Emma Matthews Booklet

476 3555
IN MONTE CARLO
ORCHESTRE PHILHARMONIQUE DE MONTE – CAR LO
BRAD COHEN
LEONARD BERNSTEIN 1918-1990
Candide
1
Glitter and Be Gay
6’13
Words by Richard Wilbur b. 1921
LÉO DELIBES 1836-1891
Lakmé
2
Où va la jeune Indoue (Bell Song)
8’08
Words by Edmond Gondinet 1828-1888 and Philippe Gille 1831-1901
FRIEDRICH VON FLOTOW 1812-1883
Martha
3
The Last Rose of Summer
3’06
Words by Thomas Moore 1779-1852
GAETANO DONIZETTI 1797-1848
Lucia di Lammermoor
4
5
6
Ancor non giunse...
4’12
Regnava nel silenzio...
4’00
Quando rapito in estasi
4’55
Words by Salvadore Cammarano 1801-1852
CATHERINE CARBY mezzo-soprano (Alisa)
3
VINCENZO BELLINI 1801-1835
HEINRICH PROCH 1809-1878 arr. Richard Bonynge
I Capuleti e i Montecchi
7
8
Deh! torna, mio bene
Eccomi in lieta vesta...
5’13
Oh! quante volte
3’49
Words by Felice Romani 1788-1865
^
&
*
(
CHARLES GOUNOD 1818-1893
1’24
Variation II
1’38
Variation III
2’14
CALVIN BOWMAN b. 1972
Dieu! Quel frisson court dans mes veines...
1’02
Amour, ranime mon courage
4’08
)
Words by Jules Barbier 1825-1901 and Michel Carré 1821-1872
Now Touch the Air Softly
WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING
Hamlet
RICHARD MILLS b. 1949
A vos jeux...
4’46
Partagez-vous mes fleurs...
1’51
Pâle et blonde...
2’26
La sirène passe et vous entraîne
4’03
The Love of the Nightingale
¡
The Nightingale’s Song
4’34
WORLD PREMIERE RECORDING
Words by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré
Total Playing Time
EMMA MATTHEWS soprano
JACQUES OFFENBACH 1819-1880
Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo
Les Contes d’Hoffmann
%
2’28
Words by William Jay Smith b. 1918
AMBROISE THOMAS 1811-1896
!
@
£
$
1’08
Variation I
Words: Anonymous
Roméo et Juliette
9
0
Theme
Les oiseaux dans la charmille (Doll Song)
Words by Jules Barbier
4
(David Lefèvre leader)
5’33
BRAD COHEN conductor
5
77’01
The high soprano voice, particularly that superbly
agile one known as the coloratura soprano, has
been one of the essentials of opera almost
since its inception. If opera is created out the
tension between passion and artifice, then the
coloratura soprano most perfectly exemplified
this. It is an extreme form of singing, requiring
tremendous technique and extraordinary vocal
resources. At the same time, however, all these
need to be at the service of a musical and
emotional intelligence which can take the ornate
and exotic writing for this voice and make it into
a means of expression rather than a way of
showing off. The sound of a voice at the
extremes of its range always implies high
emotions, but the singer who can make that
simultaneously a thing of beauty and a conduit
for the emotions – that singer has truly captured
what the coloratura soprano exists for.
If people know anything about Lucia, it’s that
she has a great mad scene after killing her
husband. The aria recorded here is from much
earlier in the opera. ‘Regnava nel silenzio’ is the
cavatina – the first aria, which introduces the
character and which gives us an insight into the
sort of person they are. In this case we are
introduced to a lonely, emotional young woman
with an active and morbid imagination. She tells
her companion about the story of a ghost seen
by the fountain where they stand, whose
appearance presages misfortune in the family.
This recording includes a rarely performed and
extravagantly virtuosic passage of some 21 bars
just before the end of the aria, in which the
brilliant passagework of the vocal line ranges
over two octaves.
The Last Rose of Summer is of course a wellknown Irish song, the words having been
written by the poet Thomas Moore, and set to
music by Sir John Stevenson. It has a second
life, however, as one of the musical highlights of
Friedrich von Flotow’s opera Martha. Flotow was
a German, but he studied in Paris and his works
have as much French influence as they do
German. Martha was premiered in Vienna in
1846 and rapidly became very popular. The Last
Rose of Summer was incorporated into the
opera as a new development of a phenomenon
which had for a long time been a feature of
opera – the imported aria. Quite often singers
had what were known as ‘luggage’ arias which
Lucia di Lammermoor is perhaps the most
famous of the coloratura soprano roles in the
Italian repertoire. One of the main reasons for
this is that aesthetically and dramatically it
epitomises everything that has been mentioned
above. Donizetti’s opera was one of many that
he wrote which centred upon the (for the
Italians) wild and exotic landscape of Britain, and
Scotland in particular. For the Italians, Scotland
had a dark, gothic streak which allowed them to
run wild with their imaginations in a way they
couldn’t with a piece set in downtown Milan.
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particularly suited them and which they would
carry with them, to feature in their performances
rather than the ones the composer had written.
Flotow pre-empted this, incorporating a beautiful
folk tune into the piece not just to feature the
soprano but also as an integral part of the plot –
it is by singing the song again at the end of the
opera that ‘Martha’ (actually a noble lady in
mufti) is recognised by her lover, upon which (of
course) it turns into a duet. Try pulling that song
out and substituting it!
inspired by it for any number of media. This
album includes excerpts from two of those
works, Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette and Bellini’s
I Capuleti e i Montecchi (The Capulets and the
Montagues). Gounod’s opera still enjoys a certain
amount of well-earned popularity. It captures two
of the essential qualities of the play: the way it
starts light-heartedly, only to darken progressively
into deepest tragedy; and the youth and
vulnerability of its lovers. One of the most
beautiful elements of Gounod’s opera is the way
he never tries to turn his Romeo and Juliet into
some grand, over-the-top passion. Even in the
most powerfully, self-consciously ‘operatic’
moments, they are still young, and the courage
they have is not given to them by the music, but
is courage they have to wring out for
themselves. There is no better example than
Juliet’s scene from the fourth act. As she is
about to take the potion which will make her
seem dead so that she can avoid marriage with
Prince Paris and (she hopes) be reunited with
Romeo, she pauses to think about what it will be
like to wake up in the tomb of the Capulets. She
remembers particularly that the newly interred
body of her cousin Tybalt – killed by Romeo – will
be there. Nevertheless, for the sake of her love,
she summons her courage and drinks.
Shakespeare was, directly and indirectly, an
absolute goldmine for the European Romantics.
For German, French and Italian writers and
composers, Shakespeare’s plays represented the
antithesis of the Classical ideal. For these people
the idea of this man from the edge of Europe,
writing sprawling plays which combined sublime
tragedy and vulgar comedy, was something
tremendously novel and exciting. In the Englishspeaking world we have come to put
Shakespeare on a pedestal and have had a
tendency to look down upon anything which
dilutes his genius. Strip-mining his works for
opera libretti has excited outrage in the past; but
think of it as like adapting a novel for a movie –
the two art forms are so different that things
have to change radically in order to make one
into the other. If the story and the ‘feel’ of the
story are strong enough, they will come through.
Vincenzo Bellini was perhaps the purest voice of
the bel canto composers: by his own confession
no master of orchestration, his extraordinary
awareness of how to make the voice expressive
Romeo and Juliet is a great example of such a
story. There have been innumerable works
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and beautiful has secured him a place in the
composer pantheon. Bellini’s operas have a
quality the Italians call morbidezza – not what it
sounds like in English, but rather a term
indicating gentleness, vulnerability or sensitivity.
Bellini’s writing for the voice can be extremely
difficult, not only in its technical demands, but
also in the way in which all the essence of the
drama needs to be expressed through the
quality of the voice. Bellini does not request
sublimity, he demands it. When his music
receives it, it is an incomparable experience.
I Capuleti e i Montecchi (The Capulets and the
Montagues) is not, as it would at first appear,
inspired by Shakespeare. It seems that way only
because Shakespeare drew frequently and
substantially on numerous Italian sources.
Romeo and Juliet is based on several old Italian
stories, and it was on these stories, rather than
Shakespeare, that Bellini based his opera. The
aria ‘Oh! quante volte’ has Juliet, engaged to
someone else, longing for Romeo, knowing he
can never be hers. In its deceptive simplicity and
emotional intensity it is the quintessence of bel
canto soprano singing.
Offenbach’s unimpeachable comic talent, he
would be very pleased to know that most people
who think of him, think of his last, unfinished (and
serious) opera. Offenbach was a great
craftsman,whose gift for melody was allied to a
deep sense of orchestral colour and an instinct for
stagecraft. The Tales of Hoffmann shows all these
gifts off to perfection. The Hoffmann of the title
was a real person, the 18th-century German
writer (and composer, and lawyer, painter and
critic) Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann. His
short stories in particular were very influential,
and way ahead of their time, being bizarre and
often dreamlike and surreal. Three of his stories
form the core of the opera, in which Offenbach
makes Hoffmann the narrator and central
character, as he tells the stories of his three great
loves. In the first of the stories, Hoffmann is a
student of the inventor Spalanzani, who is about
to unveil his greatest invention, his ‘daughter’
Olympia, a lifelike automaton. At a party to
celebrate the occasion, Olympia performs a song
for the guests – a tour de force for the soprano
voice. In this case the ornamentation is
consciously used to create an effect of artifice,
appropriately enough considering that the singer
is meant to be mechanical – something especially
noticeable when she winds down and stops at
the end of each verse.
Had it not been for Les Contes d’Hoffmann
(The Tales of Hoffmann), Jacques Offenbach
would be known for a series of beautifully
constructed, brilliantly witty, rather superficial
operettas. As it is, although performances of
Orpheus in the Underworld (with its famous cancan) or La Belle Hélène regularly show off
Lakmé, an opera now undoubtedly known
mainly through the wonderful ‘Flower Duet’ for
soprano and mezzo, was designed to appeal to
9
the tastes of the Parisian public in the 19th
century. Léo Delibes, the composer, was
certainly in a good position to know what would
work – as chorus master and accompanist at the
two great opera houses of Paris, he knew much
of the music of his time at first hand. Lakmé is
set in the India of the Raj, for its time a
surprisingly contemporary setting in many ways,
but still as exotic as any costume-fancier could
wish. The story concerns the love of the Hindu
girl Lakmé for a young British officer, Gerald.
Lakmé’s father, the Brahmin Nilakantha, is
determined to thwart them, and forces Lakmé to
sing in the marketplace in order to lure Gerald.
The Bell Song, which she sings at her father’s
behest, tells the story of the ‘daughter of the
pariahs’ who, walking in the forest at night, sees
a young man set upon by wild beasts. By ringing
the bell on an enchanted wand she carries, he is
rescued; and he turns out to be the god Vishnu,
who raises her to heaven for her deed. The
dramatic irony of the song will only become
apparent in retrospect. Gerald is duly drawn by
Lakmé’s singing, only to be stabbed by her
father. She defies her father to nurse Gerald back
to health, but he is ultimately induced by his
friends to return to his duty, and leaves her. In
despair, she poisons herself.
degrees of success. The liberties of tone and
plot taken by Ambroise Thomas’ Hamlet are
more than enough to make most English
speakers wince; but setting this aside, it has to
be counted one of the more successful
adaptations of Shakespeare for the operatic
stage. Consider Shakespeare in the context of
that taste for the exotic and rugged which drove
Donizetti to draw on Walter Scott and set his
works in the dark and mysterious landscape of
Scotland. Mediaeval Denmark and the intrigues
of its tormented, brooding hero were similarly
attractive, especially when the story included a
wonderful mad scene for the leading lady.
Thomas’ opera is a very fine example of French
Romantic opera, and stands up well as long as it
is not compared to Shakespeare’s play – the
finest quality chalk will always fall short if it is
judged by the standards of cheese. Thomas’
treatment of Ophelia’s mad scene is, naturally, a
very spectacular one in which the fragility of her
mental state is portrayed through the abrupt
shifts of musical colour and tone. As in
Shakespeare, it’s a showstopping moment
(Emma’s top F-sharp especially!) – it just creates
its effects differently.
Leonard Bernstein was one of the great musical
polymaths of the 20th century – conductor,
composer, pianist, essayist, educator – he
excelled in all these fields. Bernstein’s Candide
is a brilliant work but a sprawling and unwieldy
one. At its best, though, it stands comparison
with any opera past or present. Bernstein was
As we have already seen, Shakespeare was a
great inspiration for the Romantic composers.
Although Romeo and Juliet was the obvious
choice, and was set numerous times, many of
the other works were also tackled with varying
10
Cunegonde finds herself in Paris, believing
Candide to be dead. She becomes the mistress
of not one but two wealthy men. In this aria, a
brilliant parody of the style heard elsewhere in
this collection, she tries to reconcile the
mortification she thinks she ought to be feeling
at her lost virtue with the undoubted benefits
of material comfort.
inspired to write it during the MacCarthy era in
the USA, when he and many of his friends and
colleagues fell under the stigma of being
communist sympathisers. For Bernstein, who
was openly and proudly socialist, the inanity of
the idea that somehow the hysteria and
oppression generated by the House UnAmerican Activities Committee would lead to a
better world was utterly repugnant. His response
was to create a work inspired by Voltaire’s
viciously satirical novel Candide. Voltaire wrote
his book to pillory the philosophy of ‘optimism’,
which claimed that since God was perfect he
must have created a perfect world, and anything
which seems less than perfect is simply so
because we haven’t seen how it is in fact ‘all for
the best in the best of all possible worlds’.
Voltaire’s response was simple and devastating.
His main characters, the gullible Candide and his
beloved Cunegonde, are persuaded of this
philosophy, and then subjected to every form of
arbitrary misfortune that Voltaire’s fertile
imagination can conjure. Left to puzzle out how
such dreadful tribulations are meant to benefit
anyone, they eventually come to the conclusion
that people are neither pure, nor wise, nor good
and that each person has to find their own way
to make their garden grow. Bernstein’s work,
which is neither a musical nor an opera, is a
tremendous plea for humanism and tolerance
which is also regularly devastatingly funny. One
of the high points is Cunegonde’s aria ‘Glitter
and Be Gay’. After an initial round of disasters,
Heinrich Proch lived at almost exactly the same
time as Flotow, the composer of Martha.
Although Proch lived almost his whole life in
Vienna as an opera conductor and singing
teacher, he also had a moderate success as a
composer of songs and operettas. The only one
of his pieces at all known these days is his Deh!
torna, mio bene – also known as the Proch
Variations. It’s a genre which was quite common
up to the 19th century – a lyrical concert piece
for soprano, designed to showcase all of the
most spectacular and outrageously difficult
techniques that could be required of the voice.
It was a sort of vocal equivalent of some of
Paganini’s caprices for the violin. ‘Deh! torna,
mio bene’ was traditionally slipped in to Rossini’s
The Barber of Seville.
Richard Mills is one of Australia’s leading
composers and conductors, and his most recent
opera The Love of the Nightingale was a great
success at the Perth International Arts Festival
in February 2007, following which the other
presenters of the co-production, Opera
11
Queensland and Victorian Opera, also performed
it. Emma Matthews won a Helpmann Award for
her portrayal of the Athenian girl Philomene, the
ill-fated sister of Procne, who is married to the
Thracian King Tereus. The opera uses the
mythical setting to explore questions about the
wellspring of violence, and what perpetuates it.
Philomene, after suffering terribly at the hands
of Tereus, is transformed by the gods into a
nightingale, where she is beyond the cycle of
violence as either victim or perpetrator.
1
Calvin Bowman is known to many as one of
Australia’s leading and most acclaimed organists,
but he is also a very fine composer, particularly
of art songs, having won the Ned Rorem Award
for Song Composition, the Diana Barnhart
American Song Competition, and the English
Poetry and Song Society Artsong Award for a
number of his works. Now Touch the Air Softly
sets a text by William Jay Smith. Smith, who has
written over ten volumes of poetry, is now over
90 years old, and among many other distinctions
was for a time the closest thing the US has to a
poet laureate, the poetry consultant to the Library
of Congress. It is part of a seven-song cycle by
Bowman set to Smith’s poems. Originally written
with piano accompaniment, it has been
orchestrated especially for this recording.
Cunegonde:
Glitter and be gay,
That’s the part I play;
Here am I in Paris, France,
Forced to bend my soul
To a sordid role,
Victimized by bitter, bitter circumstance.
Alas for me! Had I remained
Beside my lady mother,
My virtue had remained unstained
Until my maiden hand was gained
By some Grand Duke or other.
Ah, ‘twas not to be;
Harsh necessity
Brought me to this gilded cage.
Born to higher things,
Here I droop my wings,
Ah! Singing of a sorrow nothing can assuage.
And yet of course I rather like to revel, ha ha!
I have no strong objection to champagne, ha ha!
My wardrobe is expensive as the devil, ha ha!
Perhaps it is ignoble to complain...
Enough, enough
Of being basely tearful!
I’ll show my noble stuff
By being bright and cheerful!
Ha ha ha ha ha! Ha!
Pearls and ruby rings...
Ah, how can worldly things
Take the place of honor lost?
Can they compensate
Antony Ernst
12
13
For my fallen state,
Purchased as they were at such an awful cost?
Bracelets...lavalieres
Can they dry my tears?
Can they blind my eyes to shame?
Can the brightest brooch
Shield me from reproach?
Can the purest diamond purify my name?
And yet of course these trinkets are endearing, ha ha!
I’m oh, so glad my sapphire is a star, ha ha!
I rather like a twenty-carat earring, ha ha!
If I’m not pure, at least my jewels are!
Enough! Enough!
I’ll take their diamond necklace
And show my noble stuff
By being gay and reckless!
Ha ha ha ha ha! Ha!
Observe how bravely I conceal
The dreadful, dreadful shame I feel.
Ha ha ha ha!
2
Lakmé:
Où va la jeune Indoue,
Fille des pariahs,
Quand la lune se joue
Dans les grands mimosas?
Elle court sur la mousse
Et ne se souvient pas
Que partout on repousse
L’enfant des pariahs;
Le long des lauriers roses,
Where is she going, the young Hindu girl,
daughter of pariahs,
when the moon plays
in the tall mimosa trees?
She runs over the moss
and she doesn’t remember
that everywhere the pariah child
is shunned.
Past the pink laurels,
14
Rêvant de douces choses
Elle passe sans bruit
Et riant à la nuit.
dreaming of sweet things,
she passes noiselessly,
laughing at the night.
Là-bas dans la forêt plus sombre,
Quel est ce voyageur perdu?
Autour de lui, des yeux brillent dans l’ombre,
Il marche encore au hasard, éperdu.
Les fauves rugissent de joie,
Ils vont se jeter sur leur proie.
Le jeune fille accourt
Et brave leur fureur.
Elle a dans sa main la baguette
où tinte la clochette
des charmeurs.
Over there in the darker forest,
who is this lost traveller?
All around him, eyes shine in the shadows;
he wanders on aimlessly, exhausted.
The wild beasts roar with pleasure,
they are ready to leap on their prey.
The young girl runs up
and braves their fury:
she has in her hand
the charmer’s rod
with its tinkling bell.
L’étranger la regarde,
Elle reste éblouie.
Il est plus beau que les rajahs,
Il rougira, s’il sait qu’il doit sa vie
à la fille des parias.
Mais lui, l’endormant dans un rêve,
The stranger looks at her;
she stands there dazzled.
He is more beautiful than the rajahs!
He will blush, if he realises that he owes his life
to a pariah girl.
But he, lulling her to sleep in a dream,
carries her away to heaven,
saying to her: ‘Your place is there!’
It was Vishnu, son of Brahma!
Since that day, in the depths of the forest,
a traveller may sometimes hear
the faint sound
of the charmer’s rod
with its tinkling bell.
Jusque dans le ciel il l’enleve,
En lui disant: ‘Ta place est là!’
C’était Vishnu, fils de Brahma!
Depuis ce jour, au fond des bois,
Le voyageur entend parfois
Le bruit léger de la baguette
où tinte la clochette
des charmeurs!
3
Lady Harriet Durham:
’Tis the last rose of summer
Left blooming alone;
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All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone;
No flower of her kindred,
No rosebud is nigh,
To reflect back her blushes,
Or give sigh for sigh.
I’ll not leave thee, thou lone one,
To pine on the stem;
Since the lovely are sleeping,
Go, sleep thou with them.
Thus kindly I scatter,
Thy leaves o’er the bed
Where thy mates of the garden
Lie scentless and dead.
4
5
Lucia:
Ancor non giunse!...
He still has not come!
Alisa:
Incauta! A che mi traggi?
Avventurarti, or che il fratel qui venne,
è folle ardir.
Rash girl! What have you brought me to?
Your brother is coming here, and you dare come also?
This is madness.
Lucia:
Ben parli! Edgardo sappia
Qual ne circonda orribile periglio...
Well spoken! Edgar must learn
of the terrible danger that surrounds us…
Alisa:
Perché d’intorno il ciglio volgi atterrita?
Why do you keep looking around so fearfully?
Lucia:
Quella fonte, ah!
mai senza tremar non veggo...
Ah! tu lo sai.
That fountain, ah!
I can never see it without trembling…
Ah! You know the story.
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Un Ravenswood, ardendo di geloso furor,
l’amata donna colà trafisse;
e l’infelice cadde nell’onda,
ed ivi rimanea sepolta...
M’apparve l’ombra sua...
A Ravenswood, burning with jealous fury,
stabbed his beloved lady here,
and the unfortunate girl fell into the water,
which became her tomb…
Her shade has appeared to me…
Alisa:
Che dici!...
What!
Lucia:
Ascolta.
Regnava nel silenzio
Alta la notte e bruna...
Colpìa la fonte un pallido
Raggio di tetra luna...
Quando un sommesso gemito
Fra l’aure udir si fè,
Ed ecco su quel margine
L’ombra mostrarsi a me!
Listen.
It was the dead of night;
silence reigned in the darkness…
A sad ray of pale moonlight
struck the spring…
And then a low groaning
was heard on the breeze,
and there, on the edge there,
the spirit showed itself to me!
Qual di chi parla muoversi
Il labbro suo vedea,
E con la mano esanime
Chiamarmi a sé parea.
Stette un momento immobile
Poi ratta dileguò…
E l’onda prìa sì limpida,
Di sangue rosseggiò! –
I saw its lips moving
as if it were speaking,
and with its bloodless hand
it seemed to be beckoning to me.
It stood there a moment, motionless
then suddenly vanished…
And the water, which had been so clear,
became red with blood!
Alisa:
Chiari, o Dio! ben chiari e tristi
Nel tuo dir presagi intendo!
Ah! Lucia, Lucia desisti
Da un amor così tremendo.
O God! the omens I hear in your words
are so clear and sad!
Ah, Lucia, Lucia, give up
this terrible love!
17
Lucia:
Egli è luce a’ giorni miei,
è conforto al mio penar.
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7
He lights up my days,
and comforts me in my suffering.
mi giura eterna fé.
Gli affanni miei dimentico,
gioia diviene il pianto,
parmi che a lui d’accanto
si schiuda il ciel per me.
When he is rapt in the ecstasy
of the most burning passion,
with the language of the heart
he swears to be faithful to me forever.
I forget my fears,
my tears turn to joy,
while I am beside him,
it’s as if the heavens open for me.
Alisa:
Ah, giorni d’amaro pianto,
ah, s’apprestano per te, sì, sì.
Ah, Lucia, ah, desisti.
Ah, truly, days of bitter weeping
lie in store for you.
Ah, Lucia, stop!
Lucia:
Quando rapito in estasi…
When he is rapt in the ecstasy…
Quando rapito in estasi
del più cocente ardore,
col favellar del core
Giuletta:
Eccomi in lieta vesta...
Look at me in these festive robes…
Look at me, dressed up…
like a victim ready for sacrifice.
Ah, if only I were that victim
and could die at the foot of the altar!
Oh nuptial torches – hideous things,
deadly things! –
ah, be my funeral torches.
I am burning… a flame,
a fire is consuming me.
Eccomi adorna...
come vittima all’ara!
Oh! almen potessi qual vittima
cader dell’ara al piede!
O nuziali tede, aborrite cosi,
cosi fatali,
siate, ah! siate per me faci ferali.
Ardo... una vampa,
un foco tutta mi strugge.
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8
9
0
Un refrigerio ai venti io chiedo invano.
Ove sei tu, Romeo?
in qual terra t’aggiri?
Dove, dove, inviarti, dove i miei sospiri?
In vain I beg the winds to send me a cooling breeze.
Where are you, Romeo?
In what lands do you wander?
Where, ah where can I send my sighs to you?
Oh! quante volte, oh quante
ti chiedo al ciel piangendo!
Con quale ardor t’attendo,
e inganno il mio desir!
Raggio del tuo sembiante
ah! parmi il brillar del giorno:
ah! l’aura che spira intorno
mi sembra un tuo sospir.
Ah, how many times, how many,
I have called to heaven in tears, asking for you!
I wait for you with such passion,
deluding my desire!
Ah, to me your face shines
with the brilliance of the sun:
ah, the breeze whispering around me
seems like one of your sighs.
Juliette:
Dieu! quel frisson court dans mes veines?
Si ce breuvage était sans pouvoir!
Craintes vaines!
Je n’appartiendrai pas au Comte malgré moi!
Non! non! ce poignard sera le gardien de ma foi!
Viens! viens!
God! What is this chill running through my veins?
What if the potion has no power!
Vain fears!
I shall not be forced to belong to the Count!
No! This dagger will defend my honour!
Come! Come!
Amour, ranime mon courage,
Et de mon cœur chasse l’effroi!
Hésiter, c’est te faire outrage,
Trembler est un manque de foi!
Verse! verse!
Verse toi-même ce breuvage!
Ô Roméo! Je bois à toi!
Mais si demain pourtant dans ces
caveaux funèbres
Je m’éveillais avant son retour? Dieu puissant!
Cette pensée horrible a glacé tout mon sang!
Love, reawaken my courage
and drive the fear from my heart!
To hesitate would be an insult to you;
trembling is a lack of faith!
Pour out the potion!
Pour it out!
O Romeo! I drink to you!
And yet… What if tomorrow I awaken in these
vaults of death
before he returns? Almighty God!
This horrible thought has quite frozen my blood!
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What would become of me among these shadows,
in this house of death and groans,
filled with centuries of bones?
Where Tybalt, still bleeding from his wound,
will sleep near me in the dark night!
God, my hand will touch his hand!
Who is this ghost, evading death?
It’s Tybalt! He’s calling me! He wants to
lead my husband on a false path, away from me!
And his sword of death;
No! Phantoms! Vanish!
Fade away, deadly dream!
May the dawn of happiness break
over the shadows of past torments!
Love, reawaken my courage…
Que deviendrai-je en ces ténèbres
Dans ce séjour de mort et de gémissements,
Que les siècles passés ont rempli d’ossements?
Où Tybalt, tout saignant encore de sa blessure,
Près de moi, dans la nuit obscure dormira!
Dieu, ma main rencontrera sa main!
Quelle est cette ombre à la mort échappée?
C’est Tybalt! il m’appelle! il veut de mon chemin
Écarter mon époux!
Et sa fatale épée;
Non! fantômes! Disparaissez!
Dissipe-toi, funeste rêve!
Que l’aube du bonheur se lève
Sur l’ombre des tourments passés!
Amour, ranime mon courage…
!
Ophélie:
A vos jeux, mes amis, permettez-moi de grâce
De prendre part! Nul n’a suivi ma trace.
J’ai quitté le palais aux premiers feux du jour.
Des larmes de la nuit, la terre était mouillée,
Et l’alouette, avant l’aube éveillée,
My friends, be so kind as to allow me to join
in your entertainments. No-one followed my trail.
I left the palace at the first light of day.
The earth was wet with the tears of night,
and the lark, awake before the dawn,
soared in the air, ah!
But why are you speaking in hushed tones?
Don’t you recognise me?
Hamlet is my husband, and I am Ophelia!
A sweet oath binds us.
He gave me his heart in exchange for mine,
and if anyone tells you he has fled from me
and forgotten me,
don’t believe a word of it!
If they tell you he has forgotten me,
Planait dans l’air, ah!
Mais vous, pourquoi parler bas?
Ne me reconnaissez-vous pas?
Hamlet est mon époux, et je suis Ophélie!
Un doux serment nous lie.
Il m’a donné son cour en échange du mien,
Et si quelqu’un vous dit qu’il me fuit et m’oublie,
N’en croyez rien!
Si l’on vous dit qu’il m’oublie,
20
N’en croyez rien;
don’t believe it!
Non, Hamlet est mon époux, et moi, je suis Ophélie. No, Hamlet is my husband, and I – I am Ophelia.
S’il trahissait sa foi, j’en perdrais la raison!
If he breaks his word, I shall go mad!
@
Partagez-vous mes fleurs!
A toi cette humble branche
De romarin sauvage. A toi cette pervenche.
Et maintenant écoutez ma chanson!
Take some of my flowers!
For you this poor little branch
of wild rosemary. For you, this periwinkle flower.
And now, listen to my song!
£
Pâle et blonde
Dort sous l’eau profonde
La Willis au regard de feu!
Que Dieu garde
Celui qui s’attarde
Dans la nuit au bord du lac bleu!
Heureuse l’épouse
Aux bras de l’époux!
Mon âme est jalouse
D’un bonheur si doux!
Nymphe au regard de feu,
Hélas! tu dors sous les eaux du la bleu!
Ah! La la la…
Pale and blond
beneath the deep water
sleeps the Wili with her eyes of fire!
God protect
anyone who who lingers
at night by the edge of the blue lake!
Happy the bride
in the arms of her husband!
My soul is jealous
of such sweet happiness!
Nymph with the fiery gaze,
Alas! you sleep beneath the waters of the blue lake!
Ah! La la la…
$
La sirène
Passe et vous entraîne
Sous l’azur du lac endormi.
L’air se voile,
Adieu! blanche étoile!
Adieu ciel, adieu doux ami!
Heureuse l’épouse
Aux bras de l’époux!
Mon âme est jalouse
D’un bonheur si doux!
Sous les flots endormis,
The siren
passes and drags you
beneath the azure of the sleeping lake.
The air shrouds itself,
Farewell, white star!
Farewell, sky! Farewell, sweet friend!
Happy the bride
in the arms of her husband!
My soul is jealous
of such sweet happiness!
Beneath the sleeping waves,
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farewell forever, my sweet love!
Pour toujours, adieu, mon doux ami!
Ah! La la la...
Ah! cher époux! Ah! cher amant!
Ah! doux aveu! Ah! tendre serment!
Bonheur suprême!
Ah! cruel! Je t’aime!
Ah! cruel, tu vois mes pleurs!
Ah! Pour toi je meurs!
%
^
)
Ah! dear husband! Ah! dear lover!
Ah! sweet oath! Ah! tender vow!
Supreme happiness!
Ah! Cruel one! I love you!
Ah! Cruel one, you see my tears!
Ah! I die for you!
Olympia:
Les oiseaux dans la charmille,
Dans les cieux l’astre du jour
Tout parle à la jeune fille d’amour!
Ah! Voilà la chanson gentille,
La chanson d’Olympia!
The birds in the arbour,
the morning star in the heavens,
everything speaks of love to the young girl!
Ah! It’s a nice little song,
Olympia’s song!
Tout ce qui chante résonne
Et soupire tour à tour,
Emeut son coeur qui frissonne d’amour!
Ah! Voilà la chanson mignonne,
La chanson d’Olympia!
Everything that sings rings out
and then sighs, turn and turn about,
stirs up hearts trembling with love!
Ah! it’s a sweet little song,
Olympia’s song!
Deh, torna, mio bene,
mio tenero amor,
dà tregua alle pene
del povero cor.
Per te questo sen
più pace non ha,
sol teco mio ben
beato sarà.
Ah, come back, my dear one,
my tender love,
call a truce on the sufferings
of my poor heart.
Because of you, this heart
no longer has any peace,
only with you, my dear one,
shall I find bliss.
Now touch the air softly,
Step gently. One, two...
I’ll love you till roses
Are robin’s-egg blue;
I’ll love you till gravel
Is eaten for bread,
And lemons are orange,
And lavender’s red.
Now touch the air softly,
Swing gently the broom.
I’ll love you till windows
Are all of a room;
And the table is laid,
And the table is bare,
And the ceiling reposes
On bottomless air.
I’ll love you till Heaven
Rips the stars from his coat,
And the Moon rows away in
A glass-bottomed boat;
And Orion steps down
Like a diver below,
And Earth is ablaze,
And Ocean aglow.
So touch the air softly,
And swing the broom high.
We will dust the gray mountains,
And sweep the blue sky;
And I’ll love you as long
As the furrow the plow,
As However is Ever,
And Ever is Now.
William Jay Smith’s poetry is published by Johns Hopkins University Press.
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festival engagements include Philomele in The
Love of the Nightingale by Richard Mills in Perth,
Ismene in Mitridate in Sydney, as well as
appearances at the Melbourne, Adelaide and
Huntington Festivals.
Emma Matthews
Soprano Emma Matthews has been a Principal
Artist with Opera Australia since 1993. One of
Australia’s most acclaimed and awarded singers,
she has received four Helpmann Awards
(The Love of the Nightingale, Arabella, Lakmé
and Lulu), a ‘MO’ Award (Classical Performer of
the Year) and eight Green Room Awards (Lulu,
La clemenza di Tito, Rinaldo, The Marriage of
Figaro, Batavia, Signor Bruschino, Julius Caesar
and Lakmé). She has also been the recipient of
the Rémy Martin Australian Opera Award.
Most recent performance highlights include
appearing as special guest with Jose Carreras
at the Sydney Opera House, Mozart’s C minor
Mass with Sir Charles Mackerras and the
Sydney Symphony, Zdenka in Arabella, the title
role in Lucia di Lammermoor and Angelica in
Orlando for Opera Australia, and repeating her
highly successful portrayals of the four heroines
in Les Contes d’Hoffmann for the State Opera of
South Australia.
For Opera Australia Emma Matthews has sung
the title roles in Lulu, Lakmé, The Cunning Little
Vixen and Lucia di Lammermoor. Other roles for
the company have included the four heroines in
Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Cleopatra in Julius
Caesar, Zwaantie in Batavia, Juliette in Roméo
et Juliette, Rosina in The Barber of Seville,
Kostanze and Blonde in The Abduction from the
Seraglio, Papagena and Pamina in The Magic
Flute, Marie in La Fille du régiment, Oscar
in Un ballo in maschera, Sophie in Der
Rosenkavalier and Almirena in Rinaldo.
In 2009 Emma Matthews makes two
significant role debuts: Giulietta in Bellini’s I
Capuleti e i Montecchi for Opera Australia
and Gilda in Rigoletto for Opera Queensland.
In 2010 she makes her UK debut at the Royal
Opera House Covent Garden in the title role
of The Cunning Little Vixen under the baton of
Sir Charles Mackerras, and returns to the
Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo for
Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with Chief Conductor
Yakov Kreizberg. This is Emma Matthews’ first
recording in an exclusive new contract with
ABC Classics and Universal Music Australia
(Deutsche Grammophon).
Emma Matthews is equally in demand on the
concert platform, embracing a wide repertoire
including the Requiems of Mozart, Fauré and
Brahms, Mahler’s Second and Fourth
Symphonies, masses by Poulenc, Villa Lobos,
Haydn and Mozart, and Handel’s Messiah. Her
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(The Pilgrim’s Progress), Suzuki (Madama
Butterfly), Second Lady (Magic Flute) and
Auntie (Peter Grimes).
Catherine Carby
Australian mezzo-soprano Catherine Carby
studied at the Canberra School of Music and the
Royal College of Music, London.
Since 1953 the ‘Orchestre National de
l’Opéra de Monte-Carlo’, renamed ‘Orchestre
Philharmonique’ in 1980, has played a major
role in support of contemporary operatic,
choreographic and symphonic composition.
La Damnation de Faust (Berlioz), L’Enfant et
les Sortilèges (Ravel) and Pénélope (Fauré)
were created in Monaco.
Recent concert highlights include Handel’s
Messiah for Sydney Philharmonia Choirs;
concert performances for Opera Australia
including excerpts from Mozart’s Mitridate, the
Classic 100 Opera concert, their 50th
Anniversary Gala and the New Year’s Eve Gala;
Mozart’s Requiem with both the Tasmanian
Symphony Orchestra and Sydney Philharmonia
Choirs; and Haydn’s Missa in Tempore Belli for
the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.
Whilst residing in the UK, she was a finalist in
several major competitions – the Kathleen
Ferrier Award, the Richard Tauber Award and the
Young Concert Artists Trust. She also performed
with English National Opera, Scottish Opera,
British Youth Opera and at the London Handel
and Spitalfields Festivals; concert engagements
included performances with the Hallé Orchestra,
London Mozart Players and Cambridge
University Music, a solo recital at St James’
Piccadilly, and concerts at Southwark Cathedral,
Exeter Cathedral and with the Gardner Chamber
Orchestra in Boston.
In the year 2000, Marek Janowski’s
nomination to the position of Artistic
Director brought an increase in the number
of permanent musicians to a total of 100.
He was also responsible for an artistic
evolution entailing more audacious
programming: Messiaen’s Des canyons aux
étoiles… and Turangalîla-Symphonie, concert
versions of Strauss’ Elektra and Wagner’s
Parsifal and works by Dutilleux, Jolas, Canat
de Chizy, Henze, Pärt, Penderecki, Sciarrino
and Zimmermann.
Orchestre Philharmonique
de Monte-Carlo
In Australasia she has performed Elgar’s Sea
Pictures with The Queensland Orchestra and
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra; Mozart’s
Requiem, Haydn’s Nelson Mass and the
Superdome Spectacular with the Sydney
Symphony; Haydn’s Arianna auf Naxos with the
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra; and Opera
under the Stars in Broome.
Founded in 1856, the Orchestra Philharmonique
de Monte-Carlo has enjoyed wide international
recognition and the honour of working with
many of the world’s finest conductors: Sabata,
Toscanini, Richard Strauss, Mitropoulos, Bruno
Walter, Cluytens, Ancerl, Bernstein, Münch,
Sawallisch, Jochum, Giulini, Kubelik, Kondrashin,
Maazel, Mehta, Solti and many others.
Catherine Carby’s most recent roles for Opera
Australia include the title role in Carmen,
Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Romeo (I Capuleti
e i Montecchi), Kristina (The Makropulos
Affair), Heavenly Being and Madam By-Ends
The list of its Musical Directors includes Paul
Paray, Igor Markevitch, Lovro von Matačić,
Lawrence Foster, Gianluigi Gelmetti, James
DePreist and Marek Janowski. Yakov Kreizberg is
the current Artistic Director.
26
Since 1956 the Orchestra has participated in
major festivals in Europe, the USA, Korea
and Japan. The Orchestra Philharmonique de
Monte-Carlo has recorded for Deutsche
Grammophon, Decca, EMI Classics and
Phillips, all received favourably by the
international press, and in many cases
earning prestigious grand prizes.
In December of 2003, under the direction of
Marek Janowski and together with the
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra plus the
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Berlin and Leipzig Radio Choirs, the Orchestre
Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo performed the
Berlioz Requiem, first in the Berlin Cathedral and
then in Monaco’s Grimaldi Forum. March 2007
brought a new musical meeting for the
Orchestra’s anniversary season, with a
memorable interpretation of Schoenberg’s
Gurrelieder in conjuction with the Berlin Radio
Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin and Leipzig
Radio Choruses and an array of international
vocal soloists, at the Grimaldi Forum and in the
historic Berlin Philharmonie concert hall.
Brad Cohen
Brad Cohen was born
in Mauritius, grew
up in Sydney, and
graduated from
St John’s College
Oxford before
studying conducting
with Celibidache and
Bernstein in Germany. He made his professional
debut at the 1992 Almeida Festival; in 1994 he
was awarded first prize in the Leeds Conductors
Competition, and in 1995 he conducted the
premiere performances of Adès’ Powder Her
Face. Since that auspicious beginning, he has
conducted a wide-ranging repertoire at English
National Opera, Opera Australia, Opera North
and other companies including Lucerne,
Nantes/Angers and the Nationale Reisopera in
The Netherlands. He has also directed orchestras
including the London Philharmonic Orchestra,
Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic
Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Stuttgart
Philharmoniker and Het Gelders Orkest.
The Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo is
presided over by H.R.H. The Princess of Hanover.
It enjoyed the support and encouragement of
Prince Rainier III throughout the duration of his
reign and its musicians will always remember
him fondly. Now that Prince Albert II has taken
over his father’s position, the Orchestra offers
him its full confidence and esteem, while
pursuing its chosen purpose in accordance with
his will: to preserve its authenticity and, at the
same time, look toward the future with a
dynamic policy of development.
The Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo
benefits from the support of EFG Bank, the
Société des Bains de Mer and the Association
of Friends of the Orchestra.
Engagements in 2007-08 included concerts
with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and
Orchestra Victoria, La Cenerentola for Opera
Australia at the Sydney Opera House and Brad
Cohen‘s debut disc for Chandos: a highlights
recording of his own critical edition of Les
Pêcheurs de perles, with Simon Keenlyside,
28
Barry Banks, Rebecca Evans and the London
Philharmonic Orchestra.
Executive Producers Martin Buzacott, Robert
Patterson, Cyrus Meher-Homji
Recording Producer Tim Oldham
Associate Producer Cyrus Meher-Homji
Recording Engineer Sylvain Denis
Consultant Elisabeth Turner
Editorial and Production Manager Hilary Shrubb
Publications Editor Natalie Shea
Booklet Design Imagecorp Pty Ltd
Cover Photograph Paul Gosney
Photography Paul Gosney (Emma Matthews),
OPMC/Marco Borggreve (Orchestre Philharmonique
de Monte-Carlo), Perou (Brad Cohen).
Hair and Make-up Garry Siutz
Gowns Linda Britten
Jewellery Paspaley Pearls
Recent engagements have included a second
disc for Chandos: highlights of Rossini’s L’Italiana
in Algeri with Jennifer Larmore and the
Philharmonia Orchestra. He made his Swedish
opera debut with the Konwitschny production
of La bohème and appeared in the major
television series Maestro for BBC2. In 2009 he
returned to Opera Australia to conduct I Capuleti
e i Montecchi.
In 2009-10 Brad Cohen’s diary includes new
productions of La Cenerentola at Malmö Opera
and Pelléas et Mélisande at Opera Holland Park, a
return to Mauritius for concert engagements, and
his first appearance with West Australian Opera.
Recorded 16-20 September 2008 in the Auditorium
Rainier III, Monte Carlo.
Glitter and Be Gay is published by Jalni PublishingLeonard Bernstein Music Publishing Co.; text
reprinted with the kind permission of Universal
Music Publishing Group. All rights reserved.
International copyright secured.
Brad Cohen has a strong involvement in the
performance of new music. His diverse activities
in this field include filming modern opera for TV,
touring the ensemble pieces of Frank Zappa, and
commissioning music for the opening of the
Millennium Dome. In 2002 he was Musical
Director of Jonathan Dove’s television opera
When She Died: Death of a Princess,
commissioned from Tiger Aspect for Channel
Four. In 2006 the same team created the TV
opera Man on the Moon, also for Channel Four.
Brad Cohen also led the Australian premiere of
Jonathan Dove’s opera Flight at the 2006
Adelaide Festival.
Martha is published by Breitkopf and Härtel.
Lucia di Lammermoor and I Capuleti e i Montecchi
are published by Universal Music Publishers
Ricordi S.R.L.
Hamlet is published by Heugel.
Les Contes d’Hoffmann is published by Josef
Weinberger Glocken Verlag.
The Love of the Nightingale is published by
G. Schirmer Australia.
Lakmé, Roméo et Juliette and Deh! torna, mio bene
are published by Kalmus.
29
There are many who have contributed to and
influenced my career.
This CD was made possible through the kind
assistance of:
Patricia Armstrong-Grant
Dr Simon Bell
Jennifer & John Brukner
Don Cooper
Moya Crane
Joanne Daniels
Dr Helen Ferguson
Anthony Grigg
Janet Holmes-à-Court
Alun & Patricia Kenwood
Peter & Avril McGrath
Pamela & David McKee
Kirsten Mander
Joachim Meyer-Wirtgen
John & Isobel Morgan
Tom & Ruth O’Dea
Joy Selby-Smith
Michael Troy
Paul Williamson
I would like to thank the conductors who gave me
opportunities, allowed me to explore and nurtured
my love for the bel canto repertoire, especially
Richard Bonynge, Simone Young and Richard Hickox.
Opera Australia has been my family for all of my
career; thank you to my friends and colleagues for
your encouragement.
Thank you to my agent and friend, the wonderful
Graham Pushee, who not only listens, but does,
and believes.
To my coach Tahu Matheson who built me up
when I needed it, and to Tony Legge for his artistry,
thank you.
To dear Brad Cohen who breathes and creates the
same language, and just reads me so well, thank
you, I am so grateful.
To all at Universal and ABC Classics, particularly
Cyrus and Liz, thank you for making this happen.
Universal Music Australia and ABC Classics would
like to thank Peter Alexander, Leisa Radford,
Rebecca Ameriks, Laura Hitchcock, Yvonne Koolis,
Alexandra Alewood, Katherine Kemp and
Virginia Read.
My family have been incredible with their love and
understanding, especially Stephen, Jack and
Brendan who love me, despite everything. I am
lucky indeed. Thank you, my boys.
 2009 Australian Broadcasting Corporation/Universal Music
Australia Pty Limited. 훿 2009 Australian Broadcasting
Corporation/Universal Music Australia Pty Limited. Distributed
in Australia and New Zealand by Universal Music Group, under
exclusive licence. Made in Australia. All rights of the owner of
copyright reserved. Any copying, renting, lending, diffusion,
public performance or broadcast of this record without the
authority of the copyright owner is prohibited.
Emma Matthews
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