Background for program notes

Poème d'un jour, Op 21

Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)

Gabriel Urbain Fauré was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost
French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers.
Gabriel Fauré’s Poème d’un jour has never fared well among his critics. Fauré composed the song cycle in
1878, thirteen years before he embarked on his six mature cycles. The three early settings of poet Charles
Grandmougin trace a brief love from infatuation, “Rencontre,” to rejection, “Toujours,” to resigned
acceptance, “Adieu.”

Après un rêve
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
Après un rêve (originally published in 1878), a dream of romantic flight with a lover, away from the earth,
and "towards the light" is described. However, on waking to the truth the dreamer longs to return to the
"mysterious night" and the ecstatic falsehood of his dream. The text of the poem is an anonymous Italian
poem freely adapted into French by Romain Bussine.

Sa Bawat Sandali
Ernani Joson Cuenco (1936- 1988)
Ernani Joson Cuenco (May 10, 1936 – June 1988) was a Filipino composer, film scorer, musical director and
music teacher and Philippine National Artist for Music. He wrote an outstanding and memorable body of
works that resonate with the Filipino sense of musicality and which embody an ingenious voice that raises
the aesthetic dimensions of contemporary Filipino music. Cuenco played with the Filipino Youth Symphony
Orchestra and the Manila Symphony Orchestra from 1960 to 1968, and the Manila Chamber Soloists from
1966 to 1970. He completed a music degree in piano and cello from the University of Santo Tomas where
he also taught for decades until his death in 1988.

Ruhe sanft, mein holdes Leben

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Zaide (originally, Das Serail) is an unfinished German-language opera, K. 344, written by Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart in 1780. Emperor Joseph II, in 1778, was in the process of setting up an opera company
for the purpose of performing German opera. One condition required of the composer to join this
company was that he should write a comic opera. At Salzburg in 1779 Mozart began work on a new opera
(now known as Zaide although Mozart did not give it such a title). It contains spoken dialogue, which also
classifies it as a Singspiel (literally, "singing play"). Zaide falls in love with Gomatz, a slave, which strikes up
jealousy and rage in the Sultan, who happens to also admire her. After capture she chooses a free life with
Gomatz rather than a good life with the Sultan. Zaide comes upon Gomatz sleeping under a tree. She
admires his good looks and then sings that he should sleep until he awakes with happiness.

Mein Herr Marquis

Johann Strauss II (1825-1899)
"Mein Herr Marquis", sometimes called "Adele's Laughing Song", is an aria for soprano with choral
accompaniment from act 2 of the operetta Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss II. It appears in many
anthologies of music for soprano singers, and is frequently performed in recitals. Adele, a chambermaid
who has borrowed one of her mistress's gowns without permission, and gone to a party, also without
permission, gets recognized there by her mistress's husband. She attempts to convince him that he is
wrong by laughing scornfully at the idea that a glamorous woman like herself could possibly be a lowly
chambermaid.

La Capinera
Julius Benedict (1804-1885)
Sir Julius Benedict (27 November 1804 – 5 June 1885) was a German-born composer and conductor.
Benedict was born in Stuttgart, the son of a Jewish banker, and learnt composition from Johann Nepomuk
Hummel at Weimar and Carl Maria von Weber at Dresden; it was Weber who introduced him in Vienna to
Beethoven on 5 October 1823. In the same year he was appointed Kapellmeister of the Kärnthnerthor
theatre at Vienna, and two years later in 1825, he became Kapellmeister of the San Carlo theatre at
Naples. It was here he gave piano lessons to the young prodigy Theodor Döhler.

Ganyan Pala Ang Pag-ibig

Sa Ugoy ng Duyan
Lucio D. San Pedro (1913-2002)
Sa Ugoy ng Duyan (English translation: In the cradle's rocking) is a Filipino lullaby. It was co-written by
Lucio San Pedro and Levi Celerio, who were both National Artists of the Philippines; this was their most
popular collaboration. Due to its popularity in the Philippines, it has been regarded by one writer as being
"as familiar as our national anthem." The music for the song was derived from the fourth movement of
San Pedro's Suite Pastorale and was to have been submitted to a competition in 1943, during the Japanese
Occupation of the Philippines. However, because he could not find a collaborator, he did not submit it to
the said contest. In 1946, San Pedro came up again with the idea of writing the song while in New York
City. The inspiration for the song came from his own mother. While on a stopover in Honolulu on his way
back home, in 1947, he met Celerio, who wrote the words during their return trip. The song was
completed by the time they landed in Manila. Both San Pedro and Celerio were later named National
Artists of the Philippines. They died in 2002, only two days apart of each other. In the first stanza, the
singer wishes that his childhood and his memories of his mother will never fade. He also wants to hear his
mother's song again, which to him is a song of love. In the second stanza, he describes his sleep as being
peaceful, while stars watch and guard him. For him, his life becomes heaven whenever his mother sings
him her lullaby. Finally, he reveals the reason for his longing: he is enduring some hardship, and this is why
he was longing for his mother's lullaby. In the final line (coda), the singer addresses his mother and wishes
that he could sleep again in his old cradle.

Sa Ugoy ng Duyan
Sana’y di magmaliw ang dati kong araw
Nang munti pang bata sa piling ni Nanay
Nais kong maulit ang awit ni Inang Mahal
Awit ng pag-ibig habang ako’y nasa duyan

Sa aking pagtulog
na labis ang himbing
Ang bantay ko’y tala
Ang tanod ko’y bituin

Sa piling ni Nanay
Langit ang buhay
Puso kong may dusa
Sabik sa ugoy ng duyan mo, Inay

To The Cradle’s Sway

I hope my former days don’t fade away
When I was a young child in Mom’s arms
I want Beloved Mother’s song to repeat
Song of love while I was in the cradle

In my sleep
that’s very peaceful
The planets guard me
The stars watch over me

In Mom’s arms
Life was like heaven
My heart that’s hurting
Yearns for the sway of the cradle by you, Mom

Estrellita
Manuel Ponce (1882-1948)
Manuel María Ponce Cuéllar (8 December 1882 – 24 April 1948) was a Mexican composer active in the
20th century. His work as a composer, music educator and scholar of Mexican music connected the
concert scene with a usually forgotten tradition of popular song and Mexican folklore. Many of his
compositions are strongly influenced by the harmonies and form of traditional songs. Ponce wrote music
for solo instruments, chamber ensembles, and orchestra. His piano and guitar works outnumber those
dedicated to other solo instruments within the set of pieces we know. Estrellita is Ponce's best known
work.

Vocalise
Wilbur R. Chenoweth (1899-1980)
Vocalise using only a vowel such as "ah" or "oh", can also be extremely effective in projecting movie of
tone nuance of color, and emotional/dramatic contrasts. Hearing these effective uses of pure vowel
vocalization whithin a traditional context, one would have to say that there is communication even when
no text is present.If that is the case, then it can be assumed that vocalization does not require a text (in a
traditional sense) in order to be expressive, communicative, and to have artistic integrity.

O del mio amato ben

Stefano Donaudy (1879-1925)
O del mio amato ben was composed in 1918. Stefano Donaudy was a minor though significant composer,
active in the 1890s and early twentieth century. He wrote mostly vocal music, dividing his efforts between
opera and song, though he did produce some chamber and orchestral music. Donaudy's younger brother
Alberto (1880-1941) had literary inclinations and thus usually served as Stefano's librettist for opera or his
poet for song. Stefano had some success with his operas, which included Falchetto and Ramuntcho. His
1918 publication of art songs, 36 Arie di Stile Antico, a set that contained such popular numbers as the
aforementioned Vaghissima sembianza, as well as O Del Mio Amato Ben and O Bei Nidi D'amore, also
brought him considerable recognition.

Memories of Yesterday
Haydn Wood (1882-1959)
Haydn Wood was born in the West Riding of Yorkshire town of Slaithwaite on 25 March 1882. When he
was three years old his family moved to the Isle of Man, an island which was often a source of inspiration
for the composer. Haydn Wood was a prolific composer of orchestral music, including 15 suites, 9
rhapsodies, 8 overtures, 3 concertante pieces and nearly 50 other assorted works, including 180 individual
songs. His orchestral pieces were primarily of the "light music" style. Haydn Wood hears on radio a song
which he composed in 1934, Memories of Yesterday. He writes to Douglas Lawrence, the BBC Light Music
Supervisor, that it would make a good title for a broadcast series of old melodies.

Araw-araw sa Maynila
Lucio D. San Pedro (1913-2002)

Widmung
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)

When I Have Sung My Songs

Ernest Charles (1895-1984)
Charles was born in Minnesota with the surname Grosskopf. He attended The University of Southern
California as a college student and studied singing with Charles Modini Wood. He eventually went to New
York City, changed his surname to Charles, and began his professional life as a singer, performing in
vaudeville and Broadway reviews, including Earl Carroll's Vanities in 1928 and the George White Scandals
in 1929. Charles composed around 45 songs for voice and piano in the years between 1930 and 1950.
Most were published individually by G. Schirmer, and a few have been reissued in various song anthologies
and collections of American art songs from the same publisher. The songs are known for their rubato,
sweeping vocal lines, sumptuous melodies, and ingenuous charm. Two of his songs are popular encores:
the Viennese Waltz Let My Song Fill Your Heart and When I Have Sung My Songs.