If Music Be the Food of Love...
Featuring Johannes Brahms' Liebeslieder Waltzes, Op. 52
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It's because of YOU that we are able to offer these concerts for free.
Thank you for helping us make music available to all in Central Oregon!
Thank you for helping us make music available to all in Central Oregon!
Not able to attend our concerts this time? Watch the live recording from April 22 at Sunriver Christian Fellowship!
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ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Central Oregon Mastersingers Christian Clark, Artistic Director and Conductor Diane Thielen and Suzanne Gainey, collaborative pianists Composed in 1868–69, the Liebeslieder Waltzes are a collection of love songs in Ländler style for voices and piano four hands. The lyrics for the Liebeslieder come from Georg Friedrich Daumer's Polydora, a collection of folk songs and love poems. While there is no concrete record indicating the exact inspiration for the Waltzes, there is some speculation that Brahms' motivation for the songs was his frustrated love for pianist and composer Clara Schumann. One of Brahms’s essential creative outlets was the vocal tradition he inherited from Franz Schubert. Brahms possessed an extraordinary sensitivity to the relationship between poetry and music—a vital characteristic of the Romantic period. The beloved Liebeslieder Waltzes showcase the hallmarks of Brahms’s vocal music style: warmth, intimacy, expressive nuance, and charming lyricism. In addition to the Liebeslieder Waltzes, our program will include a brand new piece by former Mastersinger Gabriel Sternberg, who is completing a degree in music composition at Western Oregon University. We are so proud of Gabriel, and look forward to sharing this WORLD PREMIERE with you! We're also excited to perform Adinu, a Sufi song based on a poem by Sufi mystic, poet, and philosopher Ibn 'Arabi on the nature of love: "I believe in the religion of love, wherever love is found." The chantlike melody incorporates many stylized elements and is surrounded by large blocks of choral harmony in this contemplative piece. |
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was an English composer, conductor, and political activist who fought against race prejudice with his astonishing compositions. A pioneer in integrating African music into his works, Coleridge-Taylor sought to draw from traditional African music and integrate it into the classical tradition, which he considered Johannes Brahms to have done with Hungarian music and Antonín Dvořák with Bohemian music. Examples include his Four African Dances, Concert Overture, Toussaint L’Ouverture, and the Symphonic Variations on an African Air. We will showcase a small portion of Coleridge-Taylor's oeuvre by offering three pieces: one for choir, one for solo voice, and one for solo piano.
Other selections include: If Music Be the Food of Love, David Dickau Ubi Caritas et Amor, Frederick Bayani Mabalot Your Fragrance, Edward Henderson Fix You, arr. George Chung (recorded by Coldplay) Kaleidoscope Heart, arr. Allison Girvan (recorded by Sara Bareilles) READ MORE... Thanks to Daryl Browne and Oregon ArtsWatch for featuring us! |