Faculty Recital Series
Texas Christian University

Program Notes

Set to texts by Vaughan Williams’ wife Ursula, these songs were published posthumously and were actually meant as fragments of two projected cycles. The outer two songs deal with figures of ancient Greek history and mythology. Procris, wife of Hermes’ son Cephalus, was tricked into believing him unfaithful. She hid herself to spy on him as he rested during a hunt. Hearing what he believed to be an animal rustling in the bushes, he threw his javelin, killing his beloved wife. Menelaus, son of Atreus and brother of Agamemnon, was married to Helen, who was abducted by Paris and taken to Troy. After the Trojan war, Menelaus received a prophecy during a sojourn on his long journey home to Sparta. He was promised that he would safely return to Sparta and further, that the gods would transport him to Elysium at the end of his mortal life. It is this second “homecoming” that forms the topic of the last song. The central two songs of the group are intimate expressions of the loving relationship of a long-married couple.

Petr Eben is one of the leading composers of the Czech Republic and has appeared as organist and composer throughout the world. He was born near the beautiful Renaissance town of Çesky\ Krumlov, and the influence of this environment is reflected in his interest in medieval and renaissance literature, from which many of his song texts come. Although a Christian, he was interned in Buchenwald during the last two years of World War II. Perhaps due to this experience, there is a recurring theme of darkness and loss in his compositions, but they ultimately affirm the supremacy of love and God over suffering and death. Traditional structures are combined with new harmonic and modal techniques to create a fresh, unique sound that evokes the past, but clearly looks forward. His songs transcend time, place, and language because they arise from life experiences shared by all humanity. The introductory notes he provides for each cycle clearly demonstrate the borderless humanistic mission he believes art possesses. Our visits with this gracious, gentle, keenly intelligent and articulate gentleman was a highlight of our time in Prague.

The song cycle Secret Songs was dedicated to his wife, Ía\rka. It reflects his reactions to their first acquaintance and their subsequent courtship and marriage. The texts are from ancient Persian mystic and contemporary Czech lyric poets (including Eben himself!). The underlying message in these varied texts is that of love and the emotions that are associated with it: the fragile tenderness of the opening song, feelings of devotion and inspiration, conflicts of fear and hope, the sadness of parting, and the triumphant affirmation in the final song expressed in the words “I come to you.”

The piano set Letters to Milena appeared almost forty years after his song cycle, and is based on excerpts from personal correspondence from Czech author Franz Kafka to the journalist Milena Jesenska\. Unlike the cool, objective writing style found in Kafka’s literary works, we find in these letters sensitivity and passion, inspired by his hopeless and unrequited love for Milena. According to Eben:

The letters reveal a trembling nervousness and excitement. One moment the author appears scared to death, the next he is full of love and admiration, full of humility to the point of self-abasement, often troubled and frightened to the point of despair. But even here . . . we find traces of Kafka’s dry humor and self-irony. [Preface to Briefe an Milena, © 1994, B. Schott’s Söhne, Mainz]

Pan’s Flute (“La Flute de Pan”)
On this day of Hyacinthus,
He has given me a pipe made
Of well-cut reeds,
Joined together with the white wax
That is as sweet as honey on my lips,
He teaches me to play, as I sit on his knees;
But I tremble just a little.
He plays it after me, so softly
That I can hardly hear him.
We have nothing to say,
So close are we to one another;
But our songs want to harmonize,
And gradually our kops
Are united on the flute.It is late;
Hear the change of the green frogs
That begins with the night.
My mother will never believe
That I stayed out so long
In search of my lost belt.

The Tresses (“La Chevelure”)
He told me: “Last night I dreamed.
I had your tresses around my neck.
I wore your locks like a dark chain
Around my neck and on my breast.
I caressed them and they were my own:
By the same tresses, lips upon lips,
As two laurels often have but one root.
And gradually, it seemed to me,
So much were our limbs entwined,
That I became you,
Or that you entered into me, like my dream.
” When he had finished,
He gently laid his bands upon my shoulders,
And he looked at me with a glance so tender
That I cast down my eyes and trembled.

The Tomb of the Naiads (“Le Tombeau des Naiads”)
I wandered along the frost-covered woods;
My hair, blowing before my mouth,
Was adorned with tiny icicles,
Any my sandals were heavy
With soiled clods of snow.
He asked me: “What are you looking for?”
I follow the trace of the Satyr.
His little hoof prints alternate
Like holes in a white coat.
He told me: “The Satyrs are dead,
The Satyrs and also the Nymphs.
In thirty years there has been no winter
As terrible as this.

The hoof print which you see is that of a buck.
But let us stay heare, on the site of their tomb.”
And with the iron of his hatchet he broke
Through the ice
Of the spring where the Naiads once
had laughed.
He took large frozen pieces,
And, holding them toward the pale sky,
He peered through them.

The Dutch violonist Rudolf Nel studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin and later privately with Karl Flesch. At the age of 19, he became solo violinist at the Deutsche Oper under Bruno Walter. Wilhelm Furtwängler called him to Bayreuth, where he also played under Richard Strauss and Arturo Toscanini. He later became the first violinist with Bayrische Rundfunk Symphonie under Eugen Jochum and Rafael Kubelik. A life-long champion of chamber music in Berlin, Darmstadt, Japan, and the United States. With his wife, Kammersängerin Lore Fischer, and composer/pianist Hermann Reutter, he formed a trio for which over 50 works were written by composers from numerous European countries (including one by Petr Eben!). His compositions and arrangements include piano pieces, settings of carols and folk songs, and realizations of baroque pieces for the Lore Fischer Trio. The Vier Gedichte von Erika Haendler are unique in his output. Although outdated, the textual tone, similar to that of Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs, would indicate that they were written fairly late in his life, and there is no indication that they were ever performed. This is the American, and perhaps, the world permiere.

Quiet Evening (“Stiller Abend”)
The wind falls asleep.
Main and animal rest.
The last glow of day fades from me.
No longing, no striving,
Joy and pain sunken.
Time is suspended,
Only my heart beats lightly.

Folk Song (“Volkslied”)
Northwest wind rustles in the trees,
Telling of olden times,
One stands quietly, senses and listens,
And wanders in the distance.

The birches along the path at home
Once sang the same song.
It lured us outdoors,
To run along the path

And farther, where hardy beach pines
stand in the white sand,
'Til one stands upon the high dunes
to see the sea.

The wind and foaming waves sing
The most beautiful of all songs.
Today my old, dear tree
Sang a little verse again.

Before the Day (“Vor dem Tag”)
The moon still hangs in the heavens
The land lies silent, deep in dreams,
Enfolded in white clouds,
Filled with deep, gentle dreaming.

The past day is long gone.
The new one rouses, drunk with sleep.
It is so beautiful in dreamland.
Content, I surrender myself more deeply.

At the Day’s End (“Zum Tagesende”)
The day has so wearied me
With its noise and bustle.
Now I go into the silent night
And close the doors,
Lay aside the confining daytime clothes,
The loud, heavy shoe.
And enter the land of dreams
To blissful, deep peace.

10/24/03