Our Czech compositional journey will span 30 years woven together by common threads of Love and Dedication. We look forward to delving into three of the most seldom-heard, rarely performed song cycles of Dvořák, Martinů and Janáček.
Antonín Dvořák 8 Songs, Op. 83, B. 160
Dvořák’s love songs, composed in 1888, are poignantly
melodic and contain a musical figuration quoting the
Piano Quintet which was composed the year before.
- O naši lásce nekvete to vytouzené stestí (Love will Never Lead Us to that Happy End)
- V tak mnohém srdci mrtvo jest (Death Reigns in Many a Human Breast)
- Kol domu se ted’ potácím (I Wander Often Past Yonder House)
- Já vím, že v sladké naději (I Know that My Love to Thee)
- Nad krajem vévodi lehký spánek (Nature Lies Peaceful in Slumber and Dreaming)
- Zde v lese u potoka (In the Deepest Forest Glade I Stand)
- V té sladké moci ocí tvých (When Thy Sweet Glances Fall on Me)
- Ó duše drahá jedinká (Thou Only, Dear One)
Bohuslav Martinů Nipponare H68
Martinů’s elegant works form a four part song cycle of Nipponari’s texts of Japanese poems, translated into Czech, dating back to the 7th, 9th and 12th century. Each setting deals with the pursuit of a mystifying moment of time which has vanished into the past. Musically impressionist, atmospheric and reminiscent of Debussy with some touches of Puccini’s il Tabarro and Madama Butterfly sprinkled in.
#4 Prosněný život
#5 Stopy ve sněhu
#6 Pohled nazpět
#7 U posvátného jezera
Leoš Janáček - Diary of one who vanished
Janáček's Diary of One Who Has Vanished is an beautiful trio and operatically dramatic song cycle, replete with lighting and staging directions written into the score. Over 22 short episodic movements, the story follows the diary of a young man (tenor) who abandons his home and country for a gypsy woman (mezzo). Musically there is a mix of the declamatory passages of Jenufa combined with the majestic, melodic sweep of Kata Kabanova (which was composed 2 years after this cycle).
- Potkal jsem mladou cigánku (One day I met a young gypsy girl)
- Ta černá cigánka (That dark-skinned gypsy girl)
- Svatojánské mušky (The glow-worms are dancing)
- Už mladé vlaštůvky (The young swallows)
- Těžko sa mi oře (Ploughing is heavy work)
- Hajsi, vy siví volci (Hey, you grey oxen)
- Ztratil isem kolíček (Now I’ve lost the little pin)
- Nehled’te, volečci, tesklivo k úvratím (Don’t look so sadly after me)
- Vítaj, Janíčku (Welcome, Janíček)
- Bože, dálný, nesmrtelný (God in heaven, eternal one)
- Táhne vůňa k lesu (The sweet smell of ripening wheat)
- Tmavá olšinka, chladná studánka (The shady elder-grove)
- Klavír solo (Piano solo)
- Slnéčko sa zdvihá (The sun climbs high)
- Moji siví volci (My grey oxen)
- Co jsem to udělal? (What have I done?)
- Co komu súzeno (What has been ordained)
- Nedbám já včil o nic (Nothing matters to me)
- Letí straka letí (The magpie flies away)
- Mám já panenku (I have a true love)
- Můj drahý tatíčku (My dear father)
- Sbohem, rodný kraju (Farewell, my native countryside)
Take the journey with us on the evenings of January 25 and 26 from the comfort of of AVA’s beautiful Helen Corning Warden Theater. Tickets are still available at https://my.avaopera.org/single/SelectSeating.aspx?p=42380.
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