Sunday, July 9, 2023

DCLXXVI. STRAVINSKY, Igor: Three Songs from William Shakespeare

DCLXXVI. STRAVINSKY, Igor (1882-1971)

Three Songs from William Shakespeare (1953)
1. Music to Hear
2. Full Fathom Five
3. When Daisies Pied
Anna Molnár, mezzo-soprano
Annamária Bán, flute
Csaba Pálfi, clarinet
Péter Tornyai, viola
(7:58)


One of Stravinsky's earliest works based on serial principles. Each song is based on a tone row, but leans towards tonality ...

1. Music to Hear



































Music to hear, why hear'st thou music sadly?
Sweets with sweets war not, joy delights in joy
Why lov'st thou that which thou receiv'st not gladly
Or else receiv'st with pleasure thine annoy?
If the true concord of well-tuned sounds
By unions married, do offend thine ear
They do but sweetly chide thee, who confounds
In singleness the parts that thou should'st bear
Mark how one string, sweet husband to another
Strikes each in each by mutual ordering
Resembling sire and child and happy mother
Who, all in one, one pleasing note do sing
Whose speechless song, being many, seeming one
Sings this for thee: "Thou single wilt prove none"

-- Sonnet VIII

2. Full Fathom Five



































Full fathom five thy father lies
Of his bones are coral made
Those are pearls that were his eyes
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange
Sea nymphs hourly ring his knell. Ding-dong
Hark! now I hear them -- Ding-dong, bell

-- The Tempest, Act I, Scene 2

3. When Daisies Pied



































When daisies pied, and violets blue
And cuckoo-birds of yellow hue
And lady smocks all silver-white
Do paint the meadows with delight
The cuckoo then, on every tree
Mocks married men, for this sings he, Cuckoo
Cuckoo, cuckoo: O word of fear
Unpleasing to a married ear!

When shepherds pipe on oaten straws
And merry larks are ploughmen's clocks
When turtles tread, and rooks, and daws
And maidens bleach their summer smocks
The cuckoo then, on every tree
Mocks married men, for thus sings he, Cuckoo
Cuckoo, cuckoo: O word of fear
Unpleasing to a married ear!

-- Love's Labour's Lost, Act V, Scene 2

No comments:

Post a Comment

INDEX to 1000 POSTS CLASSICAL BLOG A-M

N-Z ABRAHAMSEN, Hans / 10 Pieces for Orchestra / DCCCXCV ADAMS, John / Century Rolls / XXXVII ADAMS, John / Harmonielehre / CXXI ADAMS, John...