Gary D. Cannon - Performance Archives - Pulchritudina

La complainte des âmes	Henk Badings (1907–1987)
Soir d'été	Badings
Pulchritudina Gary Cannon, conductor Alison Vinande, piano

Lausche, lausche!	Max Bruch (1838–1920)
Gott!	Bruch
Im tiefen Thale	Bruch

Des Fischers Liebesglück	Franz Schubert (1797–1828)

Sure on this shining night	Samuel Barber (1910–1981)
I hear an army Solitary Hotel Nocturne	Barber Barber Barber
Gary Cannon, tenor Leilani Adviento, piano

— INTERMISSION —

Reincarnations, op. 16	Barber
Mary Hynes Anthony O Daly The Coolin (The Fair Haired One)
Missa Antiphonica	Badings
Kyrie—Gloria—Sanctus—Benedictus—Agnus Dei
Pulchritudina Gary Cannon, conductor

NOTES

La complainte des âmes
Soir d'été

Henk Badings (1907–1987), a Dutchman born in colonial Indonesia, was a trained paleontologist when he turned his professional efforts to composition. The Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam premiered his First Symphony in 1930, and he quickly become one of the most noted composers in the Netherlands. Because of his active participation in the Nazi artistic regime, Badings became a subject of great controversy after the Second World War. Nevertheless, his fresh and unique music has remained popular in Holland, and merits further attention outside of his homeland. While Badings's works are essentially neo-Romantic, he was equally at home with electronic music and alternative tonal systems. As prolific as he was versatile, his catalogue includes almost two hundred choral works, and a comparable volume of orchestral, chamber, and solo works.

The Trois chansons bretonnes, on texts by Théodore Botrel (1868–1925), date from 1946. Badings frequently divides the chorus to create a richer texture, and often treats the men's and women's voices as two monophonic sections. La complainte des âmes, the second piece of the cycle, is an impassioned plea spoken by souls in Purgatory: a request that we mortals pray in place of their ungrateful descendants. The wonderfully fun Soir d'été depicts two lovers on a summer evening. The music grows increasingly pensive, as the text becomes increasingly personal.

La complainte des âmes	The complaint of the souls
Vierge Marie, ô bonne Mère de Jésus C'est ici la complainte amère. Que chantent ceux qui ne sont plus. Nous venons en ce soir d'automne frapper aux portes des Amis: C'est Jésus Christ qui nous ordonne de réveiller les endormis	Virgin Mary, o good Mother of Jesus, Here is the bitter complaint that they sing, who are no longer. We come on this autumn night to knock on the door of Friends. It is Jesus Christ who orders us to awaken the sleepers.
Ah! Vous, qui dormez dans la nuit noire. Ah! Songez vous de temps en temps, qu'au feu flamant du Purgatoire sont peut-être, tous vos parents. Ils sont là vos pères, vos mères, feu pardessus, feu pardessous espérant, en vain, les prières qu'ils ont droit d'espérer de vous.	Ah! You, who sleep in the black night. Ah! Dream now and then, that in the flaming fires of Purgatory are perhaps all your parents. They are there: your fathers, your mothers, fire above, fire below, hoping, in vain, for the prayers that they are right to expect from you.
Songez vous qu'ils disent peut-être à tous les Chrétiens d'ici-bas: Priez pour nous sans nous connaître, puisque nos gâs ne le font pas! Dans le purgatoire on nous laisse, Priez pour ceux qui ne prient pas! Priez pour nous! Priez sans cesse puisque nos gâs sont des ingrats!	Dream that they say perhaps to all the Christians here below: Pray for us without knowing us, because our children don't do it! In purgatory we are left, Pray for those who cannot pray! Pray for us! Pray without cessation, because our children are ungrateful!
Soir d'été	Summer evening
Lison ma câline, quittons la colline, car le jour décline au rouge horizon, avant qu'il ne meure, profitons de l'heure: à notre de meure viens t'en ma Lison!	Lison, my pet, let's leave the hill for day descends to the red horizon, before it dies, let us profit of the hour: even if death comes to us, my Lison!
Dans la paix immense du soir qui commence, monte la romance des petits grillons, et la plaine rase que Phébus embrase savoure l'extase des derniers rayons.	In the immense peace of the night that begins, arises romance from the little crickets, and the flat plain that Phoebus emblazens savors the extasy of the last rays.
es voix enjôleuses sortent des yeuses: ce sont des berceuses, des petits oiseaux. Et sa porte close, la fermière Rose chante même chose entre deux berceaux!	The coaxing voices leave from the oaks: they are lullabies, little birds. And her door closed, the farmer, Rose sings the same thing between two cradles.
C'est l'heure très pure où dans la ramure passe le murmure du grand vent calmé. C'est l'heure langoureuse l'heure où l'amoureuse, se suspend heureuse au bras de l'Aimé;	It is the very pure hour when in the branches passes the murmur of the great calmed wind. It is the languorous hour, the hour when the amorous suspends herself happily on the arms of his lover.
c'est l'heure touchante où tous nos enchante, où la cloche chante l'Angélus au loin. Et c'est l'heure grise où la douce brise s'impregne et se grise de l'odeur du foin:	It is the touching hour when all enchants us, when the bell sings the Angelus in the distance. And it is the grey hour when the sweet breeze impregnates and intoxicates with the odor of hay.
c'est l'heure où tout aime, où, las du blasphème, le méchant, lui même, est un peu meilleur. Le coeur se dépouille de tout se qui souille. L'âme s'agenouille devant le Seigneur!	It is the hour when all love, when, weary of blasphemy, the wicked one himself is a little better. The heart strips itself of all that soils it. The soul kneels before the Lord.
Lison ma petite, prions le bien vite, pour qu'on ne se quitte de l'Éternité, et qu'il nous convie à fuir cette vie à l'heure ravie d'un beau soir d'été.	Lison, my little one, let us pray quickly, so that one does not leave for Eternity, and so that it invites us to flee this life at the ravishing hour of the beautiful summer evening.

Lausche, lausche!
Gott!
Im tiefen Thale

Max Bruch (1838–1920) is one of those unfortunate composers who remain known mostly for one or two compositions. While his First Violin Concerto is one of the greatest in the genre, and the Scottish Fantasy for violin and orchestra receives an occasional performance, his other works are essentially forgotten. However, Bruch's very original romanticism, with its strong influences of Mendelssohn, permeates his orchestral music (including three very strong symphonies), choral music, and art songs. The three Lieder of tonight's performance are from Brcuh's opus 15, on texts by H. Bone.

Lausche, lausche!

Lausche, lausche!
War's ein Säuseln aus der Höh?
War's ein Kräuseln auf dem See?
Liebliches Säuseln, hühlends Kräuseln,
wehte mir um's träumende Herz.
War's ein holder Frühlings scherz?

Ruhe, ruhe!
Ruh' in Träumen voller Scherz,
unter Bäumen, frohes Herz.
Wallende Träume, schattige Bäume,
blüh'n mir auf im Frieden der Brust.
Ruhe, Herz, voll Abendlust!

Gott!

Über die Bäume möcht' ich mich schwingen,
froh in die Räume rufen und singen:
Gott is der Schöpfer und Herr der Natur!

Möchte die Sonne staunend umschweben,
fühlen die Wonne, dort zu erheben:
Gott is der Schöpfer und Herrn der Natur!

Hoch in den Lüften möcht' ich ihn preisen,
tief in den Klüften Ehre beweisen:
Gott, dem Schöpfer und Herrn der Natur!

Vater, mit Segen bist du zegegen
jeglichem Wesen, Guten und Bösen:
Gott, o Schöpfer und Herr der Natur!

Im tiefen Thale

Im tiefen Thale, bei heissem Mittager, am klaren Bache,
da dass ich einsam auf weichem Moose im Schatten einer hohen Eische.
Die Eiche rauschte in kühlem Hauche, und durch die Büsche mit leichter Regung
kam von dem Berge ein leiser Wind zum Bachgerisel,
und im Gesäusel der grünen Blätter,
und im Gemurmel des klaren Baches,
vernahm ich schwebend, Geliebte, deine traute Stimme!

Des Fischers Liebesglück

Franz Schubert (1797–1828), is generally attributed to be the master of the nineteenth-century German art song. His Lieder, including Erlkönig and Gretchen am Spinnrade, and his song-cycles, such as Winterreise, are among the most performed in the repertoire. Des Fischers Liebesglück (D.933) is a far less known, but no less effective, example of Schubert's remarkable ability. Composed in 1827 but published posthumously eight years later, Des Fischers Liebesglück is to a text by Schubert's associate Karl Gottfriend von Leitner (1800–1890). The fisherman of the title imagines a romantic tryst, alone at night.

Des Fischers Liebesglück	The Fisher's Fortune in Love
Dort blicket durch Weiden Und winket ein Schimmer Blaßstrahlig vom Zimmer Der Holden mir zu.	Yonder blinks through the pasture And winks a pale shimmer From the room Of the beloved toward me.
Es gauklet wie Irrlicht Und schaukelt siech leise, Sein Abglanz im Kreise Des schwankenden Sees.	It sways like a will-o'-the-wisp And rocks softly, Its reflection in the circle Of the swelling lake.
Ich schaue mit Sehnen Ins Blaue der Wellen Und grüße den hellen, Ge spiegelten Strahl.	I gaze with longing Into the blue of the waves, And greet the bright, Reflected ray.
Und springe zum Ruder Und schwinge den Nachen Dahin auf den flachen, Krystallenen Weg.	And I jump to the rudder, And I swing the small boat Thereward upon the flat, Crystal way.
Fein Leibchen schleicht traulich Vom Stübchen herunter Und sputet sich muter Zu mir in das Boot.	The fine beloved sneaks cautiously From the little room downward, And she hurries chipperly Toward me into the boat.
Gelinde dann treiben Die Winde uns wieder See-einwärts zum Flieder Des Ufers hin dann.	Gently then the wind Chases us again Lakeward, away from the plants On the shore out there.
Die blassen Nachtnebel Umfassen mit Hüllen Vor Spähern des stillen, Unschuldigen Scherz.	The pale night fog Embraces, as a covering Look-out, the still, Innocent joke.
Und tausche wir Küsse So rauschen die Wellen, Im Sinken und Schwellen Den Horchern zum Trotz.	And we exchange kisses, While the waves rustle In sinking and swelling In spite of the listeners.
Nur Sterne belauschen Uns ferne, und baden Tief unter den Pfaden Des gleitenden Kahns.	Only the stars observe us From afar, and bathe Deeply under the path Of the boat.
So schweben wir selig Um geben vom Dunkel, Hoch überm Gefunkel Der Sterne einher.	So we sway blissfully, Surrounded by darkness, High above the twinkling Of the stars herein.
Und weinen und lächeln, Und meinen enthoben Der Erde schon oben, Schon drüben zu sein.	And we cry, and we smile, And imagine, lifted above The Earth, already up, Already above to be.

Sure on this shining night, op. 13, no. 3
I hear an army, op. 10, no. 3
Solitary Hotel, op. 41, no. 4
Nocturne, op. 13, no. 4

Vocal music forms the backbone of the music by American composer Samuel Barber (1910–1981). The lyricism and drama which have made him popular—particularly in such pieces as the Adagio for Strings and the Essays for Orchestra—completely pervade the four songs on tonight's program. Sure on this shining night, on a text by James Agee, is perhaps Barber's best-known vocal composition, also in its choral arrangement. James Joyce's text of I hear an army is a desperate, almost violent reaction to romantic abandonment. Solitary Hotel, from the song-cycle Despite and Still, is a tango to words from Joyce's Ulysses. Nocturne, with a text by Frederick Prokosch, is a particularly intimate and moving declaration of a lover.

Sure on this shining night

Sure on this shining night
Of starmade shadows round,
Kindness must watch for me
This side the ground.

The late year lies down the north.
All is healed, all is health.
High summer holds the earth.
Hearts all whole.

Sure on this shining night
I weep for wonder
wand'ring far alone
Of shadows on the stars.

I hear an army

I hear an army, charging upon the land,
And the thunder of horses plunging, foam about their knees:
Arrogant, in black armour, behind them stand,
Disdaining the reins, with flutt'ring whips, the charioteers.

They cry unto the night their battlename:
I moan in sleep when I hear afar their whirling laughter.
They cleave the gloom of dreams, a blinding flame,
Clanging upon the heart as upon an anvil.

They come shaking in triumph their long, green hair:
They come out of the sea and run shouting by the shore.
My heart, have you no wisdom thus to despair?
My love, why have you left me alone?

Solitary Hotel

Solitary hotel in mountain pass.
Autumn. Twilight. Fire lit.
In dark corner young man seated.
Young woman enters.
Restless. Solitary.
She sits. She goes to window.
She stands. She sits.
Twilight. She thinks.
On solitary hotel-paper she writes.
She thinks. She writes. She sighs.
Wheels and hoofs. She hurries out.
He comes from his dark corner.
He seizes solitary paper.
He holds it towards fire.
Twilight. He reads. Solitary.
What?
In sloping, upright and backhands.
Queen's hotel,
Queen's hotel,
Queen's ho...

Nocturne

Close my darling both your eyes,
Let your arms lie still at last,
Calm the lake of falsehood lies
And the wind of lust has passed,

Waves across these hopeless sands
Fill my heart and end my day,
Underneath your moving hands
All my aching flows away.

Even the human pyramids
Blaze with such a longing now:
Close, my love, your trembling lid,
Let the midnight heal your brow.

Northward flames Orion's horn,
Westward th'Egyptian light.
None to watch us, none to warn
But the blind eternal night.

Reincarnations, op. 16
          Mary Hynes
          Anthony O Daly
          The Coolin (The Fair Haired One)

Reincarnations stands as some of Barber's most powerful and appealing a cappella choral music. Composed in 1937–40 to texts by the Irish poet James Stephens (1882–1950), these three pieces are a brilliant triptych of Barber's expressive versatility within his unique, essentially tonal milieu. Mary Hynes has the energy and sentiment of a secular madrigal, but concludes with a pastoral, calm reflection. A funereal bell-toll persists in the highly focused and tense lament, Anthony O Daly. The Coolin, on the other hand, is a thoroughly enchanting moment of tenderness between lovers.

Mary Hynes

She is the sky
Of the sun!
She is the dart
Of love!

She is the love
Of my heart!
She is a rune!
She is above

The women
Of the race of Eve,
As the sun
Is above the moon!

Lovely and airy
The view from the hill
That looks down on
Ballylea!

But no good sigh
Is good, until
By great good luck
You see

The Blossom
Of Branches
Walking towards you,
Airily.

Anthony O Daly

Since your limbs were laid out
The stars do not shine!
The fish leap not out
In the waves!

On our meadows the dew
Does not fall in the morn,
For O Daly is dead!

Not a flow'r can be born!
Not a word can be said!
Not a tree have a leaf!
For O Daly is dead!

Anthony!
After you
There is nothing to do!
There is nothing but grief!

The Coolin
(The Fair Haired One)

Come with me, under my coat,
And we will drink our fill
Of the milk of the white goat,
Or wine if it be thy will.

And we will talk, until
Talk is a trouble, too,
Out on the side of the hill;
And nothing is left to do,

But an eye to look into an eye;
And a hand in a hand to slip;
And a sigh to answer a sigh,
And a lip to find out a lip!

What if the night be black!
And the air on the mountain chill!
Where the goat lies down in her track,
And all but the fern is still!

Stay with me, under my coat!
And we will drink our fill
Of the milk of the white goat,
Out on the side of the hill!

Missa Antiphonica

Badings wrote two mass settings, both for mixed chorus: a Missa Brevis of 1946, and this Missa Antiphonica of 1985. The mass is antiphonal in both conception and structure, each movement handling the double-chorus effect differently. The Kyrie intersperses monophonic declaration with lyrical melody, whereas the central section of the Gloria employs a hypnotic pedal in the second chorus. The Hosanna of the Sanctus is a glorious, nearly canonic affirmation, offset between the choruses by one beat. A mellifluous nebula of sound dominates the Benedictus, built by each chorus alternatively but not independently. The final Agnus Dei is much more sparse than the previous movements, and emphasizes the antiphony of the Kyrie. However, the entire mass can also be seen as a concentrated study in major seconds (note especially the chords of the Benedictus) and perfect fifths (as intoned at the outset). Badings's Missa Antiphonica was awarded as Best European Choral Composition in 1988, in Berlin.

Kyrie
Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison. Kyrie eleison.	God have mercy on us. Christ have mercy on us. God have mercy on us.
Gloria
Gloria in excelsis Deo Et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis. Laudamus te. Benedicimus te. Adoramus te. Glorificamus te. Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam. Domine Deus, Rex coelestis, Pater omnipotens, Domine Fili unigenite Jesu Christe. Agnus Dei, Filius Patris Qui tollis peccata mundi, suscipe deprecationem nostram. Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris, miserere nobis. Quoniam tu solus sanctus To solus Domine To solus altissimus Jesu Christe Cum sancto spiritu in gloria Dei Patris. Amen.	Glory to the highest God, and on earth peace to men of goodwill. We praise thee. We bless thee. We worship thee. We glorify thee. Thanks we give thee for thy great glory. Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father omnipotent. Lord, the only begotten son, Jesus Christ. Lamb of God, son of the father. Who takes the sins of the world, hear our prayer. Who sits on the right of the Father, have mercy on us. For thou only art holy, Thou only art the Lord, Thou only art highest, Jesus Christ, with the holy ghost in the glory of God the Father. Amen.
Sanctus
Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, Dominus Deus sabaoth, Pleni sunt coeli at terra gloria tue Hosanna in excelsis.	Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth. Full are the heavens and earth of thy glory. Hosanna in the highest.
Benedictus
Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Hosanna in excelsis.	Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
Agnus Dei
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem.	Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant us peace.

PULCHRITUDINA
Gary Cannon, artistic director

Soprano	Alto	Tenor	Bass
Diane Cooper Elizabeth Parks Cecilia Seufert Tracey Terribilini	Melissa de Graaf Marnie Efishoff Catherine G. Gambertoglio Annette Sander	Jeremy Borum Joseph Palarca Darren Pollock	David Benjamin Joseph Evans Raymond Lee

Pulchritudina is a small choral ensemble based at the University of California, Davis, founded in 1997 by Gary Cannon, an undergraduate conducting student. The intention of Pulchritudina is to present the public with opportunities to hear rarely performed pieces on the UC Davis campus. Each quarter, the ensemble has a different musical emphasis, consisting generally of a single musical timeframe and nationalistic heritage. This is Pulchritudina's third major public performance. Other performances have included a noon concert of twentieth-century British music (November 1997) and a program of music from the Mexican Renaissance (April 1998)

For more information on recordings and performances by Pulchritudina, visit us on the Internet at: http://www.garydcannon.net/conductor/archives/pulchritudina.html.

Gary D. Cannon, conductor, tenor, is a graduating senior at UCD majoring in music, and an active choral singer and soloist in the Sacramento area. This month, he is performing the role of Dennis Kearney in Jerome Rosen's opera Emperor Norton of the U.S.A. Cannon has studied voice for three years, under the tutelage of Stephanie Friedman, Lenore Turner-Heinson, and, for the last year, Neal Rogers. His choral and ensemble work includes four years of participation in the UC Davis University Chorus and Chamber Singers, as well as performances with the Sacramento Ballet Chorus, the Mother Lode Festival Chorus, the Davis Vocal Arts Ensemble, Moriah, and local and Italian church choirs.

Founder and artistic director of Pulchritudina, Cannon made his professional conducting debut earlier this spring as director of the Willett Elementary School Chorus in Davis. An active composer, Cannon's song-cycle Conclusions was premiered by Seth Arnopole last year. His current projects include a string quartet and an orchestral tone-poem based on characters of Ariosto. Cannon was also the recipient of the 1997 Quintero Award for excellent work as a music major. Cannon will begin graduate studies at the University of Washington this September, pursuing a masters degree in choral conducting.

GDC Home – Archives – Pulchritudina