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The genesis of the album Despite and Still

One of the best memories of being a student at the Eastman School of Music was having lots of time to explore all kinds of repertoire. My accompanist Kelly Horsted and I would read through all kinds of songs, just for fun, with no worries other than doing our homework and practicing. When my voice professor Marcia Baldwin suggested I study Samuel Barber songs, we turned to them again and again. Subsequently I performed every song on this disc on recitals I gave at Eastman, with two exceptions (Rain has fallen and The Secrets of the Old). Perhaps it was the many memorable melodies, though hardly simple, combined with excellent poetry—Barber had great taste in poetry. Or maybe it was the immediacy of it being in English, so we could read through and understand, most of the time anyway, what the piece was about. Or was it the chamber music feel of many of the pieces, not merely accompaniment? For certain, they were so singable. Barber was a capable singer himself and his songs clearly demonstrate an understanding of the voice. The reasons are many why I fell in love with Samuel Barber’s songs.

Such was my college love-affair with them that when I left Eastman I told myself that I would honor Barber’s centennial by giving a recital. In between, Barber got shelved and forgotten. On March 9, 2010, Samuel Barber’s 100th birthday was announced on the radio and took me by surprise. Memories of all those student concerts flooded back to me along with the promise I made to myself. I felt disappointed. It made me sad knowing that outside of school I had never performed a single Barber song in public, never mind realizing the dream of a whole concert of his songs.

The next day Marc Peloquin called me out of the blue to ask what program we might do together at some point. We had been talking about collaborating for over 2 years but had trouble narrowing the treasure trove of art song down to a particular program. I don’t know why Marc called that day, but the answer was clear: Barber. “That sounds good. What else?” “Nothing else. Just Barber. It’s his 100th birthday!” Not initially convinced, it took a couple of read-throughs before

Marc realized that no other composer was needed to make a better program. Barber could easily stand on his own. On July 30, 2010, we presented “Barber at the Barge: A Centennial Celebration” on the prestigious Bargemusic series in Brooklyn, NY (pictured left. Photo: Stefan Cohen). Surprisingly, Barber’s 100th birthday went largely unnoticed in New York City, though it was hard to compete with two prodigious composers who had their bicentennials the same year – Chopin and Schumann. I was honored that due to Marc’s timing and interest in collaborating, I got my dream-come-true concert, and went back to rediscovering these songs. The whole affair seemed serendipitous. Recording this CD also fell into place and was beyond my wildest dreams! Perhaps this recording came together to make up for the fact that I forgot Samuel Barber for too long. May all of his music--especially his songs!--continue to live on and inspire many generations to come!

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Samuel Barber (1910-1981) - A Short Biography

Samuel Osbourne Barber II was born into a well-to-do family in West Chester, Pennsylvania, a quiet, austere community of Quaker influence near Philadelphia. Though his parents weren’t musical, he was the nephew of accomplished musicians: composer Sidney Homer and his wife Louise, an internationally acclaimed contralto. Both were influential in his musical upbringing, particularly Homer, who would serve as an important mentor for many years. Barber showed prodigious musical promise early on, and although his parents dreamed of him becoming a doctor,1 at the age of nine he clearly had other plans made evident in this note to his mother:

Dear Mother:

I have written to tell you my worrying secret. Now don’t cry when you read it because it is neither yours nor my fault. I suppose I shall have to tell it now without any nonsense. To begin with I was not meant to be an athlete. I was meant to be a composer, and will be I’m sure. I’ll ask you one more thing--don’t ask me to try and forget this unpleasant thing and go play football. Please--sometimes I’ve been worrying about this so much that it makes me mad (not very). Love,

Sam Barber II2

And so a composer Barber became; in fact, he had already been composing since the age of seven. Shortly after his announcement he wrote part of an operetta, The Rose Tree (unpublished); the family’s Irish housekeeper authored the libretto. At age 14, Barber enrolled at The Curtis Institute of Music and was one of its first students. He majored in piano, voice and composition and was so accomplished that Curtis’ founder, Mary Curtis Bok, took him under her wing by promoting his compositions and helping with financial assistance. Later on, Bok helped Barber secure Capricorn, the home he made with his almost life-partner, Curtis classmate and incredibly successful composer Gian Carlo Menotti. Located in Mount Kisco, Capricorn became a meeting-place for many famous artists of all types and stripes.

Barber’s meteoric rise as one of the most celebrated and widely-performed American composers of his day was astonishing. He won the Prix de Rome in 1935, enabling him to spend two years at the American Academy in Rome. Just one year later in 1938, Barber’s international stature was secured

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1 Peter Dickenson, Ed., Samuel Barber Remembered, A Centenary Tribute (Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 2010), 42.

2 Cited in Barbara B. Heyman, Samuel Barber: The Composer and His Music (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), 7.

when Arturo Toscanini led the NBC Symphony Orchestra in the premieres Essay for Orchestra (No.1) (1937) and the iconic Adagio for Strings (1938), originally from the second movement of his String Quartet, Opus 11. It was broadcast to millions of households. From then on everything Barber composed was commissioned and was being performed by the best musicians in the world, all over the world. He was still in his twenties.

Barber’s fame continued to soar. At its peak he received two Pulitzer prizes just a few years apart: one for his opera Vanessa (1958), the other for his Piano Concerto, Op. 38 (1962); the latter’s premiere was part of the opening festivities at Philharmonic Hall (now Avery Fisher) at the newly built Lincoln Center. His second opera Antony and Cleopatra starring Leontyne Price and scheduled for the eagerly anticipated opening of the New Met was perhaps destined to fail. The over-the-top production by Franco Zefferelli, with technical problems and gaudy costumes, left critics cold. It was deemed a horrible failure, one that wounded Barber deeply. After that, Barber went into personal and professional decline, suffering from depression, alcoholism and severe creative blocks. His break-up with Menotti in 1973 and subsequent sale of Capricorn also may have contributed to his decline. After a long bout with cancer, Barber died in Menotti’s arms in 1981,3 surrounded by close friends and much music.

Barber’s style

Barber’s style looked back in time to the 19th century, although many of his compositions used 20th-century techniques such as 12-tone rows and serialism. Certain of his pieces pieces at the time of their writing posed profoundly new technical challenges for their intended soloist. Yet Barber was deeply steeped in the Romantic tradition and had an affinity for European culture. He had no interest in exploring avant-garde techniques and was largely criticized for avoiding them in his lifetime in spite of his success. When Barber was a young man, many American composers were striving for an American sound by using folk-songs, jazz, and ragtime idioms in their music. Although he did write a couple of pieces that had some of those elements, for example the piano piece Excursions (1943), according to Menotti he hated the folksy Americana compositional style.4 Aside from a few exceptions, his sensibility was fundamentally European, and his earlier works could and have been called “neo-romantic.”5 But since that label can only be applied to his early works, it is a problematic one. Barber may have had an old-fashioned sensibility, but was still very much a product of the 20th century. He was sensitive to the fact that he was regarded as old-fashioned as seen in the following exchange with Allan Kozinn near the end of his life:

KOZINN: Sense of line along with traditional harmonic and melodic style have marked your work. Have you ever been tempted to explore some of the more avant-garde sonorities and styles?BARBER: Ah, I was waiting for this! Do you mean “why haven’t I changed?” Why should I? There’s no reason music should be difficult for the audience, is there?KOZINN: No. Do you address the audience when you compose?

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3 Geoffrey Norris, as quoted in Dickenson, 64.

4 Dickenson, 65.

5 Nathan Broder, Samuel Barber (New York: G. Schirmer, 1954; Reprinted in 1985 by Greenwood Press), 47. Broder makes a strong case that this label only works for his music up to about 1939, but “after that time, [traditional procedures] begin to be mingled with, or replaced by, methods that can only have arisen in the musical climate of the time.”

BARBER: No, I address myself...6

This wasn’t the first time Barber cited himself as the one he aimed to please while writing. Also near the end of his life he said “I myself wrote always as I wished, and without a tremendous desire to find the latest thing possible... I wrote for myself.”7 These are not flippant remarks. Though he was able toss off songs rather easily, he was a perfectionist and could be brooding and tormented while wrangling with a piece. It was more about being true to himself, a standard that his uncle Sidney Homer often stressed to him as being of utmost importance, as well as always looking to proven masters in how best to compose. Perhaps these two ideals along with being a master craftsman himself led him to become one of the most celebrated American composers of his time. Although his reputation has declined because his music cannot be associated with some compositional break-through or a distinctly American style, Samuel Barber’s music deserves to stand the test of time due to its beauty and power of communication, especially evident in the songs presented here.

Barber was a master of writing music for voice, no doubt influenced by his aunt and uncle, as well as his own vocal studies. He even sang professionally for a brief time as a baritone. He performed on the NBC Music Series and won a contract for a series of weekly song broadcasts. One of the most celebrated recordings of his works in the catalogue is Dover Beach (1931),8 in which he is the soloist. Writing songs felt very natural to him, and they usually took a day or two to write. The most famous singers of the day premiered and championed his works and songs, such as Eleanor Steber (Knoxville, Summer of 1915--Steber also commissioned the work, and Vanessa in the premiere of Vanessa), Leontyne Price (Hermit Songs, Despite and Still, Cleopatra in the premiere of Antony and Cleopatra), and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Three Songs, Opus 45).

The songs on this recording

Barber set Nuvoletta to excerpts from James Joyce’s (1882-1941) final work Finnegan’s Wake (1939), where the daughter (Nuvoletta-Isabel-Issy) plays one of her death scenes. Although Barber admitted that he didn’t understand the text all of the time, he uses clever musical devices to bring out much of it. He inserts Wagner’s famous Tristan Chord when Joyce adds Latin adverb endings to Tristan’s name (“Tristis-Tristior-Tristissimus”), provides a chant-like setting to Joyce’s mock Latin (“Vallee Maraia to Grasyaplaina, dormimust echo!”), and echoes the numeric listings (“first by ones and twos, then by threes and fours...”) in the piano with the same groupings of notes. It is operatic in its vocal and dramatic range and its rondo form is interrupted by a sweeping vocal cadenza.

Hermit Songs is one of Barber’s major works and is arguably the most famous song cycle of the 20th century. Already fascinated by Irish literature and poetry, in 1952 Barber visited Ireland for the first time, and a stay at Glenveagh, Henry McIlhenny’s castle in Donegal, rekindled his interested in Gaelic lore. That same year while back in the United States, he began work on the Hermit Songs, set to texts written by medieval Irish monks on the margins of manuscripts and found in three literary sources. For V and II he used Howard Mumford Jones’s translation of “The Speckled Book” (twelfth century), Kenneth Jackson’s A Celtic Miscellany for VI and VII, and The Silver Branch A Collection of the Best Old Irish Lyrics by Sean O’Faolain for IV, I and X. He found the remaining texts in

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6 Samuel Barber interviewed by Allan Kozinn, December 1979, as quoted in Dickenson, 51.

7 Barber interviewed by Robert Sherman, WQXR, September 30, 1978, as quoted in Heyman, 3.

8 Barber recorded Dover Beach with the Curtis String Quartet on May 13, 1935. Re-issued by Pearl, GEM 0049 in 1999.

The Silver Branch as well, but not being satisfied with the translations, he commissioned W.H. Auden for translations of VIII and IX, and Chester Kallman for III.9 The most striking musical element is the use of no meter in all of the songs, giving much flexibility to the lack of poetic meter in the texts, also perhaps invoking chant rhythm here and there. Use of open fourths and fifths proliferate in the work, evocative of an ancient musical time. Grace notes are also an expressive device sprinkled throughout the cycle, effective in illustrating numerous emotions in the different pieces. Hermit Songs encompass a world of devout faith and simple humanity: the intense desire of seeking the rewards of hermitage, visions of nursing the Christ child, contemplating the Crucifixion, to the joys of feline companionship and the bounty of one’s table, the terror of witnessing nature unleashed, lusty gossip, and bewailing one’s own failures of faith. They were commissioned by the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation and after a long search for a suitable singer, Barber chose the young Leontyne Price whom he heard sing some of his songs. From then on, she would champion his repertoire throughout her career. Barber and Price premiered the songs in the Coolidge Auditorium at the Library of Congress on October 30, 1953.

While Hermit Songs is a cohesive cycle texturally and musically, Barber’s later cycle Despite and Still appears to have little to tie it together aside from most of the poetry being by Robert Graves, and a theme of solitude and loss throughout (solitude being a common theme in many of Barber’s songs). The texts and music appear to be disparate, but with the knowledge that Barber was at a low point in his career professionally, personally and in semi-seclusion, the cycle makes more sense. The failure of Antony and Cleopatra was only a couple of years earlier and his relationship with Menotti was quite strained at this point. The texts explore themes of failure and persistence, old age and death, martyrdom and suffering, and solitude. Despite the dark nature of the texts, there are glimmers of hope throughout. They are rich in sonority and extremely expressive. Despite and Still was completed in June 1968 and dedicated to Leontyne Price, who gave the first performance with pianist David Garvey on April 27, 1969 at Avery Fisher Hall.

The Secrets of the Old once again illustrates Barber’s love of Irish poetry; this time the poem is by W.B. Yeats (1865-1939), first published in 1928. Barber depicts the three old women reminiscing together by using bouncy chords alternating in duple and triple meter. In the same opus (Op.13) is Sure on this shining night, with a text by the American poet James Agee (1909-1955). This was the first text Barber would set of his, the second being Knoxville: Summer of 1915. This lyrical song is similar to several pieces of lieder and even french mélodie that use repeated chords under long sustained vocal lines--Schubert’s Nacht und Traüme comes to mind as well as Fauré’s Apres un Rêve. Schumann and Brahms have also been cited as influences.10 Barber liked telling a story attesting to the song’s popularity: when he needed a new phone number for his new apartment, the telephone operator refused to give it to him until he could prove his identity by singing the opening phrase of the song, a song for which she confessed “a weakness.”11 Rain has fallen, another setting of text by James Joyce, was written while Barber was at the American Academy in Rome. Having started work on his first symphony before he arrived in Rome, he intended to continue work on it once settled. However, the symphony languished and instead he wrote six new songs between November 7 and December 5, 1935. The composer sang Rain has fallen along with several of his songs on an all-Barber concert presented at Villa Aurelia on April 22, 1936. Monks and Raisins is part of Two Songs, Opus 18, and the poem is by Filipino poet José Garcia Villa (1908-1997) taken from “Have Come, Am Here” published in 1942. Barber set Monks and Raisins the

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9 Heyman, 337.

10 Heyman, 202.

11 Donal Henehan, “Iʼve Been Composing All My Life Off and On”, New York Times, January 28, 1979, as quoted in Heyman, 203.

following year, which shows that he kept up with contemporary poets. Most of the poetry he set, aside from the ancient writings of Hermit Songs, were by his contemporaries.

Three Songs, Opus 45 was the last set of songs Barber wrote (Despite and Still being second-to-last) and was also one of his very last works. With the forced sale of Barber and Menotti’s Capricorn, which also signified the equivalent of the couple’s divorce, it is not surprising that Barber confessed to his close confidante and fellow composer Charles Turner (1928-2003) that he wasn’t feeling very musical and was having trouble composing.12 It was during this difficult period that Barber wrote Three Songs. The first text, Now Have I Fed and Eaten up Rose is macabre and morbid, perhaps reflecting significant endings in Barber’s life, yet the second piece A Green Lowland of Pianos is filled with absurd imagery of pianos as cows or vice-versa. Barber supplies ample humor in the writing. Glissandos are used in tandem on the word “pianos”; a long-held note on the word “moonish” emphasizes the “moo” syllable; double trills illustrate the word “gurgle.” Finally, O Boundless Boundless Evening is lyrical and stylistically romantic. Its sustained vocal line contrasts beautifully with the moving, shimmering piano accompaniment. The set was commissioned by the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society for Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and the premiere was delayed due the singer falling ill. It was finally premiered at Alice Tully Hall on April 30, 1974. It is difficult to discern whether Fischer-Dieskau was pleased with the songs. Barber’s promoter at G. Schirmer, Hans W. Heinsheimer claims that Fischer-Dieskau “hoping he would get another Winterreise, I guess” was “terribly disappointed [that Barber only composed three songs.]”13 Fisher Dieskau did, however, write to Barber that he loved the songs, although it was the same letter that informed him of the premiere’s cancellation, so it is difficult to ascertain the baritone’s true feelings about the pieces. His performance of them was favorably reviewed, and the lyricism, romanticism and experienced craftsmanship of Barber’s writing was also noted by the reviewer.14 Typical Barber-isms, but at this point, it was old news. Melissa Fogarty

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12 Two seperate letters Barber wrote to Charles Turner in March and June, 1972, as quoted in Heyman, 488.

13 Hans W. Heinsheimer interviewed by Peter Dickenson, May 13,1981, as quoted in Dickenson, 158.

14 Donal Henahan, “Music: Seasonʼs Finale,” New York Times, May 2, 1974, as quoted in Heyman, 493.

TRACK 1

Nuvoletta*OPUS 25, YEAR: 1947(Text: James Joyce, extracted fromFinnnegans Wake)

Nuvoletta in her light dress,spunn of sisteen shimmers,was looking down on them,leaning over the bannistarsand listening all she childishly could. . . .

She was alone.All her nubied companionswere asleeping with the squir’ls. . . .She tried all the winsome wonsome waysher four winds had taught her.She tossed her sfumastelliacinous hairlike la princesse de la Petite Bretagneand she rounded her mignons armslike Missis Cornwallis-Westand she smiled over herselflike the image of the pose of the daughterof the Emperour of Irelandeand she sighed after herselfas were she born to bride with TristusTristior Tristissimus.But, sweet madonine, she might fair as wellhave carried her daisy's worth to Florida. . . .

Oh, how it was duusk!From Vallee Maraia to Grasyaplaina,

dormimust echo!Ah dew! Ah dew! It was so duuskthat the tears of night began to fall,first by ones and twos,then by threes and fours,at last by fives and sixes of sevens,for the tired ones were wecking,as we weep now with them.O! O! O! Par la pluie . . .

Then Nuvoletta reflected for the last timein her little long lifeAnd she made up all her myriadsof drifting minds in one.She cancelled all her engauzements.She climbed over the bannistars;she gave a childy cloudy cry:Nuée! Nuée!A lightdress flutteredShe was gone.

TRACKS 2-12HERMIT SONGSOPUS 29, YEAR: 1952-3TEXTS: ANONYMOUS IRISH TEXTS; 8TH - 13TH C.

I. At Saint Patrick's Purgatory(13th century; translated by Sean O’Faolian)Pity me on my pilgrimage to Loch Derg!15

O King of the churches and the bells bewailing your sores and your wounds, but not a tear can I squeeze from my eyes!  Not moisten an eye after so much sin!  Pity me, O King!What shall I do with a heart that seeks only its own ease?O only begotten Son by whom all men were made, who shunned not the death by three wounds, pity me on my pilgrimage to Loch Derg and I with a heart not softer than a stone! II. Church Bell at Night(12th c.; translated by Howard Mumford Jones)Sweet little bell, struck on a windy night, I would liefer keep tryst with thee Than beWith a light and foolish woman.

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15 Loch Derg (Red Lake) in County Donegal has been a place of pilgrimage from very early times.

III. St. lta's Vision(Attributed to Saint Ita, 8th century; translated by Chester Kallman)“I will take nothing from my Lord,” said she,“unless He gives me His Son from Heaven In the form of a Baby that I may nurse Him.”So that Christ came down to her in the form of a Baby and then she said: “Infant Jesus, at my breast,Nothing in this world is true Save, O tiny nursling, You.Infant Jesus at my breast,By my heart ev’ry night,You I nurse are notA churl but were begot On Mary the Jewess by Heaven’s Light.Infant Jesus at my breast,What King is there but You who could Give everlasting Good?Wherefore I give my food.Sing to Him, maidens, sing your best!There is none that has such rightTo your song as Heaven's KingWho every nightIs Infant Jesus at my breast.” IV. The Heavenly Banquet(Attributed to St. Brigid, 10th century;Translated by Sean O’Faolain)I would like to have the men of Heaven in my own house;with vats of good cheer laid out for them. I would like to have the three Marys, their fame is so great.

I would like people from ev’ry corner of Heaven.  I would like them to be cheerful in their drinking.I would like to have Jesus sitting here among them. I would like a great lake of beer for the King of Kings.I would like to be watching Heaven's familyDrinking it through all eternity. V. The Crucifixion(From The Speckled Book, 12th century;Translated by Howard Mumford Jones)At the cry of the first birdThey began to crucify Thee, O Swan!Never shall lament cease because of that.It was like the parting of day from night.Ah, sore was the suff’ring borneBy the body of Mary’s Son,But sorer still to Him was the griefWhich for His sakeCame upon His Mother.

VI. Sea-Snatch(8th-9th century)It has broken us, it has crushed us, it has drowned usO King of the starbright Kingdom of Heaven!The wind has consumed us, swallowed us, as timber is devoured by crimson fire from Heaven.  It has broken us, it has crushed us, it has drowned us,O King of the starbright Kingdom of Heaven!

VII. Promiscuity(9th century)I do not know with whom Edan will sleep,but I do know that fair Edan will not sleep alone. VIII. The Monk and His Cat(8th or 9th century; Translated by W.H.

Auden)Pangur, white Pangur,How happy we areAlone together,Scholar and cat.Each has his own work to do daily;For you it is hunting, for me study.Your shining eye watches the wall;my feeble eye is fixed on a book.You rejoice when your clawsEntrap a mouse;I rejoice when my mindFathoms a problem.Pleased with his own artNeither hinders the other;Thus we live everwithout tedium and envy.Pangur, white Pangur,How happy we areAlone together, Scholar and cat. IX. The Praises of God(11th century; Translated by W.H. Auden)How foolish the man Who does not raise His voice and praise

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With joyful words,As he alone can, Heaven's High King.To Whom the light birdsWith no soul but air,All day, everywhere,Laudation sing. X. The Desire for Hermitage(8th-9th century; Translated by S. O’Faolain)Ah! To be all alone in a little cell with nobody near me; beloved that pilgrimage before the last pilgrimage to Death.Singing the passing hours to cloudy Heaven;Feeding upon dry bread and water from the cold spring.  That will be an end to evil when I am alone in a lovely little corner among tombs far from the houses of the great.Ah! To be all alone in a little cell, to be alone, all alone:Alone I came into the world,alone I shall go from it.

TRACK 12The Secrets of the OldOP. 13, NO. 2, YEAR: 1938(Poem by W. B. Yeats)I have old women’s secrets nowThat had those of the young;Madge tells me what I dared not thinkWhen my blood was strong,And what had drowned a lover onceSounds like an old song.

Though Marg’ry is stricken dumbIf thrown in Madge’s way,We three make up a solitude;For none alive todayCan know the stories that we knowOr say the things we say:

How such a man pleased women mostOf all that are gone,How such a pair loved many yearsAnd such a pair but one,Stories of the bed of strawOr the bed of down.

TRACK 13Sure on this shining nightOP. 13, NO. 3, YEAR: 1938(Poem by James Agee)Sure on this shining nightOf star-made shadows round,Kindness must watch for meThis 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 nightI weep for wonderwandering far aloneOf shadows on the stars.

TRACKS 14-18DESPITE AND STILLOPUS 41, YEAR: 1969

A Last Song(Poem by Robert Graves, in the original “A Last Poem”)A last song, and a very last, and yet anotherO, when can I give over?Must I drive the pen until blood bursts from my nailsAnd my breath fails and I shake with fever,Or sit well wrapped in a many colored cloakWhere the moon shines new through Castle Crystal?Shall I never hear her whisper softly:"But this is truth written by you only,And for me only;Therefor, love, have done?"

My Lizard (Wish for a Young Love)(Poem by Theodore Roethke, subtitle originally Wish for a Young Wife)My lizard, my lively writher,May your limbs never wither,May the eyes in your faceSurvive the green iceOf envy’s mean gaze;May you live out your lifeWithout hate, without grief,And your hair ever blaze,In the sun, in the sun,When I am undone,When I am no one.

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In The Wilderness(Poem by Robert Graves)He, of his gentleness,Thirsting and hungeringWalked in the Wilderness;Soft words of grace he spokeUnto lost desert-folkThat listened wondering.He heard the bittern callFrom ruined palace-wall,Answered him brotherly;He held communionWith the she-pelicanOf lonely piety.Basilisk, cockatrice,Flocked to his homilies,With mail of dread device,With monstrous barbed stings,With eager dragon-eyes;Great bats of leathern wingsAnd old, blind, broken thingsMean in their miseries.Then ever with him went,Of all his wanderingsComrade, with ragged coat,Gaunt ribs, poor innocent,Bleeding foot, burning throat,The guileless young scapegoat;For forty nights and daysFollowed in Jesus' ways,Sure guard behind him kept,Tears like a lover wept.

Solitary Hotel(Text by James Joycetaken from Ulysses)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 hotelpaper 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 backhandsQueen's hotel, Queen's hotel, Queen's ho . . .

Despite and Still(by Robert Graves)Have you not readThe words in my head,And I made partOf your own heart?We have been such as drawThe losing strawYou of your gentleness,I of my rashness,Both of despair --Yet still might shareThis happy will:To love despite and still.Never let us denyThe thing's necessity

But, o, refuseTo choose,Where chance may seem to giveLoves in alternative.

TRACK 19 Monks and RaisinsOPUS 18, YEAR: 1943(Poem by José Garcia Villa)I have observed pink monks eating blue raisinsAnd I have observed blue monks eating pink raisinsStudiously have I observed.Now this is the way a pink monk eats a blue raisinPink is he and it is blue and the pinkSwallows the blue.I swear this is true.And the way a blue monk eats a pink raisin is this:Blue is he and it is pink and the blueSwallows the pink.And this also is truth.Indeed I have observed and myself partakenOf blue and pink raisins.But my joy was diff’rent:My joy was to see the blue and the pink counterpointing.

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TRACK 20Rain has fallenOP. 10, NO. 1. YEAR: 1935(Poem by James Joyce)Rain has fallen all the day.O come among the laden trees:The leaves lie thick upon the wayOf mem'ries.

Staying a little by the wayOf mem'ries shall we depart.Come, my beloved, where I maySpeak to your heart.

TRACKS 21-23THREE SONGSOPUS 45, YEAR: 1972

Now Have I Fed and Eaten up the Rose(Poem by James Joyce from the German of Gottfried Keller)Now have I fed and eaten up the roseWhich then she laid within my stiff-cold hand.That I should ever feed upon a roseI never had believed in live-man’s land.

Only I wonder was it white or redThe flow’r that in the darkness my food has been.Give us, and if Thou give, thy daily bread,Deliver us from evil, Lord, Amen.

A Green Lowland of Pianos(Czeslaw Milosz from the Polish of Jerzy Harasymowicz)in the evening

as far as the eye can seeherdsof black pianos

up to their kneesin the mirethey listen to the frogsthey gurgle in waterwith chords of rapture they are entrancedby froggish, moonish spontaneity after the vacationthey cause scandalsin a concert hallduring the artistic milkingsuddenly they lie downlike cows looking with indifferenceat the white flowersof the audience at the gesticulatingof the ushers

O Boundless, Boundless Evening(Poem by Christopher Middleton from the German of George Heym)O boundless, boundless evening. Soon the glowOf long hills on the skyline will be gone,Like clear dream country now, rich-hued by sun.O boundless evening where the cornfields throwThe scattered daylight back in an aureole.

Swallows high up are singing, very small.On every meadow glitters their swift flight,In woods of rushes and where tall masts standIn brilliant bays. Yet in ravines beyondBetween the hills already nests the night.

*Every attempt was made to present the texts as they were intended as poems. Due to formatting considerations, that was not always possible.

Acknowledgements:Over 150 people came together to create this little work of art! I am grateful to all of you. Special thanks to Marc Peloquin, without whom none of this would have come to be, David Walters, John E. Baumgardner, Jr., Leslie Sprout, Ellis Hilton, and Garyth Nair. Thanks also to my family: the Edwards for their boundless gifts and generosity; Deirdre Fogarty-Harris and Mom for help with “the asks”; Dad and Corinne; and to Jennifer, who never fails to make me believe that with her by my side, anything is possible.

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Artists’ BiographiesMelissa FogartyHailed by The New York Times for her “delirious abandon” onstage, versatile soprano Melissa Fogarty’s wide-ranging experience has lead her to appear at diverse venues ranging from New York City Opera to popular clubs such as Le Poisson Rouge and City Winery.

Ms. Fogarty has impressed the public and critics alike in a variety of contemporary opera ventures. She has been featured in VOX, New York City Opera’s annual showcase of new American operas. In 2008, Dice Thrown, the virtuosic one-woman "aleatoric soundscape" by John King was the sleeper hit of that year. As described by the New York Observer “the piece became a dazzling coloratura solo of compelling dramatic urgency in a performance by the stunningly accurate soprano Melissa Fogarty.” Her VOX appearances have also included roles in new operas by David Bruce, Chandler Carter, Sorrel Hayes, Ted Hearne, Marc Lowenstein, and Tom Schnauber. She has also portrayed Dorothy in Chandler Carter’s Strange Fruit (Harlem School for the Arts, in association with NYCO) and Patience in scenes from Patience and Sarah (Musique à la mode, New York), and has appeared in scenes presented by American Opera Projects and American Lyric Theater.

A favorite of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Del Tredici, Ms. Fogarty has given world premieres of several of his works, including the demanding song cycle A Field Manual, written especially for her, baritone Chris Pedro Trakas, and the Fireworks Ensemble. Ms. Fogarty figured prominently Mr. Del Tredici’s 70th birthday celebrations in 2007. She performed his dazzling song cycle Miz Inez Sez at Sarah Lawrence College, his flamboyant monodrama Dracula at Brooklyn Conservatory, and his Grammy Award-nominated Paul Revere's Ride with the Canticum Novum Singers. Sought after by numerous other composers and new music groups, Ms. Fogarty has also performed the world premieres of Vessel by Kati Agócs with the Metropolis Ensemble at Symphony Space, Christopher James’s Five Sappho Fragments, for soprano and chamber orchestra with the esteemed new music ensemble North/South Consonance, conducted by Max Lifchitz . She also performed The New Math(s) by Louis Andriessen with the highly regarded ensemble Sequitur at Merkin Concert Hall.

Ms. Fogarty is also known for her lively and elegant interpretations of Baroque and Classical-period music. She made an auspicious debut at NYCO in 2008 debut in the leading role of Soprano I (Cupid/Venus/Honor) in Mark Morris’s production of Purcell’s King Arthur, conducted by Jane Glover. As Serpina in Pergolesi’s La serva padrona with the Seattle Baroque Orchestra at Benaroya Hall, she was cited by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer for her “bright attractive soprano and ample technique.” Her many credits in this repertoire include Second Woman in Dido and Aeneas at The Yard (Martha’s Vineyard, 2009), Ottavia in Monteverdi’s Incoronazione di Poppea with Opera Omnia at Le Poisson Rouge (2008), Clorinda in Monteverdi’s Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda with New York’s Metropolis Ensemble (2006); La Poésie in Charpentier’s Les Arts florissants with Concert Royal in New York and Dallas (2002), Oberto in Handel’s Alcina with New York’s Vertical Player Repertory company (2001, 2002), the Israelitish Woman in Handel’s Judas Maccabeus and soprano soloist in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the St. Paul’s Chamber Orchestra at Columbia University (2000); and other roles with New York Collegium, Teatro Bacchino in San Francisco, the Berkeley Early Music Festival, and the Yale Center for British Arts.

In 2006, Ms. Fogarty was honored with an Outmusic Award for “Best Solo Debut – Female” for her album Handel: Scorned and Betrayed (Albany Records). The distinguished singer/musicologist Julianne Baird commented, “Melissa Fogarty’s depiction of these strong-willed, decisive women of history is red-blooded, exciting, and passionate. She brings to bear an exquisite sense of style for this repertoire.” Ms. Fogarty’s other recordings include

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Scarlatti’s Agar et Ismaele esiliati with the Seattle Baroque Orchestra (Centaur Records) and Forbidden Dance with Ensemble for the Seicento, an album of 17th-century music in which she both sings and plays the baroque guitar (Musicians Showcase).

Ms. Fogarty’s performing career began with appearances as child soloist at the Metropolitan Opera (including the Shepherd in Tosca in a telecast with Placido Domingo and Hildegard Behrens), New York City Opera (the major role of Marcantonio in the New York premiere of Dominick Argento’s Casanova’s Homecoming), and Sarasota Opera (Flora in Britten’s Turn of the Screw). She received a Bachelor of Music Degree in Applied Voice from the Eastman School of Music. Ms. Fogarty has earned awards including the Anna Sosenko Assist Trust, the Adams Fellowship at the Carmel Bach Festival and the Giorgio Cini Foundation Fellowship for study in Venice. She was a finalist in the 2008 vocal competition sponsored by Classical Singer magazine. That year, she became the lead singer of Metropolitan Klezmer & Isle of Klezbos, and has since been performing yiddish ballads and exploring an innate talent for scat-singing in their swing repertoire. Plans are in the works to form her own jazz combo with alto saxophonist Debra Kreisberg (Metropolitan Klezmer, Los Mas Valientes). The Forward’s blog, The Arty Semite, praised Fogarty in a July 2011 performance, calling her “a formidible presence,” citing her scat-singing as “particularly impressive.”

Marc PeloquinPianist Marc Peloquin is recognized for his highly imaginative and insightful music making, earning the admiration of musicians, critics and audiences alike. The New York Times recently declared that his “energetic approach yielded a performance that was refreshing and alive. Individual lines rang out with remarkable definition and clarity.” Mr. Peloquin has appeared in a wide range of venues including the following in New York City: the Museum of Modern Art; the Guggenheim Museum; the Look & Listen Festival; and Bargemusic. He has also performed at the Palacio de Belles Artes in Mexico City, the American Academy in Rome, the Darmstadt International Festival in Germany and the Cultural Center of Roubaix in France. He is a member of the piano ensemble Split Second with pianist Roberto Hidalgo. Appearances include the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C, Merkin Concert Hall in New York City, the Anfiteatro Simon Bolivar and the Palacio Bellas Artes in Mexico City and the State Theater in Xalapa, Veracruz. Their CD Junctions was recently released on the Urtext label. Mr. Peloquin is on the faculty of the New School University and is a resident teaching artist at the Bloomingdale School of Music, both in Manhattan. He received his Doctor of Music and Masters degree from the Manhattan School of Music and Bachelor of Music degree from Boston University. His teachers have included Darryl Rosenberg, Maria Clodes, Robert Goldsand and Marc Silverman. He makes his home in New York City.

DESPITE AND STILL: MELISSA FOGARTY SINGS SAMUEL BARBER WASRECORDED IN THE CONCERT HALL AT DREW UNIVERSITY, MADISON, NEW JERSEY ON JANUARY 10, 12, & 14, 2011ENGINEER & PRODUCER: DAVID WALTERSEXECUTIVE PRODUCER: MELISSA FOGARTYASSISTANT PRODUCER: JENNIFER GRIESBACHPIANO: BALDWIN SD-10 COVER AND INSIDE DRAWINGS: BRYCE EDWARDSGRAPHIC DESIGN: LORELEI EDWARDSPHOTOGRAPHY: BRIAN EDWARDS

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