my arms and, weary of waiting,
To close them again on a void,
Yet always to hold them out again,
Always to love her.
Ah, able only to hold them out
And to waste away in tears,
Yet always to shed those tears,
Always to love her.
Never to see or hear her,
Never to utter her name aloud,
But with a love always more tender,
Always to love her.
-----
Henri Duparc (1848-1943)
Phidyle (1894)
Poem by Charles-Marie-René Leconte de Lisle
A truly stunning setting of de Lisle's pastoral poem, Phidyle depicts a Greek shepherdess from Horace's 'Odes, Book III'. In ths poem, a lover watches the shepherdess Phidylé sleeping by a spring in the midday sun, and awaits her wakening. At this time, she will reward him with a smile and a kiss.
Phidyle
The grass is soft for sleep beneath the cool poplars
On the banks of the mossy springs
That flow in flowering meadows from a thousand sources,
And vanish beneath dark thickets.
Rest, O Phidyle!
Noon on the leaves
Is gleaming, inviting you to sleep.
By the clover and thyme, alone, in the bright sunlight,
The fickle bees are humming.
A warm fragrance floats about the winding paths,
The red flowers of the cornfield droop;
And the birds, skimming the hillside with their wings,
Seek the shade of the egaltine.
But when the sun, low on its dazzling curve,
Sees its brilliance wane,
Let your lovliest smile and finest kiss
Reward me for my waiting!
-----
Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979)
Cantique (1909)
Poem by Maurice Maeterlinck
Nadia Boulanger, though a thoughtful and skillful composer, was much better known and respected as an educator. Her pupils included Burt Bacharach, Lenoard Bernstein, Daniel Barenboim, Elliott Carter, Aaron Copland, Phillip Glass, Quincy Jones and Astor Piazzolla. Cantique is a simple and beautiful song in which the Virgin Mary offers comfort to those who have suffered and wept.
Cantique (Hymn)
To all weeping souls
to all sin to pass
I open in the midst of the stars
my hands full of grace.
No sin lives
where love speaks
No soul dies
where love weeps.
And if love gets lost
on the paths of the earth
Its tears will find me
and not go astray.
-----
Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979)
Priere (1909)
Boulanger's setting of this devout poem commences with a church-like reverential melody with a medieval-style accompaniment. It quickly blossoms into a compostional discourse that embodies the complexity and ecstatic sweep of its time of composition. A brief song, but on a very grand scale.
Priere (Prayer)
O Mary!
Be me Mary, and my heart will live.
Who will separate me from the love of Mary?
Darkness wouldn't stop me
To feel its sweetness. O Mary.
You made me lose my peace, and yet
I have loved you with an etenal charity...
Perhaps if God, who certainly hears us,
Created me according to hear,
We would have been very happy!
But it's not to be happy,
That's not why I attracted her...
Let her live on my wishes as she wants!
I do not ask so much, and if it pleases you.
Simply sweet or tender or not,
Be me Mary and my heart will live.
-----
Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)
Sanglots from Banalités (1940)
Poem by Guillaume Apollinaire
Apollinaire's poem, thoughtfully set by Poulenc, is undeniably strange. It is as if two concurrent poems are streaming forth, one that is based in the reality of a natural progression of events, and another which is more akin to a stream of conciousness. Sanglots is a perfect example of Poulenc's mastery of harmonic slippery, framed within a distinctively tender and melodramatic context.
Sanglots (Sobs)
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 our 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.
-----
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
Après un rêve (1878)
Poem by Romaine Bussine
Perhaps the most famous example of French melodie, Faure's Après un rêve was an early work within Faure's output and perfectly depicts the languid, dreamy state which so often characterises French art song. The poem describes a lovers rendezvous that transcends the corporeal plane, only for the protagonist to be thrust back into reality in its final verse.
Après un rêve (After a Dream)
In sleep made sweet by a vision of you
I dreamed of happiness, fervent illusion,
Your eyes were softer, your voice pure and ringing,
You shone like a sky that was lit by the dawn;
You called me and I departed the earth
To flee with you toward the light,
The heavens parted their clouds for us,
We glimpsed unknown splendours, celestial fires.
Alas, alas, sad awakening from dreams!
I summon you, O night, give me back your delusions;
Return, return in radiance,
Return, O mysterious night!
-----
Lili Boulanger (1893-1918)
Reflets (1911)
Poem by Maurice Maeterlinck
Younger sister of the famous Nadia Boulanger, Lili's career was cut short by her tragic early death. Reflets is a Faure-like song that depicts a dream-like state.
Reflets (Reflections)
Beneath the water of the dream that rises,
My soul is afraid, my soul is afraid.
And the moon shines into my heart
That is bathed in the dreams source!
Beneath the sad tedium of the reeds,
Only the deep reflection of things,
Of lilies, palms and roses,
Still weep on the water's bed.
One by one the flowers shed their leaves
Upon the firmament's reflection
To descend, eternally,
Beneath the dreams water and into the moon.
-----
Lili Boulanger (1893-1918)
Attente (1910)
Poem by Maurice Maeterlinck
In this brief song, we encounter Lili Boulanger's more complex, chromatic style. Despite many harmonic twists and turns, the music is firmly in a lyric, impressionist style, one that embodies a truly unique compositional voice.
Attente (Expectation)
My soul has folded its strange hands
On the horizon of my gaze;
Satisfy my scattered dreams
Between the lips of your angels!
Waiting beneath my weary eyes,
mouth open in prayers
Extinguished behind my eyelids
Whose lilies never open;
My soul brings peace to the depths of my dreams,
Its breasts bared beneath my lashes
And its eyes blink at the perils
Awoken through the thread of lies.
-----
Reynaldo Hahn (1874-1947)
L’heure exquise (1890)
Poem by Paul Verlaine
Venezuelan-born French composer Reynaldo Hahn composed a prolific output of instrumental works but is perhaps best known for his contribution to art song. L’heure exquise depicts the exquisite hour in which night falls and all becomes peaceful. The simpleness of the piano accompaniment allows the transcendent beauty of the vocal melody to soar.
L’heure exquise (The Exquisite Hour)
The white moon
Gleams in the woods;
From every branch
There comes a voice
Beneath the boughs...
O my beloved.
The pool reflects,
Deep mirror,
The silhouette
Of the black willow
Where the wind is weeping...
Let us dream, it is the hour.
A vast and tender
Consolation
Seems to fall
From the sky
The moon illuminates...
Exquisite hour.
-----
Reynaldo Hahn (1874-1947)
L’enamouree (1892)
Poem by Théodore Faullin de Banville
Recalling the intimacy of a love lost, this stunning song speaks of present sadness and past delight.
L’enamouree (They say, my dove)
They say, my dove,
that you are still dead and dreaming
beneath a tombstone;
but you awaken, revived,
for the soul that adores you,
oh pensive beloved!
Through the sleepless nights,
in the murmuring breeze,
I caress your long veils,
your swaying hair
and your half-closed wings
which flutter among the roses.
Oh delights! I breathe
your divine blond tresses!
Your pure voice, a kind of lyre,
moves on the swell of the waters
and touches them gently, suavely,
like a lamenting swan!
-----
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Chanson de Bilitis (1897)
1) La flûte de Pan
2) La chevelure
3) Le tombeau des Naïades
Poems by Pierre Louÿs
In 1894, the French writer Pierre Louÿs wrote a set of poems in the manner of Sappho, an archaic Greek poet best known for her depictions of sensuality, lust, and desire between females. Louÿs’ poems follow in this line of suggestive embodiment, though rendered in a highly poetic and perfumed manner. They claim to be re-renderings of texts authored by Bilitis, a contemporary of Sappho in ancient Greece. This latter fact has since been proven to have been a fabrication, intended in jest, though Louÿs’ undisputedly concocted these fabrications as a means to place his work within a certain time and place. Debussy set three of Louÿs poems in 1897 in the Chanson de Bilitis.
La flûte de Pan depicts Bilitis being taught to play the syrinx (or pan flute), an instrument associated with harmonious innocence that is paired with an undercurrent of adolescent sexuality. Mythologically speaking, the nymph Syrinx was transformed into reeds to escape the god Pan, who cut reeds and crafted them into the flute with which he became associated. Thus, through making music he literally has Syrinx on his lips, a connection that establishes undeniable sexual tension. Musically, this song paints a pastoral picture, imbued with the impressionistic haziness and subtle charm that Debussy’s music is so celebrated for. The music floats, following a temporal trajectory informed by impulse and desire.
The poem of La chevelure is almost entirely quotation. Bilitis recounts a dream that her lover Lykas has described to her. The tone is intensely personal, in no way abstract in its suggestion of intimate relations. Initially, Debussy’s music follows in the same vein as the first song of the cycle, though swiftly establishes a journey towards climax with a greater arc of tension and release.
Le tombeau des Naïades departs from the pastorality and sexual tone of the preceding songs and depicts instead an icy setting. The passion between the two lovers has dissipated, the languor of their youthful connection giving way to feelings of loss. Debussy’s setting musically reflects this poetic framework, though still very much embodies the lyrical and deeply expressive musical discourse that has been a feature of the song cycle thus far.
1) La flûte de Pan (The Flute of Pan)
For Hyacinthus day he gave me a syrinx made of
carefully cut reeds, bonded with white wax
which tastes sweet to my lips like honey.
He teaches me to play, as I sit on his lap;
but I am a little fearful.
He plays it after me,
so gently that I scarcely hear him.
We have nothing to say, so close are we one to another,
but our songs try to answer each other,
and our mouths join in turn on the flute.
It is late; here is the song of the green frogs
that begins with the night.
My mother will never believe
I stayed out so long to look for my lost sash.
2) La chevelure (The Tresses of Hair)
He said to me:
"Last night I dreamed.
I had your tresses around my neck.
I had your hair like a black necklace
all round my nape and over my breast.
I caressed it and it was mine;
and we were united thus for ever
by the same tresses, mouth on mouth,
just as two laurels often share one root.
And gradually it seemed to me,
so intertwined were our limbs,
that I was becoming you,
or you were entering into me like a dream."
When he had finished,
he gently set his hands on my shoulders
and gazed at me so tenderly
that I lowered my eyes with a shiver.
3) Le tombeau des Naïades (The Tomb of the Naiads)
Along the frost-bound wood I walked;
my hair across my mouth,
blossomed with tiny icicles,
and my sandals were heavy with muddy, packed snow.
He said to me:
"What do you seek?"
"I follow the satyr's track.
His little cloven hoof-marks alternate
like holes in a white cloak."
He said to me:
"The satyrs are dead.
The satyrs and the nymphs too.
For thirty years there has not been so harsh a winter.
The tracks you see are those of a goat.
But let us stay here, where their tomb is."
And with the iron head of his hoe
he broke the ice of the spring,
where the naiads used to laugh.
He picked up some huge cold fragments,
and, raising them to the pale sky,
gazed through them.
-----
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Nuit d’etoile (1880)
Poem by Théodore Faullin de Banville
The purity of this early Debussy song breathes beauty into any space in which it resonates in. Composed when Debussy was just 18 years old, it is a stunning setting of Banville's poem that fondly recalls a former love, likening the starry night to the eyes of the protagonists beloved.
Nuit d’etoile (Night of Stars)
Night of stars,
beneath your veils,
beneath your breeze and fragrance,
Sad lyre that sighs,
I dream of bygone loves.
Serene melancholy
Now blooms deep in my heart,
And I hear the soul of my love
Quiver in the dreaming woods.
Night of stars...
Once more at our fountain I see
Your eyes as blue as the sky;
This rose is your breath
And these stars are your eyes.
Night of stars...
Program Notes © Alex Raineri
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
American soprano Sofia Troncoso is a new addition to the Australian arts scene praised by critics for her beautiful singing voice and excellent acting ability. In 2021 she debuted as Susanna in Opera Queensland’s Le Nozze di Figaro, as RBG in Scalia/Ginsburg with Orchestra Victoria, and in 2022 in Orontea with Pinchgut in Sydney. After a “luscious” showcase for Musica Viva she is a regular soloist with Camerata. Previously an Emerging Artist with Scottish Opera, there she ‘stole the show’ as Papagena (The Magic Flute) and returned as Tytania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream). A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, the National Opera Studio in London, Sofia is also a former Karaviotis & Salter Prize holder, Central City Opera Young Artist, and Longborough Festival Young Artist where she wowed critics as Poppea in L’incoronazione di Poppea. After collaborating with Alex Raineri in concert for Musica Viva, Sofia is thrilled to share the stage with him again for the Brisbane Music Festival.
Hailed as a “born communicator” (The Australian), a “brilliant young musician” (Otago Times), and a “soloist of superb virtuosic skill and musicality” (Limelight), Alex Raineri (b. 1993) is active Internationally and throughout Australia as a recitalist, concerto soloist, chamber musician, writer, producer and educator.
International performances include tours throughout America, Southeast Asia, United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Germany and Austria. Within Australia, Alex has appeared as a feature artist in many major festivals and venues. As a concerto soloist he has appeared with the Queensland, Tasmanian, Darwin and West Australian Symphony Orchestras, Ensemble Q, Southern Cross Soloists, Orchestra Victoria, Four Winds Festival Orchestra, Bangalow Festival Orchestra, Queensland Youth Symphony and the Queensland Pops Orchestra. He has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Radio NZ, California Capital Public Radio, ABC Classic FM and all of the Australian MBS Networks.
Alex is the Artistic Director of the annual Brisbane Music Festival. He is a passionate exponent and commissioner of contemporary music, having given 109 World Premieres + 147 Australian Premieres to date.
Major awards include the Kerikeri International Piano Competition and Australian National Piano Award. He was the recipient of the Queensland Luminary Award in the 2021 APRA/AMCOS Art Music Awards and received a Kranichsteiner Musikpries at the International Summer Courses for New Music (Darmstadt, Germany).
Notable collaborations include Andreas Ottensamer, TwoSet Violin, eighth blackbird, ELISION, Sara Macliver, Natalie Clein, Natsuko Yoshimoto, Karin Schaupp, Greta Bradman, Li Wei Qin, Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Jack Liebeck, Kathryn Stott, Slava Grigoryan, Brett Dean, William Barton, Ensemble Offspring, Orava Quartet, and many others.
Additionally to a full-time performative profile, Alex is a radio-presenter on 4MBS Classic FM, a reviewer for The Music Trust’s ‘Loudmouth’, and holds associate artist positions at both the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University + University of Queensland.
VENUE – SALVATION ARMY BRISBANE CITY TEMPLE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF SUPPORT
Sofia Troncoso's appearance in the 2022 festival is generously supported by Loris Orthwein.
Alex Raineri’s appearance in the 2022 festival is generously supported by Loris Orthwein.
The Brisbane Music Festival is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland.
With gratitude to the following partner organisations and funding bodies for their support.
With thanks also to Gretel Farm, Simply Classical, The Brunswick Green and the countless individuals who have privately supported the 2022 BMF.
