Third Concert of the 33rd Season
Sunday, May 7th, 1972
Manchester College Auditorium
James Carlson, Conductor
| Overture to The Barber of Seville | Gioacchino Rossini | |||
| Songs of a Wayfarer | Gustav Mahler | |||
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I. My sweetheart's wedding day |
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| JoElyn McGowan, mezzo-soprano | ||||
| Intermission | ||||
| Peter and the Wolf, Op. 67 | Serge Prokofiev | |||
| A. Blair Helman, narrator | ||||
| Overture to The Beautiful Galatea | Franz von Suppe | |||
Program Notes |
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| Overture to The Barber of Seville |
Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868) |
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Rossini's musical career was unusual insofar as he composed practically all his works during the first half of his life. He was a highly successful and very popular composer but in 1830 his composing came to an abrupt halt. His Barber of Seville has become one of the most important and popular comic operas ever composed. In addition, its sparkling overture remains a staunch favorite of concertgoers everywhere. |
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| Songs of a Wayfarer |
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) |
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The Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen were composed when Mahler was twenty-three years old, presumable after he had experienced an unhappy love affair. Mahler himself wrote the words. In this song cycle, Mahler combines strong lyrical impulse with a complete mastery of orchestral technique. |
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| I | ||||
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My sweetheart's wedding day, Her gay wedding day, Is a sad day for me! I go into my little chamber, My dark little chamber, I weep, weep for my sweetheart, For my dear sweetheart! Little blue flower! Little blue flower! Do not fade! Do not fade! Little sweet bird! Little sweet bird! |
You sing on the green heath Oh! how beautiful is the world! Zikee! Zikee! Zikee! Do not sing! Do not bloom! Spring, you know, has gone! All the singing is now over! In the evening when I go to sleep, I think of my sorrow! Of my sorrow! |
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| II | ||||
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This morning I went through the fields, Dew still hung on the grasses, There said to me the gay finch: "Oh, you there! How is it? Good morning! How goes it? Will it not be a beautiful world? A beautiful world? Zink! Zink! Beautiful and brisk! How I do like the world." Also the bluebell by the field Has gayly, sprightly, With its little bells, Kling, kling, kling, kling, Rung out its morning greeting: "Will it not be a beautiful world? A beautiful world? |
Kling! Kling! Kling! Kling! A beautiful thing! How I do like the world!" High-ho! And there began in the sunshine Right away the world to sparkle: Everything, everything gained sound and color! In the sunshine! Flower and bird, large and small! Good day! Good day! Is it not a beautiful world? Oh, you! Isn't it? Oh, you! Isn't it? A beautiful world! "Now won't my happiness begin too?! Now won't my happiness begin too?! No! No! That which I seek, Can never, nevermore blossom for me! |
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| III | ||||
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I have a burning knife, A knife in my breast, Oh woe! Oh woe! That cuts so deep Into every joy and every bliss, So deep! So deep! It cuts so painfully and deep! Oh, what an evil guest is this! Oh, what an evil guest! It never gives you peace, It never lets you rest! Not by day, not even night, when I slept! Oh woe! Oh woe! Oh woe! |
When I look up to the sky, I see two blue eyes up yonder! Oh woe! Oh woe! When I go through the yellow field, I see from afar her blonde hair Fluttering in the wind! Oh woe! Oh woe! When I start up from my dream And hear her silver laughter ringing, Oh woe! Oh woe! I wish that I lay on the black bier, And could never, nevermore open my eyes! |
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| IV | ||||
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The two blue eyes of my sweetheart, They have sent me into the wide world. Then I had to part From my best beloved place! Oh blue eyes why did you gaze at me?! Now I am forever in sorrow and pain! I have gone out in the silent night, In the silent night over the dark hearth; Nobody bid me farewell. Farewell! Farewell! Farewell! |
My comrade was love and sorrow! By the road stands a lindentree, There for the first time I rested in sleep! Under the lindentree! It snowed its blossoms over me then I did not know how life can hurt, Everything, everything was well again! Oh, everything well again! Everything! Everything! Love and sorrow, And world, and dream! |
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| Peter and the Wolf, Op. 67 | Serge Prokofiev (1891-1953) |
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In 1936, the 46-year-old Prokofiev composed Peter and the Wolf, one of the most ambitious pieces ever written for children. An experiment such as this suited Prokofiev's temperament. The composer prized novelty greatly in his music. "I do not want to wear anyone else's mask," he said in an interview here in the United States, "I want always to be myself." Peter and the Wolf displays a deep understanding of a child's musical tastes and sense of humor. Composer Prokofiev also wrote the story of little Peter's encounter with the wolf. He assigned to each character in the tale a corresponding instrument and leitmotif: the flute is the bird, the oboe is the duck, the clarinet is the cat, the bassoon is grandpa, the horns are the wolf, and the timpani and bass drum are the hunters' rifle-shots. Prokofiev constructed the story so that it provides an interesting lesson in instrumentation and orchestration. The story begins as Peter, portrayed by the strings, prances into the meadow where he meets the bird and the duck. As he greets them, the melodies associated with each are heard, first in combination with Peter's string melody, then, as the strings fade, in duet. Soon the cat enters stealthily and Peter warns the bird and the duck to be careful. Many combinations of melodies are yet to be heard as Peter proceeds to outwit the wolf. The tale ends in a superb triumphal march, in which all the instruments participate, as Peter and his friends lead the captured wolf to the zoo. |
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| Overture to The Beautiful Galatea | Franz von Suppé (1819-1895) |
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Suppe has written many famous overtures. Among them are the Poet and Peasant and Light Cavalry. His Beautiful Galatea is a typically delightful potpourri overture. |
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Manchester Symphony Orchestra Personnel |
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Violin I Vernon Stinebaugh, Concertmaster Linda Morris + Mary Berkebile Ruth Berkebile Linda Stanley + Jeff Hendrix Louis Durflinger Violin II Carol Barr *+ Judy Myers + Carrie Schoomer + Rachel Kurtz + Tim Smith + Ruth McKalips + Carol Wood + Viola Sherwood Waggy *+ Dave Burkholder + Mac Marlow Cello Gail Allen *+ Larry Wiser + Vivien Singleton Robert Allen Bass Randy Gratz *+ George Scheerer Doris Willis Piccolo Bev Moore Flute Bev Moore * Muriel Snider + Sue Burwell + |
Oboe Stephanie Jones * Eric Burkhardt + English Horn Eric Burkhardt + Clarinet Robert Jones * Blair Beard + Bass Clarinet Jamie Van Buskirk + Bassoon Thomas Owen * Arlene Crist + Katherine White Horn John Gilmore *+ Paul Ray Lucy Wilson + Beth Norris + Trumpet Steve DeHoff *+ Wynn Bonner + Trombone Larry Dockter *+ Dan Garver + Mary Yost + Percussion Reed Gratz + Dave Priser + Timpani Jan Swartz + * Denotes principal + Denotes MC student |
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 JoElyn
McGowan joined the Manchester College faculty in September
1968. She holds an A.B. degree from Pfeiffer College (North Carolina)
and an M.M. from Indiana University. An active member of the Indiana
University Opera Theatre, she has many operatic roles to her credit;
among them Carmen, Dido and Aeneas, Albert Herring
and Elegy for Young Lovers. The latter two operas were also
filmed for National Educational Television. She was twice a recipient of
the Fromm Foundation Fellowship (1966 and 1968) at the Berkshire Music
Festival, Tanglewood, Massachusetts, where she sang with the Berkshire
Festival Orchestra in a concert version of Der Rosenkavalier
with Eric Leindorf conducting. Mrs. McGowan has been a frequent soloist
with the Indianapolis Symphony as well as the Indianapolis Philharmonic
and the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestras. At Manchester College she
teaches voice and directs the Women's Glee Club and the Madrigal
Singers. Dr.
A. Blair Helman has been President of Manchester College since
August, 1956. He came to Manchester from Wichita, Kansas, where he
served as both pastor and educator.Dr. Helman taught at Ottawa University in Kansas, and was vice chairman of its Division of Social Sciences for two years. He also taught in the Extension Division of the University of Kansas, and at Friends University in Wichita. He was chairman of the Board of Trustees of McPherson, Kansas, College before coming to Manchester College. As an educator he is a member of numerous state and national education organizations, having served as president or chairman of several. He is currently president of the Associated Colleges of Indiana. Dr. Helman has distinguished himself both as an outstanding educator and as a churchman. He was a pastor, and has been active at both state and national levels in his denomination, and in interdenominational programs. |
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