ll Trnmonto In setting to music 3 poem by Shelley one would expect from the con1poser an outburst of exalted romanticism. Not so. Respighi was keenly aware ofLhe predicament. that. the rnusica! world faced at Lhe Lurn of Lhe cenLury. The Verdi~rn melodrama WdS giving way LO Lhe Verismo and Vv1agner's influence '"'~1s still considerable, \".'hile new musical trends were corning in from France and from Russia. Respighi observed, pondered, and gradually emer·ged as a composer in his own right. Respighi composed H Trrrmonto ('The Sunset') in 1918, nvo years after his first great achievement, The Fo11n.tai1L5 of Rmne. It was a success from the start. It is written for mezzo-soprano and string quartet (with the addition of a double-bass part) or string orchestra, and it vvas in the latter form that il w·as premiered in Rome at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, with Bernardino Molinari conducting and Chiarina Fino Savio, Lo whom the work is dedicated, singing the solo part. The \.vholc work is pure music:il poetry, intense Jn its expressiveness, crystellline yet colourful in its instrJmentation, and delicate in its harmonies. But whether the mood is tender-, contemplative, joyful or sad, the composer's imagination never strays from the links of rhe basic conception. The main idea is masterfully unfolded ond moulds the music tu the very end. Alfredo Bunavera © 1988 Prelude a !'a pres-midi d'un faune Debussy began work on his Prelude, interludes et paraphrase finale pour l'ap1·es-midi d'tm faune in 1892, inspired by Mallarmi:'s poem L'apres-midi cl'un Jmme. At this time he was a close friend of Mallorme, being one of the intimates of his Tuesday circle which included many of the Parisian intellectuals of the period. Mallarme first intended L'apres-micli to be given on the stage, but this did not happen until after his death, when Diaghilev caused a scandal with a ballet set to Debussy's music. Mallarme's own revisions to the poem, made between 1865 and 1876, if anything, reduced the work's suit.ability for the theatre, at least as a spoken work. He declared that his ideal of poetry was 'suggested by music proper, \Vhich we must raid and paraphrase if our own music, struck dumb, is insufficient'. In spite of such admitted links with music, Debussy had no great conndcnce in his own ability to deal with the poem. In a letter of 1893 he wrote that he had played the Prelude on the piano to an admiring friend, but went on to lament, 'Here I am, already 31, still not sure of where I'm going and still with things to learn Oike how to write masterpieces .. .)'. The poem charts the progress of the faun's erotic fantasies in the afternoon heat. Though Debussy insisted his work gave only 'a general impression' of the poem, he admitted to a correspondence between the last five bars and the last line of the poem - 'Couple, farewell' I go to see the shadow you became'. The opening flute solo, too, may credibly be related to a line in the middle of the poem, 'Line sonore, vaine et monotone ligne': 'sonore', because the opening C sharp on the flute, although it is the instrument's open note, was always naturally out of tune on French flutes of the period. and rectifying this produced a peculiarly veiled and distant colouring; 'vai ne et monotone' because of the re petition of the opening phrase and the feeling, common to the whole piece and to much of Debussy's music, that movement from one idea to the next is dictated not by stern logic but merely by a passing whim - 'man plaisir', as he once called it. As to the stature of the work, we may listen and choose for ourselves along the scale between Boulez's claim that 'modern music was awoken by it', and Saint-Saens's that it 'contains not the slightest musical idea in the true sense of the word'. The sound world is essentially a pastoral one, fashioned out of the sonorities of flute, horn and two harps, with much-divided strings providing for the most part a warm, cushioning background. Roger Nichols© 2010 • The Su n s et Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) Italian Translation by Roberto Ascoli C:U v·ebbe un uornn. nel cu'l tcnur· spirto (qtrnl luce c vent.o in d('\icatJ nube t..he ardent.e ciel di rnez:t.u-giorrw st.crnpri) l.:i mort:e e i"! genio contenencorcle. Nern mori la cbn1a, n(: fol!e divento: anno per an no v1sse .'.H"'.:d)J"CL lvla io penso che la qi.1eL4 su;J pa2i1:~nza, (' i t:rcpidi c.;nrrisi. c ii non mori~·--· n10 ._.)\'ere a cusLodiCJ de] vecchio padre (se C follia dal mondo dissirnigliarc) fossero folk:'.1. Era. nuffaltro che a vecler!a, come !eggcre un canto da ingegnoso bardo inlessuto a piegar gelidi cu.ori in un dcdor pensoso. \./eri gli occhi ma non fulgidi pi1~1; consunte quasi le ciglia dalle lagYirnc; l~ labbra e le gote p3revJn cose mone tam:o eran bianche~ ed csili le mani e per le en-anti ven(: e ie giunture rossa de! gion10 traspario 13 luce. La nuda tomb:J, che ii tuo fral racchiude. cui notte e giorno un'ombra trn-mentata abita, e quanto di te resta, n cara creatnra perduta! I .el nont: believe that God in rnercv g2V<:: Thdt ~trt)kc. !'he 1~1dy died no!, nur gn:vv' wild, 8ut year by vt"l iived nn--in truth I think Her gel1tieness and patience ::rnd sad srn~l!~s. And that she dld nnt die. buL lived w tend Her ~·1g(d father were a kind of m;.idncss, If madness 'tis to be unlike the world. For but to s.ee her '.·.rcre to read the tale \Voven by some subtlest bard, Lo make hard beans Dissolve aw~1y in v,1isdorn-working grief':-Her eyes were b];Kk and lustreless and wan: Hr::r eyelashes were "vorn avvay with tears. Her l'ips and cheeks \.Vert: like things tkad·--so pale; H<::r hands were thin, and through their wm11fr·ring veins And \'\'eak articulations might be seen Day's ruddy light. The Lomb of thy de::id self \.Vhich one VE'xed ghost inhabits, night and day, Is all, !ost. child. that nov.' remains of thee! 'Inheritor of more than earth can "Ho tal retaggto; che la terra non d3: give, cal ma e silenzio, senza pcccato e senza passione. Passionless calm and silence unreproved. Whether the dead find. oh, not sleep' but rest, A.nd are the uncomplaining things tht:y seem, Or live, or drop in the deep sea of Love; Oh. that like thine, mine epitaph were-- Peace!' This was the only moan she ever made. Sia che i morti rilrovino {non rnai ii sonno~) ma il riposo, imperturbati qua!i appaion, o vivano, o d'amore ncl mar profondo scendano: oh! cbe ii mio epitaffio, che i1 tuo sia: Pace!~ Questo dalle sue labbra l"unico larnenlo. 11 Kind.et. totenlieder Jn February !901, under the extreme pressure of ovcr\VOrk. Mahler co1lapseci with J severe haemorrhoidal haernorrage, during vvhich he v. .'as convinced that 'my last hour had come'. The event was to prove a turning point: during the fol!m·ving surnrner vacation, he composed seven Rlickcrt songs-three of the Kindertotenlieder and four of what would become known as the cycle of Rlickert-Ltedei-. AlL11ough the rirsl three songs of Kindertolt:n[ieder were composed in the same summer ofl901, with the last two following in 1904, their overall structure is unified by their key sequence. Thus the bleak D minor of the first song (only partially warmed into the majo1· by the rising sun) returns in the storm - surely /ejtcn Gang. J~i •.·:ohl. sie sind r:ur ausgegangen. Und wcrdcn jetzt nach 11Juse gel;-.mgen, 0, sci nicht bang, d1':r Teig is srhfrn, Sit machcn nur den Gang zu _jenen H6h'n. Sie ~ind uns nur vorcius gcgJ.ngen, Und werden nicht hier nach Haus veriangen, VVir holen sie eln ::mf jenen HOh'n lrn Sonncnschcin, der Tag is sch6n aut jcncn Hilh'n. They arc only toking a long ',\'Jlk Yes: they h~we only stepped out and ·.vil] no;·,; return home. 0 don't. h1'~ ~1nxious -- the da\' is t·air. They are only taking ~1 w£J!1' to those hills. They have :-;ir::.ply gone on ahet.1d: they wd\ not \Vish to return home. \'\.\.''ll catch up to them on those hills. ln the sunshine the day is fdir. v v ln diesem \,Veller in diesem BrJus, :--Jie h3.tt' kh gesendet die Kinder hinaus: \ian hat sie gctrJgen hinaus. kh durfte nirhr.s dazu sagen! In lhis \-v'eather, in this vvindy slorm, l \.vouid never have sent the children ouc They \Vere e<-irried outside I could say nothing about lL! In this weaher, in this roaring s1orm, In diesem \..V<:::tter.. :n diesem Srrns. Nie hatt' ic:ll gelasscn d~e Kinder hinaus, !ch frirchtete sie er~ranken: Das sind nun eitle Gedank:en. In diesem Vv'et.ter, tn diesem Craus, Nie h~ltt' ich geL:tssen die Kinder hinaus; lch sorgte, sie sti."trben n1orgen, Das ist nun nicht zu beso rgen, ~n dlesem Graus: Nie hatt' ich gesendet die Kinder hinaus! Man hat sie hinaus getragen, ich durfte n.ichts dazu sagcn! ln diescm Wetter, ln diesem Vv'ett.cr, in diesem Saus, m diesen1 Braus, Sie ruh'n als ,,vie in der Mutter Haus, Von ke inem Sturm erschrecket. Von Gortes Hand bedecket.. I -...vouid never have Jet the children out. I W8S afr"id they had fallen ill, hut these thoughts are now idle. In this \Vealher, in this cruel storm: I would never have let the children out: I 'I-Vas V/OITied they \vould die the next daybut this is now no concern. In t11ts weather, in this cruel st.orm 1 I wou id never have sent the children out; They were carried outside r could say nothing about it! ln this weather. in this roaring. cruel storm, they rest as they did in their mother's house: they are frightened by no storm, and arc covered by the hand of God. -English Translation l:ry Emily Ezust Aclmowledgments Both :Vb:helle and Stephanie would like ro shower gratitude on the ensemble for their dedication ancl Qcnernuslv giving their time tu this project. Michelle would also iike to thank her teacher, Jefferv Meyer, for his support during this project: as vvell as hel' and friends, whether near or far, for always being present in her musical adventures. Stephanie is grateful w Emilio Vasquez and the rest. oft.he quartet for their time and commitment to the Respighi. She is also indebted to her bcaotifol pianist, Olga Kirn, ever-supportive teacher Stephanie Weiss ;md the incomparable Russell Ryan for helping her prepare this program. Listly. none of this would have been possibie withoul the unending love from friend:; and furniiy. To Stephanie's parental unii:s ... she has no idea what she did to deserve you. To the moon and b;ick'