National Symphony Orchestra – la regina gioiosa

John Corigliano (16 febbraio 1938):
I. Of Rage and Remembrance, ciaccona (composta sulla base del III movimento della Sinfonia n. 1) per voci e orchestra su testo di William M. Hoffman (1991).

This is the season of stone:
Dead leaves on a garden wall,
Dried berries in bone-cold air,
A brittle moon,
An ashen sun.
Bear it,
Bear it, you tell me.
This is the season of stone.
Was there a time before the sorrow –
Days of double darkness,
Nights of blinding light?
Is there life outside the terror –
Waking from an airless dream
To the silence of an empty room?
This is the season of stone,
You tell me,
When dead leaves lace the garden wall,
And berries dry in the bone-cold air.
And the brittle moon rules
The ashen sun.
Bear it,
Bear it, you tell me.
This is the season of stone.
But remember the crack of the ice-locked lake,
And the fog on the hyacinth roads.
Remember the breeze through the fields at dawn,
Cascading the trees and our youth-dark hair.
I remember, I remember.
Remember.
Giulio Sorrentino, cellist,
You were the radiance of my youth.
Freddy. Fortunato Arico,
Giulio’s teacher,
goodbye.
Paul Jacobs, brilliant pianist and dry wit,
Farewell.
J. J. Mitchell, muse of poets and painters,
60
Adieu.
Jacques Chwat, a cabalist and agnostic,
You walked among the living,
Guided by the dead.
Maya zhizn, maya maledost,
Prashchai, prashchai.1
Mark Pearson and Jim Moses: friends, lovers, died in ’88.
Shalom.
Robert Jacobson:
A tall, kind man with a dazzling smile
Opera was his passion.
Adios.
Nikos Kafkalis: I’ll never forget you!
Goodbye. Farewell.
Anthony Holland: man of the theatre,
Oh, Tony, I miss you so!
Lebewohl.
Farewell.
Adios.
Goodbye.
This is the season of stone.
Bear it, bear it, you tell me:
But remember the crack of the ice-locked lake,
And the fog on the hyacinth roads.
Remember the breeze through the fields at dawn,
Cascading the trees and our youth-dark hair.
I remember the scent of mint and thyme,
I remember the heat,
I remember the wine.
I remember the joy.
Remember.
Though I live to be a thousand years,
I’ll never forget you.
Gahm kee-aylaykh b’gay tzahlmohvess
Loh-eeraw raw kee-ahtaw eemodee

II. Sinfonia n. 1 (1988-89):
    1. Apologue: Of Rage and Remembrance (Ferocious) [13:07]
    2. Tarantella [26:46]
    3. Chaconne: Giulio’s Song (Adagio) [35:00] – attacca:
    4. Epilogue (Adagio) [48:50]

Michelle DeYoung, mezzosoprano; Michael Accinno, voce bianca; Robert P. Baker e Michael Forest, tenori; Jason Stearns e James Shaffran, baritoni; National Symphony Orchestra, dir. Leonard Slatkin.

Ispirata, in parte, dal NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, la Sinfonia è dedicata alla memoria di amici del compositore morti di AIDS. Alcune annotazioni di John Corigliano e la partitura completa si trovano qui.

L’AIDS Memorial Quilt

Quadro I: In full glee

John Stafford Smith (1750 - 1836): The Anacreontic Song, or To Anacreon in Heav’n, canto bacchico su testo di Ralph Tomlinson composto a Londra intorno al 1775. Jacob Wright, voce solista; Jerry Blackstone, direttore.

To Anacreon, in Heav’n, where he sat in full glee,
A few sons of harmony sent a petition,
That he their inspirer and patron would be;
When this answer arrived from the jolly old Grecian –
Voice, fiddle and flute, no longer be mute.
I’ll lend ye my name, and inspire you to boot,
And, besides, I’ll instruct you, like me, to entwine,
The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus’s vine.

The news through Olympus immediately flew;
When Old Thunder pretended to give himself airs –
If these mortals are suffer’d their scheme to pursue,
The devil a goddess will stay above stairs.
Hark! already they cry in transports of joy.
Away to the Sons of Anacreon we’ll fly…
And there with good fellows, we’ll learn to entwine,
The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus’s vine.

The yellow-hair’d god, and his nine fusty maids,
From Helicon’s banks will incontinent flee.
Idalia will boast but of tenantless shades,
And the biforked hill a mere desert will be.
My Thunder, no fear on’t shall soon do its errand,
And dam’me! I’ll swing the ringleaders, I warrant.
I’ll trim the young dogs for thus daring to twine,
The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus’s vine.

Apollo rose up; and said, Pr’ythee ne’er quarrel,
Good King of the gods, with my vot’ries below!
Your thunder is useless – then, shewing his laurel,
Cry’d, Sic evitabile fulmen, you know!
Then over each head my laurels I’ll spread;
So my sons from your crackers no mischief shall dread,
Whilst snug in their club-room, they jovially twine,
The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus’s vine.

Next Momus got up, with his risible phiz;
And swore with Apollo he’d cheerfully join –
The full tide of harmony still shall be his,
But the song, and the catch, and the laugh shall be mine;
Then, Jove, be not jealous of these honest fellows.
Cry’d Jove, We relent, since the truth you now tell us;
And swear by Old Styx that they long shall entwine,
The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus’s vine.

Ye sons of Anacreon, then, join hand in hand;
Preserve unanimity, friendship and love.
‘Tis your’s to support what’s so happily plan’d;
You’ve the sanction of gods, and the fiat of Jove.
While thus we agree, our toast let it be.
May our club flourish happy, united, and free!
And long may the sons of Anacreon entwine,
The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus’s vine.

Sul modello dell’Anacreontic Song di Tomlinson è esemplata l’ode Defence of Fort McHenry, composta da Francis Scott Key per celebrare la vittoria dei soldati statunitensi e della popolazione di Baltimora sulla flotta inglese il 14 settembre 1814. In seguito il testo di Francis Scott Key, adattato alla musica di John Stafford Smith, divenne un canto patriottico, e nel 1931 fu ufficialmente adottato quale inno nazionale degli Stati Uniti d’America, oggi noto con il titolo The Star-Spangled Banner.

Quadro II: La versione di Igor’

The Star-Spangled Banner nella versione orchestrale curata da Igor’ Stravinskij nei primi anni 1940. National Symphony Orchestra, dir. Gianandrea Noseda.

Una pubblica esecuzione di questa versione si sarebbe dovuta tenere a Boston nel gennaio del 1944, con la Boston Symphony Orchestra diretta dal compositore stesso, ma fu depennata dal programma del concerto a causa di un curioso incidente: la polizia locale avvertì Stravinskij dell’esistenza di una legge che proibiva la manomissione, parziale o integrale, dell’inno nazionale, aggiungendo che ogni trasgressione sarebbe stata punita con un’ammenda di 100 dollari.
(La polizia di Boston era però in errore: una legge c’era davvero, ma si limitava a vietare l’uso dell’inno come musica da ballo o da intrattenimento.)
In effetti Stravinskij aveva modificato l’armonizzazione originale: perciò, per quanto dispiaciuto, rinunciò a dirigere il brano.

Quadro III: Le variazioni di Paine

John Knowles Paine (1839 - 1906): Concert Variations on «The Star-Spangled Banner» per organo op. 3 n. 2 (1861). Andrew Meagher.

Quadro IV: Lo yankee vagabondo

Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924): «Dovunque al mondo», da Madama Butterfly (1904), atto I. Luciano Pavarotti e Michel Sénéchal, tenori; Robert Kerns, baritono; Chor der Wiener Staatsoper e Wiener Philharmoniker diretti da Herbert von Karajan.

Tag: National Symphony Orchestra

Of Rage and Remembrance (Corigliano 85)

Stelle e strisce in quattro quadri