~
Ana Luisa Santo, soprano
assisted by
M. Sinsoulier, piano
March 31, 2010
York University Department of Music
from Le Varie Musiche:
O miei giorni fugaci Jacopo Peri
Lungi dal vostro lume (1561-1633)
Jacopo Peri (1561 1633) is often called the inventor of opera and his Dafne and Euridice are today considered the first operas. He and his associate Jacopo Corsi (the leading patron of music in France) felt that the music of the day was inferior to classical Greek and Roman art and attempted to recreate music they felt approximated this ancient music. They collaborated with the well-known poet of the time, Ottavio Rinuccini, and thus created a new work, Dafne, that we today call the first opera. (This music was probably far from anything truly resembling the uknown music of ancient Greece). Unfortunately, Dafne did not survive, but Peri and Rinuccinis next collaboration, Euridice, did. Euridice made use of a new technique called recitative, a style of speech-singing that helped moved the action along as it placed the focus on getting a lot of text out in a short amount of time. (Rinuccini was also the librettist for Claudio Monteverdis LArianna, of which only one aria, Ariannas Lament, survives.)
Less well known are Peris pieces for solo, two, or three voices. In 1609 he published a collection of these titled Le Varie Musiche, and it is from here that the two songs in this performance are taken.
Peri was himself a singer, and it was often said that his voice could move people to tears, and that one could not really understand his songs unless they heard them sung by Peri himself. Indeed, in the preface to Euridice, he indicated that the subtle nuances of expression in songs could never be entirely indicated on paper. Peri was more comfortable in the role of a performer, and composing was slow and careful for him. He took composition very seriously, however, and he composed his monodic songs in a way that suggested the singer and accompanist be equals in performance. As such, there is less room for ornamentation in his songs than other monodic songs of the time, although a certain flexibility of tempo is called for, as well as a few carefully placed trills and gruppi.
O miei giorni fugaci is one of two spiritual madrigals in the collection, and Rinuccini is the poems author. The poem is a plea to God to have mercy on the singer, who is realizing that his days are disappearing all too quickly and his day of judgment is quite near. Lungi dal vostro lume (author unknown) is a painful lament over the separation of the singer from his beloved.
The scores used in this performance are taken from a compilation of Jacopo Peris songs, published by A-R Editions, Inc., edited by Tim Carter. The clefs, time signatures, and other markings have been modernized. Peri suggests that the songs in Le Varie Musiche be accompanied by harpsichord for female voices, or chitarrone for the tenor voice.
~Ana Luisa Santo
O miei giorni fugaci
O miei giorni fugaci, o breve vita,
Oime, già sei sparita.
Già sento, o sentir parmi,
La rigorosa tromba
davanti a te, giusto Signor, chiamarmi
Già nel cor mi rimbomba
il formidabil suono:
Misere di me, Signor, perdono.
Translation:
O my fleeting days, o brief life,
Alas, you have already disappeared.
Now I hear, or seem to hear,
the inexorable trumpet
calling me before you, O just Lord.
Already in my heart it resounds,
the awesome sound:
Lord, have mercy upon me, forgive me.*
*adapted from a translation by Tim Carter
~
Lungi dal vostro lume
Lungi dal vostro lume,
Luci dalba gentil, degiorni miei
Traggo le notti su lodiose piume,
E nubilosi e rei
Spargo de miei sospir all aria i venti:
O funesti contenti,
O gioie fugacissime damore,
Fatte al mio di partir pianto e dolore.
Translation:
Far from the light of your eyes
lights of gentle dawn, of my days
I draw my nights on my hateful bed,
I scatter my sighs to the air and the winds that are evil and heavy with clouds:
O mournful pleasures,
O most fleeting joys of love,
that turned to tears and pain at my departure.
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8:54
Ana's 1st year Master's Recital (Part 5 of 5)by Canadienneerrante1,119 views
How Old is She?
2010wieliczka 9 months ago
@2010wieliczka : I was 25 (almost 26) when I did this recital last year.
Canadienneerrante 8 months ago