“Habanera” from Carmen by Georges Bizet
The score of the aria was adapted from the habanera “El Arreglito ou la Promesse de mariage”, by the Spanish musician Sebastián Iradier, first published in 1863, which Bizet thought to be a folk song. When others told him he had used something written by a composer who had died ten years earlier, he added a note about its derivation in the first edition of the vocal score which he himself prepared. Although the French libretto of the complete opéra comique was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, the words of the habanera originated from Bizet. The Habanera was first performed by Galli-Marié at the Opéra-Comique on 3 March 1875. Bizet, having removed during rehearsals his first version of Carmen’s entrance song, in 3, 4 with a refrain in 6, 8, rewrote the Habanera several times before he (and Galli-Marié) were satisfied with it. Nietzsche, an enthusiastic admirer of Carmen, commented on the “ironically provocative” aria evoking “Eros as conceived by the ancients, playfully alluring, mischievously demoniacal.” Rodney Milnes, reviewing a range of interpretations on record, described the piece as “after all, a simple, teasingly articulated statement of fact, not an earth-shattering philosophical credo”.
“Heimliche Aufforderung” by Richard Strauss
It is one of a set of four songs composed for voice and piano by Richard Strauss in 1894. The German conductor Robert Heger orchestrated it in 1929. The text is from a poem in German by John Henry Mackay. Strauss composed the song on 22 May 1894 and gave it as a wedding present to his wife, the soprano Pauline de Ahna. During their American tour in 1904, Pauline Strauss sang this song as the concluding piece in her Carnegie Hall debut on 1 March. Strauss recorded the orchestral version in 1941 with Julius Patzak (tenor) and the Bavarian State Orchestra, and in 1944 the piano version with himself accompanying Alfred Poell (baritone).
“Sull’aria” from The Marriage of Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
“Sull’aria…che soave zeffiretto” (On the breeze…What a gentle little Zephyr) is a duettino, or a short duet, from act 3, scene X, of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s 1786 opera The Marriage of Figaro, K. 492, to a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. In the duettino, Countess Almaviva (a soprano) dictates to Susanna (also a soprano) the invitation to a tryst addressed to the countess’ husband in a plot to expose his infidelity.
“Seit ich ihn gesehen” by Robert Schumann
This chapter considers Seit ich ihn gesehen, the opening song in Robert Schumann’s cycle of eight songs comprising the set called Frauenliebe und -Leben. The recording industry has revitalized popular interest in the Lied as a performance vehicle. In the case of Seit ich ihn gesehen, the tiny bellows-like straight-tone crescendoing and decrescendoing of each syllable in the breathless, nonvibrant fashion found in some recent recordings becomes caricature-like. Who sings Frauenliebe und -Leben must be a sensuous, not an ectoplasmic, personality. The singer dare not circumvent vocalism that includes good resonance and balance or fall into a form of detached Sprechstimme. She can say, with pride, “Seit ich ihn gesehen, kann ich jedoch singen!” (Since having seen him, I can nevertheless sing!).
“Er, der Herrlichste von allen” by Robert Schumann
Schumann’s choice of text was very probably inspired in part by events in his personal life. He had been courting Clara Wieck, but had failed to get her father’s permission to marry her. In 1840, after a legal battle to make such permission unnecessary, he finally married her. The songs in this cycle are notable for the fact that the piano has a remarkable independence from the voice. Breaking away from the Schubertian ideal, Schumann has the piano contain the mood of the song in its totality. Another notable characteristic is the cycle’s circular structure, in which the last movement repeats the theme of the first.
“Contro Un Cor Che Acende Amore” from The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini
The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution (Italian: Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L’inutile precauzione [il barˈbjɛːre di siˈviʎʎa osˈsiːa liˈnuːtile prekautˈtsjoːne]) is an opera buffa in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais’s French comedy The Barber of Seville (1775). The première of Rossini’s opera (under the title Almaviva, o sia L’inutile precauzione) took place on 20 February 1816 at the Teatro Argentina, Rome, with designs by Angelo Toselli. Rossini’s Barber of Seville is considered to be one of the greatest masterpieces of comedy within music, and has been described as the opera buffa of all “opere buffe”. After two hundred years, it remains a popular work.
“Sun Duet” from The Imp of the Perverse by Alice Ping Yee Ho
Opera in two acts based on the life of Edgar Allan Poe
“Sein wir wieder gut” from Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss
Ariadne auf Naxos is in two parts, called the Prologue and the Opera. The first part shows the backstage circumstances leading up to the second part, which is in fact an opera within an opera.
Prologue
At the home of the richest man in Vienna, preparations for an evening of music are under way. Two troupes of musicians and singers have arrived. One is a burlesque group, led by the saucy comedienne Zerbinetta. The other is an opera company, who will present an opera seria, Ariadne auf Naxos, the work of the Composer. Members of the two companies quarrel over which performance should be presented first. However, the preparations are thrown into confusion by an announcement by the Major-domo. The dinner for the assembled guests has run longer than planned. Therefore, both performances must take place at the same time as they have been ordered and paid for. The performances must not run one minute later than scheduled, despite the late start, since at nine o’clock there will be fireworks in the garden. At first, the impetuous young Composer refuses to discuss any changes to his opera. But his teacher, the Music Master, points out that his pay depends on accepting the situation, and counsels him to be prudent, and Zerbinetta turns the full force of her charm on him, so he drops his objections. The cast of the opera seria intrigue against each other, each demanding that his arias be not cut while the other performers’ parts are cut instead. A dancing master introduces Zerbinetta into the plot, which she understands from her very own perspective, and she gets ready for the performance. The Composer realizes what he has assented to, plunges into despair and storms out.
Opera
Ariadne is shown abandoned by her former lover, Theseus, on the desert island of Naxos, with no company other than the nymphs Naiad, Dryad, and Echo. Ariadne bewails her fate, mourns her lost love, and longs for death. Zerbinetta and her four companions from the burlesque group enter and attempt to cheer Ariadne by singing and dancing, but without success. In a sustained and dazzling piece of coloratura singing, Zerbinetta tells the Princess to let bygones be bygones and insists that the simplest way to get over a broken heart is to find another man. In a comic interlude, each of the clowns pursues Zerbinetta. Eventually, she chooses Harlequin, a baritone, and the two sing a love duet together while the other clowns express frustration and envy.
The nymphs announce the arrival of a stranger on the island. Ariadne thinks it is Hermes, the messenger of death, but it is the god Bacchus, who is fleeing from the sorceress Circe. At first they do not understand their mistaken identification of each other. Bacchus eventually falls in love with Ariadne, who agrees to follow him to the realm of death to search for Theseus. Bacchus promises to set her in the heavens as a constellation. Zerbinetta returns briefly to repeat her philosophy of love: when a new love arrives, one has no choice but to yield. The opera ends with a passionate duet sung by Ariadne and Bacchus.
“I’m a Stranger Here Myself” by Kurt Weill
I’m a Stranger Here Myself is a song from the 1943 musical One Touch of Venus by Kurt Weill (music) and Ogden Nash (lyrics), written for the main character Venus, a marble sculpture that comes to life when kissed by a man. Composed for a mezzo-soprano voice with orchestra, the song is also very popular with classical singers. It is often given as an encore at concerts and is one of the frequently played jazz standards.
“Bacarolle” from The Tales of Hoffman by Jaques Offenbach
The Tales of Hoffmann (French: Les contes d’Hoffmann) is an opéra fantastique by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on three short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, who is the protagonist of the story. It was Offenbach’s final work; he died in October 1880, four months before the premiere.
“Till there was you” by Meredith Wilson
It is a show tune written by Meredith Willson, popularised by his 1957 stage production The Music Man and its 1962 movie musical adaptation, and further popularised by The Beatles cover. The song became the first Top 40 hit for Anita Bryant in 1959,[1] prior to being recorded by the Beatles in 1963.
“Non piu mesta” from La Cenerentola by Gioachino Rossini
La Cenerentola, ossia La bontà in trionfo (“Cinderella, or Goodness Triumphant”) is an operatic dramma giocoso in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto was written by Jacopo Ferretti, based on the libretti written by Charles-Guillaume Étienne for the opera Cendrillon with music by Nicolas Isouard (first performed Paris, 1810) and by Francesco Fiorini for Agatina, o la virtù premiata [it] with music by Stefano Pavesi (first performed Milan, 1814). All these operas are versions of the fairy tale Cendrillon by Charles Perrault. Rossini’s opera was first performed in Rome’s Teatro Valle on 25 January 1817.
Rossini composed La Cenerentola when he was 25 years old, following the success of The Barber of Seville the year before. La Cenerentola, which he completed in a period of three weeks, is considered to have some of his finest writing for solo voice and ensembles. Rossini saved some time by reusing an overture from La gazzetta and part of an aria from The Barber of Seville and by enlisting a collaborator, Luca Agolini, who wrote the secco recitatives and three numbers (Alidoro’s “Vasto teatro è il mondo”, Clorinda’s “Sventurata! Mi credea” and the chorus “Ah, della bella incognita”). The facsimile edition of the autograph has a different aria for Alidoro, “Fa’ silenzio, odo un rumore”; this seems to have been added by an anonymous hand for an 1818 production. For an 1820 revival in Rome, Rossini wrote a bravura replacement, “Là, del ciel nell’arcano profondo”.
“Abends, will ich schlafen gehen” from Hansel & Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck
Humperdinck’s reputation rests chiefly on his opera Hänsel und Gretel, on which he began work in Frankfurt in 1890. He first composed four songs to accompany a puppet show his nieces were giving at home. Then, using a libretto and thematic suggestions by his sister Adelheid Wette, rather loosely based on the version of the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, he composed a singspiel of 16 songs with piano accompaniment and connecting dialogue. By January 1891, he had begun working on a complete orchestration.
The opera premiered in Weimar on 23 December 1893, conducted by Richard Strauss. With its highly original synthesis of Wagnerian techniques and traditional German folk songs, Hansel and Gretel was an instant and overwhelming success.