The Senior Voice Recital of Tarann Rethi-Roadman

Below, you will find program notes for my senior recital, which took place on November 17, 2024 at 4:00 pm. The video and audio captured during the recital is currently being mastered. After this process is complete, I will provide the full performance as a link on this page. I will also separate the pieces into their own videos so that they may be viewed independent from one another.

IV. 4. Agnus Dei from Mass in B Minor, BWV 232

J.S. Bach (1685-1750) was a Baroque era harpsichordist, organist, and composer. Bach wrote the Mass in B Minor (BWV 232) in Leipzig between 1748 and 1749, making it his final large choral work. This movement is scored for unison violins, continuo, and alto soloist. Intending this movement to serve as a plea to God, Bach used three jagged and sighing melodic figures throughout the piece. The Mass in B Minor was never performed in its entirety in the composer’s lifetime, but it is now known as one of his most impressive and masterful compositions.

Marechiare

Francesco Paolo Tosti (1846-1916) was a late-Romantic era and 20th century composer. He composed solo and ensemble vocal works, but no operas; atypical for Italian composers at that time. The poem was written by Salvatore di Giacomo (1860-1934), who is well-known for reviving Neapolitan poetry in the 20th century with an 18th century flare. The town mentioned in the text, Marechiare, is actually called Marechiaro and is just outside of Naples. Marechiare is a love song in which the speaker is calling to his lover in her window, asking her to come down and see him. The piece is fast-paced and passionate, with a sprightly piano accompaniment that only slows during the B-section. This song, which will be sung in Neapolitan, has been performed many times by the famous tenor, Luciano Pavarotti.

Nebbie

Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936) composed in the late-Romantic period and the beginning of the 20th century. He wrote mainly for orchestra, mastering orchestral color and composition. However, he composed some vocal literature. Ada Negri (1870-1945) wrote the poem for this song. She was a well-known poet in her time, popular among the Italian Socialist party. Matching the dark mood of the poem, Respighi wrote a slow piece with great dynamic contrast and intense rising lines to demonstrate the rising agony of the speaker.

“Voi, che sapete” from Le nozze di Figaro

W.A. Mozart (1756-1791) is one of the most famous Classical composers of all time. He is very well-known for his operas, whose librettos were typically written by Lorenzo Da Ponte (1749-1838). Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) is one of these operas. It premiered in Vienna, Austria on May 1, 1786. This aria is performed by a young boy, named Cherubino, who is singing about puberty and becoming interested in girls. It is common for mezzo-sopranos to be cast as adolescent boys in operas.

VI. Hébé from 7 Mélodies, Op. 2, No. 6

Ernest Chausson (1855-1899) was inspired to write music because of the operas of Richard Wagner, eventually developing a dramatic, rich, and somewhat chromatic compositional style. Louise-Victorine Ackermann (1813-1890), known for her pessimistic yet beautiful poetry, wrote this text. Utilizing modal melodic material, Chausson transports the listener to times of antiquity. He underscores the beauty of the text with dynamic contrast as well as a tempo that is constantly pushing and pulling.

I. Villanelle from Les nuits d’été, Op. 7, No. 1

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) was a composer, conductor, and music critic in the Romantic Period. He utilized the psycho-altering effects of opium to reach greater depths in his music. He was one of the first musicians to write program notes, which were given to the audience. Program notes allowed Berlioz to compose music that was programmatic, ethereal, and dramatic. The text for this movement was written by Théophile Gautier (1811-1872) who typically wrote pessimistic texts that were demonstrative of a fear of death and mortality. He also believed that beauty for beauty’s sake was extremely powerful. This piece is the first of six songs in the cycle, Les nuits d’été. The cycle was originally composed for voice and orchestra. Villanelle is underpinned with strings, which can be heard in the piano accompaniment of this arrangement.

Je te veux

Erik Satie (1866-1925) was a late-Romantic composer who heavily influenced the harmonic changes found in 20th century music. He composed many pieces of music for solo piano, but he also wrote for orchestra, chamber ensemble, and solo/ensemble voice. Je te veux is believed to be composed for Paulette Darty, who was often accompanied by Satie during performances. Henry Pacory (1873-unknown) wrote this text. To capture the mood of the text, Satie composed a waltz with a refrain in which tension builds.

“Ou suis-je? O ma lyre immortelle” from Sapho

Charles Gounod (1818-1896) was a well-known composer of French opera with his most famous opera being Faust. Sapho is an opera in three acts that is based on the Greek legend of the poet Sappho of Lesbos. The libretto, by Émile Augier (1820-1889), portrays Sappho as heterosexual even though she is known in modern times as a symbol of desire and love for and between women. Sapho’s love interest, Phaon, is attempting to flee the country due to an ongoing war in which he has been taking part. When he asks Sapho to go with him, she refuses to leave. This makes Phaon turn against her and take her adversary, Glycère. Before this final aria, Sapho meets Phaon and Glycère on the beach to wish them well. However, Phaon curses Sapho. Sapho then sings about her torment before finally throwing herself in the sea from the rocky cliffs above the beach. The building drama of the aria is underscored by tremolos in the strings - piano for this performance - and growing harmonic tension.

Lorelei

Clara Schumann (1819-1896) was a pianist and composer of the Romantic era. She began playing the piano at the age of five, and was quickly acknowledged throughout Europe as a child prodigy. Lorelei wasn’t published until the 1990s, about 150 years after it was first composed. In Lorelei, Schumann utilizes text painting as well as shifts in the accompaniment patterns to help emphasize the text. The accompaniment is very frantic, constantly pushing the energy of the piece forward. She also effectively uses piano interludes, or lack thereof, to separate or pin together stanzas of the poem. The text was written by Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) in 1824 to tell the story of a siren who lures sailors to their deaths with her beautiful singing.

I. Traum durch die Dämmerung, Op. 29, No. 1

Richard Strauss (1864-1949) was a Romantic composer. He is most well-known for his operas and symphonic poems, but he also wrote gorgeous Lieder. Traum durch die Dämmerung is the first of three love songs in Strauss’ Op. 29, 3 Lieder mit Klavierbegleitung. This movement is slow paced with a melody that unfolds in a very lyrical and logical way. It resembles a lullaby in the slow and calm accompaniment and the flowing and quiet melody. Each poem in the cycle was penned by Otto Julius Bierbaum (1865-1910).

“Romanze” from Die Verschworenen, D. 787

Franz Schubert (1797-1828) was a late-Classical and early-Romantic composer who is most well-known for his creation, the Lied, which is now a staple in vocal repertoire. He also composed for orchestras, chamber groups, and operas. This aria comes from a Singspiel, a light German opera that usually includes spoken dialogue. The libretto is written by Ignaz Franz Castelli (1781-1862). In Die Verschworenen, men have left their wives for war, causing the wives to withhold their love from them when they return. Eventually, this is resolved and the couples reconcile.

II. Tired from Four Last Songs

Ralph Vaughan-Williams (1872-1958) was an English composer and symphonist. He began writing the song cycle Four Last Songs in 1954, but died in 1958 before he could finish it. His wife Ursula took the cycle into her own hands and completed it, publishing it in 1959. The four songs are settings of texts written by Ursula. Two of the movements are written for tenor, while the other two are written for mezzo-soprano. Ursula’s text depicts love and compassion in a deep and beautiful way, allowing your beloved to fall asleep as you happily watch and hold them.

In the Fields

John Duke (1899-1984) was an American pianist and composer, born in Cumberland, MD. He wrote over 200 art songs as well as several operas, concertos, chamber ensemble pieces, and choral works. He typically set poems written by Emily Dickinson and Emily Brontë, but this text was written by Charlotte Mew (1869-1928). Mew was a Victorian poet who was well known for writing about the traumas she experienced in childhood. Her poems have qualities of stillness and depth. This poem describes the beauty of the world around the speaker. This song is written for piano and mezzo soprano. Duke uses meter changes, tonal shifts, and dynamic contrasts to highlight the text.

Crabbed Age and Youth

Maude Valérie White (1855-1937) is one of the most influential English art song composers from the Victorian era. Her compositional style pays close attention to text stress while being passionate and emotional. Critics revered White. J. A. Fuller Maitland once said that her songs should be “known and loved everywhere the English language is spoken.” This piece is composed in a modified strophic style. Each line shows the contrasts in the text, which was published in 1599 along with 19 other poems in a collection titled The Passionate Pilgrime, or Certaine Amorous Sonnets, betweéne Venus and Adonis. Six of these poems are believed to have been written by William Shakespeare (1564-1616), including Crabbed Age and Youth.

III. You Have Become a Forest from Four Poems of Nikita Gill

Dr. Melissa Dunphy (b. 20th cent.) was born in 1980 in Australia. She is an award-winning composer whose publications focus on choral compositions with political undertones. This song cycle sets texts by Nikita Gill, a British-Indian poet primarily found on social media. Gill’s poetry captures the magic and beauty in life and nature while discussing topics such as trauma, healing, feminism, and personal identity. She bases her poems on her experiences as a Sikh woman of color. Dr. Dunphy wrote the cycle in 2018 for three different mezzo-sopranos. The third movement is written in the second person perspective and is implied to be “words of comfort and a celebration of growth.”

The Awakening

Tarann Rethi-Roadman (b. 21st cent.) is a contemporary composer who was born in 2002. The poet, James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938), was a civil rights activist as well as a poet and songwriter. He wrote the text “Lift Every Voice and Sing”, which was set by his brother J. Rosamond Johnson, and is now known as the Black national anthem. He was a leader in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) as well as a lawyer and diplomat. While writing this piece, Rethi-Roadman paid close attention to the natural flow of the text as well as the symbolism found in it.