Graduate recital in voice

The repertoire for my recital represents a range of periods. It embodies some of the most important genres in operatic and non-operatic solo vocal literature. Each style reveals a variety of compositional and poetic sensibilities shaped by their respective periods and geographies. Through text and music, the five sets chosen for this program take both performer and audience on five different emotional journeys, each offering its own development of moods and attitudes as the songs or sections progress and each coming to its own conclusions about love, life, self – awareness, and spirituality. Bel canto is an Italian style of singing that literally means “beautiful singing.” The long lines and agility are the two most important characteristics of bel canto style. Vincenzo Bellini was one of the popular romantic composers known for his use of flowing lines, which is idiomatic of bel canto style. For the first set, I chose his Italian ariettas, beginning with the first song “Malinconia, ninfa gentile”. It begins in 3/8 time with the piano playing the singer’s melody in the right hand and the left hand playing arpeggios. This ends with a dramatic pause before the vocal line commences. From here until the end, the left hand plays the downbeat while the right hand plays sixteenth notes directly after the strong beat. The modulation from minor to major correlates with the text “Né mai quel fonte co' desir miei,” indicating that his wishes have been granted. The full vocal range is can be seen in two measures with an E3 to an A4 on the word “trapasserò.” The second song, “Almen se non poss’io” begins with the right hand introducing the vocal melody while the left plays staccato arpeggios. The piano introduction then concludes with a cadenza-like scalar passage before the vocal line starts. This cadenza foreshadows the many cadenzas and vocal embellishments that will appear later in this arietta. When the singer sings “Seguitelo,” Bellini gives the vocalist a small cadenza marked lente or slow. This could occur because ariettas are meant for the amateur singer or to display an advanced singer’s demonstration his or her well-developed breath control. The prior cadenza appears again on the phrase “Questo per voi” with lente indicated above it. As previously stated, these shorter cadenzas foreshadowed the longer two cadenzas that appear at the end. The phrase “per voi” starts both of the cadenzas. In the first cadenza, the singer sings a high A4. The singer then sings a very virtuosic cadenza to end the arietta. Bellini picked a passionate poem by Pietro Metastasio. Metastasio was an Italian poet, librettist and moralist. “Per pietà, bell’ idol mio” begins in common time with a five measure introduction. The first theme in this song is frantic and pleading, the second theme is happier in tone. The singer then sings an A-flat 4 on the word “tuo” giving this arietta a range of G3 to an A-flat. The last two significant notes in the vocal line occur with an A-flat 4 and a C4, which is interesting because that can be seen as outlining an A - flat major chord. A-flat major is the key of the last of the Sei Ariette. The second set is also deals with beautiful poetry. Henri Duparc is known almost exclusively for thirteen highly crafted songs composed between 1868 and 1884, three of which comprise the recital’s second set. The first song, “Soupir”, which Duparc dedicated to his mother, uses an almost Wagnerian chromaticism and a cycling accompaniment to convey longing and devotion. The second song, “Extase” which means ecstasy. It is a short poem by Jean Lahor set to a simple melody with a very involved accompaniment. The piece is as much about the piano as it is the voice, with three interludes of just piano in the beginning, middle, and end. In this poem, Lahor equates the feeling of ecstasy with a sleep like death that is shown in Duparc’s music. The third song, “Le Manoir de Rosemonde”, has emotional poignancy with contrasting sections of motion and stillness. The order of these songs on this program takes the listener from joy to longing to anger and despair, just as in the third set. Robert Schumann’s Dichterliebe cycle comprises the program’s third set. In 1840, these songs were composed and selected are from poems from Heinrich Heine’s sixty-six poem cycle Lyrisches Intermezzo of 1823. These songs follow the “poet” from spring love to rejection to longing to bitter madness. Rather than illustrating the text in the piano part, as is common with many lieder composers, Schumann distills through piano and voice the emotional core of the poetry with incredible simplicity and refinement. The first four songs together express the fullness of the poet’s love. The first song describes springtime and the blossoming of love with a sense of the perpetual cycling of nature in the piano. The second song expresses love with the simplicity and sincerity of a speech-pattern rhythm. The third song galloping with joy, excitement, and the fourth with its sublime conversation between voice and piano. The fourth song ends with the first hint that this love is in reality a source of pain, the poet concluding that he “must weep bitterly” without any explanation, followed by a short but elegantly sobbing postlude. The next five songs follow the poet through the pain and anger of lost love. The fifth song refers to love in the past tense, using thirty-second-note arpeggios to create a sense of urgency and suffering, while the sharpness of the descending dotted quarter note / eighth-note accompaniment in the sixth song gives a strong sense of drama and anger. The full, repeated eighth-note chords of the seventh song lend a nobility to its almost sarcastic theme of “I don’t bear a grudge”. Having been a member of the Fisk Jubilee Singers during my undergraduate studies at Fisk University I became aware of the powerful sacred art of Negro spiritual music created by the African American stories of slaves. The history of the Fisk Jubilee Singers and the music they made to share with the world is the reason I chose this last set with the help of these composer – arranger’s Moses Hogan and Paul T. Kwami. These three songs for my last set is to pay homage to my roots and my experience as a Fisk Jubilee Singer. Moses Hogan was one of the most celebrated contemporary directors and arrangers of spirituals. His arrangements made a profound impact on sacred music and recognized as the revitalization of arranged Negro spirituals of today. The song “Deep River” is a piece that reveals the longing to reach a place where all is peace and away from the current tragedies of life as a slave. It represents the stories of the slaves who yearned for freedom and hoped for a brighter tomorrow. For my second song I chose “Were you there?” because it is a reminder of the greatest sacrifice made by the Lord and savior Jesus Christ. The daunting question brings awareness to the sacrifice he made to deliver us during the crucifixion. However, the essence of it is soothing as though it could be a lullaby. Paul T. Kwami, whom was the directory of the Fisk Jubilee Singers during my undergraduate studies at Fisk University, arranged the last song “Ain’t – a That Good News”. He specifically tailored this piece for my voice and to honor him I will be performing it last to remind the audience of God’s love and promise for us all. It will be the stamp of encouragement I leave to the music department, my colleagues, family, and friends.