BERCEUSES DU CHAT (STRAVINSKY)

Here are 4 pieces since I didn't post yesterday and won't be able to post again for a couple of days. These four pieces will be for February 17, 18, 19 and 20!

Music: Igor Stravinksy
Poem: Charles Ramuz
I. Spi kot (On the stove)
II. Kot na pechi (At home)
III. Bai-bai (Dodo)
IV. U kota, kota (The cat has)

After Stravinksy's final trip to Russian, he returned full of ideas connected to Russian folk music. These pieces are based on Russian Folk song.

These are wonderful pieces if you are a mezzo looking for some great chamber music to program. It's scored for voice and three clarinets (Eb,Bass and A ). It can also be sung in French. The pieces are quite short. All four take under 4 minutes to perform. But every note is golden. Cathy Berberian is the singer.

Youkali (Kurt Weil)

Teresa Stratas is a beguiling performer and Youkali is a song equally as beguiling. This video is an excerpt from the film September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill, directed by Larry Weinstein. It creates an atmosphere of nostalgia, sensuality and longing. The poem tells us that Youkali is "in every human heart, the deliverance we await for tomorrow... Youkali is the land of our desires
Youkali is happiness, pleasure. But it is a dream, a folly. There is no Youkali.


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Stripsody (Cathy Berberian)

Ahead of her time, like no other. She could sing anything. She was a phenomenon!

Lied von der belebenden Wirkung des Geldes (Eisler)

I love it when composers sing their own music, even when or especially because they don't have attractive instruments. There's something that always comes through. You can here the essence of the piece. This is one of those rare moments. Hanns Eisler sings his Lied von der belebenden Wirkung des Geldes/ Song of the Invigorating Effects of Money

There are many excellent pieces written by Eisler in collaboration with Bertolt Brecht. Many have an overt or hidden political message.

Lied von der belebenden Wirkung des Geldes
Music: Hans Eisler
Text: Bertolt Brecht

Niedrig gilt das Geld auf dieser Erden
Und doch ist sie, wenn es mangelt, kalt.
Und sie kann sehr gastlich werden
Plötzlich durch des Gelds Gewalt.
Eben war noch alles voll Beschwerden
Jetzt ist alles golden überhaucht
Was gefroren hat, das sonnt sich
Jeder hat das, was er braucht.
Rosig färbt der Horizont sich
Blicket hinan: der Schornstein raucht!"

Ja da schaut alles gleich ganz anders an.
Voller schlägt das Herz. Der Blick wird weiter.
Reichlich ist das Mahl. Flott sind die Kleider.
Und der Mann ist jetzt ein andrer Mann."


English Translation

The value of money is low on earth.
And yet it's cold, if there is a lack of it.
And it can be very hospitable
Suddenly, through the power of money.
A minute ago everything was full of complaints
Now everything is tinged with gold.
What has frozen, is now basking in the sun.
Everyone has what he needs.
The horizon is rose colored.
Gaze upwards: the chimney smokes!

Yes, soon everything looks completely different.
Full of heart beats. The gaze goes onward.
Generous meals. Stylish clothes.
And the man is now another man!

(Translation: Milagro Vargas)

Eri già tutta mia (Monteverdi)

Just over a year ago, Hugues Cuenod died at the age of 108. I didn't get a chance to post his obituary at this site. This post is a belated tribute to a great singer.

With an angelic, pure toned and unpushed instrument, he sang publicly into his 90's. He was self effacing about his gifts, telling the NY times in 1987, “I never had a voice, so how could I lose one?” But he did have a great voice, a voice with exquisite diction, sophisticated musicianship and that clean, pure, angelic tone.

Here, he sings Eri già tutta mia but Monteverdi. Pure poetry.


"Eri già tutta mia",
Music: Claudio Monteverdi- 1587-1643
from Scherzi Musicali
Poet: Anonymous

Eri già tutta mia,
Mia quel' alma e quel core,
Chi da me ti desvia:
Novo laccio d'amore?
O bellezz' o valore,
O mirabil constanza,
Ove sei tu?
Eri già tutta mia;
Hor non sei più.
Ah, che mia non sei più.

Sol per me gl'occhi belli
Rivolgevi ridenti,
Per me d'oro i capelli
Si spiegavan a i venti.
O fugaci contenti,
O fermezza d'un core,
Ove sei tu?
Eri già tutta mia;
Hor non sei più.
Ah, che mia non sei più.

Il gioir nel mio viso:
Ah che più non rimiri.
Il mio canto, il mio riso
È converso in martiri.
O dispersi sospiri,
O sparita pietate,
Ove sei tu?
Eri già tutta mia;
Hor non sei più.
Ah, che mia non sei più.

English Translation from Lied and Art Song Text Site (see side bar for link)

You were once all mine,
mine were your heart and soul.
Who turned you away from me?
The lure of a new love?
O beauty, O valor,
O admirable constancy,
where are you now?
You were once all mine,
but no longer, no longer,
alas! you're mine no longer.

To me alone you turned
your lovely smiling eyes,
for me alone you loosed
your golden hair to the wind.
O fleeting happiness,
O steadiness of heart,
where are you now?
You were once all mine
but no longer, no longer,
alas! you're mine no longer.

Pleasure on my face, alas!
you'll gaze upon no longer;
my song, my laugh
are changed to torture.
O scattered sighs,
O vanished pity,
where are you now?
You were once all mine
but no longer, no longer,
alas! you're mine no longer.